National Workshop on Christian Unity
Equipping Church Leaders in the Quest for Christian Unity
Sponsored by the National Ecumenical Officers Association

NWCU 2010 Highlights

Download the complete 2010 NWCU Brochure

2010 Workshop participants can now download

audio recordings of plenary and seminar sessions

Monday, April 19th

Monday Afternoon Activities

The 2010 National Workshop on Christian Unity began on Monday, April 19th, as participants registered for the Workshop, attended Network meetings and orientations for both new attendees and for various denominational networks. 

In the photo on the right, Sister Lorelei Fuchs, can be seen leading the Orientation for New National Workshop on Christian Unity Participants.

Monday Evening - Opening Worship Service

The evening featured the opening worship service for the National Workshop, at Sacred Heart Catholic Church.  National Workshop participants gathered for a service led by both national and regional leaders from many of the denominations taking part in the event.

The homily for the service was given by the Most Reverend Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop and Primate , the Episcopal Church.  Preaching on the text of Luke 24:36-53. Bishop Schori, who's photo appears on the left, called upon participants to follow where Jesus is leading us in the quest for unity, in a manner that truly makes us "witness of these things."

Among those taking part in the leadership of the service were Archbishop Wilton Gregory (Diocese of Atlanta), Bishop Robert Lynch (Diocese of St. Petersburg), Bishop Timothy Whitaker (Regional Bishop for the Florida Area - United Methodist Church), Bishop Edward Benoway (Bishop, Florida-Bahamas Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America), Bishop Dabney Smith (Southwest Episcopal Diocese), Bishop Charles Leigh (Apostolic Catholic Church), The Rev. Dr. Gerry Tyer (Executive Presbyter of the Presbytery of Tampa), The Rev. Dr. Paige McRight (Executive Presbyter, Presbytery of Central Florida), The Rev. Ted Feilland (President, Florida Fellowship of Community Churches), Presiding Elder Samuel Zakay (Tampa District, African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church), and Mr. Dustin Lemke (Representative, Southeastern Yearly Meeting of Friends). Following the worship service, participants walked to the next block where they took part in a reception at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church.

Tuesday, April 20th

THE GRAYMOOR BREAKFAST

The day began with a Continental Breakfast hosted by the Graymoor Fathers.

This breakfast has become an annual event that enables participant to share table fellowship with one another, while also avoiding the delays associated with eating at the hotel restaurants or coffee shops.  The photo on the right includes a photo of Graymoor Father James Loughran who served as our host for this event.

NWCU KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY ARCHBISHOP WILTON GREGORY

In their first Plenary Session, attendees on Tuesday morning heard the NWCU Keynote Address, which was again sponsored by the Order of St. Lazarus.  This year's Keynote Address was given by Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory, the sixth Archbishop of Atlanta.  He has also served as the President of the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, since 2001..  His address included his overview of the current state of relationships between the Roman Catholic church and the other Christian bodies both here in the United States and around the world.  We anticipate we will be able to put a copy of his address on this web site within the next two weeks.

TUESDAY MORNING SEMINARS

Following the Keynote Address, the participants spent the remainder of the morning taking part in seminars covering a variety of topics.  We are setting up a special page to have descriptions and photos from the seminars.  We hope to have recordings of the seminars available on that page by the end of the month.  Link to Seminar page

TUESDAY NETWORK LUNCHEONS AND AFTERNOON NETWORK EVENTS

The Catholic, Episcopal, Lutheran and United Methodist Networks all conducted luncheon meetings. 

In the photo on the right, Dr. Michael Kinnamon, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches addresses  the luncheon sponsored by the United Methodist Ecumenical and Interreligious Training (UMEIT) network group. 

During the afternoon there was a joint Networks Plenary that was hosted by the United Methodist Network.  The Plenary heard a presentation by Michael Kinnamon and the Rev. Dr. Gwynne Guibord.  They addressed the topic of Christian Witness in an Interreligious world.  Dr. Guibord's photo appears on the left.

EUCHARISTIC SERVICES,

Tuesday evening two Eucharistic Services were held.  Members of CADEIO hosted a Catholic service at the Sacred Heart Church, and a Eucharistic Service was held by the Episcopal Church (at St. Andrews Church) for those denominations who have full or interim communion agreement.

Wednesday, April 21st

NCCC BREAKFAST

Wednesday morning's activities began with a breakfast sponsored by the National Council of Churches.  Like the Graymoor Breakfast, this NCCC breakfast has become a much appreciated opportunity for participants to have time for fellowship over breakfast, to avoid the restaurant lines and delays, and to hear a brief update of the state the NCCC's current life and work.  A brief presentation was made by NCCC General Secretary, Dr. Michael Kinnamon.

Dr. Clare J. Chapman, Deputy General Secretary and Chief Operating Officer for the NCCC, made a brief presentation about the Circle of Names project through which people can recognize women who have inspired others in their own journey of faith.  To learn more about this program and to recognize some woman who has helped to inspire you in your faith journey, click on the image to the right.

