Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit WCC general secretary

The head of the World Council of Churches in his first official meeting with Pope Benedict XVI has said he wants to strengthen cooperation with the Roman Catholic Church, especially in the Middle East.

No official statement was released after the 4 December audience at the Vatican, but the WCC general secretary, the Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit, told journalists in Rome there had been a "a very open and friendly" conversation.

He noted that at the meeting, he and Pope Benedict had stressed that there are many levels at which the WCC and Roman Catholic Church already cooperate.

Tveit said he asked the Pope: "How can we strengthen the already strong cooperation we have?"

The WCC leader said he had presented to Pope Benedict a wooden box from Syria, as a reminder of the Middle East, and a book of poetry by Norwegian poet Olav H. Hauge.

He had also offered the pontiff a pair of Norwegian woollen gloves "because in winter they protect well from the cold. So, in this time, which, according to some people is an ecumenical winter, they are as a symbol of the possibility to go ahead, despite the difficulties, and to continue patiently our work for Christian unity."

by Jerry L. Van Marter, Presbyterian News Service

After several years of informal talks, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the Seventh-day Adventist Church held their first formal dialogue in late-October in Chicago.

Last summer, the 219th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) voted to enter into an official dialogue with the Seventh-day Adventist Church and to invite other churches from the Reformed tradition to take part. The Chicago gathering was the first meeting of the dialogue. The Christian Reformed Church (CRC) sent an observer to the meeting.

Representing the PCUSA were the Rev. Carlos Malave, the Rev. David Cortes, the Rev. Sheldon Sorge, and former Auburn Theological Seminary President Barbara Wheeler. The Seventh-day Adventist delegation consisted of: the Rev. Halvard Thomsen, the Rev. Denis Fortin, the Rev. William Johnsson, the Rev. Ekkehart Mueller, and the Rev. Theresa Reeve. The observer from the CRC was the Rev. Bruce Adema.

"The meeting was characterized by friendliness and respect," said Malave, associate for ecumenical relations in the Office of the General Assembly, "with candid sharing and cordial exchanges."

by Luigi Sandri, Ecumenical News International

The president of the Lutheran World Federation, Bishop Munib Younan has said before meeting Pope Benedict XVI that their churches should issue a common statement on Holy Communion to mark the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation that Martin Luther began in 1517.

"Our [the Lutheran federation's] intention is to arrive at 2017 with a common Roman Catholic-Lutheran declaration on eucharistic hospitality," Younan told the Italian Protestant news agency NEV the day before his audience with the Pope Dec. 16.

In a speech at his meeting with Younan, Pope Benedict praised the progress that he said had taken place in Catholic-Lutheran dialogue but did not make any reference to the bishop's Eucharist proposal.

"Eucharistic hospitality" means that Catholics would be able to receive Communion at a Lutheran celebration of the Lord's Supper, and Lutherans would be able to do the same at a Catholic Mass.

Catholic doctrine currently forbids such bilateral acceptance. The Second Vatican Council, held from 1962 to 1965, said that Protestants, "did not keep the genuine and integral substance of the eucharistic mystery."

by Andreas Havinga, Ecumenical News International

A gathering to improve relations between the many Protestant denominations in the Netherlands recently took place on the site of an earlier historic synod, though any idea of complete church unity taking place was said to smack of "an unrealistic utopia."

About 700 Christians from 50 Prot­estant churches attended what was billed as a "national synod" December 10–11 in the main church in the town of Dor­drecht.

The gathering's name echoed that of the Synod of Dordt, a six-month-long assembly held in the same building from November 1618 to May 1619. That synod was called to settle a dispute between Calvinists and Arminians.

Calvinists believe that God preordains only some people for salvation; Armin­ians say that all can be saved. Calvinism won the day at the 17th-century Dordt synod and has held sway in the Nether­lands ever since. Still, the country's history has been marked by disputes that have resulted in distinct, rival Reformed de­nominations. Today, Protestant Chris­tians, mainly Cal­vinist, make up about one-third of the Netherlands' 16.3 million population.

"Our society can rely on us to be people who seek to go on their way in faith, hope and love," the latest synod said in a statement presented during the meeting to the government's home affairs minister, Piet Hein Donner.