ENI suspends service, seeks further funding

Ecumenical News International announced on October 1 that its ENInews service is suspending operations, effective immediately, as it seeks emergency funding in order to operate for the remainder of 2012.

“We regret taking this step, but despite a massive reorganization, ENInews is feeling the effect of the deep cuts from its historic supporters as well as from non-payment by quite a number of subscribers,” said the Rev. David Harris, president of ENI and publisher of the Presbyterian Record, based in Toronto.

“Subscribers and readers have said how much they value authoritative, unbiased news of ecumenical and inter-faith developments around the world,” said Harris. “We hope the suspension will be temporary and ENInews will secure a firm funding base.
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Posted: Oct. 1, 2012 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=2243
Categories: ENI Transmis : 1 oct. 2012 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=2243
Catégorie : ENI

Inter-Anglican commission considers ecumenical dialogues

An international Anglican commission considered a number of ongoing and proposed ecumenical dialogues at its meeting in Dublin from Sept. 12-19, according to a news release from the Anglican Communion News Service (ACNS).

The Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Unity, Faith and Order (IASCUFO) “reflected on the Christian calling to work for the visible unity of God’s Church as ambassadors for Christ in the ministry of reconciliation,” according to ACNS.

The commission received updates from ecumenical dialogues with Lutherans, Methodists, the Orthodox, Reformed, and Roman Catholics. Regarding Anglican-related work, the group discussed the proposed Anglican Communion Covenant, the Anglican “instruments of communion,” theological anthropology and reception.
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Posted: Sept. 19, 2012 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=7042
Categories: ENI • In this article: Anglican Communion, dialogue, ecumenism, IASCUFO Transmis : 19 sept. 2012 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=7042
Catégorie : ENI • Dans cet article : Anglican Communion, dialogue, ecumenism, IASCUFO

Anglican-Roman Catholic meeting ponders ecumenical dialogue

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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Posted: May 11, 2012 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=9644
Categories: Dialogue, ENI • In this article: Anglican, ARCIC, Catholic, development, dialogue Transmis : 11 mai 2012 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=9644
Catégorie : Dialogue, ENI • Dans cet article : Anglican, ARCIC, Catholic, development, dialogue

Christian leaders plan ecumenical future at Global Christian Forum

An estimated 275 Christian leaders are meeting in Indonesia from 4 to 7 October to plot an ecumenical future in what one veteran of the ecumenical movement called a watershed gathering.

Leaders of the fledgling Global Christian Forum (GCF) will gather evangelical, Pentecostal, mainline Protestant, Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christians here to assess recent changes in global Christianity, Religion News Service reports.
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Posted: Oct. 3, 2011 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=1814
Categories: ENI, RNS • In this article: Global Christian Forum Transmis : 3 oct. 2011 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=1814
Catégorie : ENI, RNS • Dans cet article : Global Christian Forum

Lutheran pastor appointed dean of Anglican cathedral in Canada

In a historic move, the Anglican diocese of Rupert’s Land appointed a Lutheran pastor, the Rev. Paul Johnson, as dean of the diocese and incumbent for St. John’s Cathedral in Winnipeg, reports the Anglican Journal. This is the first time a Canadian Lutheran pastor has been appointed dean in an Anglican cathedral in Canada. A dean is the priest in charge of a cathedral (“mother church”) and occupies a senior position in a diocese.
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Posted: Sept. 28, 2011 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=1815
Categories: ENI • In this article: Anglican, Lutheran Transmis : 28 sept. 2011 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=1815
Catégorie : ENI • Dans cet article : Anglican, Lutheran

Methodists and Church of England renewing efforts at unity

Leaders of the Church of England and the Methodist Church have been urged to work more closely in the future in order to strengthen Christian unity.

A statement issued by the Church of England’s communications office on June 16 said the Joint Implementation Commission (JIC) set up under the Anglican-Methodist Covenant of 2003 to enhance unity is recommending the two churches share their mission and ministry more widely.

A new JIC report, “Moving Forward in Covenant,” is due to be considered by the Methodist Conference and the Church of England’s General Synod, both taking place this summer. The JIC’s role is “to monitor and promote the implementation of the Covenant.”
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Posted: June 20, 2011 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=7277
Categories: ENI • In this article: Anglican, Church of England, covenant, Methodist, mission Transmis : 20 juin 2011 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=7277
Catégorie : ENI • Dans cet article : Anglican, Church of England, covenant, Methodist, mission

Orthodox churches find it difficult to overcome differences

Diptychs, an arcane liturgical term that describes the order in which Orthodox churches commemorate each other at their services, is one of the tangled issues blocking plans for what could be the first great church council in 1,200 years.

