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News archive for 2025

Archives d'actualités pour 2025

Jubilee 2025: Turn Debt into Hope campaign launch webinar to feature Indigenous and Global South voices, Canadian faith leaders.

What: a group of Christian organizations, led by KAIROS Canada, are coordinating Canadian participation in Jubilee 2025, a global movement to end the mounting debt crisis. The Launch Webinar: Jubilee 2025 – Turn Debt into Hope will kick off Canadians’ participation in signing the Jubilee petition and feature insights from Indigenous and Global South voices, as well as from Canadian faith advocacy leaders. The event will feature simultaneous French translation.

Partner organizers include: Citizens for Public Justice, Development and Peace – Caritas Canada, the Office of Religious Congregations for Integral Ecology and The Canadian Council of Churches.

Where: online, via Zoom. For more information and to register, visit the Launch Webinar: Jubilee 2025 – Turn Debt into Hope event page.
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Posted: Feb. 6, 2025 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=14518
Categories: NationTalkIn this article: Canadian Council of Churches, Caritas Internationalis, Citizens for Public Justice, Development and Peace - Caritas Canada, Jubilee 2025, KAIROS Canada, third world debt
Transmis : 6 févr. 2025 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=14518
Catégorie : NationTalkDans cet article : Canadian Council of Churches, Caritas Internationalis, Citizens for Public Justice, Development and Peace - Caritas Canada, Jubilee 2025, KAIROS Canada, third world debt

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay has described the proposal of US President Trump as “tantamount to proposing full-scale ethnic cleansing and neo-colonization of the homeland of the 2 million Palestinians of Gaza.”

Pillay noted that the proposal violates every applicable principle of international humanitarian and human rights law, flouts decades of efforts by the international community – including by the USA – for a just and sustainable peace for the peoples of the region, and would if implemented constitute multiple international crimes of the most serious kind. “The standing of the United States of America as a responsible member of the international community has been gravely diminished by the proposal itself, not to speak of any actual implementation thereof,” Pillay said. 

In a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on 4 February, President Trump said the United States “will take over” the Gaza Strip — possibly with the help of American troops — while the Palestinians who live there should leave. “The US will take over the Gaza Strip and we will do a job with it too,” said President Trump. “We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site, level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings,” he said, describing his vision for the area as a new “Riviera.”
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Posted: Feb. 5, 2025 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=14511
Categories: WCC NewsIn this article: Donald Trump, Gaza, Israel, Middle East, Palestine, peace, USA
Transmis : 5 févr. 2025 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=14511
Catégorie : WCC NewsDans cet article : Donald Trump, Gaza, Israel, Middle East, Palestine, peace, USA

Canada must urgently withdraw from the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) given the dire situation facing refugees in the United States, the Canadian Council for Refugees and Amnesty International Canada said today.

The Safe Third Country Agreement between Canada and the United States bars most people crossing into Canada via the United States from seeking refugee protection in Canada. Under the agreement – which is premised on the notion that both countries reliably respect people’s right to seek asylum – people entering Canada via the U.S. to make a refugee claim here are usually turned back at the border.

“President Trump’s extreme anti-immigrant and anti-asylum orders are designed to instill fear and make the U.S dangerously more unsafe for those seeking protection,” said Ketty Nivyabandi, Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada’s English-speaking section. “Canada’s assertion that the United States remains a safe country for refugees under the Trump administration is a cruel irony to those fleeing persecution today. It must be urgently rescinded, and tariffs threats must not blur the plight of those at immediate risk.”
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Posted: Feb. 4, 2025 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=14505
Categories: News, OpinionIn this article: Amnesty International, Canadian Council of Churches, Canadian Council of Refugees, migration, refugees, safe third-country agreement
Transmis : 4 févr. 2025 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=14505
Catégorie : News, OpinionDans cet article : Amnesty International, Canadian Council of Churches, Canadian Council of Refugees, migration, refugees, safe third-country agreement

