Back to Exponent Menu Printer Friendly Page   LOCAL FEATURES Friday, October 11, 2002 Lutheran/Catholic covenant event draws 140 to Walsh Participants report: Progress has been made, friendships deepened By Lou Jacquet NORTH CANTON – Catholics from the Diocese of Youngstown and Lutherans from across northeastern Ohio deepened their growing friendship in faith during a joyous five-hour “Lutheran/Catholic Covenant Celebration 2002” Sept. 29 in the David Campus Center at Walsh University here. The day brought together 140 participants for an afternoon of shared reflection, small group discussion, and prayer aimed at assessing how the historic covenant between the two faith groups, signed at St. Columba Cathedral in 2000, has deepened in the interim through prayer, study and action. Bishop Thomas J. Tobin and Bishop Marcus Miller of the Northeastern Ohio Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, who signed the historic covenant, were on hand to offer their reflections to those gathered, after which members of both denominations who are involved in joint efforts between Lutheran and Catholic congregations shared examples of real progress at the grass-roots level. The autumn sun shone through the high glass windows of the newly-built atrium as Notre Dame Sister M. Brendon Zajac, executive director of the diocesan department of Pastoral and Educational Services and co-convener of the event, opened the proceedings with a short reflection on the covenant signing in 2000. She reminded those present that, on that prior occasion, Bishop Miller had said the signing was “one step on the journey to deeper unity,” but not the whole journey. Bishop Tobin had spoken of wondering what could be accomplished at the concrete level. “Today, two years later, we gather again to mark some of the steps on this covenant journey, steps that we have taken together,” Sister Brendon said. “And we gather to ask, ‘What else can we do in the name of our shared partnership?’” The answer, as the various speakers who came to the podium in the hours to come would demonstrate, was both encouraging and plentiful. In his remarks, Bishop Tobin recalled that “dialogue between churches has not always been quite so friendly as it is today.” He told the story of Father Demetrius Gallitzin, pioneering priest in Pennsylvania in the early 1800s, who did his mission work in an era when Catholics and Protestants held a far more vocal and negative spirit toward one another. “The rhetoric of that day was a little bit more direct than some of the rhetoric we used today,” he acknowledged. But even then, there was civility between the faith groups and a call to disagree with doctrine rather than with a person. “We have begun a pilgrimage together,” he told those present, “a sacred journey in search of the divine.” It is a pilgrimage marked by purpose, patience, and prayer, he said. The purpose is clear: to increase unity in the church of Jesus Christ, so that the world will know who Christians are and what they stand for. “Our identity is as disciples of Christ,” he said. “The question is, does the world recognize us together as disciples of Christ. One way that we do that is by increasing our unity.” The shared journey requires patience, Bishop Tobin added, “because things can go wrong…bad things can happen. We might have setbacks, we might have disagreements, we might have some problems. But that is part of the journeying together. That is why in our journey we need wisdom and time and courage and patience.” The third essential is prayer, he said. “From a human perspective, we need to do our very best to promote unity, and we do that in our study and in our action and our prayer together. But this unity we search for is ultimately the work of God’s Holy Spirit.” Bishop Miller then took the podium and discussed how participants in the Lutheran/Catholic Covenant need to realize that what has been accomplished here is “groundbreaking and important.” When he tells others at his Conference of Bishops about the ecumenical progress being made here, he said, “people really begin to pay attention.” For that reason, he explained, it is important that the work of the commission be told everywhere. “To begin to talk about how the covenant is being implemented is an incredibly important endeavor,” he stressed. “… Other places will learn from us, and other places will begin to copy us…I am proud of what we have done; I am proud to tell people the good news of what is going on here.” Bishop Miller noted that two levels of ecumenism are at work in this process: the theological work of the various commissions that deal on an official level, such as with the Vatican, and the personal relationships that develop between pastors and between folks in the pews. Pastors who “lunch together, laugh together and discover each other…give permission for the laity and the bishops to grow closer to each other.” Saying that “it is a privilege for me to count Thomas Tobin a friend,” Bishop Miller said personal friendships between participants of both faiths “further the ecumenical agenda.” In telling a story about a visit to Ground Zero in New York City this past Easter, Bishop Miller recalled that a local Lutheran pastor there had responded to a question about how he could endure the suffering that he had seen with the remark, “You