The Christian Churches face a crisis in ecumenism. Before rapprochement with other faiths becomes possible, they must overcome their own differences

There are four areas which are crucial to Christianity within the next 20 years and which have to be faced by all Christians. They will certainly be among the main challenges facing the next pope.

The first is the de-christianisation of Europe. How extraordinary that in the space of 50 years the secularist culture of Europe should have gained such sway, especially at a time when, around the world, the Enlightenment prediction that religion would become merely a private affair seems to have been so misplaced. The rise of an assertive Islam, with all its huge challenges, speaks for itself, as does the new popularity of religious practice in the former Soviet Union. The crucial 2 per cent or 3 per cent margin which handed victory to President Bush is being attributed to the newly galvanised ranks of evangelical Christians in the United States. In Africa, Asia and Latin America, the Churches are expanding fast. Even in our old, tired Europe, religious belief is exerting a new fascination among the young, as is evident in the increased take-up of RE at A-level and theology at university.
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National Council of Churches General Secretary Bob Edgar welcomed the U.S. Catholic Bishops’ decision Nov. 17 to join Christian Churches Together in the U.S.A. (CCT), an effort to bring Catholics, evangelical and mainline Protestants, and Orthodox Christians around a common table for the first time.
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The Episcopal Church of Burundi wishes to express appreciation for the Windsor Report, and to congratulate the Lambeth Commission that produced it. It is an interesting, coherent, and sensitive report that challenges the Communion to dialogue constructively as a way forward.

The Episcopal Church of Burundi remains totally committed to the Anglican Communion and will continue to endeavour to “keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3). We should always be mindful of the Gospel imperative to maintain unity and communion that is rooted in truth and love.
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The Most Revd Peter Kwong, Primate of Hong Kong, today released the first details of the reception process being adopted by the Reception Reference Group appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury in conjunction with the Primates’ Standing Committee on the 20 October this year, following the publication of the Windsor Report 2004 in London on 18 October.

Full details will be placed on the Anglican Communion web site in the coming week.

“There will be three major threads to the process that the group are adopting”, the Archbishop commented, “First, we shall be using the official channels of the Anglican Communion to undertake consultation with the provinces and churches of the Anglican Communion, its official commissions and networks. This will also include approaches to Anglican mission agencies and ecumenical partners.”
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The Primates’ Standing Committee, meeting in London, between 18 and 20 October, 2004, received the Windsor Report at the same time that copies of the report were circulated to the Primates at 9.00am prior to its publication at 12 noon here in London.

We would like to begin by thanking Archbishop Robin Eames and his Commission, together with the staff who supported them, for the hard work and dedication which is represented by this document. The Commission members came from a wide range of geographical backgrounds, and brought many different perspectives to their work. That they have been able to commend this report unanimously to the members of the Anglican Communion is a sign of hope to our Communion. If there is a real desire to walk together in our discipleship of Christ, then a course can be plotted to maintain the highest degree of Communion possible, in spite of differences about the way in which Christ’s Gospel is to be interpreted in a diverse and troubled world.
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I welcome the sincerity and hard work of those who have prepared ‘The Windsor Report 2004‘. After an initial reading it is clear to me that the report falls far short of the prescription needed for this current crisis. It fails to confront the reality that a small, economically privileged group of people has sought to subvert the Christian faith and impose their new and false doctrine on the wider community of faithful believers. We have watched in sadness as sisters and brothers who have sought to maintain their allegiance to the faith once delivered to the saints have been marginalized and persecuted for their faith. We have been filled with grief as we have witnessed the decline of the North American Church that was once filled with missionary zeal and yet now seems determined to bury itself in a deadly embrace with the spirit of the age. Instead of a clear call for repentance we have been offered warm words of sentimentality for those who have shown no godly sorrow for their actions and harsh words of condemnation for those who have reached out a helping hand to friends in need of pastoral and spiritual care.
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Le Conseil d’administration du Centre canadien d’œcuménisme est heureux d’annoncer la nomination de M. Stuart E. Brown comme directeur du Centre, il est entré en fonction le 1er octobre. Originaire de Colombie-Britannique, M. Brown détient une maîtrise et un doctorat en études islamiques de l’université McGill de Montréal. Au cours de sa carrière, qui s’est déroulée au Canada ainsi qu’aux États-Unis, en Angleterre, en Suisse, en Inde, en Australie et dans nombre de pays africains, il a enseigné et écrit sur divers aspects de l’Islam et du dialogue interreligieux ainsi que sur l’histoire et l’avenir de l’œcuménisme.