“A permanent ceasefire would cease hostilities, release all remaining hostages, liberate thousands of Palestinian prisoners detained without cause or charge, ensure continuing and increasing humanitarian aid in all forms — medical, food and psychological — and result in the withdrawal of occupying forces,” write Anglican, Lutheran, Presbyterian and United Church leaders.
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Posted: Feb. 4, 2025 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=14513
Categories: News, OpinionIn this article: Canada, church leaders, Gaza, Israel, Middle East, Palestine, peace
Transmis : 4 févr. 2025 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=14513
Catégorie : News, OpinionDans cet article : Canada, church leaders, Gaza, Israel, Middle East, Palestine, peace

The late Fr. Bernard de Margerie was remembered during the 2025 De Margerie Series for Christian Reconciliation and Unity — the 12th year of the series and the first to be held since his death in March 2024.

“We continue this series in his memory, and, with his encouragement, to continue to be agents of Christian reconciliation and unity,” said Nicholas Jesson, who helped establish the series in 2012 while serving as ecumenical officer for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon, and who now serves in Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations for the Archdiocese of Regina.

“No doubt Fr. Bernard is listening tonight, and joining us in prayer that all may be one in Christ so that the world may believe (John 17:21),” said Jesson in a poignant introduction at the start of the 2025 series Jan. 22 in Saskatoon.
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Posted: Jan. 24, 2025 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=14494
Categories: NewsIn this article: De Margerie Series, lectures, Nicaea 2025, Prairie Centre for Ecumenism, Sandra Beardsall
Transmis : 24 janv. 2025 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=14494
Catégorie : NewsDans cet article : De Margerie Series, lectures, Nicaea 2025, Prairie Centre for Ecumenism, Sandra Beardsall

Pope Francis has named Indian Cardinal George J. Koovakad to be the new prefect of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue.

The 51-year-old, who received his red hat from the pope in December, also will continue to be responsible for organizing papal trips abroad, Vatican News reported Jan. 24, the day his appointment was announced.

The dicastery is responsible for dialogue with Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs and members of other world religions.

“The Dicastery works to ensure that dialogue with the followers of other religions takes place in an appropriate way, with an attitude of listening, esteem and respect,” according to the apostolic constitution governing the Roman Curia.
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Posted: Jan. 24, 2025 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=14484
Categories: CNSIn this article: Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, George Koovakad
Transmis : 24 janv. 2025 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=14484
Catégorie : CNSDans cet article : Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, George Koovakad

Fond memories of early-morning worship services at different Saskatoon churches during the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity were shared at a recent 40th anniversary celebration for the Prairie Centre for Ecumenism, founded in Saskatoon in 1984.

At the 40th anniversary celebration Nov. 22, 2024, Prairie Centre for Ecumenism Board Chair Mary Nordick pointed to the early-morning gatherings on cold and dark prairie mornings in January as times filled with the warmth of fellowship and the joy of re-connecting with friends from other Christian traditions.

Rev. Dr. Sandra Beardsall – a United Church minister and professor emeritus of Church History and Ecumenics who has been involved in the Prairie Centre for Ecumenism (PCE) in various ways over the past 25 years — also shared memories of those early morning gatherings.

“I think those will stay with me all my life,” she said. “I would get up and say ‘what am I doing? It is minus 30!’ And then there would be this beautiful prayer service, and breakfast, and friends … there is something so precious about that praying together early, early in the morning.”
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Posted: Jan. 21, 2025 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=14482
Categories: NewsIn this article: ecumenical centre, ecumenical education, local ecumenism, Prairie Centre for Ecumenism
Transmis : 21 janv. 2025 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=14482
Catégorie : NewsDans cet article : ecumenical centre, ecumenical education, local ecumenism, Prairie Centre for Ecumenism

The fact that Anglicans and Catholics are not able to receive the Eucharist together yet is a matter of sadness,” the Bishop of Ossory Niall Coll said at the start of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

In his homily at an Anglican Eucharist in St Canice’s Cathedral, Kilkenny last weekend, Bishop Coll said the Church of Ireland liturgy, as well as his attendance at a meeting of the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission last year, were the “most moving experiences” of spiritual communion for him.

