Father Tony Currer, officer responsibile for Anglican Relations at the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU), brought a message of greeting to all the participants of the 16th Anglican Consultative Council Meeting, in Lusaka (8 to 19 April) from His Eminence Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the PCPCU.
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“An ecological reformation of Christianity is a matter of repentance, conversion, and renewal for all Christian traditions,” reads the “Volos Call,” a statement issued after a meeting of church representatives from different traditions and all continents, held in Greece, between 10-13 March.

Gathering at the Academy of Volos for the international conference on Eco-Theology, Climate Justice and Food Security, participants stressed the concern that “an ecological reformation of Christianity (in all its traditions) is possible, but can remain authentic only if it stays in the Spirit and is expressed in the form of a humble prayer: Veni, Creator Spiritus! Come, Holy Spirit, renew your whole creation!”

According to the statement, an ecological reformation of Christianity “implies a twofold critique, namely both a deeper Christian critique of the root causes of ecological destruction and an ecological critique of forms of Christianity which have not recognized the ecological dimensions of the Gospel.”
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The Faith and Order Commission’s convergence text “The Church: Towards a Common Vision” continues to be discussed by churches on a journey toward revealing the unity of the church and how it is inextricably bound on a pilgrimage of justice and peace.

As part of this worldwide ongoing dialogue, ecumenical delegates from three departments of France — Ain, Savoie and Haute Savoie — met on 17 March with Dr Ani Ghazaryan Drissi, a member of the Secretariat of the Faith and Order Commission, in La Roche-sur-Foron. Together, they had a presentation and debate on the document.

The French delegates will prepare a response to the document by December 2016.

“It is essential to have official answers to ‘The Church: Towards a Common Vision’ not only from churches, but also from ecumenical groups such as this,” said Ghazaryan Drissi. “The first objective of the text is the renewal of ecclesial life.”
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Anglican, Roman Catholic and Methodist Churches in Aotearoa New Zealand are forming an ecumenical entity to pursue closer ties and share understandings. They held an inaugural meeting for the National Dialogue for Christian Unity (NDCU) on 25 February in Wellington.

Participants said they hope that the NDCU will lead to formal ecumenical collaboration among churches and other groups in society that want to work together on issues concerning all New Zealanders.

In addition to meeting during the day, participants attended a Service of Celebration at the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Wellington.

The formal establishment of the NDCU represents a significant and very hopeful development in ecumenical relationships in Aotearoa New Zealand, said Archbishop Philip Richardson, bishop of Taranaki and archbishop of the Anglican Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia. “Friendships between churches have been strong, so to give structure and form to these is cause for rejoicing.”
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Participants in the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS), and Lutheran Church-Canada’s (LCC) ongoing ecumenical dialogue have released an interim report on their work so far. Entitled “On Closer Acquaintance,” the document is the culmination of six years of regular discussions between the three church bodies, and highlights the discovery of significant doctrinal agreement between the Anglican and Lutheran participants.

The authors are clear that there is still much work to be done before altar and pulpit fellowship between the two sides would be possible. Nevertheless, they have found the discussions promising enough to publicly declare their prayer “that, in the time and manner of His choosing, our Lord would grant each side in our conversations to acknowledge our ‘first cousin’ to be in fact a true sister church, with the result that we would welcome each other wholeheartedly to our respective altars and enjoy the blessed situation in which our clergy and people would be interchangeable with each other as we stand under the grace of God and work for His kingdom.”

In the meantime, they encourage all three church bodies to “consider the ways in which we can cooperate and come together in ways that fall short of full communion but do allow the greatest measure of cooperation while maintaining full theological integrity.”
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“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father and the fellowship of the holy Spirit be with all of you” (2 Cor 13:13).

1. By God the Father’s will, from which all gifts come, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the help of the Holy Spirit Consolator, we, Pope Francis and Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, have met today in Havana. We give thanks to God, glorified in the Trinity, for this meeting, the first in history.

It is with joy that we have met like brothers in the Christian faith who encounter one another “to speak face to face” (2 Jn 12), from heart to heart, to discuss the mutual relations between the Churches, the crucial problems of our faithful, and the outlook for the progress of human civilization.

2. Our fraternal meeting has taken place in Cuba, at the crossroads of North and South, East and West. It is from this island, the symbol of the hopes of the “New World” and the dramatic events of the history of the twentieth century, that we address our words to all the peoples of Latin America and of the other continents.

It is a source of joy that the Christian faith is growing here in a dynamic way. The powerful religious potential of Latin America, its centuries–old Christian tradition, grounded in the personal experience of millions of people, are the pledge of a great future for this region.

3. By meeting far from the longstanding disputes of the “Old World”, we experience with a particular sense of urgency the need for the shared labour of Catholics and Orthodox, who are called, with gentleness and respect, to give an explanation to the world of the hope in us (cf. 1 Pet 3:15).
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The Primates of the Orthodox Churches convened to finalize the texts for the Holy and Great Council. In the framework of the Synaxis, on Sunday, 24th January, a Divine Liturgy was held at the Holy Stavropegic Church of St. Paul. Along with the Ecumenical Patriarch, who presided, Their Beatitudes and Heads of the delegations of the Orthodox Churches concelebrated the Liturgy, with the exception of the Head of the delegation of the Patriarchate of Antioch.

