From Vatican Radio:
Pope Francis said on Thursday that Catholics and Methodists have much to learn from one another as they work together in loving service to the world. His words came in an audience with leaders of the World Methodist Council, the Methodist Council of Europe and the Methodist Church in Britain who here for the opening of a new ecumenical center in Rome.
“If we cannot as yet think alike in all things, at least we may love alike.” Those words were written by John Wesley, one of the founders of the Methodist movement, in his ‘Letter to a Roman Catholic’ in the mid-18th century. Wesley also stressed that Catholics and Methodists are called “to help each other in whatever…leads to the Kingdom.”
Read the full story here.
Sed contra: Can/will Catholics learn to sing hymns SATB from their pews?
@Karl Liam Saur:
My sentiment exactly! I actually thought that when I posted.
awr
@Anthony Ruff, OSB:
LOL. Btw, O/T, but funny – an image that keeps coming to mind is the experience of singing Sacred Harp hymns (while big among Primitive Baptists, it was far from alien in Methodist revivals too), and then, lo, I discovered the Sacred Harp tradition has a following in…Wales. You might enjoy this brief detour to behold:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sxW7yTu53M
@Karl Liam Saur:
Who knew? Thanks for the link, KLS.
awr
This is wonderful. I’ve sent it to my Methodist friends, who are likewise edified!
Despite the infrequent attention that it’s received, the Methodist-Catholic dialogue has been among the most fruitful of the bilateral dialogues that emerged after Vatican II. And several involved in that dialogue have described it as similar to how the relationship between grandparents and grandchildren are often better than that between parents and children. A history of direct confrontation and mutual hurt is lacking, so each side may just enjoy each other’s company without having to work through so much emotional baggage.
I’ll also add that in the preface to his biography of John Wesley (OUP, 1964, p. iv), Methodist historian Albert Outler coined the term “evangelical catholicism” (little-c) to describe JW’s “distinctive doctrinal perspective.”