United Methodists and Catholics discuss care for God’s creation

Catholic Bishop William Skylstad (left) and United Methodist Bishop Timothy Whitaker, at St Paul's

College in Washington, are co-chairmen of the latest dialogue between the two churches. – UMNS picture.

NEW YORK – For more than 40 years, United Methodists and Roman Catholics in the

United States

have conducted dialogues on topics ranging from public education to Holy Communion.

The topic of the current dialogue, Round 7, combines the religious and the secular: “The Eucharist and Care for God’s Creation.”

Roman Catholic Bishop William Skylstad of Spokane, Washington, and United Methodist Bishop Timothy Whitaker of Lakeland, Florida, are serving as co-chairmen for the new dialogue, which held its first meeting in Washington in December.

The dialogue is facilitated by the United Methodist Commission on Christian Unity and Inter-religious Concerns and the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Environmental concerns have been a topic of conversation among religious leaders around the world, according to Bishop Skylstad. “Stewardship of our environment and ecumenism fit very well together as a project in which we can work together in solidarity and common responsibility,” he said.

“Care for God’s creation has become a central theme in contemporary Christian theology,” the dialogue’s stated rationale said.

“As Methodists and Catholics, we look to our scriptures, our moral teachings, and in a particular way, our worship as important sources for theological reflection on the challenges of environmental responsibility and ecclesial action to address the threats to the global crisis.”

The focus on worship is a new perspective, Bishop Whitaker pointed out. Few people “are looking at Christian responsibility for the natural world in light of Eucharistic worship,” he said. But there is a way to consider the earth “as a sacramental means in which God encounters us”, he added, which calls for an ethical response.

If the desire of Christians to improve the environment is not grounded in such a world view, they are not likely to sustain their stewardship activities or take them far enough. Bishop Whitaker said: “What is really needed is a transformation of people’s consciousness.”

For example, the church has misread the Bible if it believes “the Bible gave us permission to exploit the world”. For the human race to have dominion, he explained, “means to be good stewards” and to care for the world in the same way as God does.

Even the language of the Eucharist has “cosmic dimensions”. A vision of a God whose glory fills heaven and earth “requires us to change our relationship to the world and a lot of our practices”, Bishop Whitaker said.

The dialogues between United Methodists and Roman Catholics in the United States first began in 1966. – United Methodist News Service.