During the Synaxis, whose sessions were held in the apostolic spirit of “speaking the truth in love” (Eph. 4.15), in concord and understanding, the Primates affirmed their decision to convene the Holy and Great Council. The Council will be held at the Orthodox Academy of Crete from June 16th to 27th, 2016. To this end, the Primates humbly invoke the grace and blessing of the Holy Trinity and fervently invite the prayers of the fullness of the Church, clergy and laity, for the period leading to and the sessions of the Holy and Great Council.
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“I am the least of the Apostles … because I persecuted the Church of God. But by the grace of God, I am what I am, and His grace in me was not without effect.” That’s how the Apostle Paul sums up the significance of his conversion. Coming after his dramatic encounter with the Risen Christ on the road from Jerusalem to Damascus, it is not primarily a moral conversion but rather a transforming experience of the grace of Christ, and at the same time, a call to the new mission of announcing to everyone the Jesus that he previously persecuted by persecuting the disciples of Christ. At that moment, in fact, Paul understands that there is a real and transcendent union between the eternally living Christ and his followers: Jesus lives and is present in them and they live in him. The vocation to be an Apostle is founded not on Paul’s human merits, which he considers to be ‘the least’ and ‘unworthy’, but rather on the infinite goodness of God who chose him and entrusted him with his ministry.
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Archbishop David Moxon, director of the Anglican Centre in Rome, was invited to share the blessing with Pope Francis and Archbishop Gennadios of the Ecumenical Patriarchate during a service to mark the conclusion of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Here, Archbishop David reflects on the unprecedented moment.

Last night Archbishop Gennadios and I were invited by Pope Francis to share in the giving of the Pontifical Blessing.

This took place in front of the 3000-strong congregation at the Papal Basilica of St Paul’s outside the Walls, the venue for the final day of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in Rome. We were called to the side of the Papal Throne and he said “let’s share this together”. He received his papal pastoral staff, began the prayer and raised his hand. Archbishop Gennadios (the representative of the Ecumenical Patriarch) and I raised our hands also. It was incredibly moving to be part of what (I think) was an unprecedented invitation, which said far more even than the words which were actually recited.
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Pope Francis has apologised for behaviour towards Christians from non-Roman Catholic churches that “has not reflected Gospel values.” The Pope made his comments during a Vespers service in the Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls in Rome last night attended by the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Representative to the Holy See, Archbishop Sir David Moxon.

The service was held to mark the end of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and was also attended by Metropolitan Gennadios of Sassima from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. At the end of the service the Pope invited Metropolitan Gennadios and Archbishop David to join him in blessing the congregation.
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Anglican Bishop Kenneth Kearon used the image of constructing a barn to reflect upon the ecumenical movement during this year’s De Margerie Series on Christian Reconciliation and Unity, held in conjunction with the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in Saskatoon.

In addition to a public lecture “On Building an Ecumenical Barn,” held at St. Thomas More College Jan. 21, the 2016 De Margerie series also included two workshops – one for clergy and ministry leaders Jan. 22, and another on Jan. 23 for the general public, entitled “Being Church in the World Today.”

Dr. Terry Downey, president of St. Thomas More College opened the public lecture at STM with words of welcome. Held in conjunction with the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, the De Margerie series is jointly sponsored by STM, the Prairie Centre for Ecumenism, and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon. This year’s lecture was available for the first time on live-streamed video (and is now posted on the diocese’s YouTube channel).

Nicholas Jesson, ecumenical officer for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon, noted that the De Margerie series is named for local ecumenical pioneer, Rev. Bernard de Margerie, one of the founders of the Prairie Centre for Ecumenism in Saskatoon and its first director. De Margerie is also the author of In God’s Reconciling Grace, a book of prayers about Christian unity, reflecting his conviction that prayer and conversion must be at the heart of the ecumenical movement.
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When the senior archbishops of the Anglican Communion gathered in Canterbury Cathedral last week they did so against a backdrop of complex disagreements. But despite what the Archbishop of Canterbury described as “quite difficult” discussions; the leaders agreed to “walk together” and the Archbishop of Hong Kong said that the atmosphere during the week-long meeting “couldn’t be better”

“This is my fourth Primates [Meeting]. I must tell you, I must admit, that the atmosphere was much, much better than the previous ones I attended,” Archbishop Paul Kwong from Hong Kong said. Through the process of working through “lots of things to share, a lot of things to talk about, a lot of things to study,” Archbishop Kwong said he had become “very good friends” with the new Primates that he had met for the first time.