He told the congregation he hoped they would be “a further impetus to continue our ecumenical journey together so that we might one day break bread together around the same altar”.
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Posted: Jan. 21, 2025 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=14499
Categories: TabletIn this article: Ireland, WPCU
Transmis : 21 janv. 2025 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=14499
Catégorie : TabletDans cet article : Ireland, WPCU

While a new perspective in the goal of Christian unity that embraces diversity has emerged in recent years, more work is needed to include the burgeoning non-denominational Churches.

Sceptics often ask whether a century of ecumenical activity has brought Christians any closer to the goal of full visible unity. But in recent years the traditional goal of ecumenism has been reframed. What is now hoped for might be better described as “full communion in continuing real diversity”.

This new horizon has come about through multiple experiences of what the theologians involved in ecumenical work call “transformative ecclesial learning”. This is the modus operandi of “receptive ecumenism” – another technical term for an initiative conceived more than 20 years ago by Paul D. Murray of the University of Durham and developed with colleagues around the world. Its starting point for each tradition, institution and person is to ask, “What can we learn, or receive, with integrity from our various others in order to facilitate our own growth together into deepened communion?” Focused initially on establishing a new approach for the Roman Catholic Church in its ecumenical relationships, receptive ecumenism has evolved in a host of Christian denominations as well as in various countries and cultures around the world.
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Posted: Jan. 17, 2025 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=14501
Categories: TabletIn this article: receptive ecumenism
Transmis : 17 janv. 2025 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=14501
Catégorie : TabletDans cet article : receptive ecumenism

The resignation of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as Liberal Party leader and the prorogation of Parliament may have postponed a non-confidence vote and an immediate election, but has not averted the risk of certain organizations losing their charitable status on the basis of religious belief or disagreement with government policy, say experts speaking on behalf of stakeholders.

The finance committee of the House of Commons has tabled a report which, if enshrined in law, could destabilize the entire charitable sector, according to legal experts of two major organizations.

The controversial recommendations from the committee are:

  • Anti-abortion organizations should no longer be accorded charitable status;
  • The Income Tax Act should be amended to provide a definition of a charity which would remove the privileged status of “advancement of religion” as a charitable purpose.

“The issue is an important one,” Deina Warren, director of legal affairs with the Canadian Centre for Christian Charities (CCCC), told The Catholic Register. “The recommendation has been formally made by a House Committee and ought to be officially retracted, and advancing of religion as a charitable purpose should be positively affirmed by the government.”
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Posted: Jan. 17, 2025 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=14469
Categories: Catholic RegisterIn this article: Charitable status, Parliament of Canada
Transmis : 17 janv. 2025 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=14469
Catégorie : Catholic RegisterDans cet article : Charitable status, Parliament of Canada

When Jesus comes to Mary and Martha in Bethany after the death of Lazarus, he says to Martha “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” And then he asks her, “Do you believe this?” Martha responds, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world” (John 11:25-27). This exchange prepares us for the miracle of the raising of Lazarus: one who believed, yet even though he died, he lived. Like Lazarus, we who believe, even though we will die, will be raised by Jesus into eternal life.

“Do you believe this?” Jesus’ question puts us on the spot. Our belief, or profession of faith, determines whether we will inherit eternal life. At the same time, in other passages in the Gospels, Jesus reminds us that love of God is the greatest commandment, “and the second is like it,” to love our neighbour as ourselves (Matthew 22:37-39; Mark 12:30-31). “Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to the least of these [the hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked, or imprisoned], you did not do it to me” (Matthew 25:45).

