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Vatican’s welcoming atmosphere signals hope for ecumenical dialogue, says STH invitee
By David J. Craig
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Karen Westerfield Tucker and the archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, in Vatican City on April 24, shortly before the inauguration of Pope Benedict XVI. |
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Karen Westerfield Tucker received word on the morning of April 21 that she was among a select group of non-Catholic religious leaders from around the world invited by the Vatican to participate in the inauguration of Pope Benedict XVI. Soon after touching down at Rome’s Fiumicino International Airport less than 48 hours later, the STH professor of worship and ordained United Methodist minister was given ceremonial honors most typically reserved for heads of state, and delivered to a Rome hotel by Vatican escort.
And then things got exciting.
Tucker, who chairs the Worship and Liturgy Committee of the World Methodist Council, an organization of some 70 denominations in the Wesleyan Methodist tradition, joined about 50 prominent religious leaders in celebrating the papal installation. The only ordained woman in the party, she visited St. Peter’s Basilica, toured the facilities being constructed in St. Peter’s Square to accommodate the next day’s inauguration Mass, and visited the burial site of Pope John Paul II. She also attended a dinner Saturday evening hosted by Cardinal Walter Kasper, head of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity.
“There were people in our delegation from all over the world, representing many Orthodox, Anglican, and other Protestant denominations, as well as the Salvation Army and the Society of Friends, or Quakers,” says Tucker, who has taught at BU since September and has published widely on liturgical studies. “There were language barriers, but everyone made their best effort to show signs of friendship. I sat next to a priest from Georgia at dinner, and we filled one another’s water glass many times.”
Among the most high-profile guests was the archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams. “The fact that the Vatican invited so many non-Catholic religious leaders to the inauguration I believe speaks volumes about how far churches have come in their conversations with one another,” says Tucker, who, like the archbishop of Canterbury and Cardinal Kasper, is a vocal proponent of ecumenism. (She studies the liturgical traditions and hymnody of many denominations, and in fact, graduated from Notre Dame and frequently lectures there.) “The churches still have a long way to go in promoting dialogue, but the fact that we were there as guests and treated equally was amazing.”
Declining the Vatican’s invitation to wear full liturgical robes to Sunday’s Mass, out of sensitivity to the views of some orthodox members of the ecumenical delegation — “I have always preferred gentle diplomacy, which grants more trust,” she says — Tucker was four rows from Pope Benedict XVI when he celebrated the Eucharist in St. Peter’s Square before a crowd estimated by the Vatican at 500,000. The pope’s 35-minute homily, which included several inclusive gestures toward non-Catholic Christians, Jews, and “nonbelievers,” provided further reason for optimism, Tucker says, that the Roman Catholic Church’s “work toward unity” will continue.
“It was clear from the pope’s homily that he understands himself to be a pastor of the people and a listener now,” says Tucker. “That, of course, is different from what his previous job [as the prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith] required, which was maintaining churchly standards. My impression is that, certainly in Boston, there is concern about his track record as the doctrinal enforcer, but I hope that people will give him a chance in his new job.
“One thing I will watch with curiosity is how the pope deals with the shortage of priests,” Tucker continues. “As Catholics understand themselves to take part in the sacrament of Eucharist every week, you need a priest in every parish. It will be interesting to see how that issue unfolds, because it affects the continuation of the Catholic faith as well as the management of the Church.”
29
April 2005
Boston University
Office of University Relations