A keynote address by Br. Jeffrey Gros, FSC, to the 2011 National Workshop on Christian Unity last May has recently come to our attention. In it he called attention to the use of footwashing at a historic service of repentance and reconciliation, in which representatives of the Lutheran World Federation confessed 16th-century persecution of Anabaptists as a sin. This “icon” should serve as a model for planning similar commemorations as Christians around the world mark the 500-year anniversary of the Protestant Reformation in 2017, he said.
For a decade, Br. Gros served as Director of Faith and Order for the National Council of Churches. Then for 14 years he served as Associate Director of the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Gros is currently distinguished professor of Ecumenism and Historical Theology at Memphis Theological Seminary, and Academic Dean on the Institute for Catholic Ecumenical Leadership. He attended the first Bridgefolk conference at Saint John’s Abbey in 2002.
Bro. Gros’s keynote address is available at http://www.nwcu.org/Documents/NWCU-2011-JeffGros.pdf.
Bro. Gros also highlighted the significance of the Lutheran-Mennonite ritual of reconciliation in Augustana Chapel at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago on Wednesday, January 18, 2012. Click here to read.