need to know that I was baptized for this job.” In the same spirit, Bishop Miller told the participants at Walsh, “I want to tell you that I think you were baptized to be here today. The unity of the Church is not a negotiable…it is something for which we were all baptized…to begin the breakdown of barriers that separate us, to begin to learn about each other in groups and to listen to each other and to speak to each other.” “This is the mission of the church,” he concluded. “And I am glad to be a part of it. And I am glad to be the bishop of this Synod when this relationship with the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown comes to flower.” Following the two bishops’ remarks, those present gave examples of concrete cooperation that has resulted between the two denominations in Warren, Conneaut and Canton projects. The Rev. John Mann, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in downtown Canton, made the point that “those who come to us pose problems none of our congregations can solve alone, but working together we can begin to scratch the surface.” Following small-group discussions and dinner, the gathering concluded with an Evening Prayer service in the atrium. Members of the two church traditions brought water to mix into a common bowl, symbolizing their joint efforts at Christian unity. The service included a renewal of baptismal promises, a litany, hymns, the Lord’s Prayer, and a homily by Bishop Miller. Reflecting on the event afterward, Bishop Tobin told the Exponent he thought the day was “a very successful endeavor” which had moved the covenant process along. “What we did [at Walsh] was a beautiful expression of that continuation,” he said. “It was encouraging to me to hear what is happening in some of our parishes in the diocese regarding the relationships betweens Lutherans and Catholics. That is where the real activity, the most effective activity, takes place. The friendships made at the local level are so important. It is not just the study of the doctrine or the prayer services, or the programming of ministries, but the personal, interactive friendships that is ecumenism at its best. We can tear down some of the walls. While we work on these other issues, real friendships are being formed. I think Christ would be pleased by that.”   Back to Exponent Menu Printer Friendly Page   Other Articles of 2002   Christmas letter from El Salvador missions thanks diocesan Catholics   Bishop shares views, discussion with Central students   ETC slates Christmas specials throughout the season   My Favorite Christmas Memories   Guidelines on religious ed homeschooling are issued   Local Catholic radio station targets Feb. 1 date   HMs end 98-years of service to Salem St. Paul Parish   Learn ‘language’ of young, youth meet speaker urges   Bishop Tobin: Meeting in D.C. on norms was ‘anxious, tense, difficult’   Priests must ask one another the tough questions, speaker says   Catholic death and funeral rites   Deacons mark 25th with Mass, dinner, memories   Diocesan Ministry Convocation Speaker: Global solidarity, not globalization, should be aim   Jusseaume inaugurated as sixth Walsh president   Diaconate marks 25th anniversary with Oct. 27 fete   New norms sent to priests, deacons on Communion under both kinds   Ashtabula parishes are ‘one Catholic community’   Jusseaume to become Walsh’s sixth president   Charismatic speaker: ‘Church being tested in faithfulness’   Lutheran/Catholic covenant event draws 140 to Walsh   Canton St. Joseph Parish observes centennial celebration   HMHP CEO Michael Rowan   Stewardship speaker: It’s about gratitude and thanking God first   Imagination is key to resolving crisis, priests told   War with Iraq? Expo readers opposed by 81-19%   Newspaper columns didn’t give complete story, official says   Diocesan Ministry Convocation set Oct. 26 at YSU’s Kilcawley   New year brings new faculty, changes at diocesan high schools   Mont St. Michel, Avignon’s papal palace are treasures   Preparing for the priesthood   Entering well-earned retirement, Sr. Marcella’s not slowing down   Warren St. Mary observes 100th year for church building   Lay Ministry Formation program attracting new audience   The cathedrals of France: Monuments of faith in stone   Executive summary of the ad hoc commission on athletics in diocesan high schools   ‘No widespread abuse’ found   Milburn leaving pro-life post to pursue grad studies   Return to France yields history, memories, surprises   Two new members appointed for Diocesan Finance Council   Former SS. C&M school razed, but memories remain   Pastor, 80, keeps busy with ‘lots of interests’   Ravenna IC boasts 5 high school valedictorians for ‘02   Humility Sister Sandy Pedone to profess perpetual vows July 21   NRLC convention filled with good news   ‘Capture the Romance’ is theme for NFP Week   Question of moral evil discussed at Walsh symposium   Notre Dame Sisters will celebrate jubilees July 14   ‘A great lady’ retires   Statement of Bishop Tobin on the meeting of the U. S. Conference   Haladej, Celuch ordained to priesthood, diaconate in Slovakia   Bishop plans implementation of norms on sexual abuse   Kevin McCaffrey, Robert Miller are newest priests   Theologian: ‘Behave toward others as though God were there’   Fr. 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