Journal of Ecumenical Studies

The 2022 Annual Meeting of the North American Academy of Ecumenists was held October 7–9, 2022, at the Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. It was conducted in a hybrid mode, with an in-person gathering combined with an option for attendance via Zoom. The staff were very welcoming and provided tours of the Cathedral for in-person attendees. Friday included opening worship, the NAAE Presidential Address by Dr. Elizabeth (Liza) Anderson, the annual membership meeting, and a reception. Sunday included a panel and discussion about local ecumenical initiatives, worship at the Cathedral, and closing reflections.

Most of Saturday was given to the presentations of papers on the conference theme, "Ecumenism and Asceticism," along with morning and evening prayer and an evening banquet. The President's call for papers had resulted in nine responses, one of which was cancelled when its author was unable to attend. Of the eight that were presented, five of the authors were able to produce full essays that are included for publication in this issue of J.E.S.

The idea behind the conference theme is that rapprochement between antagonistic ecclesial communities cannot achieve lasting peace without spiritual work and transformation within the communities involved that sought to reconcile. Research on peace and conflict makes it clear that past histories and traumas cannot just be set aside, for they continue to constrain emotional conditions and the self-understanding of differing communities. Hence, painstaking ecumenical formation, including uprooting corrupt attitudes toward otherness and the rancor of past history, must occur in order that productive ecumenical engagement can take place. [End Page 135]

This conference thus sought to engage questions about the role of asceticism in ecumenical affairs, including, among others, formation for ecumenical engagement, ecumenical spirituality and liturgy, virtue ethics and the theological anthropology of ecumenical engagement, ways that closed epistemologies prohibit authentic ecumenical understanding, monastic settings as venues for ecumenism or as training grounds for ecumenical virtue and praxis, and historical voices from the ascetic tradition that offer insights for contemporary challenges. The schedule was divided into three sessions: Asceticism in Contemporary Ecumenism; Liturgy, Spirituality, and Formation; and Asceticism and Ecumenism: Voices from the Tradition. Included here are two presentations from the first session, one from the second, and two from the third.

The Rev. Diane C. Kessler has served the United Church of Christ from the local to the international levels of intra-Christian and interfaith ecumenism, including more than three decades of leadership of the Massachusetts Council of Churches and as a member of the Joint Working Group between the Roman Catholic Church and the World Council of Churches. Her essay explores insights from the Joint Working Group as it explored the relationship among interiority, intentionality, and action. It also explores prayer and formation as they enable the promotion of Christian unity worldwide. The ecumenical impulse must be conscious, intentional, habitual, and embodied if it is to be fruitful.

Sarah A. Wagner-Wassen, holder of a Juris Canonici Licentiatus from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, has studied in the U.S., Israel, Belgium, Armenia, and the Netherlands and has been active in the Anglican Catholic Church in both the U.K. and the U.S. Her presentation explores modern publications of works from ancient Christian desert monastics, especially Evagrius, and of Eastern Orthodox texts that have influenced Western religious institutes. She examines one contemporary community whose attempts to borrow from these ancient and/or Eastern practices resulted in hampering their members' spiritual formation—thus pointing out the dangers in seeking to recover a shared ascetical heritage. "A healthy retrieval of the shared history of monasticism must not only respect how certain concepts and ideas grew in East and West but must also look past superficial application of rules and structures [in order to develop] ethical agency and the fashioning of the ascetic self." [End Page 136]

In the second session, the Rev. Dr. Kirsten L. Guidero spoke of the asceticism of exchanging saints. An Episcopal priest, she teaches humanities and theology in the honors college of Indiana Wesleyan University, as she seeks in early Christian resources for answers to present-day questions...