M. Brown a été secrétaire du programme des relations entre chrétiens et musulmans au sein de l’équipe responsable du dialogue interreligieux du Conseil œcuménique deConseil œcuménique des Églises à 1988, et secrétaire général du Conseil canadien des Églises de 1988 à 1993. Il parle couramment l’anglais, le français et l’arabe et lit l’allemand, l’italien, l’espagnol, le swahili et le turc. Sa femme Margaret et lui ont quatre enfants et cinq petits-enfants. M. Brown est le premier anglican et le premier laïc à détenir le poste de directeur du Centre canadien d’œcuménisme.
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Top leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) discussed a wide variety of topics in a meeting here Oct. 14, including the possibility that both could be part of a new round of theological dialogues with the Roman Catholic Church.

The subject was discussed in the Committee on Lutheran Cooperation (CLC), hosted here by the ELCA. Participants included the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop, and the Rev. Gerald B. Kieschnick, LCMS president, St. Louis.

The Rev. Randall R. Lee, director, ELCA Department for Ecumenical Affairs, and assistant to the presiding bishop, reported on the ELCA’s church-to-church dialogues, including the recently concluded 10th round of the Lutheran-Roman Catholic dialogue in the United States. The two churches released a statement this year, “The Church as Koinonia of Salvation: Its Structures and Ministries.” A proposed topic for the next round of talks is “Hope for Eternal Life,” Lee said.

“Regardless of the topic, we are interested in being full participants in the discussion [in the next round],” said the Rev. Samuel H. Nafzger, executive director, LCMS Commission on Theology and Church Relations.
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I have the honour to submit to you the Report of the Lambeth Commission on Communion, entitled ‘The Windsor Report 2004′. In the last twelve months, we have laboured hard and prayerfully listened to all shades of opinion across the Anglican Communion, and have been able to come to a common mind on a diagnosis for the current situation in the life of the Communion, and the remedies which could be offered.

We have made a remarkable journey. The Commission members had strongly held and differing opinions on both the presenting issues and their underlying causes, and we have not been afraid to discuss those views openly and honestly in our work. But equal to all of this is our central belief that the forty-four churches of the Anglican Communion belong together in witness and common mission for the sake of the Gospel, and this has helped us to develop a set of unanimous recommendations.
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I welcome the publication of the Windsor Report. I was privileged to be part of the Lambeth Commission, and despite some very honest exchanges, we were able to come together as a Commission to offer what I believe represents a genuine way forward for the future of the Anglican Communion.

The report we have agreed now offers to our brothers and sisters in Christ very real ways in which we could begin to strengthen our common life in the Lord, and to strengthen the workings of the Instruments of Unity so that they will be able to function more effectively in drawing our forty-four churches into greater interdependence and mutual life.
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The Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification — a significant document for Lutherans and Catholics signed in 1999 in Augsburg, Germany — “should not remain a paper and a ‘dead’ letter,” said Cardinal Walter Kasper. The document “must become known, lived out and become a reality in the body of the church,” he said.

Kasper, president, Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, The Vatican, made the comment in an Oct. 2 address to the Conference of Bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The Conference of Bishops is an advisory body of the church, consisting of the church’s 65 synod bishops, presiding bishop and secretary. It met here Sept. 30-Oct. 4. ELCA synod vice presidents, meeting here simultaneously with the conference, met with the bishops Oct. 2.

