A Response to ‘A Common Word Between Us’
by the Episcopal Commission for Interfaith Dialogue
Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops

As the Episcopal Commission for Interfaith Dialogue of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, we acknowledge with great interest and hope the Open Letter entitled “A Common Word Between Us and You”, issued in late 2007 by 138 prominent Muslim leaders and scholars from around the world and which was addressed to Pope Benedict XVI and other heads of Christian Churches as well as to all Christian communities.

Here in Canada, we are grateful that Muslims and Catholics, together with other Christians and members of all faiths, can live in peace and harmony. We also deeply appreciate the many ways Catholics and Muslims have in our country to collaborate on national and local issues.

Dialogue and collaboration among faith communities are essential in the human search for peace and justice. The letter from Muslim leaders and scholars, with its emphasis on love of God and love of neighbour, is an important reminder of the responsibility shared in common by all who believe in one God.

We humbly acknowledge the serious stumbling blocks of the past. Today, our Commission is committed to turning such stumbling blocks into new stepping stones, so as to forge a path that eliminates adversity and promotes understanding.

We endorse and promote the dialogue required to maintain and strengthen Christian and Muslim collaboration, at the same time fostering a genuine spirit of mutual understanding.

We join the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, in encouraging our Catholic brothers and sisters to build bridges between faith and our culture. In turn, we hope our Muslim brothers and sisters will join Canadian Catholics and other Christians in reflecting on the vital interplay of faith and culture.

We also note in the Open Letter the repeated emphasis on the preferential option for the poor. This too for Catholics is a strong bond of solidarity with Muslims, for whom also almsgiving, forgiveness, repentance and mercy are imperative.

As the Episcopal Commission for Interfaith Dialogue of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, we encourage all Canadian Christians and Muslims to reflect on and study “A Common Word Between Us and You”. We pray it be God’s will that the Open Letter help us all in building relations of respect and cooperation among faith communities.

May God’s peace bless all people of good will.

Réaction à « Une parole commune entre nous et vous »
par la Commission épiscopale pour le dialogue interreligieux
de la Conférence des évêques catholiques du Canada

À titre de Commission épiscopale pour le dialogue interreligieux de la Conférence des évêques catholiques du Canada, nous prenons acte avec beaucoup d’intérêt et une grande espérance de la lettre ouverte intitulée « Une parole commune entre nous et vous », publiée vers la fin de l’année 2007 par 138 éminents leaders et savants musulmans de partout à travers le monde et adressée au pape Benoît XVI et à d’autres chefs d’églises et de communautés chrétiennes.

Ici au Canada, nous nous réjouissons de ce que musulmans et catholiques, comme les autres chrétiens et les membres de toutes les confessions religieuses, puissent vivre dans la paix et dans l’harmonie. De même que nous apprécions profondément les nombreuses façons dont les catholiques et musulmans chez nous collaborent sur des enjeux d’intérêt national ou local.

Le dialogue et la collaboration entre communautés croyantes sont essentiels à la quête humaine de la paix et de la justice. La lettre des leaders et savants musulmans, qui met l’accent sur l’amour de Dieu et du prochain, est un rappel important de la responsabilité que partagent tous ceux et celles qui croient en un Dieu unique.

Nous reconnaissons humblement l’existence des graves pierres d’achoppement héritées du passé. Aujourd’hui, notre Commission est résolue à faire de ces pierres d’achoppement autant de pierres de gué pour construire un sentier qui élimine l’affrontement et favorise la compréhension.

Nous soutenons et nous encourageons le dialogue qui est nécessaire au maintien et au renforcement de la collaboration entre chrétiens et musulmans et qui favorise un véritable esprit de compréhension mutuelle.

Nous nous unissons au Saint-Père, le pape Benoît XVI, pour encourager nos frères et soeurs catholiques à jeter des ponts entre la foi et la culture. En retour, nous espérons que nos frères et soeurs musulmans s’uniront aux catholiques et aux autres chrétiens du Canada pour réfléchir à l’interaction vitale entre la foi et la culture.

Nous remarquons aussi que la Lettre ouverte revient avec insistance sur l’option préférentielle pour les pauvres. Voilà aux yeux des catholiques un autre lien puissant de solidarité avec les musulmans, qui se font une obligation de l’aumône, du pardon, du repentir et de la miséricorde.

À titre de Commission épiscopale pour le dialogue interreligieux de la Conférence des évêques catholiques du Canada, nous encourageons tous les chrétiens et les musulmans canadiens à accueillir « Une parole commune entre nous et vous » pour l’étudier et y réfléchir. Dieu veuille, nous l’en prions, que la Lettre ouverte nous aide tous à édifier entre nos communautés croyantes des rapports de respect et de coopération.