Some Orthodox leaders say the churches need to get together to discuss common issues and speak with one voice on such important topics as bioethics, sexuality and the environment, but differences over arcane church issues such as diptychs and autocephaly (the independent status of Orthodox churches) run deep.
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Posted: Mar. 22, 2011 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=1793
Categories: ENI • In this article: Orthodox Transmis : 22 mars 2011 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=1793
Catégorie : ENI • Dans cet article : Orthodox

Canadian evangelical pastors tour Israel

Nineteen Canadian Christian evangelical pastors are spending nine days on a study tour of Israel that is intended to provide them with information and perspectives that could be used to defend Israeli government policies. The tour, a project of the Modern Israel Studies Department at Canada Christian College in Toronto in conjunction with the B’nai Brith World Center in Jerusalem, was funded by private donors.
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Posted: Feb. 1, 2011 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=1788
Categories: ENI Transmis : 1 févr. 2011 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=1788
Catégorie : ENI

Dutch synod looks to mend historic Protestant splits

A gathering to improve relations between the many Protestant denominations in the Netherlands recently took place on the site of an earlier historic synod, though any idea of complete church unity taking place was said to smack of “an unrealistic utopia.” About 700 Christians from 50 Prot­estant churches attended what was billed as a “national synod” December 10-11 in the main church in the town of Dor­drecht.
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Posted: Dec. 16, 2010 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=1787
Categories: ENI Transmis : 16 déc. 2010 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=1787
Catégorie : ENI

Lutheran president, Munib Younan, seeks eucharistic accord with Pope

The president of the Lutheran World Federation, Bishop Munib Younan has said before meeting Pope Benedict XVI that their churches should issue a common statement on Holy Communion to mark the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation that Martin Luther began in 1517.

“Our [the Lutheran federation’s] intention is to arrive at 2017 with a common Roman Catholic-Lutheran declaration on eucharistic hospitality,” Younan told the Italian Protestant news agency NEV the day before his audience with the Pope Dec. 16.
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Posted: Dec. 15, 2010 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=1783
Categories: ENI • In this article: Lutheran Transmis : 15 déc. 2010 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=1783
Catégorie : ENI • Dans cet article : Lutheran

Pope gets gloves from WCC leader to warm relations

The head of the World Council of Churches in his first official meeting with Pope Benedict XVI has said he wants to strengthen cooperation with the Roman Catholic Church, especially in the Middle East.
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Posted: Dec. 6, 2010 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=1784
Categories: ENI Transmis : 6 déc. 2010 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=1784
Catégorie : ENI

Orthodox leader ‘resists opposition’ with call for church unity

Orthodox leader ‘resists opposition’ with call for church unity

The Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomeos I, a key leader for the world’s 300 million Orthodox Christians, has written a Lenten encyclical that stresses the need for greater unity for churches, and counters accusations from some of his bishops that ecumenism is heresy.
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Posted: Feb. 19, 2010 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=625
Categories: ENI • In this article: Bartholomew I, Christian unity, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, encyclicals, Orthodox, patriarch, Phanar Transmis : 19 févr. 2010 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=625
Catégorie : ENI • Dans cet article : Bartholomew I, Christian unity, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, encyclicals, Orthodox, patriarch, Phanar

German cardinal says Vatican looking for new steps to unity

The Vatican official responsible for links with other churches has rejected suggestions of a “standstill” in the search for Christian unity. “There has already been a lot of movement,” Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, told Ecumenical News International in Wittenberg, the eastern German town where in 1517, Martin Luther published his 95 Theses, thereby setting in train the breach with the papacy.

… continued
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Posted: Nov. 4, 2009 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=610
Categories: Dialogue, ENI • In this article: Catholic, Vatican, Walter Kasper Transmis : 4 nov. 2009 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=610
Catégorie : Dialogue, ENI • Dans cet article : Catholic, Vatican, Walter Kasper

ENI to start sharing content with Religion News Service

Geneva (ENI). Ecumenical News International and Washington-based Religion News Service (RNS) have launched a shared-content agreement to distribute selected stories from each others’ newswires.