Cardinal Kasper’s visit was in recognition of the 5th anniversary of the signing of the Joint Declaration on Oct. 31, 1999. Kasper also noted this is also the 40th anniversary year of the Second Vatican Council, convened by Pope John XXIII. “Vatican II” marked a fundamental shift toward the modern Catholic Church and emphasized ecumenism.
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by Jana G. Pruden, Regina Leader Post [Lumsden, SK] On a day that celebrates the life of St. Francis of Assisi, four Christian church groups came together in an agreement that would have made him proud. Representatives of the Anglican Church, Roman Catholic Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church and Franciscan Friars met Monday on St. Francis’s
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From September 30th until October 4th, The Rev. Dr. Samuel Kobia, General Secretary of the World Council of Churches, will be paying his first official visit to the churches of Canada.

Dr. Kobia will begin his visit in Winnipeg where he will give a public lecture on the topic of ‘Ecumenism in the 21st century’ at the University of Winnipeg. In the afternoon of September 30th he will meet with aboriginal leaders.

In Toronto, Dr. Kobia will meet with various church houses and speak at a dinner for the church leaders of Canada. On Saturday, October 2nd, he will give the theme address at a public lecture, at 10:00 a.m., sponsored by Toronto School of Theology and the Canadian Centre for Ecumenism at Emmanuel College, Toronto School of Theology. The topic of his address will be ‘The Impact of Inter-Faith Relationships on the Theology and Practice of Classical Ecumenism’.
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Le Rév. Samuel Kobia, secrétaire général du ConsConseil œcuménique des Églises parmi nous du 30 septembre au 4 octobre; il s’agira de sa première visite officielle aux Églises du Canada.

M. Kobia se rendra d’abord à Winnipeg, où il prononcera une allocution publique sur le thème de « l’œcuménisme au 21e siècle » à l’université de Winnipeg. L’après-midi du 30 septembre, il rencontrera des dirigeants autochtones.

À Toronto, il rencontrera diverses organsations ecclésiales et prendra la parole lors d’un dîner pour les dirigeants des Églises canadiennes. Le samedi 2 octobre à 10 heures, il prononcera l’allocution thématique lors d’une conférence publique parrainée par la Toronto School of Theology et le Centre canadien d’œcuménisme à Emmanuel College, Toronto School of Theology. Son allocution aura pour thème « L’impact des relations interreligieuses sur la théologie et la pratique de l’œcuménisme classique.»

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Rome’s new document on men and women shows that feminists and the Church have more in common than perhaps either realises, but Catholic theology has yet to describe the sacramental nature of women.
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Voici le texte intégral de la Déclaration commune signée par le pape Jean-Paul II et le patriarche œcuménique Bartholomaios Ier au terme de la visite de celui-ci au Vatican.
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Here is a translation of the Joint Declaration signed by John Paul II and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople and published today.
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[ACNS 3847] The International Commission of the Anglican-Orthodox Theological Dialogue met in the International Study Centre, Canterbury Cathedral, in the United Kingdom, from Monday, June 21st – Friday, June 25th, 2004. The Commission is composed of representatives of the Orthodox Churches and of the Anglican Communion. The Dialogue began its work by exploring theological and
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The Ninth Biennial Assembly was a significant moment in the 120-year history of the Deaconess Community of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). After more than a year without a motherhouse or a directing deaconess, the community met May 14-17 here at the Cenacle Retreat House and elected Sister E. Anne Keffer to a four-year term as its directing deaconess.

The Deaconess Community is a community of lay women consecrated by the church to a ministry of Word and service. Sisters in the community work in a variety of settings such as health care, Christian education and social services.

