News and Updates

General Minister And President Will Meet With Pope Benedict XVI
April 17, 2008

(Indianapolis, Ind. - DNS) - General Minister and President Sharon E. Watkins will be among three Disciples who will meet with Pope Benedict XVI on Friday, April 18 in New York City.

Watkins was invited to be part of an ecumenical prayer service at St. Joseph Church in Manhattan. Other Disciples clergy joining her include Michael Kinnamon, general secretary of the National Council of Churches, and Suzanne Webb, president of Churches Uniting in Christ and pastor of Union Avenue Christian Church in St. Louis, Mo. About 250 clergy from around the country are expected to be part of the evening prayer service. The theme for the meeting is "Christ, Our Hope for Unity."

"I feel honored to have been invited to this event," commented Watkins. "The Pope is the most recognized Christian leader in the Western world. It is exciting to have the opportunity to hear him speak in person and in the company of so many ecumenical leaders."

The Pope's activities in this country have included a visit on Wednesday with President George Bush in Washington, D.C. and a public Mass on Thursday at the Washington Nationals stadium before a crowd of 46,000 people.

He will arrive in New York on Friday morning. First on his agenda that day will be an address to the United Nations where he will speak to the General Assembly and the world on the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. At 6 p.m. he will speak at the ecumenical meeting.

On Sunday morning, he will visit Ground Zero and meet with some family members of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Later in the day he will preside at a mass in Yankee Stadium. He is expected to leave the country on Sunday evening.