Greeting of Cardinal Kurt Koch to Bishop Ivan Abrahams
General Secretary of the World Methodist Council
on the occasion of the 22nd World Methodist Conference
Gothenburg, Sweden – 16 August 2024
Dear Bishop Abrahams,
Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Saviour! [Titus 1:4]
It gives me great joy to greet you, and all the representatives of “the people called Methodists”, as you gather in Gothenburg for the twenty-second World Methodist Conference. I know that it is an important moment in the life of the global Methodist-Wesleyan family and I am glad that our Dicastery is represented at the meeting by one of our officials, Father Martin Browne OSB.
Your conference theme, On the Move, is an apt one for this moment in history. The sub-themes of Migration and Pilgrimage are invitations to reflect on some of the many different ways in which people are on the move today – whether by choice or out of necessity, whether safely or at great peril, whether facing welcome or rejection. The third sub-theme, Guiding Lights, clearly evokes the aurora borealis of the region where you are meeting, but it also recalls God’s people on the move in the Book of Exodus. Even in the darkness, the Almighty went before his people “in a pillar of fire by night, to give them light” [Ex 13:21]. As God’s people, on the move, the Church in our time is called to trust in the Lord’s continuing guidance, “so that under the action of the Holy Spirit, it does not cease from renewing itself until, through the Cross, it arrives at the light which knows no setting” [Lumen gentium §9]. May you and all who gather in Gothenburg experience the gentle accompaniment of the Spirit of God as you reflect on the future shape of Methodist ministry and service around the world.
The Catholic Church rejoices in many opportunities for collaboration and common witness with Methodist brothers and sisters. I am grateful for the participation of the outgoing President of the WMC, the Reverend Professor J.C. Park, in the Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops and for the ongoing ministry of the Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome and its Director, the Reverend Matthew Laferty. I wish to express my particular appreciation of the work of the Joint International Commission for Dialogue between the World Methodist Council and the Catholic Church, MERCIC. I hope that the World Methodist Council will formally receive the commission’s most recent report, God in Christ Reconciling: On the Way to Full Communion in Faith, Sacraments, and Mission during your meeting, and that it will thereafter be known as the Gothenburg Report. MERCIC was the first international bilateral dialogue commission to produce a document on reconciliation and we all know only too well how much this precious gift is required in the world today, disfigured as it is by so much war, conflict and mistrust.
“Despite our separation, Methodists and Catholics testify to the transcendent truth of the salvation of the Good News of Jesus Christ, who alone reconciles us to the Father and to one another. ... [They] are called to the pilgrim journey of walking together as friends not strangers in the work of building just relationships between people who are equal in the sight of God, seeking peace and caring for God’s good creation, a common home for all humanity.” [God in Christ §172].
Finally, dear Bishop Abrahams, I offer my best wishes as you lay down the burden of office and prepare to retire. Upon you, and upon all in the World Methodist Council who are on the move to new phases in their Christian service – whether laying down or taking up positions of responsibility – I invoke God’s richest blessings.
May the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in all ways.
The Lord be with all of you! [2 Thess 3:16]