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  • Figel Address on Ecumenical Dialogue

    This annual address focuses on contemporary issues in ecumenism and is sponsored by the devoted layman-ecumenist Jack Figel. It  includes the annual Ecumenism Award of the Consortium and an ecumenical prayer service. View previous years’ event videos or read more by clicking the year: 2024 | 2023| 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012

    2024: Can We “See” Christ In One Another And One Another in Christ? The Role of Experience on the Way of “Visible” Unity

    In our upcoming February 21, 2024 Figel Address on Ecumenical Dialogue, our Consortium Ecumenism Award recipient, Rev. Dr. Larry Miller, retired former General Secretary of the Mennonite World Conference, will consider this question by drawing on responses to the Faith and Order Commission’s text “The Church: Towards a Common Vision,” conversations in the annual meeting of the Conference of Secretaries of Christian World Communions, encounters in the life of the Global Christian Forum, and the results of the international Lutheran-Mennonite reconciliation process.

    Learn more and RSVP here.


    2023: Toward an Ecumenical Outlook: Reviving Foundational Principles of Ecumenism

    Our February 23, 2023 event at The Catholic University of America featured Archdeacon John Chryssavgis, an Orthodox Christian theologian who serves as advisor to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew on environmental issues. He is a clergyman of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. A Prayer Service for Christian Unity was planned and lead by the WTC Student Board, with preacher Rev. Yaa Addison of Virginia Theological Seminary and music by student scholars from the Dominican House of Studies.

    Ecumenical Prayer Service for Christian Unity

    Figel Address


    2022: The Hope of Pan-African Peoples and the Contradiction of Visible Unity Deferred: “Ubuntu” as a Vision for Christian Unity

    Rev. Dr. Angelique Walker-Smith, Senior Associate for Pan-African and Orthodox Faith Engagement at Bread for the World received the Consortium Ecumenism Award in 2022 and offered the Figel address. She critically examined the contradictions in the current vision of Unity in the Ecumenical movement, from the perspective of churches and ecclesial communities of Africa and African descent from a Pan-African lens. She noted how the African value of “Ubuntu” (‘I Am Because We Are’) is a timely approach for the future of Ecumenism. Respondent: Dr. Herman Browne of the Episcopal Church of Liberia. The online event featured a Prayer Service for Christian Unity, the lecture, and a response with a question and answer session.

    Ecumenical Prayer Service for Christian Unity

    Figel Address

    Response & Q/A

     

    2021: Ecumenism: Are We Moving Toward Full Communion?

    Fr. John Crossin, OSFS was the recipient of the Consortium Ecumenism Award for 2021. He offered the year’s Figel address on this central effort of the ecumenical movement, following the annual Prayer Service for Christian Unity.

    Ecumenical Prayer Service for Christian Unity

    Address by Fr. Crossin

    Response & Discussion Following Address

     

    2020: The Eucharist in Ecumenical Dialogue

    Msgr. Paul McPartlan of The Catholic University of America offered this year’s address on a long-standing ecumenical issue.

     

    2019: Communing with God and One Another: A Theological Apologia for Lived Ecumenism

    Dr. Mitzi Budde, former President of the North American Association of Ecumenists, Lutheran Deacon, and Professor and Librarian at Virginia Theological Seminary offer the Figel Address this year.

     

    2018: The Healing of Memory: Trauma and Truth-telling in Lutheran-Mennonite Dialogue

    In 2018, Rev. Dr. Timothy J. Wengert, emeritus Ministerium of Pennsylvania Professor of Reformation History and the Lutheran Confessions at The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (now United Lutheran Seminary), addressed this timely topic, together with John D. Roth, Professor of history at Goshen College.

     

    2017: What Divides, What Unites? Shifting Perceptions in Ecumenical Relations

    Our 2017 Figel Address was offered by Rev. Dr. John Erickson, Professor Emeritus and former Dean of St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary at the Ukrainian Catholic National Shrine of the Holy Family in Washington, D.C.

     

    2016: The Reformation and Contemporary Ecclesial Divisions

    The Ecumenism Award was given to Dr. Joseph Small, former director of the Office of Theology and Worship of the PCUSA,  and now with the Center for Catholic and Evangelical Theology. His address was entitled:  The Body Lies Bleeding: The Reformation and Contemporary Ecclesial Divisions.

    Please note that video for this event is not available.

     

    2015: Vatican II’s Decree on Ecumenism

    In 2015, the Consortium presented the Ecumenism Award to Dr. John Ford, professor at the Catholic University of America.  His address was entitled:  “Vatican II’s Decree on Ecumenism at Age Fifty: Exhausted Inheritance or Living Legacy?”  This address was later published in Ecumenical Review.

     

    2014: On Being Catholic

    The recipient of the 2014 Ecumenism Award, Dr.Justo Gonzalez, offered his presentation of the Figel Address, “On Being Catholic,.” Dr. Gonzalez is a renowned historical theologian and a founder of the Association of Hispanic Theological Education. The event was held at Wesley Theological Seminary.

     

    2013: Creative Imagination and Ecumenism

    February 4, 2013:  Dr. Mel Robeck, “Creative Imagination and Ecumenism:  Implications of Changing Demographics”  at Catholic University of America, Caldwell Hall.

    Download Dr. Robeck’s 2013 Figel Address

     

    2012: A Dialogue of Transformation

    Dr. Margaret O’Gara, of blessed memory. We are grateful for Margaret sharing one of her final public addresses with us. “A Dialogue of Transformation.”
    Download Dr. O’Gara’s Figel Address