January 29, 2010

CHICAGO – An official Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) delegation of clergy and lay leaders will travel through Europe Feb. 3-17, visiting world Christian church leaders and key staff based in London, Istanbul, Rome and Geneva. The 2010 Ecumenical Journey, led by the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop and president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), is part of the church's declaration of ecumenical commitment, adopted by the 1991 ELCA Churchwide Assembly.

The delegation of 12 official ELCA representatives plans to meet in London with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan D. Williams, leader of the Anglican Communion; in Istanbul, Turkey, with the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, world Orthodox leader; and in Rome, with Pope Benedict XVI, leader of the world's Roman Catholics. The ELCA delegation will meet with other key staff of each church.

The delegation will also meet with leaders of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) in Geneva.

"For me and for the ELCA this journey provides an occasion to strengthen relationships, renew commitments and deepen conversation," said Hanson, who is also the ELCA's chief ecumenical officer. "Our relationships as the ELCA in the United States and as Lutherans in the LWF have given priority to our ongoing dialogues with the Anglicans, the Orthodox and the Roman Catholics. In recent years we have seen the fruits of those dialogues, and this journey seeks to build upon them."

He also noted that the delegation will have an opportunity to deepen appreciation for and engagement with the LWF, the WCC and the WARC.

"Since its beginning the ELCA has maintained a strong commitment to making visible the unity that is God's gift to us in Christ. We've made great progress as evidenced by our six full communion partners," Hanson said.

"Rather than our differences becoming the occasion for distancing ourselves from one another, we believe they call for deeper engagement with one another," Hanson added. "This journey is carried out in that conviction and in our shared commitment to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ and to serve God's mission for the life of the world."

During its history the ELCA has sent other delegations on similar ecumenical journeys. Hanson led such a journey in 2003.

The Rev. Donald J. McCoid, executive, ELCA Ecumenical and Inter-Religious Relations, said the journey makes it possible for ELCA leaders to gain a greater understanding of the global Christian church. "In many respects this ecumenical journey is an apostolic journey – a living out of our faith," he said. "As we have regularly prayed for the peace of the whole world, for the well-being of the church of the God and for the unity of all, we'll have opportunity to have conversation with other Christians in living out the hope that's behind this petition."

McCoid said he expects topics of conversation will likely include promotion of Christian unity; interreligious dialogue; spiritual ecumenism; human sexuality; care for creation and people living in poverty and with disease; peace; leadership changes at the LWF and the WCC; and the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation in 2017. The anniversary is an opportunity "to manifest the unity of Christ's church," McCoid said.

"That's been in our ‘DNA' since the beginning of the Christian church, renewed at the time of the Reformation, he said. "Now we have an opportunity to say how we as members of the ELCA and the Lutheran church are looking at not only an anniversary, but also an opportunity to witness and share."

The ELCA delegation will be in London, Feb. 3-6, where they will meet with members of the local Lutheran church, the archbishop, plus staff of the Anglican Consultative Council and the Church of England.

While in Turkey, Feb. 6-9, the ELCA delegation will travel to Holy Trinity Monastery and Theological School on Halki Island, and meet with the ecumenical patriarch and staff at the Phanar, home of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, in Istanbul.

The ELCA delegation will be in Rome Feb. 9-13. There they will meet with the pope, members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Rome and Italy, visit the Community of Sant'Egidio and St. Peter's Basilica, and meet with key Vatican leaders for ecumenism, interreligious dialogue, leadership and faith issues.

Each person in the delegation is providing for his or her own travel and lodging expenses. In addition to Hanson and McCoid, official ELCA representatives on the journey are: the Rev. Michael L. Burk, bishop, ELCA Southeastern Iowa Synod, Iowa City; Mitzi J. Budde, head librarian and professor, Virginia Theological Seminary, Alexandria, Va.; the Rev. Claire S. Burkat, bishop, ELCA Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod, Philadelphia; Deborah L. Chenoweth, Hood River, Ore., ELCA Church Council member; the Rev. Robert D. Hofstad, bishop, ELCA Southwestern Washington Synod, Tacoma; the Rev. Callon W. Holloway, Jr., bishop, ELCA Southern Ohio Synod, Columbus; the Rev. Susan Langhauser, Olathe, Kan., ELCA Church Council member; the Rev. Steven P. Loy, Las Cruces, N.M., ELCA Church Council member; Dr. Rocky Piro, Seattle, president, Lutheran Ecumenical Representatives Network; and Myrna J. Sheie, executive for governance and institutional relations, ELCA Office of the Presiding Bishop.

ELCA News Service