Ecumenism in Canada / Oecuménisme au Canada

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• Gifts to each other: Exploring our Treasures of Worship and Prayer
• Interchurch families a laboratory of unity: Benedict XVI
• nidus festival 2006: feel the current
• Vingt dirigeants d'églises ont fait appel à Harper sur le VIH/SIDA
• Church leaders appeal to Harper to launch initiatives on HIV/AIDS

Gifts to each other: Exploring our Treasures of Worship and Prayer

Thursday May 25 to Saturday May 27, 2006 at Queen's House of Retreats (601 Taylor St. West, Saskatoon)

Have you ever gone to a service at a different church and wondered what it was all about? Wished that there were someone to explain why they did what they did? Ever wondered about the private prayer life of Christians of other traditions?

The Prairie Centre for Ecumenism will be hosting a very special retreat this summer, perhaps a unique event in Canada. Pastors and members of three very different church traditions – the Ukrainian Catholic Church, Mennonite Church Saskatchewan and the Foursquare Gospel Church – will spend three days together sharing their treasures of corporate worship and private devotion. Each worship session will be led by a member of the tradition to which it belongs, with explanations of the service's meaning and time for questions. In addition we will be introduced to ways of private prayer and devotion characteristic of these traditions, with explanations and private time in which to 'try out' different types of prayer for ourselves.

The retreat will run from Thursday suppertime until Saturday afternoon, to enable clergy and lay people to attend. It will not be a silent retreat, though parts of the house will be reserved for silent prayer. Individual spiritual guidance is available on request.

Costs: $175 live-in, $150 commuters. Please register with Queen's House directly (tel. 306-242-1916) by May 10 to ensure the viability of this event. If you would like more information about the retreat, contact the PCE at (306) 653-1633. This event will be held in lieu of the 2006 Summer Ecumenical Institute.

A registration form and brochure is available online at www.ecumenism.net/sei/2006_sei_retreat.pdf.

"There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all...Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good." (1 Corinthians 12: 4-7)

Technorati tags: Mots clés : ecumenism, christian unity, retreats, canada,
Posted: May 27, 2006 Transmis : 27 mai 2006

Interchurch families a laboratory of unity: Benedict XVI
by par Nicholas Jesson

Signed articles do not necessarily represent the opinions of "Ecumenism in Canada" or the Prairie Centre for Ecumenism.

Les articles signés ne représentent pas nécessairement les avis de "Oecuménisme au Canada" ou le Prairie Centre for Ecumenism.

In his address to a gathering of ecumenical leaders in Warsaw on May 25, Pope Benedict XVI has expressed strong support for pastoral care of interchurch families. Speaking to the Polish Council for Ecumenism and leaders of other religious groups, Benedict encouraged the work of a bilateral commission of the Catholic bishops' conference and the Polish Council for Ecumenism which is drafting a document on marriage and family life, on interdenominational marriages, and on joint pastoral care of families.

Highlighting the ecumenical potential of Christians marrying across denominational barriers, Benedict said: "The decision [to enter an interchurch marriage] can lead to the formation of a practical laboratory of unity. For this to happen there is need for mutual goodwill, understanding and maturity of faith in both partners, and also in the communities from which they come. ... My wish is that in this delicate area, reciprocal trust and cooperation between the churches may grow, fully respecting the rights and responsibilities of the spouses for the faith formation of their own family and the education of their children."

The term "laboratory of unity" has been proposed by interchurch families in France as a means of expressing the rich potential of the ecumenical experimentation in interchurch families. Far from being a pastoral problem, these couples offer an opportunity to the churches to express in their lives the real yet imperfect communion of the churches. The term "laboratories of unity" expresses the provisional character of the decisions that many couples make in order to live out their lives as domestic churches. "Domestic church" is, in turn, a theological theme proposed by the Second Vatican Council, and picked up by Pope John Paul II in his apostolic exhortation Familiaris Consortio.

