The Methodist Church said yesterday it would be responding positively to an invitation from the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, to take part in a dialogue on spirituality today.
Archbishop Martin, who made the invitation at the Methodist conference in Dublin at the weekend, said spirituality would be one in which the "personal and the social" come together to bear witness to the gratuitous love of God.
Dr Martin was the first Catholic archbishop to attend an installation of a president of the Methodist Church in Ireland on Friday, when Rev Dr Brian Fletcher assumed the post. On Saturday, Archbishop Martin became the first Catholic archbishop to address a conference of the Methodist Church in Ireland.
The Church of Ireland was represented by the Bishop of Kilmore, Right Rev Ken Clarke, and the Presbyterian Church in Ireland was represented by former moderator Rev Dr Trevor Morrow.
Archbishop Martin told how, on his return to Ireland last year, he had been disappointed at the level of congregational singing in Roman Catholic churches. He was told, "Irish people don't sing". After hearing how Irish Methodists could sing at the installation of the president, he had to conclude that "representatives of the diocese were not in possession of the full truth".
He had also been struck at that ceremony by the emphasis on a number of common challenges.
Describing Charles Wesley, forerunner of the Methodist Church, as "a fascinating model of new evangelisation", he expressed the hope that Wesley's inspiration could bring people together in service to humankind here and around the world.
Many tributes were paid at the conference yesterday to the Methodist Church's secretary, Rev Edmund Mawhinney, who is retiring.