Deaconesses are theologically trained and professionally prepared for their careers. They are called to ministry by congregations and synods of the ELCA and Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC).
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This Report could be a wonderfully helpful instrument for Mennonites and Roman Catholics on the local level. If, with proper guidance, small groups dare to tackle the Report, they will find it a treasury of new understanding and wisdom that will help them “grow together” as sisters and brothers in Christ.
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Numéro 7, mai 2004 Le Centre Canadien d’œcuménisme fête ses 40 ans! En octobre 1963 le Père Irénée Beaubien, s.j., a fondé le Centre Canadien d’œcuménisme à Montréal. Pendant quatre décennies le Centre a fidèlement porté la mission du rapprochement entre tous les chrétiens et chrétiennes et l’ouverture au dialogue avec d’autres religions. C’est avec
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The Anglican Consultative Council and the Lutheran World Federation, in accordance with the resolutions of the Twelfth Meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council in Hong Kong in September 2002, and the commitments of the Tenth Assembly of the Lutheran World Federation in Winnipeg in July 2003, approve the establishment of a new Anglican-Lutheran International Commission (ALIC), with the following mandate.
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Just released this morning at the Vatican. This instruction from the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacrament is entitled Redemptionis Sacramentum.
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Hello, I am looking for a volunteer translator to assist with English to French translation or proof-reading of the website. The tasks are not onerous. We are interested in translating small sections of the site at a time. A few paragraphs here or there. Eventually, we hope that all of the shared sections of the
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Blogs, or weblogs, are one of the most flexible of the new internet toys available. Using a blog, I or any other member of the blog can post notes of interest for our readers. The readers, in their turn, can post comments and links to each of the blog notes, beginning a dialogue of sorts
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COMMUNIQUÉ Le Centre canadien d’œcuménisme recherche une ou un directeur général qui pourrait entrer en fonction a l’été 2004. QUALITÉS : Solide formation incluant connaissances théologique; bon jugement; bilingue; leadership; vue lucide de la situation socioculturelle et religieuse de notre société; une personne de communication et de dialogue ; compréhension de l’ensemble des Églises chrétiennes; ouverture
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Une déclaration du Dialogue Judéo-Chrétien de Montréal Comme toute oeuvre d’art basée sur des faits historiques, le film de Mel Gibson La Passion du Christ peut créer l’illusion qu’il reproduit fidèlement le moindre détail de la passion de Jésus, avec toute sa toute cruauté et sa violence. Les spectateurs pourraient rester sous l’impression que tout
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A statement from the Christian-Jewish Dialogue in Montreal Like all art works based on historical events, Mel Gibson’s film The Passion of the Christ may create the illusion that it faithfully reproduces the details of Jesus’ Passion with its cruelty and violence. Viewers may be left with the impression that without the Jews, these things
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WCC News flash What should we do after seeing Mel Gibson’s film ‘The Passion of Christ’? That is the question being asked by Rev. Dr Hans Ucko, who specializes in Christian-Jewish dialogue at the World Council of Churches. He discusses the impact of our reactions to this controversial film in an opinion piece published in
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In an Easter message to member churches, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia expresses his hope that “Christians throughout the world will join in prayer and celebration” as they celebrate Easter on the same date this year, an occurrence he considers a “real gift and blessing”.
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Women are either victims of civil strife or beneficiaries of humanitarian efforts, but they are not full partners or equal participants in the peace process, proclaims Sarah Shteir of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. Shteir was one of several panelists at an ecumenical women’s gathering convened by the World Council of Churches (WCC), the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA and a national women’s peace organization called PEACE X PEACE.
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On Monday 29 March I left Glasgow for the third Building Bridges seminar convened by the Archbishop of Canterbury and hosted by John J. DeGioia, president of Georgetown University in Washington. A few days earlier, the former Archbishop George Carey, the man responsible for hosting the first of these seminars at Lambeth Palace in 2002, had made front-page headlines after delivering a public lecture in which Islam and Muslims had come under severe criticism over a variety of political and theological issues. “It is sad to relate”, he said, “that no great invention has come for many hundred years from Muslim countries.” “During the past 500 hundred years,” he continued, “critical scholarship [in theology] has declined, leading to strong resistance to modernity.” Dr Carey added that moderate Muslims must “express strongly on behalf of the many millions of their co-religionists, their abhorrence of violence done in the name of Allah.” Much to the dismay of many Muslims and non-Muslims, in subsequent interviews, Dr Carey remained steadfast that he had not meant to offend the Muslim community.
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On a visit to Jerusalem in the mid-1990s, the then Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, said ruefully that so many Palestinian Christians were emigrating in despair from the West Bank that the Christian holy places would soon become Disneyland attractions rather than places of “living worship”.