Que la paix de Dieu bénisse toutes les personnes de bonne volonté.

[ACNS 4514 • August 26, 2008] The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has today sent a letter to the bishops of the Anglican Communion, setting out his personal reflections on the Lambeth Conference.

The full text of the letter can be found below:

As the Lambeth Conference of 2008 comes to an end, I want to offer some further reflections of my own on what the bishops gathered in Canterbury have learned and experienced. Those of you who have been present here will be able to share your own insights with your people, but it may be useful for me to add my own perspectives as to where we have been led.

For the vast majority of bishops, it seems, this has been a time when they have felt God to have been at work. The Conference was not a time for making new laws or for binding decisions; in spite of the way some have expressed their expectations, Lambeth Conferences have never worked straightforwardly in this way. The Conference Design Group believed strongly that the chief need of our Communion at the moment was the rebuilding of relationships – the rebuilding of trust in one another – and of confidence in our Anglican identity. And it was with this in mind that they planned for a very different sort of Conference, determined to allow every bishop’s voice to be heard and to seek for a final outcome for which the bishops were genuinely able to recognize an authentic account of their own work.

I believe that the Conference succeeded in doing this to a very remarkable degree – more than most people expected. At the end of our time together, many people, especially some of the newer bishops, said that they had been surprised by the amount of convergence they had seen. And there can be no doubt that practically all who were present sincerely wanted the Communion to stay together.

But they also recognized the challenge in staying together and the continuing possibility of further division. As the proposals for an Anglican Covenant now go forward, it is still possible that some will not be able to agree; there was a clear sense that some sort of covenant will help our identity and cohesion, although the bishops wish to avoid a legalistic or juridical tone. A strong majority of bishops present agreed that moratoria on same-sex blessings and on cross-provincial interventions were necessary, but they were aware of the conscientious difficulties this posed for some, and there needs to be a greater clarity about the exact expectations and what can be realistically implemented. How far the intensified sense of belonging together will help mutual restraint in such matters remains to be seen. But it can be said that few of those who attended left without feeling they had in some respects moved and changed.

We were conscious of the absence of many of our colleagues, and wanted to express our sadness that they felt unable to be with us and our desire to build bridges and restore our fellowship. We were aware also of the recent meeting in Jerusalem and its statements; many of us expressed a clear sense of affinity with much that was said there and were grateful that many had attended both meetings, but we know that there is work to do to bring us closer together and are determined to do that work.

The final document of Conference Reflections is not a ‘Report’ in the style of earlier Conferences, but an attempt to present an honest account of what was discussed and expressed in the ‘indaba’ groups which formed the main communal work of the Conference by the Reflections Group. But although this document is not a formal Report, it has a number of pointers as to where the common goals and assumptions are in the Communion. Let me mention some of these.

First, there was an overwhelming unity around the need for the Church to play its full part in the worldwide struggle against poverty ignorance and disease. The Millennium Development Goals were repeatedly stressed, and there was universal agreement that both governmental and non-governmental development agencies needed to create more effective partnerships with the churches and to help the churches increase and improve their own capacity to deliver change for the sake of justice. To further this, it was agreed that we needed a much enhanced capacity in the Communion for co-ordinated work in the field of development. Our Walk of Witness in London and the memorable address of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom formed a powerful focus for these concerns. And the challenge to every bishop to identify clear goals for developing environmentally responsible policies in church life was articulated very forcefully indeed: information was provided to all about how the ‘carbon footprint’ of the Conference itself might be offset, and new impetus given to careful and critical self-examination of all our practices. We were reminded by first-hand testimony that the literal survival of many of our most disadvantaged communities was at risk as a result of environmental change. This enabled us to see the issue more clearly as one of justice both to God’s earth and to God’s people

Second, on the controversial issue of the day regarding human sexuality, there was a very widely-held conviction that premature or unilateral local change was risky and divisive, in spite of the diversity of opinion expressed on specific questions. There was no appetite for revising Resolution 1.10 of Lambeth 1998, though there was also a clear commitment to continue theological and pastoral discussion of the questions involved. In addition to a widespread support for moratoria in the areas already mentioned, there was much support for the idea of a ‘Pastoral Forum’ as a means of addressing present and future tensions, and as a clearing house for proposals concerning the care of groups at odds with dominant views within their Provinces, so as to avoid the confusing situation of violations of provincial boundaries and competing jurisdictions.