The Archbishop of Cape Town, Thabo Makgoba, said that he was “full of hope for our church and for the world” as he disclosed that the Primates had washed each other’s feet and prayed blessings on each other during the final Eucharist in the Crypt of Canterbury Cathedral on Friday morning. “We read the passage from the foot washing and we passed the basin around and the towel and we washed each other’s feet,” he said. “That’s a powerful thing of humility. That’s a powerful thing of closeness after a very hard working week.
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The images we see from Syria each week underline the reality: we live in a world racked by violence, hatred and extremism. We live too in a world of instant communication, where a decision or action taken in one place has a direct impact tens of thousands of kilometres away. When the archbishops of the 38 regions or provinces that make up the worldwide Anglican Communion met in England last week, at the invitation of the Archbishop of Canterbury, that was the reality that framed our gathering. The presenting issue was a crisis in the Communion over widely-differing views on human sexuality and same-gender relationships – and on marriage. The Anglican Church in the United States had recently changed its definition of Christian marriage to be gender neutral; describing Christian marriage only in terms of faithfulness, fidelity, mutual commitment and love – with no mention of a man and a woman. In other parts of the world, Anglican Church members strongly believe that gay and lesbian orientation and behaviour is fundamentally wrong – and in a few cases have even been complicit in harsh and violent persecution of gay and lesbian people. In reality, therefore, there is much that divides us.
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The Ecumenical Patriarchate announces that, following an invitation by His All-Holiness to Their Beatitudes the Primates of the local most holy Orthodox Churches, he will chair a Synaxis at the Orthodox Center of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Chambésy, Geneva, from January 21st to 28th, 2016.

All of the Primates have declared that they will attend the Synaxis in person, with the exception of Their Beatitudes Patriarch John X of Antioch and Metropolitan Sawa of Poland, who are prevented for health reasons, and Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and All Greece, for personal reasons, while all three will be represented by officially authorized representatives.
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Because of the U.S. Episcopal Church’s moves to unilaterally change canon law to allow same-sex marriage, Anglican leaders voted to suspend Episcopalians from positions representing the Anglican Communion and from participating in some Anglican bodies. Primates meeting in Canterbury, England, said that for three years, members of the Episcopal Church will be barred from sitting on Anglican bodies making decisions on doctrine and polity and from representing the Communion on ecumenical and interfaith bodies. The move comes in response to a policy allowing gay marriages, adopted last year by the General Convention, or governing body, of the Episcopal Church, the Anglican Church in the United States. The change in canon law in the U.S. has been strongly opposed by many of the theologically conservative African churches, some of whose leaders had threatened to walk out of the five-day primate meeting if the Episcopal Church was not penalized for its actions. The suspension was announced in a statement issued by the primates Jan. 14, a day earlier than planned because of leaks to the media.
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Having met this week in Canterbury, England, the Primates of the Anglican Communion committed–even in the face of deep differences of theological conviction concerning same-sex marriage–to walk together and not apart. Our conversations reflected the truth that, while the Anglican Communion is a family of autonomous Churches in communion with the See of Canterbury, we live by the long-held principle of ‘mutual responsibility and interdependence in the Body of Christ’. While our relationships are most often characterized by mutual support and encouragement, there are times when we experience stress and strain and we know our need for the grace of God to be patient with each other. Such was the experience of the primates this week. We struggled with the fragility of our relations in response to the actions taken by the General Convention of The Episcopal Church in changing its canon on marriage, making provision for the blessing of same-sex marriages. We talked, prayed and wrestled with the consequences considered by the meeting. Some of us wept.
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Before I say a word about our gathering here at the Primates Meeting, I just want to say a word of thank you to you for all of your prayers: your prayers for this meeting, your prayers for me personally, both here and in my earlier sickness. We are well, and God is God, and I thank you. Let me say a word about the meeting. This is not the outcome we expected, and while we are disappointed, it’s important to remember that the Anglican Communion is really not a matter of structure and organization. The Anglican Communion is a network of relationships that have been built on mission partnerships; relationships that are grounded in a common faith; relationships in companion diocese relationships; relationships with parish to parish across the world; relationships that are profoundly committed to serving and following the way of Jesus of Nazareth by helping the poorest of the poor, and helping this world to be a place where no child goes to bed hungry ever. That’s what the Anglican Communion is, and that Communion continues and moves forward.
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A majority of Anglican primates on January 14 asked that the Episcopal Church, for a period of three years, “no longer represent us on ecumenical and interfaith bodies, should not be appointed or elected to an internal standing committee and that while participating in the internal bodies of the Anglican Communion, they will not take part in decision-making on any issues pertaining to doctrine or polity.”

Expressing their unanimous desire to walk together, the primates said that their call comes in response to the decision by the Episcopal Church’s General Convention last June to change canonical language that defines marriage as being between a man and a woman (Resolution A036) and authorize two new marriage rites with language allowing them to be used by same-sex or opposite-sex couples (Resolution A054).
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The relationship between the Anglican Church of Canada and the United Church of Canada (UCC) is back on track, the United Church’s moderator says—and she’s delighted about it.