Three and half years into a second intifada, the situation is still deteriorating. Only one branch of Christianity — Christian Zionism — feels comfortable in the Holy Land these days. The reason is simple: while the Catholic, Orthodox and Anglican Churches line up behind their embattled and dwindling Palestinian flocks to protest against Israel’s continued occupation of the West Bank and the expansion of settlements there, Christian Zionists stand shoulder to shoulder or even comfortably to the right of Likud and the Orthodox rabbis.

Among its demands are more Jewish settlements on the West Bank, the relocation of Palestinians to neighbouring Jordan and even the razing of the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa mosque to make way for the third Jewish Temple.
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London (ENI). After asking young people in pubs, cafes and cinemas, Britain’s Methodists have five more commandments to add to the original 10. The competition to find the 11th Commandment attracted 2000 entries submitted from mobile phones using text messages. Appropriately, the winners included “Thou shalt not confuse text with love.” Others were: “Thou shalt
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CHICAGO (ELCA) — 2004 is a pivotal year for many ecumenical and interfaith endeavors of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The ELCA’s 2003 Churchwide Assembly received a planning report and committed the church to work in five strategic directions, including to “deepen and extend our global, ecumenical and interfaith relationships for the sake
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Dear sisters and brothers in Christ, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy we have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Pe 1:3). Christ is Risen! This year this joyful exclamation will be simultaneously pronounced by
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A response of the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church to an expressed need of the Church Editor’s note: This is a pastoral letter responding to the need for alternative pastoral oversight in some dioceses of the Episcopal Church USA. Four important points should be noted: 1) the Bishops distinguish between pastoral oversight and
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Next week Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, is due to travel to Russia to meet the Patriarch in the highest-level visit by Vatican officials in four years. The aim of the five-day trip (due to start on Monday) is to improve relations between Rome and Moscow, which are at their lowest point since before the Second Vatican Council. Two years ago a visit by the cardinal was cancelled by the Moscow Patriarchate, outraged by what it described as aggressive Catholic missionary activity in its “canonical territory”.
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« Avec foi, les femmes façonnent l’avenir », Journée mondiale de la prière, du 5 mars 2004

Chrétiennes et chrétiens de partout à travers le monde vont prier pour le Panama lors de la prochaine Journée mondiale de la prière le 5 mars 2004. La célébration de la Journée mondiale de la prière de cette année, composée par les femmes du Panama, a pour thème « Avec foi, les femmes façonnent l’avenir ».

Le Panama est l’un des pays du monde qui présentent la plus grande diversité ethnique, et son climat tropical favorise une faune et une flore abondantes. C’est aussi l’un des pays où l’écart entre riches et pauvres est le plus marqué. Une grande partie de l’économie et de la richesse est concentrée dans le secteur des services autour du Canal de Panama, alors qu’on observe une extrême pauvreté dans les regions isolées et au sein des collectivités autochtones.
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“In Faith, Women Shape the Future”, World Day of Prayer, March 5, 2004

Christians around the world will be focusing on the country of Panama during the annual World Day of Prayer service on March 5, 2004. This year’s World Day of Prayer service, written by the women of Panama, reflects on the theme “In Faith, Women Shape the Future.”

