Card. Walter Kasper, president of the Papal Council for the Promotion of the Unity of Christians, will chair a workshop about ecumenism, jointly organised by his Council, the Office for ecumenical and inter-religious affairs of the Federation of the Bishops Conferences of Africa and the Bishops Conference of Korea. The workshop is due in Seoul from July 17th to 21st 2006. The purpose of the meeting, which will be named "The search for the unity of Christians: how far have we gone”, is "to give the Bishops of Asia and other ecumenical operators a chance to reflect on the state of the ecumenical relations in the Asian countries and to develop effective pastoral approaches, especially about the problem of Pentecostalism". The dates of the workshop have been selected so that they would coincide with the World Methodist Conference, which is due from July 20th to 24th. The Conference is actually expected to join the joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, which was signed in 1999 by the Catholic Church and the World Lutheran Federation. The deed under which the Declaration will be extended to Methodism will take place during a solemn celebration of God’s Word, in the presence of card. Walter Kasper and Rev. Ismael Noko, Secretary General of the World Lutheran Federation. In addition, the Council is in the process of organising a workshop, which is due to take place in the Philippines in February 2007.
