Completion of twelfth phase of Methodist-Catholic dialogue

The Methodist-Roman Catholic International Commission (MERCIC) has completed the twelfth phase of dialogue since the establishment of the Commission in 1967. Following its last plenary meeting in El Salvador in 2025, work has continued remotely on the the report for this phase of the dialogue. On 7 October, members approved the text of the report, entitled, One in Faith and Ministry to the World: Reflecting on Unity and Diversity for the Mission of the Church.

The report notes that sixty years of dialogue have established that Methodists and Catholics share a common confession of faith and a common belief in the primacy of God’s justifying and sanctifying grace. Based on these, it encourages public acknowledgment by Catholics and Methodists of the presence and action of God’s Spirit in the constitutive elements that build up their respective communions. It calls on Catholic and Methodists to take formal steps to recognise the communion they already share and suggests concrete actions that would enable them to do so.

At the end of this twelfth phase of its dialogue, the Commission issued a Communiqué.

The members of MERCIC during the twelfth phase were:

Methodist Members

Revd Prof. Edgardo A. Colón–Emeric (Co-Chair), United States of America

Revd Matthew A. Laferty (Co-Secretary), Methodist Ecumenical Office, Rome

Dr Jung Choi, United States of America

Revd Prof. Blanches de Paula, Brazil

Bishop Lizzette Gabriel Montalvo, Puerto Rico (2022 meeting)

Prof. Geordan Hammond, United Kingdom/United States of America

Revd Prof. Glen O’Brien, Australia

Revd Dr Hermen Shastri, Malaysia

Prof. Lilian Cheelo Siwila, South Africa

Catholic Members

Archbishop Shane Mackinlay (Co-Chair), Australia

Revd Martin Browne OSB (Co-Secretary), Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, Rome

Prof. Catherine E. Clifford, Canada

Revd Anthony Currer, United Kingdom (2022 and 2025 meetings)

Revd Prof. Gerard Kelly, Australia

Sr Prof. Mary Sylvia Nwachukwu DDL, Nigeria

Revd Prof. Daniel Franklin Pilario CM, Philippines

Revd Prof. Jorge Scampini OP, Argentina

Dr Clare Watkins, United Kingdom