Beyond the traditional categorization of climate change as an environmental issue, it is clearly also a development issue; a poverty reduction, food security, economics, health, human rights, governance and equality issue. It is a Millennium Development Goal issue. (UN Millennium Campaign)

As the global community looks towards this December's climate change negotiations in Copenhagen, Denmark, we see a sorry record of rising greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from rich countries, and the relentless march of poverty and growing inequality in countries of the global South. It is people in these countries who are already suffering the worst consequences of climate change. The United Nations Millennium Campaign is an effort to hold governments accountable to the Millennium Development Goals [MDGs] to cut global poverty in half by 2015. It sees the connections between climate change and global poverty quite clearly. Do we?

This year KAIROS is marking two important days for Global Action - October 17 Global Day of Action Against Poverty and October 24 International Day of Climate Action - by calling for a Global Week of Action that highlights the connection between poverty and climate change.

KAIROS has produced a 4 page resource for churches and faith communities which draws the connection between poverty and climate change. Click here to download the resource.

[Washington • USCCB Media] The new agreed statement of the international dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches and the fostering of vocations were the main topics of discussion at the 2009 meeting of the national dialogue between the two communions.

The meeting took place September 30-October 1 at the Passionist Spiritual Center in Riverdale, New York, and was co-chaired by Bishop Howard Hubbard of Albany, New York , and The Right Reverend Chor-Episcopos John Meno of the Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch.

In the first session, Paulist Father Ronald G. Roberson, Associate Director of the USCCB's Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs and a member of the international Oriental Orthodox-Roman Catholic dialogue, presented the new international agreed text, entitled "Nature, Constitution and Mission of the Church." The document outlines broad areas of consensus on such topics as the Church as communion, the attributes of the Church, the bishops and apostolic succession, the relationship between synodality and primacy, the nature of councils, and the mission of the Church. It also identifies points that need further study. Members welcomed this step forward in our relationship and commented on the contents and significance of the document.

On October 1, Father Luke Sweeney, Director of Vocations of the Archdiocese of New York, spoke about fostering of vocations from a Catholic perspective. He outlined eight essential facets of any effective vocations program. These include the roles of the bishop, prayer programs, the family, the vocation director, priests themselves, seminarians and seminary communities, and lay auxiliary groups. He also noted a need to develop an image of the priesthood that emphasizes heroism and sacrifice.

Father Stepanos Doudoukjian, director of vocations at St. Nersess Armenian seminary in New Rochelle, New York, spoke about vocation work in his church. The Eastern diocese of the Armenian Church is placing emphasis on developing vocations from the United States, and emphasizes the role of summer youth programs. Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, primate of the Eastern diocese, has declared this to be a year of vocations, and a number of programs in the parishes are in progress.

Father Jacob Ghaly, a representative of the Coptic Orthodox Church, spoke about the promotion of vocations in his church. He emphasized that calls to the priesthood always come from the local communities who ask men to consider ordination; men do not apply to be ordained on their own initiative. More vocations are now coming from the United States but seminarians receive their education in Egypt. Metropolitan Cyril Aphrem Karim, head of the Syrian Orthodox Archdiocese of the Eastern United States, added that the Syrian Orthodox priests in this country are being trained to foster vocations in their own communities. Seminarians may study at St. Vladimir's Orthodox Seminary, but they also spend time in Syria to understand how the church functions in its homeland.

One session of the dialogue was devoted to an exchange of information about recent major events in the lives of the two churches. Reports were heard from each of the Oriental Orthodox Churches, and Bishop Hubbard shared information with the group regarding Catholic-Jewish relations, the status of the Society of Pope Pius X and the new papal encyclical Caritas in Veritate.

Benedictine Father Columba Stewart explained his work as Director of the Hill Museum and Manuscript Library at St. John's Benedictine Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota. Since 1965, the library has photographed about 110,000 complete manuscripts, and since 2003, it has digitalized more than 16,000 Syriac, Christian Arabic and Armenian manuscripts in Syria, Lebanon, and Turkey. Also on September 30, members gathered in chapel for Evening Prayer in the Latin rite in celebration of the feast of St. Jerome.

