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PRESS RELEASE 2025
The second session of the bilateral dialogue between representatives of the Pentecostal Charismatic Churches of North America (PCCNA) and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) met September 24–27, 2025, at Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans, the nation’s only historically Black and Catholic University. The meeting was co-chaired by Rev. Dr. Harold D. Hunter, International Pentecostal Holiness Church liaison to the Greater Christian Community and a member of the PCCNA Christian Unity Commission Steering Committee, and Bishop Peter L. Smith, Auxiliary Bishop of Portland, Oregon.
The theme of the first five-year phase of the dialogue is “Waters That Divide, Waters That Unite.” This year’s session focused on our shared concerns as Pentecostals and Catholics for the well-being of God’s creation. Meeting in New Orleans among the campus community of Xavier University, which was flooded and evacuated in the aftermath of Katrina twenty years ago, gave poignant focus to our concerns.
Presenters at the meeting were as follows:
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Prof. Dr. Jeffrey Lamp, Professor of New Testament at Oral Roberts University, who presented the paper Pentecostals, Climate Change, and the Re-enchantment of Creation
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Rev. Russell McDougall, CSC, Executive Director of the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs at the USCCB, who presented Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’
- Sr. Marianne Farina, CSC, Professor of Philosophy and Theology at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology, who presented the work of the National Catholic-Muslim Dialogue in the US and the action plan it is developing
- Ms. Chloe Noel, who presented the USCCB’s work on environmental justice
The Pentecostal team members were: • Rev. Dr. David Han, Dean, Pentecostal Theological Seminary, Church of God (Cleveland) • Rev. Dr. Martin Mittelstadt, Professor of New Testament, Evangel University, Assemblies of God • Rev. Jennifer Thigpenn, International Church of the Foursquare Gospel • Rev. Dr. Frederick L. Ware, Professor of Theology, Howard University School of Divinity, Church of God in Christ.
The Catholic team members were: Rev. Russell K. McDougall, C.S.C, of the USCCB • Rev. Andrew V. Menke, S.L.D., Executive Director, International Commission on English in the Liturgy • Dr. Kimberly Hope Belcher, Associate Professor (Liturgical Studies), Department of Theology at the University of Notre Dame • Mr. Nathan Smith, Director of Ecumenism, Glenmary Home Missioners.
Xavier University of Louisiana hosted, and the USCCB coordinated this year’s session. Xavier President Dr. Reynold Verret welcomed participants at the Administration Building art gallery and then visited the special exhibit commemorating the twentieth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. As part of their meetings, dialogue members gathered for morning and evening prayer in the Chapel of St. Katharine Drexel, the university’s foundress. The PCCNA will host the next meeting September 23–25, 2026, at the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel headquarters.
The PCCNA represents 40 million Christians through its member denominations and organizations serving in Canada, the United States, and Mexico (www.pccna.org). The USCCB is the assembly of the hierarchy of Catholic bishops who jointly exercise pastoral functions on behalf of the approximately 67 million Catholic faithful of the United States and the U.S. Virgin Islands (www.usccb.org).
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Media Contacts:
Barbara Grey, Executive Director
Pentecostal/Charismatic Churches of North America
Phone: (973) 592-3411,
Email: office@pccna.org
www.pccna.org
Chieko Noguchi
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
(202) 541-3200, media-relations@usccb.org
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