Methodist-Catholic Dialogue steering group in London, Cambridge and Rome

The Joint International Commission for Dialogue between the World Methodist Council and the Roman Catholic Church (MERCIC) completed the twelfth phase of its work at the beginning of October 2026. To mark this milestone, the steering group of the Commission, made up of the two Co-Chairs (Revd Prof. Edgardo Colón-Emeric and Archbishop Shane Mackinlay) and the two Co-Secretaries (Revd Matthew Laferty and Revd Fr Martin Browne OSB), held a number of meetings from Sunday 18 October to Thursday 22 October.

On Monday 19 October, the group visited Westminster Central Hall in London, where they met with the General Secretary of the World Methodist Council, the Revd Dr Reynaldo Ferreira Leão Neto. They presented the General Secretary with a draft of the Commission’s forthcoming report, One in Faith and Ministry to the World: Reflecting on Unity and Diversity for the Mission of the Church, along with a copy of the other document produced during the Commission’s last quinquennium, We Believe in One God: Sixty years of Methodists and Catholics walking together. Later that day, the group travelled to Cambridge, where the two Co-Chairs presented the Commission’s work at a seminar hosted in Wesley House.

On Tuesday 20 October, the steering group made a pilgrimage to some places associated with John and Charles Wesley in London, including the site of their evangelical conversions at Aldersgate Street, along with the mother church of Methodism, Wesley’s Chapel, on City Road. There, they joined the congregation for Morning Prayer and visited the exhibits in the Museum of Methodism and in John Wesley’s House.

On Wednesday 21 October, the group attended the weekly General Audience together, and had an opportunity to greet Pope Leo personally and receive his encouragement. They later visited the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, where they discussed their recent work with the Prefect, Cardinal Kurt Koch. Later that afternoon, the Co-Chairs led a seminar at the Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum), hosted by its Institute of Ecumenical Studies, the Œcumenicum.