… see more
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Posted: Apr. 21, 2009 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=570
Categories: ENI, RNS Transmis : 21 avril 2009 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=570
Catégorie : ENI, RNS

Russian Orthodox pick Oxford-educated cleric for ecumenical post

Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev, an Oxford-educated cleric who served as the Moscow Patriarchate’s representative to European organizations in Brussels, has been appointed as head of the Russian Orthodox Church’s Department of External Church Relations.

… continued
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Posted: Apr. 1, 2009 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=568
Categories: ENI • In this article: Orthodox Transmis : 1 avril 2009 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=568
Catégorie : ENI • Dans cet article : Orthodox

Numbers of German Protestants falling faster than Catholics

The membership of Germany’s two largest churches is shrinking, but the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), the country’s biggest Protestant grouping, has dropped below 25 million members for the first time since the unification of Germany in 1990.

At the end of 2007, EKD members accounted for 24.83 million of Germany’s 82-million people, the German Protestant news agency epd reported on 17 November. The EKD now has more than a million fewer adherents than it did five years ago.
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Posted: Nov. 19, 2008 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=523
Categories: ENI • In this article: Catholic, Protestant Transmis : 19 nov. 2008 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=523
Catégorie : ENI • Dans cet article : Catholic, Protestant

Half of Church of England clergy ‘will be women’ by 2018

A member of the (Anglican) Church of England’s general synod who supports a greater female role in the church has predicted that within 10 years half of all full-time clergy will be women, but says moves to consecrate female bishops is not keeping pace.

The prognosis came from U.S-born Christina Rees, a writer, broadcaster and public speaker and chairperson of Watch (Women and the Church), started in 1996 as a forum for promoting women’s ministry in the Church of England.
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Posted: Nov. 13, 2008 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=520
Categories: ENI • In this article: Anglican Transmis : 13 nov. 2008 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=520
Catégorie : ENI • Dans cet article : Anglican

Canadian churches welcome PM’s apology on residential schools

Canadian churches welcome PM’s apology on residential schools

[Kristine Greenaway • ENI] Church leaders in Canada hope action will follow a public apology by Prime Minister Stephen Harper to victims of a policy whereby aboriginal children were placed in residential schools run by churches under a government policy of enforced assimilation.

Archbishop Fred Hiltz, the leader of the Anglican Church of Canada, said he was moved by the apology given by Harper in Ottawa on 11 June in the lower house of the Canadian parliament on behalf of the government, followed by apologies from other party leaders.

“I was very encouraged by their determination to make sure that this apology is seen as a beginning, and that it will be accompanied by actions that will significantly improve the quality of life for First Nations people in this land,” Hiltz said in an interview with the Anglican Journal after the prime minister’s statement.

A law passed by the government of Canada in 1920 made it compulsory for aboriginal children aged 7-15 to leave their communities and live in residences at schools run by churches including the Catholic, Anglican, Presbyterian and United Church of Canada. The last of the schools closed in 1996.

During the 1980s former students began making allegations of sexual and physical abuse inflicted on them in the schools. In 2006, a class action suit on behalf of a group of students resulted in the awarding of the largest financial settlement in Canadian legal history.

“The treatment of children in Indian residential schools is a sad chapter in our history,” Harper said in his parliamentary speech. “Today, we recognise this policy of assimilation was wrong, has caused great harm, and has no place in our country. The government of Canada sincerely apologises and asks the forgiveness of the Aboriginal peoples of this country for failing them so profoundly.”

The moderator of the United Church of Canada, the Rev. David Giuliano said his denomination hoped the apology would spark a substantive grass-roots response. “The 11 June apology offers the opportunity to begin the process of healing, forgiveness, and reconciliation,” said Giuliano.

The 2006 settlement included provision for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the first time the model used after the demise of apartheid in South Africa has been applied in a stable democracy.

The commission, headed by an aboriginal judge, Justice Harry S. LaForme, has a five-year mandate to travel throughout the country to meet former students. LaForme, a member of the Mississauga tribe, is joined by commissioners Jane Morley, a lawyer, and Claudette Dumont-Smith, an aboriginal nurse from the Algonquin tribe.

“We know what occurred,” said LaForme. “What we now want to hear are the stories from themselves not so we can punish, but so we can walk forward into the future and build a new relationship.”

In Geneva on 13 June the general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation, the Rev. Ishmael Noko welcomed the Canadian government public apology to the First Nations, as a significant indication of the willingness to confront painful legacies of injustice against Indigenous Peoples.

