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Lutheran Episcopal Coordinating Committee monitors growing cooperation
By Terry L. Bowes
2002-154
6/17/2002
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[Episcopal News Service]
The members of the Lutheran-Episcopal Coordinating Commission (LECC) and staff members from the ecumenical offices of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Episcopal Church met June 3-5, 2002 at the Episcopal Church Center in New York City for three days of intense and productive deliberation.
In regard to the by-law exception to ordinations by someone other than a bishop, authorized by the Churchwide Assembly of the ELCA in 2000, the commission was informed that to date there has been only one official request for exception. Currently, that request is under consideration by the synodical bishop in consultation with the presiding bishop of the ELCA.
The LECC received with thanks the report of the diaconal task force, which outlined histories of various forms of the diaconate in the two churches, lifted up differences among these forms (such as training, liturgical versus service roles, and professional diaconate versus non-stipendiary roles), and outlined next steps, including the exploration of possibilities and realities for mission and developing a statement of agreed upon principles. In response, the LECC encourages further discussion of diaconal ministries in the ELCA and the Episcopal Church by the diaconal task force, the network of synodical ecumenical officers, and members of the two churches.
Role of bishops
During the course of the meeting, the LECC heard individual reports from the Reverend Marcia Clark-Johnson, ELCA associate director of synodical relations, from Bishop Donald McCoid, chair of the ELCA Conference of Bishops, and from Bishop Clayton Matthews, director of the Episcopal Church's Office of Pastoral Development, on a proposed joint training program for new ELCA and ECUSA bishops, and continuing education programs for experienced bishops of the two churches. Clark-Johnson, McCoid, and Matthews also shared information regarding separate studies on the role of bishops that have been inaugurated in the two churches.
The LECC affirmed that just as clergy of the two churches are interchangeable, so is membership. Confirmed members transferring from one church body to the other will be received by a rite of reception without the requirement of repeating confirmation.
On the afternoon of the second day of its deliberations, the LECC heard moving presentations on the response ministry of St. Paul's Chapel of Trinity Church, Wall Street, to the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Presenters included the Rev. Frederick Burnham, director of Trinity Institute, and Dr. Courtney Cowart, program associate for Trinity Church's Spiritual Formation Grants Program. In preparation for these presentations, followed by a visit to 'Ground Zero' and St. Paul's Chapel, 12 of the 18 members of the LECC attended a midday 'Peace Mass' at St. Peter's Lutheran Church.
Following a report from Ms. Emily Perrow, director of youth ministry in the Diocese of Connecticut and a member of the LECC, the commission agreed to urge the national youth ministry offices of the ELCA and ECUSA to move toward greater collaboration in planning and sharing regional and national youth events as an expression of common mission by the two churches.
Theological education
On the third day of the meeting, the LECC listened to a presentation by Bishop Stephen Boumann of the ELCA New York Synod, and by the Rev. William Hurst, director of the synod's diaconate program, on the history of the emergence of the synod's distinctive diaconal ministry and its significant role in the synod's strategy for ministry in the New York metropolitan area's Latino American communities.
For its next meeting, scheduled for February 2003 in Austin, Texas, the LECC will focus on emerging patterns of cooperative Lutheran-Episcopal theological education, with a special focus on Latino American ministry formation. There will also be reports on ways in which ecumenical studies are being integrated into the curricula of ELCA and ECUSA seminaries and divinity schools.
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