August 13, 2011
The Most Rev. Metropolitan PHILIP
Self-Ruled Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of NA
P.O. Box 5238
Englewood, NJ 07631-5238
Your Eminence:
Grace and peace to you in this Glorious Feast of the Dormition of our Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary! I trust that all is well with Your Eminence. Christ is in our midst!
From Tuesday, August 9, through Friday, August 12, 2011, three separate meetings were held in Hilliard, Ohio at the Upper Arlington Lutheran Church complex. These meetings were 1) Lutheran CORE (Mobilizing confessing Lutherans for Evangelical Renewal), 2) Theological Conference “Salvation Today” and 3) the NALC (North American Lutheran Church) Convocation.
Attending for our archdiocese as ecumenical guests and observers were the Very Rev. Edward Hughes, Vicar General of our Western Rite Vicariate, his assistant, the Rev. Fr. John Fenton and the Rev. Deacon Anthony Gregg Roeber, Ph.D., professor of Early Modern History and Religious Studies at Penn State University, all of whom are former Lutherans. As chairman of our Department of Inter-Orthodox and Inter-Faith Relations, I was invited to bring official greetings to the NALC Convocation on behalf of our archdiocese and Your Eminence.
We were able to be present for each of the three meetings. Frs. Edward Hughes and John Fenton were able to be present all four days. Deacon Gregg and I arrived Wednesday afternoon and stayed through Friday.
Throughout our stay we were approached individually and collectively by numerous attendees and delegates interested in our presence. We left with numerous names and contact data for those who wanted more information about the Western Rite, the Antiochian House of Studies and transitioning to the Orthodox Church in general. The overall attendance for the NALC convocation was just over eight hundred (800) representing two hundred and fifty (250) parishes. At this time last year they only had fourteen committed parishes for their new denomination.
Among the other ecumenical observers were clergy and members of various continuing Anglican churches. Contact information was passed between us for future times, one of which could be the planned North American Conference of the Fellowship of Ss. Alban & Sergius, with Metropolitan Kallistos Ware, scheduled to be held at St. Vladimir’s Seminary from September 8 - 10, 2011. It would be well if Your Eminence would give your blessing for a representative or two from our Western Rite to be present, if not Frs. Edward Hughes or John Fenton then someone of their choice.
My official greeting and remarks to the NALC were delivered on Thursday evening, a copy of which is attached for your information. In addition I spoke of and presented our recent resolution approved at our convention concerning same sex marriage in the state of New York. Our delegation reported that many individuals took their feet for a standing ovation at my conclusion and slowly all of those present followed suit, although I’m sure many did so reluctantly. Comments that we overheard on Friday morning confirmed that to be the case, wishing that the Orthodox had just brought greetings and best wishes leaving the weightier matters unsaid.
Finally, I am also attaching my expense record for this gathering to be applied to my department budget. Trusting that this report meets with Your Eminence’s approval, I remain
Your servant in Christ,
Very Rev. Olof H. Scott, Chairman
Department of Inter-Orthodox & Inter-Faith Relations
cc:The Rt. Rev. Bishop JOSEPH
The Rt. Rev. Bishop THOMAS
The Very Rev. Edward Hughes
The Rev. Fr. John Fenton
The Rev. Dn. A. Gregg Roeber