The 2007 Summer Ecumenical Institute entitled “Making Peace in the Household of God” is scheduled for June 26 to 29 in Saskatoon. As final preparations are underway, the final timetable has been released along with a list of optional workshops. The conference begins on Tuesday evening with an ecumenical worship service at St. Paul’s Cathedral at 7 p.m. Dr. David Brubaker, one of our keynote speakers, will preach the sermon. The general public is invited to attend this service.
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The early bird registration deadline for the 2007 Summer Ecumenical Institute is March 15. Please register soon. A conference brochure and registration form are available online at ecumenism.net/sei/2007_sei_brochure.pdf
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The Prairie Centre for Ecumenism is pleased to announce that its Summer Ecumenical Institute for 2007 will take place in Saskatoon June 26-29. The theme of the conference is conflict resolution and transformation within and among churches, under the working title “Making Peace in the Household of God.”

Many Canadian churches appear to be experiencing conflict, often more within than between denominations. Liberals and conservatives in many churches are in tension over issues such as human sexuality and the interpretation of scripture, and the ‘heat’ seems to be rising. The skills of courtesy, listening and dialogue, which ecumenically-minded people have been developing over the years, are today needed just as much within our churches as between them.
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Following a long and passionate debate at the 2007 General Synod in Winnipeg, the Anglican Church of Canada has rejected the blessing of same-sex unions. The result is not decisive, however, as both clergy and laity voted in favour with the bishops narrowly defeating the resolution. Earlier resolutions affirmed that the blessing of same-sex unions is a doctrinal matter and that they are consistent with the core doctrine of the Anglican Church of Canada.
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[Anglican Journal] Canadian Anglicans, meeting at their General Synod governing convention, voted by the slimmest of margins to defeat a proposal that would have permitted church blessing rites for gay couples. However, on the same day, the synod – also by a narrow margin – agreed that such blessings are “not in conflict with the core doctrine” of the church. Much of the sixth day of the synod was taken up with debate on the two questions, with dozens of people approaching microphones in the plenary hall to voice emotional opinions.
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Le 23 juin, le pape Benoît XVI a nommé l’abbé Murray Chatlain évêque coadjuteur du diocèse de Mackenzie-Fort Smith, dans les Territoires du Nord-Ouest.
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On 23 June, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI named Reverend Murray Chatlain as Coadjutor Bishop of the Diocese of Mackenzie-Fort Smith, Northwest Territories.
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The Anglican Church of Canada’s General Synod has elected Bishop Fred Hiltz as the church’s new primate. The Evangelical Lutheran Church, meeting in its National Convention has chosen the Rev. Susan Johnson as its new national bishop.
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Delegates at the Eleventh Biennial National Convention of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) have elected Rev. Susan Johnson, Assistant to the Bishop of the Eastern Synod, as the new National Bishop of the ELCIC. The election occurred on the sixth and final ballot for Bishop. Bishop-elect Johnson will succeed National Bishop Raymond Schultz who announced in January of this year that he will retire as of September 1, 2007. Bishop Schultz has been serving as National Bishop for six years. He was elected for a four-year term at the 2005 Convention but announced his retirement half-way through the term due to personal and health reasons.
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[ACC News • Winnipeg] The Anglican Church of Canada has chosen Bishop Fred Hiltz of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island as its 13th Primate or national leader.

Bishop Hiltz was elected by the church’s General Synod, meeting in Winnipeg, on the 5th ballot, from among four bishops nominated last April by a gathering of all Canadian bishops.

Bishop Hiltz, 53, will succeed Archbishop Andrew Hutchison, elected three years ago, who announced earlier that he would retire at the end of the General Synod gathering now underway.

Bishop Hiltz was elected assistant bishop of the diocese of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island in 1995 and elected diocesan bishop in 2002. He was a member of the Council of General Synod from 2001 to 2004 and, since, 2006, has served as the Anglican Co-Chair of the Anglican-Lutheran International Commission.

In a statement after his nomination for the primacy, Bishop Hiltz described the Primate as “a servant of the people of God (whose) ministry is to gather the Church, to unite its members in a holy fellowship of truth and love, and to inspire them in the service of Christ’s mission in the world.”

He is married to Lynne Samways and they have one son.
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The third meeting of the Lutheran-Mennonite International Study Commission took place from 18 to 22 June 2007 at the Institute for Ecumenical Research in Strasbourg, France.
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[ACC News — Winnipeg] Nearly 1,000 Anglicans and Lutherans spent a day together in worship at the Winnipeg Convention Centre Thursday to celebrate six years of full communion between their two churches — and also to consider global warming.

The Anglican Primate, Archbishop Andrew Hutchison, and National Lutheran Bishop Raymond Schultz, both of whom retire this week, took part in the liturgy with the theme of the “water” running through it.

Both the Anglican Church of Canada and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada are holding their major decision-making conventions in Winnipeg this week.
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[ACC News] The merger of Augsburg Fortress and the Anglican Book Centre is almost complete, with only a few legal and technical details renaming.
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Après leur rencontre privée et l’échange de discours, le Pape et don hôte SB Chrysostomos II de Chypre ont signé une Déclaration commune, dans laquelle ils déclarent leur sincère et ferme engagement à obéir à la volonté du Seigneur en intensifiant leur recherche de la pleine unité entre tous les chrétiens. Le Pape et l’Archevêque désirent que les catholiques et les orthodoxes de Chypre vivent fraternellement et solidairement. “Nous voulons en outre soutenir et développer le dialogue théologique qui, par le biais de la Commission internationale s’apprête à traiter des points les plus complexes ayant marqué la division historique” des Eglises. “Nous devons parvenir à un accord substantiel en vue de la communion parfaite dans la foi, dans la vie sacramentelle et l’exercice du ministère pastoral”.
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Following this morning’s private meeting, and their exchange of speeches, the Pope and His Beatitude Chrysostomos II, signed a Joint declaration in the presence of the Catholic and Cypriot Orthodox delegations. In the declaration, Benedict XVI and the archbishop of New Justiniana and All Cyprus declare their “sincere and firm desire, in obedience to the will of Our Lord Jesus Christ, to intensify the search for full unity among all Christians. … We wish the Catholic and Orthodox faithful of Cyprus to live fraternally and in full solidarity. … Furthermore, we wish to support and promote theological dialogue which, through the competent international commission, is preparing to consider the most onerous questions that marked the historical event of division. It is necessary to reach substantial agreement over full communion in the faith, in sacramental life and in the exercise of pastoral ministry.”
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St. Andrew’s College, Saskatoon is pleased to announced that Sandra Beardsall, professor of ecumenics and church history, will offer a five-day course (for credit or audit) called “Preparing for Ecumenical Ministries,” June 4-8, 2007 (course #HA 356).
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