Fresh out of a meeting in Toronto this week with Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada —their first official meeting since her election last summer—the Rt. Rev. Jordan Cantwell was brimming with enthusiasm.

“We could’ve talked for three times as long,” she said in an interview. “We had about an hour and a half to talk, and we were just getting going, and Bruce says, ‘Well, we have five more minutes,’ ” Cantwell said, referring to Archdeacon Bruce Myers, the Anglican church’s co-ordinator for ecumenical and interfaith relations.

The first thought that went through her head on hearing that was, “What? We’ve only talked about one thing—we’ve got so much more!” Cantwell said. “So yeah, it was wonderful.”
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When the leaders of the 38 provinces of the Anglican Communion gather in Canterbury next week, they will have among them a visible sign of the long history of the English church.

The ivory head of a crozier associated with St. Gregory the Great, the pope who sent the first missionaries to England in the sixth century, has been loaned to Canterbury Cathedral by the Roman Catholic Church to coincide with the Primates’ Meeting, according to a report from the Primates’ Meeting website.

Canterbury Cathedral’s Dean, Robert Willis, said the cathedral was “very pleased to receive the crozier as a symbol of ecumenical encouragement at this time of the meeting of Anglican Primates.” He noted that it was “a link with St. Gregory, whose vision of the conversion of England caused Augustine to found the community at Canterbury.”

While the roots of Christianity in Britain go back to the time of the Roman Empire, subsequent invasions by Germanic tribes in the fifth century all but destroyed the church. In 597, Gregory sent Augustine, a Benedictine monk, to the court of the Anglo-Saxon King Æthelberht. Augustine became the first Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Church of England dates its formal foundation from the date of his arrival.
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The crozier of the sixth century Pope who sent Augustine to England to begin the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons will be in Canterbury as the Primates of the Anglican Communion gather for their meeting in the city next week. The ancient carved ivory headed crozier will be on public display at Canterbury Cathedral during the weekends before and after the Primates Meeting after being loaned to the Cathedral by the Roman Catholic monks of San Gregorio al Celio in Rome. Saint Augustine had been prior of the monastery, which had been built by Pope Gregory I before his elevation to the Papacy. Augustine lead a seven-year mission to England and is recognised as the first Archbishop of Canterbury.
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A new Master of Divinity program at Trinity College is helping to prepare students for ordained or lay ministry in the Orthodox Church.

The post-graduate degree – the only one of its kind in Canada – is often a requirement for those seeking ordination in the Orthodox Church. Previously, students who wanted the degree had to travel to seminaries in the United States, usually a prohibitively expensive undertaking.

“It was really quite a barrier, so the opportunity we’ve been given here at Trinity College is amazing,” says the Rev. Fr. Geoffrey Ready, an Orthodox priest and director of the program. “It’s a great benefit to the Orthodox Church across Canada.”

Trinity College’s faculty of divinity has been offering courses in Orthodox Christianity for the past 10 years and the new degree, established last year, is an extension of that, says Fr. Ready. “We decided to take it to the next level,” he says.

Three students were enrolled in the program in its first year and Fr. Ready is hoping for up to 12 when the next school year begins in September. The degree includes courses in Biblical studies from an Orthodox perspective, liturgics and pastoral ministry.

The Rev. Canon David Neelands, dean of divinity, says the enhanced Orthodox curriculum and the new students it will attract will benefit the college. “I think it’s a great development,” he says. “It will benefit us and a new population.”
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The body responsible for promoting the deepening of communion between the churches of the Anglican Communion and its ecumenical partners, the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Unity Faith and Order (IASCUFO), has welcomed next month’s Primates Meeting in Canterbury. The Commission has described Archbishop Justin Welby’s invitation to his fellow-primates as “an opportunity for a new, redeemed conversation within the Communion.”

The comment was made in a communiqué issued by the Commission after their meeting last week in Elmina, Ghana, in the Province of West Africa’s Diocese of the Cape Coast. The Commission say that they are “greatly heartened” by the forthcoming meeting and are “ready to assist in any way consistent with its remit.”
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For the first time since the Second Vatican Council changed Christian teachings toward Judaism and the Jewish people 50 years ago, a group of Orthodox rabbis have issued a public statement advocating partnership with Christians and appreciating the religious value of Christianity.

Published on December 3rd on the website of the Center for Jewish-Christian Understanding and Cooperation (CJCUC) in Israel, “To Do the Will of Our Father in Heaven: Toward a Partnership between Jews and Christians” is signed by over 25 prominent Orthodox rabbis in Israel, United States and Europe and calls for cooperation between Jews and Christians to address the moral and religious challenges of our times. The proclamation’s authors are inviting fellow Orthodox rabbis to join in signing the statement.

