Allan Buckingham enjoying God's creation
Allan Buckingham enjoying God's creation (2012)

Roman Catholic and United churches agree on marriage

 — Feb. 8, 20138 févr. 2013
Allan Buckingham

The meeting of the Roman Catholic-United Church of Canada dialogue group which I attended in October reaffirmed the report on marriage that was submitted to our sponsoring bodies last spring. I have had the pleasure to be a part of this dialogue for the last 5 years as we discussed the often personal topic of marriage and our churches’ policies regarding marriage. What could have been a very confrontational discussion ended up being a wonderful celebration of the ideals of the institution as well as the rites involved in a wedding. Indeed, our two churches have much in common around marriage.

The recent report highlighted these commonalities, but also explores where our denominations differ on marriage policies. The report tries to explain to each church how the other faithfully reaches the conclusions it does regarding marriage. As a member of the dialogue, I was fascinated to learn about the many historic and current similarities between the two churches’ marriage policies and how some small and gradual changes in theological emphasis resulted in what can seem like large theological differences. It was really quite a joy to get to explore these concepts with my fellow dialogue members.

Along with a celebration of the recently finished report, in October the dialogue started to discuss its new topic of the environment and creation/ecotheology. Our setting at Villa St. Joseph Retreat Centre on the shore of Lake Ontario was a wonderful location to commence these discussions. Some of the sisters in residence there were also able to share with us some of the work they are doing around ecotheology. Among the many items discussed was the historic place of creation theology in our churches, and how this emphasis has been lost recently. One of the goals identified by the dialogue is to help local church members recreate this connection between their faith and the environment/creation.

As such, the next meeting of the Roman Catholic-United Church of Canada dialogue will be held March 7-9 in Pickering and will explore the current science around climate change as well as the historic place and current importance of our beliefs as Christians and our desire to care for creation.

If you would like any more information on any of the items discussed above, or would like to learn more about the dialogue, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Allan Buckingham is a United Church member of the dialogue, a media and technology consultant for churches, and a proud father. He can be reached at Allan [at] ChurchAndTechnology [dot] ca

Posted: Feb. 8, 2013 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=2902
Categories: Communiqué • In this article: Canada, Catholic, Christian unity, dialogue, ecumenism, UCC, United Church of Canada Transmis : 8 févr. 2013 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=2902
Catégorie : Communiqué • Dans cet article : Canada, Catholic, Christian unity, dialogue, ecumenism, UCC, United Church of Canada


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