Panama is one of the most ethnically diverse countries in the world, and its fertile tropical climate supports an abundance of plants and birdlife. It is also one of the most unequal countries in the world in terms of the disparity between rich and poor. Much of the economy and wealth is concentrated in the services sector that supports the Panama Canal, while much of the extreme poverty is found in isolated areas of the country and in Indigenous communities.
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«Je vous donne ma paix» (Jean 14, 23-31), Semaine de prière pour l’unité chrétienne, du 18 au 25 janvier 2004

Le thème de la semaine de prière pour l’unité chrétienne en 2004 nous est proposé par les chrétiennes et chrétiens d’Alep en Syrie. Au Moyen-Orient, comme dans d’autres endroits du monde, il y a une grande faim de paix. Le texte biblique Jean 14,23-31 répond à cette commune faim de paix et nous montre comment la réconciliation avec le Christ nous amène à une communion plus étroite des uns avec les autres. Notre chemin de la paix comme chrétiens et chrétiennes passe par la réconciliation entre les Églises. Celle-ci nous aidera ensuite à établir de saines relations entre les différentes traditions religieuses dans le monde.
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“My Peace I give you” (John 14:23-31), Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, January 18 to 25, 2004

The theme for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in 2004 has been chosen by Christians in Aleppo, Syria. In the Middle-East, as in many other places in the world, people hunger for peace. The biblical passage John 14:23-31 offers us a response to our common hunger. It shows how Christ’s reconciliation helps to draw us into closer communion with one another. Our path to peace leads us to reconciliation among the churches and on that ground we can also seek healthy relationships between all religious traditions.
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The meeting of the Anglican-Oriental Orthodox International Commission, which was to have taken place at Walsingham from Tuesday 28 October to Sunday 2 November 2003, has been postponed at the suggestion of the Heads of the Coptic Orthodox Church (His Holiness Pope Shenouda III), the Syrian Orthodox Church (His Holiness Patriarch Zakka I) and the Armenian Orthodox Church, Catholicosate of Cilicia (His Holiness Catholicos Aram I), who met in Antelias, Lebanon, on 17 and 18 October 2003.

The present time is clearly a moment of uncertainty in the life of the Anglican Communion, with the consecration of a homosexual person in a committed, same-sex relationship as a Bishop within the Episcopal Church (USA). The developments facing the Communion were addressed in the Statement of the Primates of the Anglican Communion who met together with the Moderators of the United Churches at Lambeth Palace, London, on 15 and 16 October, to consider their reactions and the way forward for the Communion. In the light of that meeting, the Archbishop of Canterbury has set up a Commission which will look at the future structures of the Communion in the light of decisions taken in the Episcopal Church (USA) and in the Anglican Church of Canada.
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Bernard Daly was a Canadian journalist standing probably 15 feet in front of Pope John XXIII when the pontiff announced on Oct. 13, 1962, that the Second Vatican Council was about to change the modern world for Catholics.

“I had been a journalist for 14 years, writing about public events and commenting on them,” says Daly, “but the assignment to cover Vatican II as the only English-speaking Canadian journalist was a complete surprise and, in reality, such an honour.

“There he was, on a raised platform in the Sistine Chapel, in front of 1,000 journalists, with that beautiful face and jovial attitude, and none of us knew really what to expect. He spoke in French, I could follow well enough, and the texts were supplied in English later. And what he was telling us was that we should tell the truth, the whole truth, about what was going to happen during the council.”
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The visit to Ridley Hall Theological College, Cambridge, England by Shaykh Fawzy El-Zafzaf, President of the Committee for Dialogue with the Monotheistic Faiths of Al Azhar, the renowned Islamic university and Centre in Cairo, Egypt, marks a significant new development in the building of relations between the Anglican Communion and Al Azhar.