“Honest examination of past wounds is a necessary step to the healing of memories. I pray that these apologies represent the beginnings of an open process of deeper reconciliation between Aboriginal and non-indigenous peoples,” said Noko, who is a Zimbabwean.
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Posted: June 12, 2008 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=470
Categories: ENI Transmis : 12 juin 2008 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=470
Catégorie : ENI

UCC’s Observer sponsors evolution exhibit

UCC‘s Observer sponsors evolution exhibit

Toronto (ENI). A Canadian church magazine has become the first North American sponsor of a travelling exhibit of the life and work of natural scientist Charles Darwin, whose theory of the evolution of species has long been a source of conflict between scientists and Christians who take the Biblical account of creation literally.

The exhibit, which opened at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto on 8 March, had failed to find support from the museum’s usual sponsors. Museum officials said none disagreed with Darwin’s theories but cited concerns about a potential backlash from Christians opposed to the idea of evolution.

The editor of the United Church Observer, David Wilson, decided the Canadian magazine should become a sponsor after learning that the exhibit had received no corporate support in other North American cities where it had been mounted.

In announcing the magazine’s sponsorship, Wilson said, “There is nothing in the exhibit that threatens or diminishes religion. If anything, it shines a light on the inherent beauty and wonder of a creation that is constantly and eternally evolving. The Darwin exhibit deserves support and we’re not afraid to say so.”

According to public opinion surveys, significant numbers of Christians in North America oppose Darwin’s theory that humans evolved from simple life forms over many millennia. In the United States, school boards in as many as 25 states have been challenged in recent years to include what is called “intelligent design” in science studies, a view that its critics say encourages students to doubt the theory of evolution.

The Rev. Paul Fayter, a professor of science and religion at York University in Toronto and a parish minister with the United Church of Canada, told Ecumenical News International, “The Observer has shown great leadership. This small gesture speaks to the centuries-long, deep and mostly supportive relationship the Church has had with the world of science.”

:: Darwin: The Evolution Revolution runs from 8 March to 4 August in Toronto before moving to the Natural History Museum in London, Britain, in time for celebrations marking Darwin’s 200th birthday in February 2009.
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Posted: Mar. 24, 2008 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=441
Categories: ENI • In this article: United Church of Canada Transmis : 24 mars 2008 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=441
Catégorie : ENI • Dans cet article : United Church of Canada

Catholic Church in Poland reports sharp drop in vocations

Catholic Church in Poland reports sharp drop in vocations
by Jonathan Luxmoore

[Warsaw • ENI] The bishop in charge of recruitment for Poland’s Roman Catholic clergy says he does not believe recent scandals are to blame for a sharp fall in vocations, after the church noted a 24 percent reduction in admissions to the country’s 84 Catholic seminaries.

“Decisions about vocations aren’t taken under the influence of short-term events,” said Bishop Wojciech Polak, who heads the church’s National Council for Vocations Ministry. “Today’s culture discourages firm life-long commitments. But we’re not yet seeing any radical, drastic drain in priestly callings, or feeling any tangible shortage of clergy.”

The church statement announcing the fall in seminary admissions also reported that the total number of seminaries in Poland had fallen by one tenth.

In an interview with Ecumenical News International on 31 January, Bishop Polak said the church would be unable to draw “competent conclusions” until longer-term trends became clear. He said, however, there was no evidence to support some media claims that the fall in seminarians reflected negative publicity about the alleged infiltration of the church by the former communist secret police, or about the alleged nationalism of the Catholic broadcaster, Radio Maryja.

“Poland is affected by Europe-wide demographic changes, and the number of potential priesthood candidates is falling anyway,” said Polak, who also chairs the European vocations service of the Council of European (Catholic) Bishops’ Conferences (CCEE).

“We should get used to having less impressive numbers than in the past,” the bishop added. “But our bishops’ conference is working hard to improve its pastoral outreach to young people and find new ways of fostering interest in the priesthood and consecrated life.”

Catholic vocations doubled in Poland after the 1978 election of Polish-born Pope John Paul II, peaking in the mid-1980s. Polish vocations are said to currently account for about a fifth of the European total, and 7 percent at the world level.

In its statement, the church said total seminary numbers dropped from 4612 in 2006 to 4257 in 2007, while 786 students started studies in October, compared to 1029 the previous year. The church also said that admissions had dropped to both male and female religious orders.
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Posted: Feb. 11, 2008 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=424
Categories: ENI • In this article: Catholic Transmis : 11 févr. 2008 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=424
Catégorie : ENI • Dans cet article : Catholic