Importantly, it was recognized that all these matters involved serious reflection on the Christian doctrine of human nature and a continuing deepening of our understanding of Christian marriage. A joint session with bishops and spouses also reminded us that broader moral issues about power and violence in relations between men and women needed attention if we were to speak credibly to the tensions and sufferings of those we serve.

Third, there was a general desire to find better ways of managing our business as a Communion. Many participants believed that the indaba method, while not designed to achieve final decisions, was such a necessary aspect of understanding what the questions might be that they expressed the desire to see the method used more widely – and to continue among themselves the conversations begun in Canterbury. This is an important steer for the meetings of the Primates and the ACC which will be taking place in the first half of next year, and I shall be seeking to identify the resources we shall need in order to take forward some of the proposals about our structures and methods.

The Conference was richly blessed in its guest speakers, who all testified to their appreciation of the Anglican heritage, while asking us searching questions about how flexible and creative our evangelistic policies were, about the integration of our social passion with our theology and about the nature of the unity we were seeking both within the Anglican Communion and with other Christian families. Our many ecumenical representatives played a full and robust part in all our work together and we owe them a considerable debt.

Finally and most importantly of all, we were held within an atmosphere of steady and deep prayer by our Chaplaincy Team. The commitment of the Conference members to daily worship was impressive; and this has much to do with the quality of that worship, both in moments of profound quiet and in exuberant celebration. It mattered greatly that we were able to begin with a period of retreat in the context of Canterbury Cathedral; the welcome we received there was immensely generous and we all valued the message clearly given, that this was our Cathedral, and that all of us were a full part of the worshipping community that had been here since Augustine came to Canterbury in 597.

I know that all present would wish me to express thanks once again to all who planned and organized the Conference, to those who composed the Bible Studies, those who devised and monitored the work of the indaba groups and all others who served us so devotedly in all sorts of ways – not least the Stewards, whose youthful energy and commitment and unfailingly supportive presence gave all of us great hope for the future. Thanks to all of you – bishops and spouses – who attended, for the great commitment shown and for the encouragement you have given each other.

But together we give thanks to God for his presence with us, his faithfulness to us and his gifts to our Communion. As was said in the closing plenary session, we believe that God has many more gifts to give to and through our Communion; and we ask his grace and assistance in teaching us how to receive what he wills to give. “He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.” (2 Cor. 9v10)

Your servant in Christ

+Rowan Cantuar:

• In addition, read the Lambeth Conference reflections document.

World Evangelical Alliance Theological Commission issues statement on Jewish Evangelism

A declaration calling for "Renewed commitment to the task of Jewish evangelism" and "Recognition of the uniqueness of Christ as the crucified, resurrected and divine Messiah who alone can save from death and bring eternal life" has been issued by the WEA Theological Commission. "The Berlin Declaration on the Uniqueness of Christ and Jewish Evangelism in Europe Today" was developed by a task force of the Theological Commission at a consultation in Berlin, Germany August 18-22, 2008. The 1200 word statement also calls for reconciliation and unity amongst believers in Jesus, respect for religious conviction and liberty that allows frank discussion of religious claims and repentance from all expressions of anti-Semitism and all other forms of genocide, prejudice and discrimination.

The consultation, which was five years in planning, was called to address current concerns about the necessity and theological basis for Jewish evangelism especially in the setting of Germany and Europe as a whole. It involved 12 scholars from the Theological Commission, key seminaries and other organisations. It also included practitioners engaged in ministry amongst Jewish people, and Christians from Germany and Messianic Jews. A total of 13 papers were presented covering biblical, theological and practical matters which provided the background for the Declaration. A spokesman for the TC said that plans are in hand for the publication of the papers as an additional resource for those interested.

The Berlin Declaration 2008 follows in the wake of earlier documents produced by the WEA on Jewish evangelism. The first was the Willowbank Declaration of 1989 which was hailed at the time as a decisive statement and continues to be referred to as a landmark document. The second was a brief statement reinforcing the validity and importance of Jewish evangelism which appeared in the New York Times in 2008, with 54 signatures (and more endorsements later). TC Executive Director, Dr David Parker, said, "With the background of Willowbank and the NYT statement, it is our prayer that the Berlin Declaration 2008 will prove to be equally useful in supporting the work of taking the gospel "to the Jew first" and also the rest of the world. We believe the European setting of our statement is particularly significant.

We hope that this declaration will encourage many Christians to see the importance and biblical warrant for this important ministry. We would like to see the Berlin Declaration 2008 circulated as widely as possible amongst those who are engaged in and interested in this ministry."