The Ecumenical Health Care Network of the Canadian Council of Churches invites every congregation and community across the country to join in a time of celebration and renewal of Canada’s commitment to ensuring the preservation and strengthening of its universal public health care system, better known as Medicare. To this end, we have named the week of November 18th “Celebrate Medicare Week.”

In the past, Canada’s churches have played an invaluable role in defending access to care based on need not on ability to pay, and as a living statement of how we care for one another in Canadian society. In the words of a former vice-president of the Canadian Council of Churches, Karen MacKay-Llewellyn, “Defending public health care in a system that promises accessibility to all Canadians at the same level of quality, is a matter at the heart of our Christian confession, and this must rest at the heart of our public witness.”
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We hear complaints these days decrying much that is wrong with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.): ministers with questionable theology, regrettable statements from denominational officials, and misguided decisions by judicatories at all levels. One effect of these recitations surely is to leave under a cloud Presbyterians who profess continuing loyalty to the denomination. We who remain affiliated with the denomination are often portrayed by separation-minded colleagues as sell-outs, as compromisers, as “lukewarm Laodiceans” who have sacrificed theological and biblical integrity for the sake of unity-at-any-price.

We reject these portrayals and intend now to declare the biblical and confessional faith that leads us to keep faith with our brothers and sisters within the PC(USA). We contend that the decision to remain within the fellowship involves neither a softening of confessional commitments nor a sentimental minimizing of the problems afflicting the denomination. Rather, our commitment to hold firm in common life with our fellow Presbyterians is grounded in the recognition that the hope of the church lies nowhere else than in the saving Lordship of Jesus Christ its Head.

The corollary to this affirmation is the recognition that the decision to leave is questionable as an act of Christian faithfulness. While we do not doubt the godly intentions of many who have left or are considering leaving, we suggest that the path of separation tends to reflect a certain kind of despairing unbelief regarding Christ’s presence in and with the church, an abandonment of hope in a living, acting, and reigning Lord Jesus. Such a position stands in contradiction to the Gospel.
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The 23rd annual Festival of Faith will be held on Sunday, October 28th at 2 p.m. This year’s theme is “Side by Side in Faith.” The Congregation Agudus Israel (715 McKinnon Ave.) will again host the religious community of Saskatoon for this important festival.

Come join in Saskatoon’s multi-faith expression of its spiritual traditions expressed through speech, music, and dance – a celebration for all ages brought together from the four corners of the earth! Free admission. Refreshments served.
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The Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon will be holding a Diocesan Eucharistic Congress from October 26-28, 2007. A Eucharistic Congress is not a common event in any diocese, so it will be as unfamiliar to Catholics as it is to other Christians. Essentially, the Congress is a period of intense study and reflection about the many dimensions of the eucharistic mystery. As Bishop Albert LeGatt describes it, “A Eucharistic Congress… is an occasion to gather all the baptized, the Body of Christ, for the purpose of giving praise to Christ for the gift of the Eucharist.”
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[Port d’Espagne] L’Alliance réformée mondiale (ARM) a accepté de s’unir au Conseil œcuménique réformé (COR) pour former une nouvelle “entité mondiale” qui rassemblerait près de 87 millions de chrétiens réformés.

“Il s’agit d’un moment vraiment très important”, a déclaré le pasteur Clifton Kirkpatrick, président de l’ARM, après la décision unanime prise le 22 octobre par le Comité exécutif de l’Alliance, réuni à Trinité-et-Tobago, de s’unir avec le COR, dont le Comité exécutif avait accepté la proposition en mars.
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[Port of Spain] The World Alliance of Reformed Churches has agreed to unite with the Reformed Ecumenical Council to create a new “global entity” that will group 80 million Reformed Christians.

“This is a truly, truly important moment,” said WARC president the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick after the alliance’s executive committee, meeting in Trinidad, voted unanimously on 22 October to unite with the REC, whose executive committee had agreed to the proposal in March.
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A new response to the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission on Unity and Mission (IARCCUM) report entitled “Growing Together in Unity and Mission: Building on 40 years of Anglican-Roman Catholic Dialogue” has been published by Ruth Reardon from the Interchurch Families International Network (IFIN). Reardon’s response is published in the October issue of the IFIN newsletter, “Issues and Reflections.”

The recent agreed statement between the two churches represents the first practical results of the Mississauga meeting in 2000 that charged the new commission with the task “to oversee the preparation of a Joint Declaration of Agreement, and promote and monitor the reception of ARCIC agreements, as well as facilitate the development of strategies for translating the degree of spiritual communion that has been achieved into visible and practical outcomes.” (#12) In Reardon’s response, she assesses the new statement in light of the mandate issued to IARCCUM by the bishops meeting in Mississauga.
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The deplorable conditions at the Saskatoon Correctional Centre have led to a joint letter from the Anglican, Lutheran, and Roman Catholic bishops to the editor of the StarPhoenix that was published on Friday, October 19. The bishops call for urgent attention and action to resolve the over-crowding in the jail. They also highlight the impact that overcrowding has had upon the programs of the SCC, and on the escalating fear, violence, and mental hardship of the inmates.

Together with the inter-church committee on restorative justice, the bishops invite the general public to join them for a candlelight vigil outside the Saskatoon Correctional Centre on Sunday, October 21st, at 7 p.m.

[Please note that the original StarPhoenix report included the incorrect date. The vigil will indeed be on Sunday, October 21st.]
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A letter from Rt. Rev. Rodney Andrews (Anglican bishop of Saskatoon), Rev. Cynthia Halmarson (ELCIC bishop of the Saskatchewan Synod) and Most. Rev. Albert LeGatt (Roman Catholic bishop of Saskatoon) has been sent to the editor of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix. The letter addresses the living conditions at the Saskatoon Correctional Centre, a prison and detention centre operated by the Province of Saskatchewan. The issues raised in the letter have been brought to the attention of the churches and the community by the chaplains serving at the correctional centre.
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The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), announced Oct. 6 that the Rev. Donald J. McCoid, former bishop of the ELCA Southwestern Pennsylvania Synod, Pittsburgh, will lead the church’s Ecumenical and Inter-Religious Relations section for four years, effective Nov. 1.

McCoid, 63, completed his service Aug. 31 as a synod bishop, a role in which he served since 1988. He had previously announced he would not be available for re-election as bishop.

McCoid will succeed the Rev. Randall R. Lee, who will conclude his service as section executive on Oct. 31. Lee, 51, has led ELCA Ecumenical and Inter-Religious Relations since 2002.
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The “Friends of Sophia” invite you to join them for the first gathering of the fall semester. On Wednesday, October 3 at 7:30 p.m., Gladys Neufeld will lead a liturgy intertwining stories, music, and food. The liturgy will be held in the Chelsea Commons, room 231, St. Thomas More College. Please bring a donation for the Food Bank.
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