“The real importance of this Orthodox statement is that it calls for fraternal partnership between Jewish and Christian religious leaders, while also acknowledging the positive theological status of the Christian faith. Jews and Christians must be in the forefront of teaching basic moral values to the world,” said Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, one of the statement’s initiators, and founder of CJCUC, member of the Israeli Rabbinate and the Chief Rabbi of Efrat. While not a direct response to the Church’s 1965 “Nostra Aetate,” “To Do the Will of Our Father in Heaven” was clearly influenced by Christianity’s new affirmation of the eternity of the Jewish covenant and the respect that Christian leaders have demonstrated toward Judaism and Jews in contemporary dialogues and religious encounters.

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Catholics should not try to convert Jews and should work with them to fight anti-Semitism, the Vatican said on Thursday in a major document drawing the Church further away from the strained relations of the past. It was the latest move on a host of issues, such as gay rights and re-marriage, that the Vatican or Pope Francis have made showing a desire to be more compassionate and open and to move further away from entrenched traditions. In the past, for example, Catholic prayers have denounced Jews for not believing in Jesus. Jews have also accused the World War Two papacy of turning a blind eye to the Holocaust, a charge the Vatican denies. The new document from the Vatican’s Commission for Religious Relations with Jews stressed recent Vatican teachings that the two religions were intertwined and that God had never annulled his covenant with the Jewish people. “The Church is therefore obliged to view evangelization (spreading Christianity) to Jews, who believe in the one God, in a different manner from that to people of other religions and world views,” it said. It also said Catholics should be particularly sensitive about the significance to Jews of the Shoah, the Hebrew word for the Holocaust, and pledged “to do all that is possible with our Jewish friends to repel anti-Semitic tendencies”. “A Christian can never be an anti-Semite, especially because of the Jewish roots of Christianity,” it said.
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A social media campaign to help educate Canadians about Muslim women has its roots in Saskatoon.

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at launched a national campaign this week based around the Twitter hashtag #JeSuisHijabi.

“After the Paris attacks … there’s a lot of misconceptions in Canada and the U.S.,” 17-year-old Naiela Anwar explained. “We thought it was important that we gave our point of view, and show that not all Muslims are like that.

“We condemn greatly the terror attacks that took place. That is not the true Islam.”
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On December 2nd, 55 years ago, Pope John XXIII had a private audience with the Archbishop of Canterbury Geoffrey Fisher, the first time that Anglican and Catholic leaders had met together since the Reformation.

Following their historic encounter, the archbishop met with Cardinal Augustin Bea, head of the newly established Secretariat for Christian Unity, leading to the invitation of Anglican observers to the Second Vatican Council. The meeting also paved the way for the first official encounter between their successors, Pope Paul VI and Archbishop Michael Ramsey in March 1966 and the establishment of an Anglican Centre here in Rome.

The current director of that Centre and representative of the Archbishop of Canterbury to the Vatican is New Zealand Archbishop David Moxon. He talked to Philippa Hitchen about the upcoming 50th anniversary and about the significance of Archbishop Fisher’s visit to the Vatican in December 1960 ….
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Today, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) and the Canadian Rabbinic Caucus (CRC) convened the first national, bilateral dialogue between Catholics and Jews in Canada.

The organizations launched this initiative as part of a joint celebration of the 50th anniversary of Nostra Aetate, the Declaration issued by the Second Vatican Council which rejected antisemitism and underscored the importance of the Jewish roots of Christianity. The first dialogue session involved a combination of clergy and scholars, with six-person delegations from each faith community. Themes addressed included the substantial role of Nostra Aetate in transforming Catholic perceptions of the Jewish community, the deep significance of the State of Israel to the Jewish people, and the importance of acknowledging painful history while embracing mutual respect and working together to build a common future.
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Few prophetic oracles in the Old Testament can be dated so precisely as that of Haggai, which we have just heard in the first reading. We can place it between August and December in the year 520 BC. The exiles, after the deportation to Babylon, have come back to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. They set to work, but soon grow discouraged, each preferring to work on his own house instead. Into this situation comes the prophet Haggai, sent by God with the message we have heard.

The Word of God, once it is proclaimed, remains forever alive; it transcends situations and centuries, each time casting new light. The situation deplored by the prophet is renewed in history each time we are so absorbed in the problems and interests of our own parish, diocese, community – and even of our particular Christian denomination – that we lose sight of the one house of God, which is the Church.

The prophecy of Haggai begins with a reproof, but ends, as we heard, with an exhortation and a grandiose promise: “Go up into the hills, fetch timber and rebuild the House, and I shall take pleasure in it and manifest my glory there” – says the Lord”.

One circumstance makes this point particularly relevant. The Christian world is preparing to celebrate the fifth centenary of the Protestant Reformation. It is vital for the whole Church that this opportunity is not wasted by people remaining prisoners of the past, trying to establish each other’s rights and wrongs. Rather, let us take a qualitative leap forward, like what happens when the sluice gates of a river or a canal enable ships to continue to navigate at a higher water level.
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In 1975, five major Christian churches in Canada reached an agreement recognizing the validity of each other’s baptisms. Forty years later, the mutual recognition of baptism by the Presbyterian, Lutheran, United, Roman Catholic and Anglican (PLURA) churches stands as a historic milestone in the ongoing ecumenical movement.