In every time, every place, and every way, Christians are called to profess their faith in Christ. Faith in God cannot be limited to simple dogmatic formulas but must embrace our whole heart, soul, and mind (Matthew 22:36; Mark 12:30). Faith compels us to order our lives in conformity with Christ’s command to care for the hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked, and imprisoned. What we have done or left undone exposes the imperfections of our profession of faith. So, Jesus’ question “Do you believe this?” is weighted with enormous significance for our lives in this world and the next.
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Posted: Jan. 17, 2025 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=14466
Categories: One BodyIn this article: Nicaea, Nicholas Jesson, statements of faith, WCC Commission on Faith and Order, WPCU
Transmis : 17 janv. 2025 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=14466
Catégorie : One BodyDans cet article : Nicaea, Nicholas Jesson, statements of faith, WCC Commission on Faith and Order, WPCU

An Indian diocese has opened its facilities to welcome Hindu pilgrims during a six-week festival in a northern city, hailing it as a “wonderful experience of faith.” Organizers of the millennia-old Maha Kumbh Mela, a mammoth expression of religious piety and ritual bathing that opened on Jan. 13, expect 400 million people in the city of Prayagraj, earlier called Allahabad.

“You have to see it to believe it,” Bishop Louis Mascarenhas of Allahabad in the northern Uttar Pradesh state told UCA News on Jan. 15. “We have thrown open three of our educational institutions — St Joseph College, St Mary’s Convent Inter College, and Bethany Convent School — for the convenience of Hindu pilgrims during the entire duration of the festival,” Mascarenhas said. He said the pilgrims were driven by their faith to take the holy dip in the cold waters despite the temperatures hovering around 4 to 5 degrees Celsius.

Hindus believe that during the auspicious period, a ritual bath in the confluence of the holy rivers Ganges, Yamuna, and mythical Saraswathi can wash away sins, free them from the cycle of rebirth, and help them attain moksha (salvation).

The Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj attracts Hindus worldwide as it occurs only once every 12 years. Many pilgrims begin bathing in the waters before sunrise during the festival scheduled to culminate on Feb. 26.
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Posted: Jan. 16, 2025 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=14463
Categories: NewsIn this article: Catholic, Hindu, India, pilgrimage
Transmis : 16 janv. 2025 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=14463
Catégorie : NewsDans cet article : Catholic, Hindu, India, pilgrimage

Canadian Christian organizations, led by KAIROS Canada, are calling on Canadians to join a global movement to end the mounting global debt crisis by signing the Canadian petition for Jubilee 2025.

The petition, which aims to collect 100,000 signatures in Canada by the end of 2025, will be combined with a global initiative urging world leaders to cancel unjust debts, establish a United Nations mechanism for debt resolution, and prevent future cycles of crushing debt. The global goal is 10 million signatures, working with ecumenical and civil society partners around the world, focusing on debt cancellation, international financial reform and climate justice.
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Posted: Jan. 15, 2025 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=14486
Categories: NewsIn this article: Canadian Council of Churches, Canadian Ecumenical Jubilee Initiative, Citizens for Public Justice, Development and Peace - Caritas Canada, Jubilee 2025, KAIROS Canada, social justice, third world debt
Transmis : 15 janv. 2025 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=14486
Catégorie : NewsDans cet article : Canadian Council of Churches, Canadian Ecumenical Jubilee Initiative, Citizens for Public Justice, Development and Peace - Caritas Canada, Jubilee 2025, KAIROS Canada, social justice, third world debt

Taking up the spirit of the recently inaugurated Holy Year 2025, the Cuban government has announced the release of 553 people currently serving prison sentences.

Cuba said it would gradually release the prisoners “in the spirit of the Ordinary Jubilee of the year 2025 declared by His Holiness” following a “thorough analysis” of the legal and humanitarian avenues to enact their release, Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced in a statement Jan. 14.

The statement did not specify who would be among the 553 prisoners designated to be released.

That same day, the White House announced that it will no longer designate Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism and that it would eliminate some restrictions on Cuba.

