The “Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together” signed on Monday afternoon in Abu Dhabi by Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmad el-Tayeb, is not only a milestone in relations between Christianity and Islam but also represents a message with a strong impact on the international scene. In the preface, after affirming that “Faith leads a believer to see in the other a brother or sister to be supported and loved”, this text is spoken of as a text “that has been given honest and serious thought”, which invites “all persons who have faith in God and faith in human fraternity to unite and work together”.
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Ahead of the 20th anniversary celebrations of the JDDJ later this year, the LWF is launching a new publication, reaffirming its ecumenical commitments in light of these latest developments. These commitments were formally adopted by the LWF Council in 2018, putting into practice the Lutheran communion’s pledge to be more accountable to its ecumenical partners.

Entitled ‘The Lutheran World Federation‘s Commitments on the Ecumenical Way to Ecclesial Communion’, the publication was launched at a prayer service in the Geneva Ecumenical Center Chapel on 16 January. The user-friendly booklet summarises recent progress and lists six ways in which Lutherans pledge their commitment to the search for full and visible unity of all Christians.
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The fifth session of the current Reformed-Pentecostal Dialogue took place in Legon, Accra, Ghana, under the theme “Ministering to the Needs of the World: Mission and Eschatology.”

At the beginning and end of each day, participants, representing the WCRC and various classical Pentecostal churches, gathered to pray, sing, read and reflect upon the Bible together. This time of sharing in spirituality and worship helped contextualize the discussions that took place and built greater community between participants.

This year the dialogue focused on the significance of eschatology—the theology of the end of time and return of Jesus Christ—to mission. To open the discussion, Karla Ann Koll (Reformed) and Van Johnson (Pentecostal) presented papers reflective of the teachings of their faith communities. Participants then raised questions and responded in a free-ranging discussion intended to tease out common interests and concerns, while noting differences in understanding.
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Catholic bishops in British Columbia and Yukon have endorsed medical marijuana use, but condemned recreational pot smoking as contrary to the teachings of the church.

In a letter posted online in late November, the bishops — six from B.C. and one from Whitehorse — warn that “the mere fact that an activity is made legal by the government does not automatically mean that it is morally acceptable.” Recreational cannabis became legal in Canada on Oct. 17, one of the signature accomplishments of Justin Trudeau’s government.

But the letter from all six B.C. bishops and the one Yukon bishop distinguishes between therapeutic uses, such as controlling for pain and nausea, and toking for fun. In the former, the letter states, impairment “can be accepted as a foreseen but unintended secondary effect of the drug’s beneficial use.” Medical cannabis has been legal in Canada for nearly two decades.
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After the vespers in honour of St Andrew, patron saint of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, Patriarch Bartholomew received an international Orthodox interparliamentary delegation of which 24 States are members, presided over by the Russian Gavrilof, who took part to the festivities.

The Patriarch told those present that the work of the Synod had just been completed and that the Tomos is being prepared for granting the autocephaly to the Ukrainian Church. In this context the new statute of the Ukrainian Church was discussed, a subject that will continue during the Ukrainian Synod in December during which it is hoped that all the Orthodox parties will participate, to arrive at the election of the primate and grant the so-called Tomos. A new church will thus be added to the existing 14: “It is a purely administrative fact that does not affect the magisterium of the Orthodox Church”, Bartholomew explained.
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Horizon College and Seminary in Saskatoon is a prime example of the time-honoured claim that nothing stays the same.

Originally established in Star City, Sask., in 1935 by the Pentecostal denomination as Bethel Bible Institute, the Bible school relocated to Avenue A in Saskatoon in 1937. Following a move to Jackson Avenue in the 1960s, it was renamed Central Pentecostal College. In 2007 it became Horizon College and Seminary.

In 2016, Horizon launched Horizon 8.0 and became a Canadian pioneer in adopting a system of competency-based Christian education.

Horizon president Jeromey Martini explains competency-based education (CBE) as one that bases its teaching curriculum on actual roles in society and then assesses students on their ability to perform those roles.
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The Roman Catholic‒United Church of Canada Dialogue has released a report on climate change entitled The Hope within Us. Since October 2012, the Roman Catholic‒United Church of Canada Dialogue has met eight times to explore our churches’ responses to the ecological crisis, with particular attention to climate change. The report explores the spiritual resources of our common tradition for addressing climate change and working for ecological justice. While not turning away from the real dangers of the ecological crises, the dialogue provides a vision of hope, based on our common Christian faith, that a new relationship between humanity and creation is possible.
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Le Dialogue de l’Église catholique romaine et de l’Église Unie a publié un rapport sur le changement climatique intitulé l’Espérance en nous. Depuis octobre 2012, le Dialogue de l’Église catholique romaine et de l’Église Unie du Canada s’est réuni huit fois pour examiner les réponses de nos Églises à la crise écologique, en portant une attention particulière au changement climatique. Le rapport explore les ressources spirituelles de notre tradition commune pour faire face au changement climatique et travailler pour la justice écologique. Sans fermer les yeux sur les dangers réels des crises écologiques, le dialogue offre une vision d’ espérance fondée sur notre foi chrétienne commune, voulant qu’une nouvelle relation entre l’humanité et la création soit possible.
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The Third Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC III) has issued its first agreed statement with the title Walking Together on the Way: Learning to be the Church – Local, Regional, Universal. Since its first meeting in 1970, ARCIC has published thirteen agreed statements. The third phase of the dialogue began in 2011 with the dual mandate to explore “the Church as Communion, local and universal, and how in communion the local and universal Church come to discern right ethical teaching.” The current document completes the first part of this mandate.

Walking Together on the Way employs the method of Receptive Ecumenism to examine the structures by which Catholics and Anglicans order and maintain communion at the local, regional and universal level. It examines common theological principles that Anglicans and Catholics share, and the differentiated structures, based on these principles, by which they make decisions. This method invites both traditions to repentance and conversion, by looking at what is underdeveloped or wounded in themselves. It is also predicated on the belief that in our dialogue partner we meet a community in which the Holy Spirit is alive and active. We can therefore ask firstly, where our communities are in need of reform, and, secondly, what we can learn from the our dialogue partner to help us in this growth. The Commission described this process as “receptive learning.”
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