Ecumenical dialogue has contributed to growth of faith, confirms Archbishop of Halifax
by Leigh Anne Williams, Anglican Journal

Two ecumenical partners greeted the Anglican Church of Canada's General Synod members on Wednesday. The Archbishop of Halifax Anthony Mancini represented the Roman Catholic Bishops of Canada, and Moderator Mardi Tindal represented the United Church of Canada.

The Archbishop affirmed Archbishop Fred Hiltz' observation that the Anglican and Catholic communities of faith have grown over the last 40 years as a result of their ecumenical dialogue.

Archbishop Mancini also took the opportunity to address an issue that caused a stir in Anglican-Catholic relations in the last year, the Vatican's release of the Anglicanorum Ceotibus, the Apostolic Constitution. The constitution outlined a process for incorporating Anglicans who requested admission to Full Communion with the Catholic Church. The news came just as the primate was meeting with the Catholic bishops. "I don't know who was more surprised – the Roman and Eastern Catholic Bishops of Canada or the Anglican Primate of Canada!" Archbishop Mancini recalled. "And yet, Archbishop Fred continued in his address to call for continued dialogue and collaboration between our Churches, and especially between Anglican and Catholic bishops."

He said he was pleased to report that the Anglican-Roman Catholic Bishops Dialogue met shortly afterwards to start clarifying the intent and consequences of the Apostolic Constitution. He assured General Synod members that "its intent was not to encourage a mass exodus of faithful from the Anglican Church to the Catholic Church, but rather it as a pastoral response to those already seeking admission."

by Marites N. Sison, Anglican Journal

The Anglican Church of Canada's governing body has approved a landmark resolution today repudiating and renouncing the Doctrine of Discovery. It also pledged a review of the church's policies and programs to expose the doctrine's historical impact and to end its continuing effects on indigenous peoples.

The resolution, passed at the 2010 General Synod meeting here, said the Doctrine of Discovery is "fundamentally opposed to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and our understanding of the inherent rights that individuals and peoples have received from God."

The Doctrine of Discovery was a principle of charters and acts developed by colonizing Western societies more than 500 years ago.

It begins with "the very simple idea in the Western tradition that is if you discover place, you have control and ownership over that place," said National Indigenous Anglican Bishop Mark MacDonald speaking to the resolution. "It had to be an uninhabited place. How do you apply that to the Americas where there were millions and millions of people?"

General Synod 2013 and ELCIC Convention to be 'fully integrated'
by Neale Adams, Anglican Journal

A fully integrated meeting with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) is planned to take place at the Anglican Church of Canada's General Synod 2013 in Ottawa.

Lutheran National Bishop Susan Johnson and Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, jointly announced plans for the synod, and the intention to study the feasibility of together developing a shared national office in Ottawa sometime in the future.

What will the Anglican General Synod and Lutheran Convention look like in three years time? It should include joint worship, Bible study and keynote speakers. "We hope to be doing most things together," said Archbishop Hiltz, "and only doing those things apart which our constitutions absolutely require."

"A massive amount of planning will have to go into that gathering but it's going to be an exciting process," said Bishop Johnson.

The idea of establishing a shared national office has come from the joint Lutheran-Anglican Commission. Ottawa is under consideration, the two revealed. The head office of the Anglican Church of Canada is currently in Toronto; the Lutheran national office is in Winnipeg.

"We would both have to move to form a new office," said Bishop Johnson, and there are advantages to being in the national capital. "Our churches need to be there because governments aren't listening to us any more," she added.

Christ Church Anglican Cathedral in Ottawa is considering developing property downtown, and building a "green" environmentally friendly building. The proposal will be presented to a joint meeting of the Anglican Council of General Synod and the National Church Council of the Lutherans in the near future.

The two churches have been in full communion since coming together at a joint meeting in Waterloo, Ont. in 2001. The primate and Dean Peter Wall of the diocese of Niagara, chair of the Canadian's joint Lutheran-Anglican Commission, listed ways since that cooperation has increased. "It is a relationship that helps us to nurture each other," said Dean Walls.

By Jerry van Marter, Uniting General Council correspondent

More than 80 million Reformed Christians in 108 countries around the world formally united Friday when the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) and the Reformed Ecumenical Council (REC) approved articles of union and a constitution bringing them together as the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC).

The merger of the two organizations took place at the Uniting General Council, which is meeting through June 28 on the campus of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in the northeastern United States.

By Chris Meehan, News Editor and Chris Dorn, Reformed Church in America

Pope Benedict XVI has been one of several church leaders who have acknowledged the newly organized World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC). The pope sent a letter to the new organization as well as a representative of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

The message was read to delegates to the Uniting General Council who are attending the founding meeting of the WCRC in Grand Rapids, a city in the Midwest United States. Representatives of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and the Reformed Ecumenical Council agreed on 18 June to merge to form a new organization representing 230 churches worldwide. The meeting concludes on 26 June.