A news release from the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) on September 11, 1975 noted that the agreement followed an ecumenical study of baptism by the Joint Working Group of the Canadian Council of Churches and the CCCB. Responding to the report, each church agreed that “baptism would be recognized when conferred according to the norms of the churches, with flowing water, by pouring, sprinkling or immersion, accompanied by the Trinitarian formula [i.e. in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit].”

Archdeacon Bruce Myers, ecumenical and interfaith coordinator for the Anglican Church of Canada, underscored the role of mutual recognition of baptism in bringing members of different churches closer together.

“When each of us is baptized, it’s always into a particular church, a local community of faith that exists within a denomination,” Myers said. “But also you’re being baptized into the one holy catholic and apostolic church that is universal.”
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Yesterday afternoon the Holy Father met with the evangelical Lutheran community of Rome in the Christuskirche, where he was warmly welcomed by Pastor Jeans-Martin Kruse, who in his welcome discourse also recalled the visits to the same [church] by St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI.

Francis then answered questions from three members of the community, a child and two women, and after the vespers prayer, with the reading from the Gospel of St. Matthew (25, 31, 46), he pronounced an off-the-cuff homily in which he emphasised that Lutherans and Catholics must ask mutual forgiveness for persecutions against each other and for the scandal of divisions.

The first question to which the Pope responded was from a child who wanted to know what he liked the most about being the Pope. “The thing I like best, sincerely, is being a pastor”, Francis replied. “I like being the Pope in the style of a parish priest. Service: I like it, in the sense that I feel good, when I visit the sick, when I speak with people who are desperate or sad. I like going to prisons … to speak with detainees… Every time I enter a prison I ask myself, ‘Why them and not me?’. And I am aware of the salvation of Jesus Christ, His love for me. Because He saved me. I am no less a sinner than they are, but the Lord took me by the hand. And when I go into a prison I am happy. Being a Pope is being a bishop, being a pastor. If a Pope is not also a bishop, if a Pope is not also a pastor, he may be a very intelligent person, very important and hold great influence in society, but I think that inside he will not be happy”.
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An historic consultation of church leaders, drawn from 56 nations, to focus on intensifying ‘discrimination, persecution and violence’ against Christian communities around the world has called on churches globally to pray, support and be in solidarity with those suffering persecution due to their faith. In a two pronged response the leaders: offered “repentance” for times when churches had “persecuted each other and other religious communities in history”; and, urged churches “to urgently strengthen the solidarity of all Christians” in the face of discrimination, persecution and martyrdom in the 21st century. In a greeting from the Vatican, Pope Francis said, “I think with great sadness of the escalating discrimination, and persecution against Christians in the Middle East, Africa and Asia and elsewhere throughout the world. “In various parts of the world, the witness to Christ, even to the shedding of blood, has become a shared experience of Catholics, Orthodox, Anglicans, Protestants, Evangelicals and Pentecostals,” he said. The consultation also called on governments to “respect and protect the freedom of religion and belief of all people as a fundamental human right.”
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Drawing on 50 years of national and international dialogue, Lutherans and Catholics together have issued the “Declaration on the Way: Church, Ministry and Eucharist,” a unique ecumenical document that marks a pathway toward greater visible unity between Catholics and Lutherans. The October 30 release of the document comes on the eve of the anniversary of Martin Luther’s posting the 95 Theses, which sparked the Protestant Reformation.

“Pope Francis in his recent visit to the United States emphasized again and again the need for and importance of dialogue. This Declaration on the Way represents in concrete form an opportunity for Lutherans and Catholics to join together now in a unifying manner on a way finally to full communion,” said Bishop Denis J. Madden, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, Catholic co-chair of the task force creating the declaration.

“Five hundred years ago wars were fought over the very issues about which Lutherans and Roman Catholics have now achieved consensus,” said ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth A. Eaton. “Church, ministry and Eucharist have been areas of disagreement and even separation between our two churches, and we still have work to do both theologically and pastorally as we examine the questions. The declaration is so exciting because it shows us 32 important points where already we can say there are not church-dividing issues between us, and it gives us both hope and direction for the future,” she said.
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At their autumn meeting in Niagara Falls, Ont., members of the Anglican Church of Canada’s House of Bishops agreed to convene a special meeting from February 23-26 to discuss the report of the Commission on the Marriage Canon.

In a communiqué released October 26, the bishops said this meeting would “pay particular attention to the theology of marriage, the nature of episcopacy, and the synod’s legislative process” and “wrestle with how to honour our roles as guardians of the Church’s faith and discipline and signs of unity both locally and universally.”

The question of legislative process — how General Synod 2016 will approach the divisive vote on whether or not to allow same-sex marriage — has raised some anxiety among bishops, and was brought up in the communiqué.