WEDNESDAY MORNING BIBLE STUDY

Following the NCCC Breakfast, the NWCU participants took part in a Bible Study led by the Rev. Dr. Bruce Chilton, Bernard Iddings Bell Professor of Religion at Bard College.  In his address entitled, Generation of the Eucharist in the New Testament, he examined the five step process through which the Last Supper developed into the Eucharist. Drawing upon his advanced understanding of the Biblical languages, and of the other languages common in the Holy Land at the time of Christ, he carefully explained how the Biblical account found in the New Testament reflected the cultural and religious understanding of the first century and how that understanding helps us as we seek to be guided by those accounts.  Download and read paper Eucharist and the Mimesis of Sacrifice
by Dr. Chilton on Eucharist

ECUMENICAL RECEPTION: ITS CHALLENGE AND OPPORTUNITY

Longtime friend of the NWCU, the Rev. Dr. William G. Rusch, who is currently teaching classes at the Divinity School, Yale University and New York Theological Seminary presented a careful presentation examining the process of Ecumenical Reception and how it is and is not taking place in our religious communities.  He examined the necessity of moving beyond the processes of Dialogue and Agreement, to the steps necessary if those Agreements are to have an impact upon the life and work of the church.

We hope to have available, in the next few weeks, the text of his remarks, so it can be downloaded and studied by participants.  Check back at this location, which is where that link will appear.

LUNCHEON AND TABLE TALK

At noon on Wednesday, Workshop participants were served lunch in the room where we had heard the two above presentations, and engaged in a process of reflecting upon Bill Rusch's presentation and how ecumenical leaders can work together to further the process of reception in churches and regions in which we serve.  For purposes of that discussion, tables were assigned based upon the zip codes from which we came, and those table assignments were indicated on our name tags.  It gave us an opportunity to do some initial thinking about how we can help to make the process of reception work.

BIBLE STUDY, PART TWO

Following the table discussion of the process of reception, Dr. Bruce Chilton (photo on right) returned to present the second half of his presentation, Generation of the Eucharist in the New Testament. Download and read paper Eucharist and the Mimesis of Sacrifice by Dr. Chilton on Eucharist

NETWORK SEMINARS AND PLENARY MEETING

Following the post luncheon Bible Study, most participants took part in their particular Network functions. 

YOUNG ECUMENISTS - A GROWING INTEREST IN CHRISTIAN UNITY

At this years NWCU, we experienced a growing number of young ecumenists, anxious to learn more about how they can give expression to their own vision of Christian Unity.  They engaged with more experienced members of denominational networks, and spent time sharing knowledge with their own peers.  In the photo on the right a group is gathered to share time together.

Among the participants were three young women from Hastings College in Nebraska.  Unhappy with the state of campus ministry available to them, they went to the administration of the Presbyterian Church (USA) related college, and the school decided to sponsor their participation in the National Workshop on Christian Unity.

Another group present at the workshop is the New Fire movement.  The New Fire gathering is a Christian ecumenical forum for current and future young adult leaders of different communions/denominations and ecumenical initiatives, which establishes a common space for relationship building, ecumenical education and formation, leadership training, sharing of resources and best practices and for strategic planning.

New Fire participants are especially committed to empowering cooperative networks of local, grassroots young adult ecumenical initiatives that can connect to the larger facilitating bodies of the National Council of Churches, Church World Service, World Council of Churches and the World Student Christian Federation.

WEDNESDAY EVENING CULTURAL EVENT: NIGHT AT THE AQUARIUM

A regular feature of the National Workshop on Christian Unity is to set aside one evening as a time when participants can just relax and enjoy some aspect of the community where we are holding the workshop.  Friendships are renewed or deepened.  The 8 am to 9 pm scheduling of meetings and workshops is interrupted so we can just enjoy having a good time, together.

For this years event, many of the workshop participants choose to visit the Florida Aquarium, with participants having the entire aquarium to ourselves.  They visited the exhibits, enjoyed a buffet dinner, and learned about both the deep see underwater life and the life in the freshwater ecosystem that is unique to Florida.

Thursday, April 22nd

THURSDAY MORNING SEMMINARS

In a departure from previous years, instead of having morning seminars on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, this year's workshop had seminars on Tuesday and Thursday (two session on Thursday).  We are setting up a special page to have descriptions and photos from the seminars.  We hope to have recordings of the seminars available on that page by the end of the month.  Link to Seminar page

CLOSING ADDRESS BY DR. THOMAS BEST AND CLOSING LUNCHEON

The closing address of the National Workshop on Christian Unity was given by Dr. Thomas Best.  Dr. Best is the former Director of the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches.  In his address, he called the church to move beyond issues or recognition to mutual accountability. 

Dr. Best agreed to provide a copy of his presentation to this web site.  Look here for a future link that will enable you to download and print out the address.

Following his address, the participants enjoyed a closing meal as they prepared for the return to their various communities and places of ministry.

At the close of the dinner, National Chair, Donald McCord, chair of the National Ecumenical Officers Association, thanked the leaders for this event, the Rev. Don Rooney - National Planning Committee Chair, and the Rev. Russell - Local Planning Committee Chair, for their outstanding efforts in helping this years event succeed.  He then introduced the leadership for next year's event, the Rev. Norman Theiss - Chair of the National Planning Committee and the Rev. Donald Green - Local Planning Committee (Pittsburgh).

NEXT YEAR IN PITTSBURGH, NWCU 2011

Click here to learn more about the NWCU in Pittsburgh -2011