By Bob Allen
A French woman who attended the recent Synod of Bishops on the Family as a fraternal delegate for the Baptist World Alliance says she found common ground between Baptists and Catholics in issues like care for the vulnerable and proclaiming the gospel with joy.
Valérie Duval-Poujol, the daughter of a mixed Baptist-Catholic family who now works as a theologian and professor at the Catholic Institute in Paris, was among the 253 participants were also representatives of other Christian Churches, invited to share their experience of family ministry in the context of evangelization.
“What we share most in common between Baptists and Catholics is our common concern for mission, we Baptists are really a mission Church and we felt strongly it was also the desire of the Synodal Fathers, so in a way we encourage each other in this common mission,” she said in an interview with Vatican Radio.
In an interview with Aleteia translated from French, Duval-Poujol said Baptists feel close to Pope Francis for his emphasis on taking the church to the poor and encouraging Catholic families to read the Bible.
She said Baptists particularly “find ourselves” when the pope says Christians should not be “an heir of Lent without Easter.”
“We share with Catholics the desire to proclaim to all, boldly, ‘the joy of the gospel,’” she said.
Duval-Poujol said what Baptists and Catholics share most is a common concern for mission. “We Baptists are really a mission church and we felt strongly it was also the desire of the Synodal Fathers, so in a way we encourage each other in this common mission,” she said.
Duval-Poujol said she was also “very touched” by how the bishops quoted Scripture in their discourses. “The more we dig together into Scripture and the more we try to connect to Jesus Christ, the more we look like him and the more we can get closer and be missionaries or witnesses to this world,” she said.
In prepared remarks to the synod, Duval-Poujol outlined three topics of particular concern to Baptists related to the pastoral care of couples and famililes – protection of the “most vulnerable,” affirming the place of couples and families in a changing cultural landscape and encouragement to “be bold in our faith.”
Duval-Poujol serves as president of the Ecumenical Commission of the Protestant Federation of France and is a member of the Baptist delegation to conversations between the BWA and the World Methodist Council