“We are concerned that parliamentary procedure may not be the most helpful way to discern the mind of the Church, or of the Spirit, in this matter,” it stated. “We would ask those in charge of designing the process whereby the draft resolution comes to the floor…to consider ways in which trust and understanding can be deepened and promoted.”
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When the Anglican House of Bishops met in Niagara Falls, Ont., in mid-October, one of the first items on the agenda was the policy of authorized lay ministry adopted by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) during its National Convention this summer.

Sometimes called “lay presidency,” authorized lay ministry is a dispensation by which—in extraordinary circumstances—lay people can preside over services of the eucharist. While it can hardly be considered part of standard Lutheran practice, the convention voted in July to allow it in heavily circumscribed circumstances.

In an interview with the Anglican Journal, ELCIC National Bishop Susan Johnson said that the measures were brought in to meet a serious need.

“We find ourselves with occasional situations where it’s difficult and/or impossible to provide regular word and sacrament ministry,” she said, explaining that after considering a number of possibilities, including greater use of reserve sacraments and local ordination, authorized lay ministry was seen to be the “best compromise.”
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At a news conference today on Parliament Hill, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) and The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC) released a joint statement on euthanasia and assisted suicide. The Declaration on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide has been endorsed by over 30 Christian denominations together with over 20 Jewish and Muslim leaders from across Canada. In light of the Supreme Court of Canada’s ruling in R. v. Carter, the joint statement advocates for palliative care, respect for the dignity of the human person, human solidarity and psychological, spiritual and emotional support as the ethical and moral response in end-of-life care. The declaration states that “The recent Supreme Court of Canada decision has brought this issue to the forefront of public discussion and compels each of us as Canadians to reflect upon our personal and societal response to those who need our compassion and care.” Addressing the underlying importance of human dignity, the signatories affirm that “the sanctity of all human life, and the equal and inviolable dignity of every human being … is not exclusively a religious belief, although for us it has a significant religious meaning.” The signatories emphasize that “reverence for human life must be “the basis and reason for our compassion, responsibility and commitment in caring for all humans, our brothers and sisters, when they are suffering and in pain… to work to alleviate human suffering in every form but never by intentionally eliminating those who suffer.”
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As bishops of The Anglican Church of Canada we are very grateful for the work of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Many of us have participated in the local, regional, and national gatherings hosted by Chief Justice Murray Sinclair, Dr. Marie Wilson, and Chief Wilton Littlechild. At the heart of every gathering was the opportunity for survivors of the Indian Residential Schools to tell their stories. We recognize the tremendous courage of all who shared their experiences of loneliness, humiliation and abuse. We commend the Commissioners for their steadfastness in listening to these stories and ensuring that they are never lost but preserved for all time in the National Center for Truth and Reconciliation in Winnipeg. Having heard the testimony of thousands of former students and the inter-generational impact of their experiences on their families, the Commissioners issued at the Closing Ceremonies for the TRC in Ottawa in June, 94 Calls to Action.
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Anglican and Vatican cricketers met for the second time in Rome today in a match that saw the Vatican team win.

This morning’s match was played at the Capanelle Ground in Rome, coinciding with the conclusion of the Roman Catholic Church’s Synod on the Family.

St Peter’s XI reached 147 for 6, the Archbishop’s XI were all out for 105 runs.

Last autumn, in a historic first match between Vatican and Anglican sides, the Archbishop’s XI narrowly triumphed with five balls to spare in a memorable showdown at Kent County Cricket Club ground in Canterbury.
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With growing concern about the plight of refugees, a Catholic parish in the City of Brockville, Ont., is coming together with two Anglican parishes to make a difference in the lives of three refugee families.

Agape Brockville is a joint sponsorship effort between St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, St. Paul’s Anglican Church and St. Lawrence Anglican Church. Together, the three parishes are joining forces to prepare new homes for two families from Eritrea and one family from Syria.

“The plight of refugees has just been in the news for a long time,” said Michelle Bushnell, a parishioner at St. Francis Xavier and one of the founding members of Agape Brockville. “So we’ve been (increasingly) concerned about what we can do as Christians. Like in World War II, we go back and we admire so much that generation that sacrificed so much for each other and even in World War I… yet today, we have so many more people suffering.”
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Hailing this past weekend the enactment of a full communion agreement between the United Church of Canada and the United Church of Christ in the U.S., Anglican Church of Canada primate, Archbishop Fred Hiltz, said he is eagerly looking forward to more ecumenical co-operation in the future.

The two churches, which had been exploring the idea of full communion since 2013, approved an agreement at their general synod and general council meetings this summer, but it was not officially enacted until a ceremony in Niagara Falls, Ont., October 17. Congregations of both churches marked the agreement with a special common prayer the following day.

According to the agreement, the full communion is marked by five key features: the common confession that “God is in Christ”; the mutual recognition of each other’s members and baptisms; the common celebration of the Lord’s supper/holy communion; the mutual recognition of each other’s ordained ministries; and a common commitment to the mission of each church.
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Representatives of the Roman Catholic Church and the International Lutheran Council (ILC) met October 7-8 on the campus of the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Oberursel, Germany to initiate a three-year series of informal academic dialogues. Bishop Hans-Jörg Voigt, Chairman of the ILC, greeted the participants and wished them God’s blessing and good progress for their discussions.

