The Anglican Church of Canada has entered a new round of dialogue with the United Church of Canada. The aim is to explore ways in which the two churches can work together for more effective ministry and mission.

“Much of the impetus for these conversations is coming from the grassroots of our two churches,” says Archdeacon Bruce Myers, the Anglican church’s coordinator for ecumenical relations. “Many communities across Canada are served by ecumenical shared ministries in which Anglicans and United church people and clergy work and worship side by side. They’re asking our churches’ leadership to find ways to facilitate such cooperation in mission and ministry.”

To that end, 12 new representatives from the two denominations met in Toronto May 14 to May 17 at St. John’s Convent, the headquarters of the Sisters of St. John the Divine. In addition to theological conversation, the group shared common prayer, meals and fellowship.
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This Pentecost Sunday, May 27, Anglican and Lutheran leaders in the Holy Land will issue a joint pastoral letter informing their churches that they are fully committed to establishing closer relations, and in time, full communion. The letter was a result of a meeting held in Jerusalem May 15 to 21 in which national leaders of the Anglican Church of Canada and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) were invited to share their journey into full communion.

Read the complete story by Marites N. Sison from the Anglican Journal
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Two of Canada’s leading voices in interfaith relations will be honored by Pope Benedict XVI — Dr. Victor Goldbloom and the Rev. Irénée Beaubien.

Goldbloom, a pioneer in Catholic-Jewish dialogue in Quebec, will receive the Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Sylvester Pope and Martyr at a 4 September ceremony in Montreal. … Established in 1905, the award is one of five Orders of Knighthood awarded directly by the pope. Past recipients have included Holocaust hero Oskar Schindler and the Aga Khan.

Beaubien, a Montreal Jesuit and leader in Quebec’s ecumenical movement, on the same day will receive the pontifical medal Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice, created by Pope Leo XIII in 1888 for extraordinary service to the Roman Catholic Church and papacy.
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The Catholic Church’s relationship to Judaism as taught by the Second Vatican Council and the interpretations and developments of that teaching by subsequent popes, “are binding on a Catholic,” said the Vatican official responsible for relations with the Jews. Swiss Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews and a member of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, spoke to reporters May 16 after delivering a speech on Catholic-Jewish relations in light of Vatican II’s declaration “Nostra Aetate” on the church’s relations with non-Christian religions. The afternoon speech followed Cardinal Koch’s participation in a meeting of the doctrinal congregation to examine the latest progress in the Vatican’s reconciliation talks with the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X.

“There are questions to clarify in discussions with this community. I can’t say more than that,” he told reporters, echoing a Vatican statement saying the reconciliation talks are ongoing. In addition to the highly publicized position of Bishop Richard Williamson, an SSPX bishop who denies the Holocaust, public statements by the society’s superior general, Bishop Bernard Fellay, leave in doubt whether the society as a whole accepts the entirety of “Nostra Aetate,” including its condemnations of anti-Semitism and of the idea that the Jews were to blame for the death of Jesus.

“All the doctrinal decisions of the church are binding on a Catholic, including the Second Vatican Council and all its texts,” Cardinal Koch said when asked if the SSPX would be expected to accept all the teachings of Vatican II. “The ‘Nostra Aetate’ declaration of the Second Vatican Council is a clear decree and is important for every Catholic,” he added. At the same time, Cardinal Koch said, “it is very necessary to make clear the difference between the position of the Society of St. Pius X and the negation of the Shoah (the Holocaust), which is a position that has no place in the Catholic Church. It is very clear.”
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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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The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) today released a pastoral letter on freedom of conscience and religion. Issued by the CCCB Permanent Council, the letter expresses concern about an “aggressive relativism” in Canada that seeks to relegate religion to the private sphere.

“Legitimate secularity draws a distinction between religion and politics, between Church and state,” the pastoral letter states, but is open to the engagement of religious beliefs and faith communities in public debate and civic life. “Radical secularism”, however, excludes religion from the public square “and from freely engaging in the public debate necessary for shaping civic life.”
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Hong Kong – As the 4 to 10 May meeting of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) drew to a close, participants emphasized the importance of social witness and openness in ecumenical dialogue.

“There seem to be many obstacles from a human point of view, and it does not seem likely to have fully visible unity in the near future,” New Zealand Anglican Archbishop David Moxon, the co-chairperson of the meeting, said on May 8. “We can, however, do a lot of things together during this slow process,” he added.

“As we discussed in the meeting, there can be more collaborations between us, such as (humanitarian agencies) Caritas International and the Global Anglican Relief and Development Alliance,” he said.

The Hong Kong ecumenical gathering is the second meeting for the third phase of ARCIC, which is focused on the examining the question of moral decision-making within the local and universal church.
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The Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission has completed the second meeting of its new phase (ARCIC III), at the Mission to Seafarers in Kowloon, Hong Kong (3-10 May 2012).

The Commission, chaired by the Most Revd David Moxon (Anglican Archbishop of the New Zealand Dioceses) and the Most Revd Bernard Longley (Roman Catholic Archbishop of Birmingham) comprises nineteen theologians from a wide range of backgrounds across the world. According to the mandate given to it by the two Communions, the Commission is addressing interrelated issues: the Church as Communion, local and universal, and how in communion the local and universal Church come to discern right ethical teaching. The Commission has also been mandated to present the documents of ARCIC II for reception by the relevant authorities of both communions. Accordingly, the Commission is reviewing responses already received in order to prepare some elucidations, together with commentaries, which will enable the material of ARCIC II to be studied at all levels of the churches’ life.

Read more on “Ecumenism in Canada”
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The Board and staff of the Prairie Centre for Ecumenism are excited to have a new Director in place. We welcome Dr. Darren Dahl, who began his duties on May 1st. He will be working half-time at the Centre. He is also a sessional lecturer in the department of Religion and Culture at St. Thomas More College and a Fellow in the Classical, Medieval, and Renaissance Studies programme at the University of Saskatchewan. A former Lutheran pastor, Darren was recently received into the Roman Catholic church. He is interested in the relation of ecumenical dialogue to its secular cultural context as well as ecumenical dialogue between Roman Catholics and the Orthodox churches.
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The Archbishop of Birmingham has said he understands those frustrated with ecumenical dialogue but stressed the long term aim is “full visible unity”. Archbishop Bernard Longley was speaking to The Tablet days before members of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) gathered for their latest round of meetings in Hong Kong, which was due to start on Friday.
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After several hundred years of separation, members of six Pan-Methodist denominations have committed to ministry together. The United Methodist Church (UMC) is the last of the denominations to adopt the full communion agreement, which was celebrated May 1 during the 2012 UMC General Conference.
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