International ecumenical conversations between the Baptist World Alliance and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity resumed again in early December, the fourth annual meeting in a five-year series.
Although interrupted in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the group met for the second time in a virtual format Dec. 6-10. The Baptist delegation was led by co-chair Frank Rees, associate professor and chair of the academic board at the University of Divinity in Australia, and the Catholic delegation was led by co-chair Arthur Serratelli, bishop emeritus of Paterson, N.J.
The December dialogue took up the theme of “Forms of Common Witness,” giving attention to recognizing ways in which Baptists and Catholics already have been engaging in a shared witness to the dynamic of the gospel and envisioning ways in which the two communions might more intentionally and more fully collaborate in offering the world a common witness to Christ.
This discussion built on a 2017 meeting in Waco, Texas, that focused on “Sources of Common Witness,” a 2018 meeting in Rome focused on “Contexts of Common Witness” and a 2019 meeting in Warsaw focused on “Challenges to Common Witness.”
Although an in-person meeting could not be held in 2020, the commission held a two-day meeting virtually in June 2021 to prepare for the December 2021 meeting.
Themes of the four meetings over five years all relate to the current dialogue on “The Dynamic of the Gospel and the Witness of the Church.”
This is the third phase of the Baptist-Catholic joint commission. A first phase of international conversations took place in 1984 through 1988, resulting in a report in 1990 titled “Summons to Witness to Christ in Today’s World.” A second phase of the conversations met from 2006 through 2010 and produced a report in 2013 titled “The Word of God in the Life of the Church.”
Barring any further complications from the pandemic, the joint commission will hold its next meeting Dec. 12-16, 2022, in Rome.
The Baptist delegation for this year’s meeting consisted of members and persons specially invited as observers: Paul S. Fiddes (UK), Derek Hatch (U.S.), Glenroy Lalor (Jamaica), Tomas Mackey (Argentina), Elizabeth Newman (U.S.), Lina Toth (Lithuania/UK), observers Valerie Duval-Poujol (France) and Curtis Freeman (U.S.), and BWA Director of Integral Mission Everton Jackson (Jamaica/U.S.).
The Catholic delegation consisted of members Peter Casarella (U.S.), Stephen Fernandes (India), William Henn (Italy), Przemslaw Kantyka (Poland), Marie-Hélène Robert (France), Jorge A. Scampini (Argentina), and Susan Wood SCL (U.S.).
The secretaries for the co-chairs are Steven R. Harmon and Juan Usma Gómez.
Related articles:
Baptist-Catholic dialogue resumes despite challenges of pandemic
Baptists and Catholics together? Progress and promise despite a shaky start | Opinion by Steven Harmon
