Observer delegates representing the World Council of Churches and 10 separate Christian denominations have been designated to attend the forthcoming ecumenical council, the Secretariat for Christian Unity announced.
The secretariat revealed the names of a score of non-Roman Catholics who have announced acceptance of invitations to the council (Sept. 5). A spokesman for the secretariat said that the number of acceptances would undoubtedly grow as the Oct. 11 opening date of the council approached.
One delegate observer for the World Council of Churches will be Pastor Lukas Vischer, of the Reformed Church of Switzerland. A second observer was still to be named. Pastor Vischer headed a 10-member World Council delegation which went to the Soviet Union in August for theological talks with Russian Orthodox churchmen.
Observer delegates for the Anglican Communion will be Bishop John R. H. Moorman of Ripon, England; the Rev. Frederick C. Grant of New York, former president of the Protestant Episcopal Church’s Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, Evanston, Ill., and the Ven. Charles de Soysa, Anglican Archdeacon of Colombo, Ceylon.
For the Lutheran World Federation, the observer delegates will be Dr. Kristin E. Skydsgaard, professor of systematic theology at the University of Copenhagen, and Dr. George Lindbeck, who is on leave from the Yale Divinity School, New Haven, Conn., where he teaches the history of theology.
For the World Presbyterian Alliance: Pastor Herbert Roux of the Reformed Church of France; the Rev. Douglas W. D. Shaw, Edinburgh, pastor of the Church of Scotland; and Prof. James H. Nichols, of the Princeton (N.J.) Theological Seminary.
For the World Convention of Churches of Christ (Disciples): The Rev. Jesse M. Bader, New York, general secretary of the convention.
For the Friends World Committee (Quakers): Dr. Richard Ullmann, lecturer at Woodbrook College, Birmingham, England.
For the International Congregational Council: The Rev. Dr. Douglas Horton, Cambridge, Mass., former dean of the Harvard Divinity School. A second observer was still to be named.
For the World Methodist Council: Bishop Fred Pierce Corson of Philadelphia, president of the council; the Rev. Dr. Harold Roberts, former president of the Methodist Conference of Great Britain and now head of Richmond Theological Seminary, London, and the Rev. Dr. Albert C. Outler, Dallas, Tex., professor of theology at Southern Methodist University.
For the Old Catholic Church (Union of Utrecht): Canon Peter John Maan of the Amersfoort Seminary in the Netherlands.
For the Coptic Church of Egypt: Father Youanna Girgis, inspector of the United Arab Republic’s Ministry of Public Instruction, and Dr. Mikhail Tadros, counselor of the Egyptian Court of Appeals.
For the Syrian Jacobite Church: The Very Rev. Ramban Zakka B. Iwas and Father Paul Verghese of South India, an associate general secretary of the World Council of Churches in Geneva.
From Council Daybook: Vatican II, Sessions 1 and 2, Floyd Anderson, ed. © 1965 by The National Catholic Welfare Conference, Inc. Used by permission of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the successor organization to the NCWC. All rights reserved.