Benedict also emphasized the reciprocal responsibilities of the churches involved in pastoral care of these families, and of the spouses themselves. As affirmed by the Vatican's 1993 ecumenical directory, each spouse has a moral obligation to raise their children in Christian faith. These moral responsibilities, when codified in church laws, can lead to conflicts between the spouses to the detriment of the unity of the marriage. The 1993 directory affirms that in Roman Catholic canon law no penalty is incurred by the Catholic spouse when his or her children are raised in another church for the sake of marital unity. In his address in Warsaw, Benedict reaffirms the rights and responsibilities of each spouse and the corresponding responsibility of the churches to respect the unity of the marriage.

The papal encouragement for joint pastoral care and the recognition of the ecumenical significance of interchurch couples repeats the earlier affirmations of John Paul II's encyclical Ut Unum Sint in 1995, and the work of the Interchurch Families International Network.

The full text of Benedict's May 25, 2006 address is available on the Vatican website.

Technorati tags: Mots clés : interchurch families, ecumenism, marriage, benedict xvi, christian unity, pope,
Posted: May 26, 2006 Transmis : 26 mai 2006
More entries by Nicholas Jesson

nidus festival 2006: feel the current

Nidus is a festival for people from all streams of Christian faith with music, arts, keynotes, worship, dialogue, drama & dance. Several thousand youth, young adults, families and others will gather in Kitchener, Ontario from August 4th to 6th. It will be a unique opportunity for people to come together to express faith, celebrate through arts and seek justice to stop AIDS.

Nidus is a grassroots Christian multidisciplinary arts festival convened to explore diverse expressions of creativity, faith, service and justice. By bringing people together to share in a broad spectrum of expressions of Christian faith and art, we seek to further Christian unity in the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Nidus is sponsored by the Canadian Council of Churches. For further information, visit the official Nidus website at www.nidus.ca.

Technorati tags: Mots clés : 2006, canadian council of churches, ccc, youth, events, christian unity, justice, worship, conferences, ecumenism,
Posted: May 17, 2006 Transmis : 17 mai 2006

Vingt dirigeants d'églises ont fait appel à Harper sur le VIH/SIDA

Le 8 mai 2006 -- Vingt dirigeants d'églises canadiens, représentant les membres du Conseil canadien des églises, ont fait appel au premier ministre Stephen Harper pour annoncer promptement six nouvelles initiatives dans le combat contre le VIH/SIDA.

Les mesures rapides que les dirigeants d'églises veulent incluent l'annulation des dettes ont dû par pays avec des taux de VIH/SIDA au-dessus de 1.1 pour cent de la population et d'amendements à la législation canadienne pour faciliter l'exportation des médecines.

Les dirigeants d'églises demandent également une réunion avec le premier ministre avant qu'il parle à un groupe de l'ONU à la fin du mois.

Le texte intégral de la lettre est disponible chez www.ccc-cce.ca/francais/home/2006/may8_2006.htm. La lettre est également disponible en anglais.

Technorati tags: Mots clés : conseil canadien des églises, église, oecuménisme, statements, vih/sida,
Posted: May 15, 2006 Transmis : 15 mai 2006

Church leaders appeal to Harper to launch initiatives on HIV/AIDS

May 8, 2006 -- Twenty Canadian church leaders, representing the member churches of the Canadian Council of Churches, have appealed to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to promptly announce six new initiatives in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

The sweeping measures the church leaders want include cancellation of debts owed by countries with HIV/AIDS rates above 1.1 per cent of the population and amendments to Canadian legislation to facilitate the export of medicines.

The church leaders also ask for a meeting with the Prime Minister before he speaks to a UN group at the end of the month.

The full text of the letter is available at www.ccc-cce.ca/english/home/2006/may8_2006.htm. The letter is also available in French.

Technorati tags: Mots clés : church leaders, statements, canadian council of churches, ccc, stephen harper, hiv/aids, 2006,
Posted: May 15, 2006 Transmis : 15 mai 2006