The White House said the actions were steps “to support the Cuban people as part of an understanding with the Catholic Church under the leadership of Pope Francis and improve the livelihoods of Cubans.”
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Posted: Jan. 15, 2025 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=14460
Categories: CNSIn this article: Cuba, Jubilee, Pope Francis
Transmis : 15 janv. 2025 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=14460
Catégorie : CNSDans cet article : Cuba, Jubilee, Pope Francis

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — While calling himself an “old man” and saying he never expected to be pope this long, Pope Francis said he still has dreams for the future.

“We must not stumble upon tomorrow, we must build it, and we all have the responsibility to do so in a way that responds to the project of God, which is none other than the happiness of mankind, the centrality of mankind, without excluding anyone,” the 88-year-old pope wrote in his autobiography.

“Hope: The Autobiography” was written with the Italian editor Carlo Musso beginning in 2019. The book was released Jan. 14 in its original Italian and in 17 other languages in about 100 countries. Random House published the book in the United States, and Penguin Random House Canada released it in Canada.

The original plan, Musso said, was for the book to be released after Pope Francis’ death. But Mondadori, the Italian publisher coordinating the release, said the pope decided in August that it should be published at the beginning of the Holy Year 2025, which has hope as its central theme.
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Posted: Jan. 14, 2025 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=14457
Categories: CNSIn this article: hope, Pope Francis
Transmis : 14 janv. 2025 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=14457
Catégorie : CNSDans cet article : hope, Pope Francis

VATICAN CITY (RNS) — A provisional document published by the Italian Bishops’ Conference on Friday (Jan. 10) and approved by the Vatican cautiously opens the door for the ordination of openly gay men to the priesthood, while maintaining the normal requirement of chastity.

“In the formative process, when referring to homosexual tendencies, it’s also appropriate not to reduce discernment only to this aspect, but, as for every candidate, to grasp its meaning in the global framework of the young person’s personality,” the document reads, adding that the goal is for the candidate to know himself and find harmony between his human and priestly vocation.

The Vatican department for clergy approved the document, which will be valid for three years. The document was signed by the head of the Italian bishops, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, who is considered a close collaborator to Pope Francis.
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Posted: Jan. 13, 2025 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=14454
Categories: RNSIn this article: LGBTQ, Pope Francis, Vatican
Transmis : 13 janv. 2025 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=14454
Catégorie : RNSDans cet article : LGBTQ, Pope Francis, Vatican

The Arians believed that Jesus was a created being and not fully divine; these ideas were condemned at Nicaea in 325, but continue to resurface. The hope of the former preacher to the papal household is that this seventeenth centenary year will see a reawakening of faith in the divinity of Christ and in the trinity of God.

The year 2025 marks the seventeenth centenary of the Ecumenical Council held in the city of Nicaea (now Iznik, Turkey) in the early months of 325. The creed sanctioned by that council unites Christians of the historic Churches – Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran, Calvinist, Anglican – and the various denominations that go under the name of “Evangelical” and “Pentecostal”. This centenary provides us with a unique opportunity – one that only at this point in history are we able to grasp – to acknowledge and celebrate together the faith that unites all believers in Christ.

It also offers us another, no less important opportunity: to take a reconnaissance flight that looks at faith in Christ in the modern and post-modern world and compares where we stand today to the faith of Nicaea. In the aftermath of a local council held in Rimini in 359, dominated by opponents of Nicaea, St Jerome wrote: “The whole world groaned and was astonished to find itself Arian.” We must ask ourselves whether, by chance, we have an even greater reason today to let out such a groan.
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Posted: Jan. 9, 2025 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=14479
Categories: TabletIn this article: Catholic, dialogue, Evangelical, Nicaea, Orthodox, Raniero Cantalamessa
Transmis : 9 janv. 2025 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=14479
Catégorie : TabletDans cet article : Catholic, dialogue, Evangelical, Nicaea, Orthodox, Raniero Cantalamessa