(Another move toward a one world religion.)
Methodists Push For Ties With RomeSEOUL, July 21 (UPI) — World Methodists have unanimously approved a resolution authorizing further dialogue with the Roman Catholic Church.
The resolution, which has as its stated aim "full communion in faith, mission and sacramental life," was adopted when the World Methodist Council's 500-member governing body met July 18-19 in historic Chung Dong First Methodist Church in Seoul, the first Protestant church established on Korean soil.
Members also passed a resolution authorizing the association of the council and its member churches with the agreement on the Doctrine of Justification approved by the Lutheran World Foundation and the Catholic Church on April 31, 1999.
FULL STORY at
World Methodists approve further ecumenical dialogueJuly 20, 2006
By Joan G. LaBarr*
SEOUL, South Korea (UMNS) - World Methodists have unanimously approved a resolution authorizing further dialogue with the Roman Catholic Church, with the stated aim of "full communion in faith, mission and sacramental life."
The resolution was adopted when the World Methodist Council's 500-member governing body met July 18-19 in historic Chung Dong First Methodist Church in Seoul, the first Protestant church established on Korean soil.
Members also passed a resolution authorizing the association of the council and its member churches with the agreement on the Doctrine of Justification approved by the Lutheran World Foundation and the Catholic Church on April 31, 1999.
FULL STORY atMethodists To Affirm Catholic TheologySEOUL, July 18 (UPI) — The World Methodist Conference is expected to sign the joint declaration on justification signed in 1999 by Catholics and Lutherans.
The conference, which is meeting in Seoul, South Korea, plans to join the Catholic Church and the World Lutheran Federation in endorsing the ecumenical statement, Zenit.org reported Tuesday.
The conference is convoked at eight-year intervals and brings together Christians from all over the world that belong to Wesley's tradition.
The Methodist movement originated in England in the 18th century as a movement of spiritual, missionary and social renewal. Today it is present in close to 100 countries.
During this week's World Methodist Conference, the ceremony in which the 1999 declaration will be extended to include Methodists will take place in the course of the solemn celebration of the Word of God, in the presence of Cardinal Walter Kasper, from the Vatican, and of the Rev. Dr. Ishmael Noko, secretary general of the World Lutheran Federation.
The joint declaration, expressing a consensus between the Lutheran Federation and the Catholic Church on the doctrine of justification, was signed in Augsburg, Germany, on Oct. 32, 1999.
The doctrine of justification was a cause of Luther's Reformation.
At the end of last year, when Benedict XVI received a delegation of the World Methodist Council, led by its president, Bishop Sunday Mbang of Nigeria, the Holy Father mentioned the council's intention to also sign the joint declaration on the doctrine of justification.
"Should the World Methodist Council express its intention to associate itself to the joint declaration, it would contribute to the reconciliation that we ardently desire and would be a significant step toward the objective of full and visible unity in the faith," the Holy Father said at the time.
World Church Leaders Focus on Reconciliation & Changing Ecumenical Landscape
7/24/2006“The ecumenical landscape is changing,” declared Dr. Ishmael Noko, general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation.
Noko spoke a day ahead of the historic ecumenical service where Methodists will officiate their signature to the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification – an agreement signed in 1999 between the Lutheran World Federation and the Roman Catholic Church.
“It is not a new confession but an agreement that gives us the ability on how to address remaining questions from a new perspective,” said Noko.
It is not just a bilateral agreement for the two world bodies, but it’s the shared biblical faith of the universal church. Thus, the Methodists joining as a third partner is a timely move in the context of an ecumenical framework.
“It makes a lot of sense that Methodists come in,” affirmed Noko to a room full of Methodists.
Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, was also present at the Ecumenics seminar and was all smiles for the ecumenical partnership.
As the Rev. Dr. Samuel Kobia, general secretary of the World Council of Churches, told the Methodists, “This is all about dialogue.” Also a Methodist, Kobia represents a world body that brings together more than 340 churches from across denominations.“We have openly invited other Christian world communions to associate themselves with the process of the joint declaration because the subject which we are talking about is not property of one or two church bodies,” said Noko. “It’s for all churches.”
FULL STORY atThe Roman Catholic View On Justification