Seminar Audio Recordings
#1 The Art of Ecumenical and Interreligious Exchange
#2 Our Common Baptism: Rites of Initiation and Catechesis
#3 Mary in Ecumenical Perspective
#4 The Road to Busan: WCC 10th World Assembly 2013
#5 Religious Liberty: Starting Points for the Conversation
#6 Abrahamic Traditions: Tri-Faith Initiative
#7 Creating Communities of Respect
#8 Campus “Oval” Dynamics: Responding to Bias Language
#9 What Does the Lord Require of Us?
Monday April 8 Activities
Opening Worship Service at St. Joseph’s Cathedral
The Opening Worship Service for the National Workshop was held at 8:30 pm,, at St. Joseph’s Cathedral in Columbus. The sermon for the service was delivered by Bishop Elizabeth A. Eaton, Bishop of the Northeastern Ohio Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The service included hymns, prayer, the word read and proclaimed and a service of renewal of our baptismal vows.
Following the service, participants participated in a reception that was held back at our workshop hotel, the Sheraton on Capital Square.
Tuesday Highlights
Once more, the Graymoor Ecumenical and Interreligious Institute sponsored a breakfast on the Tuesday Morning of the National Workshop on Christian Unity. Father James Loughran brought special greetings to the participants and thanked them for their continuing support of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
The Morning Prayer for participants in the National Workshop on Christian Unity was led by Bishop Gregory V. Palmer, United Methodist Church Bishop of the West Ohio Conference.
Part of Tuesday and Wednesday Mornings and part of Tuesday Morning was devoted to Seminars for our participants. Those Seminars are reported upon on a separate page (see link at top of this page).
The Rev. Dr. Karen Westerfield Tucker, an ordained United Methodist minister is Professor of Worship at Boston University School of Theology. She has a PhD in liturgical studies from Notre Dame and is the author or coauthor of a number of books on worship, including The Oxford History of Christian Worship. For the NWCU Keynote she addressed the topic, Vatican II from a Protestant Perspective.
Following the days luncheon, Dr. Jared Wicks, S.J. presented a response to the Keynote Address by Dr. Westerfield Tucker. Dr. Wicks taught for many years at the Gregorian University in Rome, and has recently completed a reworked version of his book, Doing Theology. He currently is a Scholar in Residence at the Pontifical College Josephium, Columbus, OH.
Following the Keynote Address, NWCU attendees took part in a second round of Seminars, which were then followed by events sponsored by the various denominational network groups that hold events in conjunction with the NWCU. Those Network events are open to both Network members and to any other attendees of the NWCU.
In the early evening participants in the NWCU attended a Roman Catholic Mass at St. Joseph’s Cathedral. At the NWCU all participants are urged to attend the Communion services even though all are not free to approach the Lord’s Table and receive Holy Communion.
Wednesday Highlights
As has been a tradition for many years the National Council of Churches in Christ hosted a special breakfast for those attending the National Workshop on Christian Unity. At the breakfast NCCC President brought greeting and asked for prayers as the NCCC goes through the final stages of its reorganization process.
Following the breakfast, participants participated in a Morning Prayer Service led by the Rev. Deniray Mueller, a member of the Diocese of Southern Ohio of the Episcopal Church.
Again, This year we continued to address the impact of Racism upon the life of our churches, this year hearing from the voices of three seminarians, from among the seminaries in the region of our host city, Columbus, Ohio. The seminarians were introduced by the Rev. Dr. Thomas Ferguson, dean of Bexley Hall Seminary in Columbus, OH.
Our Wednesday Evening Eucharistic Service was held at Trinity Episcopal Church, just one block from out Workshop hotel. Again, as was the case of the Roman Catholic Eucharist, all participants were urged to attend, including those who could not receive communion because of the canons of their own church or of the celebrating church.
The service was well attended with a good representation of our faith groups. The homily was delivered by Daniell Hamby, and representatives of all our network groups participated in conducting the service.
The celebrant of the Eucharist was Bishop Thomas Breidenthal. Prior to his election as Bishop of Southern Ohio in 2006, Bishop Breidenthal served as the dean of Religious Life and of the Chapel at Princeton University.
Thursday Highlights
Tuesday morning, participants took part in a breakfast meeting that was sponsored by the four principal Denominational Networks. Following breakfast, Following that breakfast, participants took part in a Morning Prayer Service. The leaders of Thursday Morning Prayer were Rev. Tim Philabaum and Rev. Will Hartfelder – both from the ELCA. We were unable to secure photos from this prayer service.
For our Bible Study, Dr. Barbara Sutton led us on a process of lectio and visio divina using excerpts froom the Saint John’s Bible.The Saint John’s Bible is the first handwritten and illuminated Bible commissioned by a Benedictine Abbey in 500 years. Director of Ministerial Formation and Field Education in the School of Theology/ Seminary at Saint John’s University, Collegeville, MN.
The Closing Address was delivered by Ms. Kathyrn Lohre, director of ecumenical and inter-religious relations for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. a. She is currently serving as president of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, as the first Lutheran and the youngest woman. Previously she served as assistant director of the Pluralism Project at Harvard University, a premier research project on religious diversity in the United States. Her address was titled: Seeing Beyond the Future: The Challenge of Identifying Today’s Ecumenical Opportunities. Following her address the 49th Annual National Workshop partook of their closing luncheon before returning to their places of ministry. and service.