The Oriental Orthodox-Roman Catholic Consultation was established in 1978, and is sponsored jointly by the Bishops' Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs and the Standing Conference of Oriental Orthodox Churches America, which includes representatives from the Armenian (Catholicosate of Etchmiadzin), Coptic, Ethiopian, and Syrian Orthodox Churches. The agreed statements it has produced over the years along with press releases about the dialogue are posted on the USCCB website at: http://www.usccb.org/seia/oriental_orthodox.shtml

The next consultation is slated for September 20-21, 2010, in New York City. The dialogue members plan to discuss ways of responding to proselytism and the situation in the Holy Land, including the final status of Jerusalem.

[Paphos, Cyprus • Zenit.org] The International Mixed Commission for Theological Dialogue Between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church has progressed in its reflection on the role of the bishop of Rome. The commission issued a joint communiqué reporting on its progress at the end of its 11th plenary session, ended today in Paphos. The document in question is titled "The Role of the Bishop of Rome in the Communion of the Church in the First Millennium." The document is based on a draft prepared by an Orthodox-Catholic committee, which met in Crete last year. At present, the commission is reflecting on the role of the Bishop of Rome in the communion of the Church in the first millennium -- before the Great Schism of 1054.

The current work of the commission responds to the appeal made by Pope John Paul II in his 1995 encyclical "Ut Unum Sint" on the "ecumenical commitment," in which he proposed "finding a way to exercise the primacy that, without giving up in any way what is essential to its mission, opens to a new situation." This is possible, he added, as "for a millennium Christians were united by the fraternal communion of faith and sacramental life, the See of Rome being, by common consent, the moderator when disagreements arose among them on matters of faith or discipline." John Paul II himself invited both sides to seek "naturally together, the ways with which this ministry can carry out a service of faith and love recognized by one another."

• Read the rest of this article at Zenit.org

More than five years in the making, the Canadian Council of Churches' Commission for Faith and Witness, has published a beautiful theological text on Suffering and Hope. The book stands apart from others in its highly experiential quality. It follows eight real Canadian stories to give rise to a highly experiential encounter with these challenging theological topics. This resource is an invaluable addition to any library.

This pastoral resource is the result of the Faith and Witness Commission's being called upon to give shape and form to a paradox: the paradox of finding hope in suffering and suffering in hope.

The Commission for Justice and Peace has also pulled together a must have resource. It is a First Nations reflection on racism, truth, and reconciliation. You may order both resources through Erin Green, Communications Officer, . A donation of $10 is suggested to cover printing and mailing costs.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- In the midst of a protest by a small number of Orthodox monks and faithful, the official Catholic-Orthodox dialogue commission met in Cyprus Oct. 16-23.

The meeting of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue Between the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church focused on a key factor in the ongoing division between Catholic and Orthodox: the role of the pope as bishop of Rome.

Read the complete news report from the Catholic News Service.

Earlier this week the Vatican announced new pastoral provisions for Anglicans seeking to join the Roman Catholic Church that will allow them to keep aspects of the historic Anglican liturgy and patrimony. The announcement came from Cardinal William Levada, the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The CDF is the Vatican office responsible for doctrine. Since 1980, the CDF has supervised a special pastoral provision for former Anglicans in the United States that permitted married Anglican clergy to be admitted to Roman Catholic ministry and in a few cases for entire parishes of former Anglicans to continue to use Anglican liturgical forms. The announcement this week was touted as a means of making the 1980 pastoral provision universal.

According to Cardinal Levada, the impetus for the recent decision is the request by a number of traditionalist Anglican communities, clergy, and as many as 20-30 bishops, for a pastoral provision allowing corporate reunion with the Roman Catholic Church. In a joint statement from Rowan Williams, the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, and Vincent Nichols, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, the new pastoral provision "brings to an end a period of uncertainty for such groups who have nurtured hopes of new ways of embracing unity with the Catholic Church."