For the first time in almost 500 years, a Roman Catholic Mass was celebrated in Geneva’s Protestant St. Pierre Cathedral, with people praying in packed pews.

It was a celebration of Christian unity in a world reeling at the war and the growing humanitarian needs in Ukraine.

Some 1,500 people attended the Mass on March 5 at the imposing cathedral in the heart of Geneva’s old town that had been a Catholic church before the 1536 Reformation.
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The relationship between the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) and the Roman Catholic Church was both broadened and deepened during a series of meetings at the Vatican on Friday, 10 June. WCRC and Roman Catholic officials, including Pope Francis, found reasons for celebration as well as a renewed urgency to work more closely together.

“It was both a joy and a mission fulfilled today to have a strong response from Pope Francis to affirm our common mission,” said Chris Ferguson, WCRC general secretary.

In his official address to Pope Francis, Ferguson stated that it was with a sense of both “joy and urgency” that these meetings were taking place. “Our joy comes from knowing that through repentance and dialogue we are growing closer to the unity that is Christ’s gift to the church, so that all may believe,” he said, noting the progress made through official dialogues and the process of associating with the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ).
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Two member churches of the World Council of Churches (WCC) from Reformed and Lutheran traditions have united to become the United Protestant Church of France (L’Église Protestante Unie de France). The merger of the Reformed Church of France (L’Église Réformée de France) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of France (L’Église Évangélique Luthérienne de France) was celebrated at a joint national synod from 8 to 12 May in Lyon, France. The synod adopted revised texts for the constitution and rules of the new church. The revisions reflect inputs gathered from parishes in 2011. Public education and a communication campaign have been accompanying the merger process. WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, who attended the celebration in Lyon, praised the efforts of both churches in creating one transformative structure. He said that this undertaking “reminds us that the unity to which we are called in Christ can be hard work as well as joyful. For many of us in places far away from France your union gives hope that our own work may also bear fruit.”
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Reformed and Catholic theologians recently concluded the latest in a decades-long series of ongoing international talks on a matter theologians see as central to the disputes of the Reformation era. Theologians from the World Communion of Reformed Churches and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity met from April 7-13 as part of the third session in the fourth phase of the Catholic-Reformed dialogue which will conclude in 2017. The theme of the phase is “Justification and Sacramentality: The Christian Community as an Agent for Justice.” The talks began in 1970. The next meeting in the series will take place in Scotland. The themes to be covered are Justification: Holy Communion/Eucharist and Justice” and “Justification and Justice: Sanctification/ Universal Call to Holiness.” The ongoing dialogue could eventually determine if the World Communion of Reformed Churches aligns itself with a joint document on the doctrine of justification agreed to by Roman Catholics and a top Lutheran body in 1999.
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After years of preparation, a new Christian denomination will be formed this week in France when two synods meet in the eastern town of Belfort, a location historically important in the growth of Protestantism.

The Reformed Church of France (L’Église Réformée de France, ERF) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of France (L’Église Évangélique Luthérienne de France, EELF) are merging to form the United Protestant Church of France (L’Église Protestante Unie). The new entity will be a reality after the churches’ synods meet 17-20 May, said Pastor Laurent Schlumberger, president of the ERF’s national council.
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When Richard Mouw, president of Fuller Theological Seminary, was asked to speak at the Fellowship of Presbyterians’ big gathering in Minneapolis, organizers asked him not to say what he personally thinks Presbyterians ought to do in response to the latest crisis.

Mouw is well aware that many congregations and individuals are considering leaving the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), part of the fallout from the denomination’s recent decision to lift the categorical prohibition against the ordination of sexually active gays and lesbians.

So Mouw spoke instead during evening worship Aug. 25 about what Presbyterians should hold in their hearts and minds as they consider their options – and in doing so, he issued a call to theological orthodoxy, expanded ecumenism, a renewed commitment to the ordination of women and increased efforts to care for the world. He challenged evangelicals now in the PC(USA) to learn from those both more conservative and more liberal than themselves.
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Pope offers good wishes to WCRC
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.
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Cardinal asks dialogue partners if an ecumenical catechism might work

A Vatican official has floated the idea of a shared “ecumenical catechism” as one of the potential fruits of 40 years of dialogue among Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists and members of the Reformed churches.
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Symposium on War and Peace: Mennonites and Christian Reformed Churches discuss and discern

On Oct. 17, Bruce Adema, Director of Canadian Ministries for the bi-national Christian Reformed Church and current president of the Canadian Council of Churches (CCC), and Robert J. Suderman, General Secretary of Mennonite Church Canada hosted a Symposium on War and Peace together with the Christian Reformed Church of Canada at Bethel Mennonite Church in Winnipeg.
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Future of Ecumenical Assemblies Is of Crucial Importance for Conciliar Ecumenism in the 21st century [CHAVANNES-DE-BOGIS, Switzerland] The Officers of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) and the Executive Committee of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), holding their meetings in the course of overlapping days, met for the first time in joint sessions on
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Amsterdam – May 23, 2002: Delegates of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches met with representatives and leaders of some classical Pentecostal churches in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, May 16-23, 2002. This meeting started what is expected to be the second cycle of dialogue to which both groups have committed themselves in order to build upon areas of common faith and witness while seeking to overcome tensions in other aspects of church life. The report of the first round was published under the title “Word and Spirit, Church and World”, the theme of this cycle is “Experience in Christian Faith and Life”.
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PHILADELPHIA (ELCA) — Two prominent Lutheran theologians squared off Aug. 16 on the subject of relations between Lutheran and Reformed churches. The exchange between the Rev. William H. Lazareth, former bishop of the Metro New York Synod and the Rev. Timothy Lull, president of Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkeley, Calif., opened a discussion at
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The Roman Catholic Church of the Netherlands and the Dutch Reformed Church, oldest of the Dutch Protestant churches, with roots in the Reformation of the 16th century, announced today that they had agreed to recognize each other’s baptism.

This latest step toward church unity in the Netherlands was announced by Bernard Cardinal Alfrink, leader of the Dutch Roman Catholic hierarchy, and the Rev. Dr. Gerit de Ru, president of the General Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church, at a news conference here.
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