As part of the agreement signed by Archbishop Carey, then Archbishop of Canterbury, and Shaykh Tantawy, the Grand Shaykh of Al Azhar in January 2002, the two parties committed themselves not only to regular ‘dialogue’ meetings, but also to find other ways in which they might learn more about the faith of each other. It was agreed to seek to establish reciprocal study visits in which staff and students of Al Azhar would spend time at Anglican theological institutions, and Anglican theologians and theological students would similarly visit Al Azhar. Shaykh Fawzy’s visit to Ridley Hall, 5-11 October 2003, during which he was accompanied by Bishop Mouneer Anis, the Anglican Bishop of Egypt and North Africa will, it is hoped, prove to be the first of a number of such exchanges.
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“Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose” (I Cor 1:10)

To the Christians and churches of Eastern Europe,

We, the 25 participants of the Ancient Oriental, Anglican, Baptist, Evangelical, Lutheran, Orthodox, Reformed and Roman Catholic traditions of Eastern Europe have just completed an eight-day “School for Mission: Preaching the Gospel in Eastern Europe” organized by the World Council of Churches and the Conference of European Churches. It was an encouraging time of Christian fellowship and learning, during which we struggled to understand better how to express the missionary nature of the Church by bearing common witness in our home countries.
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A covenant between the Church of England and the Methodist Church of Great Britain was signed on November 1, 2003 at the Methodist Central Hall followed by a Service of Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey. Dr Williams gave the following address at the signing ceremony.

At his first meeting with leaders of the Jewish community in Rome, Pope John XXIII, it’s said, greeted them with the words, “I am Joseph, your brother”. He was evoking one of the most poignant moments in the Old Testament: Joseph, whose arrogance had provoked the resentment and rejection of his brothers, is carried off into exile and slavery, then rises to great power. He finds that this power is given to him so that he can save the lives of his brothers when they come to him, not knowing him, begging him for help; and at last he reveals who he is: “I am Joseph, your brother”.
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The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has announced the makeup and the terms of reference for a Commission to look at life in the Anglican Communion in the light of recent events. It is to be made up of members appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury and will be chaired by the Most Revd Robin Eames, Archbishop of Armagh.

The Commission, which is expected to begin its work early in the New Year, was formed as a result of a request from the recent Primates meeting at Lambeth Palace to the Archbishop of Canterbury. It will take particular account of the decision to authorise a service for use in connection with same sex unions in the Diocese of New Westminster, Canada, and the expected Consecration of the Revd Canon V Gene Robinson as Bishop Co-adjutor of New Hampshire in the Episcopal Church (USA) on Sunday, November 2nd.
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The Anglican-Methodist Covenant in England will be signed at a national celebration on Saturday 1 November 2003, at 11:00am, in the presence of Her Majesty the Queen. Earlier this year the Covenant was strongly endorsed by the Methodist Conference of Great Britain and the General Synod of the Church of England. The service of celebration will begin at Methodist Central Hall, Westminster, at 11.00am, in front of an invited assembly from both Churches as well as ecumenical and civic guests. After the historic Covenant is signed at Methodist Central Hall, the ceremony will continue at Westminster Abbey at 11:45am with a short service of thanksgiving and dedication. The Covenant will be signed on behalf of the Church of England by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of York, the Most Reverend Dr David Hope, and the Secretary General of the Archbishops’ Council, Mr William Fittall.
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I returned home from our meeting at Lambeth grateful for the spirit of candor in which we shared our thoughts and feelings. I thank God for the opportunity to come together in Christ’s name and for the strong bonds and mutual affection that exist between us. I pray that our common commitment to mission and God’s ongoing work of reconciliation will continue to bind us together in Christ in the days and years ahead. I remind myself that the church is not our possession but the risen body of Christ of which each one of us is a limb and member in virtue of our baptism.

As I tried to make plain in the course of our meeting, we in the Episcopal Church have been dealing openly with the place of homosexual persons in the life of our church for at least thirty years. Though the question still remains unresolved, the presence among us of deeply faithful men and women whose lives reveal the fruit of the Spirit, and whose primary affections are ordered to persons of the same sex, has brought us to this difficult, and very public, moment. I recognize that while many in our church give thanks for where we have come, many others are deeply pained and distressed. I further recognize how our decisions have also affected you and I hope you know how profoundly I regret the pain our Province’s action has caused many of you.
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