The way had been paved for this consultation by a three-year series of talks carried out on a national level within Germany. Because of the positive developments achieved at that time, representatives of the Johann-Adam-Möhler Institute and the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Oberursel had appealed for discussions to continue on an international basis.
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The Archbishop of Canterbury gave his blessing this week to the Archbishop’s XI, an English cricket team who are heading out to Rome this month to compete against a Vatican side.

The trip (21-26 October) follows a visit by the St Peter’s Club — made up of seminarians studying in Rome — to England last autumn. In a memorable meeting in Canterbury, the first-ever match between a Vatican side and an Anglican side ended in a narrow victory for the hosts in the last over (News, 26 September 2014), and raised money for the Global Freedom Network, a joint anti-trafficking initiative (News, 21 March 2014).
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Historic agreements have been signed between Anglican and Oriental Orthodox Churches helping to heal the oldest continuing division within Christianity.

An Agreed Statement on Christology, published in North Wales this week by the Anglican-Oriental Orthodox International Commission (AOOIC), heals the centuries-old split between the Anglican Churches within the family of Chalcedonian Churches and the non-Chalcedonian Churches over the incarnation of Christ.

In addition, the Commission has made substantial progress on issues concerning the Holy Spirit, which have continued to keep the Churches apart over the centuries.

Leading clergy and theologians from both Christian traditions from around the world have been meeting at Gladstone’s Library in Hawarden to engage in theological dialogue, while at the same time forging deeper bonds of faith and mutual support.

His Eminence Metropolitan Bishoy from the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria in Egypt and Co-Chair of the Commission said: “With this agreement we are able to heal the cause of the division between the two families of the churches worldwide which started at Chalcedon.

“There are other things which emerged during the long history since Chalcedon in the fifth century, so we have on our agenda many other topics including the position of the Holy Spirit, which we were able to sign a preliminary agreement on this subject also.
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What do indigenous peoples expect of churches in light of the report of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) on church-run residential schools for aboriginal children? Perry Bellegarde, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, responds in this interview with the World Council of Churches (WCC) Communications.

The TRC report on the impact of more than 100 years of residential schools includes 94 recommendations addressed to the country’s federal and provincial governments, churches and society at large. A number are related to concerns for child welfare, education, and health in indigenous communities.

Canada’s best-known aboriginal leader Perry Bellegarde is urging the country’s churches to take advantage of the current federal election campaign to press for measures to close the gap in the standard of living between Canada’s Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities.

“The gap is not good for the country. There is a high social cost,” says Bellegarde, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), the advocacy organization representing Canada’s 900,000 aboriginal people.

Bellegarde is urging church members to ask candidates about their plans for improving schooling, health care, and housing in Indigenous communities.
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In May of this year, at Ipiranga (São Paolo), where Brazilian independence was proclaimed in 1822, a group of Pentecostal leaders from across the country gathered to consider vital concerns facing the church. They discussed difficult issues in depth. This included matters such as ‘power and hierarchy’, ‘race, ethnicity and gender’, ‘theology’, and ‘Christian unity’.
After three days of fellowship they signed a joint message affirming the need for Pentecostal churches to face institutional, theological and social challenges together.

Called the Ipiranga Statement, the message came from the Brazil consultation of the Pentecostal Forum of Latin America and the Caribbean (FPLC), which the Global Christian Forum (GCF) has accompanied.
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Key stakeholders in a new inter-religious centre in Nigeria have met to plan for the centre and its work, set to launch in March 2016.

The meeting was held at the Ecumenical Institute in Bossey, Switzerland, 27 to 28 September.

Institutions represented were the Jordanian Royal Aal Al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought (RABIIT), the World Council of Churches (WCC), the Christian Council of Nigeria (CCN) and Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI).

The project has developed as a result of a high-level international inter-religious visit to Nigeria by representatives of the WCC and RABIIT in 2012.
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In conjunction with the United Nations Sustainable Development summit, currently underway, Canadian faith leaders are calling for climate justice in Canada—for all Canadians, and for the world. Together they have endorsed the statement “On Promoting Climate Justice and Ending Poverty in Canada.”

“On the same day when Pope Francis spoke at the UN General Assembly, asking for renewed ambition from wealthy countries in efforts to reach a solid international commitment to lower greenhouse gas emissions, this statement echoes the need for Canada to act,” said Joe Gunn, Executive Director of Citizens for Public Justice (CPJ).

“In midst of a federal election campaign, climate challenges, ending poverty and responding with justice to Indigenous rights cannot be dismissed. These religious signatories are right to call us to greater respect for the common good.”

CPJ, an affiliate member of the CCC, helped to draft the declaration. In 2011, the “Canadian Interfaith Call for Leadership and Action on Climate Change” was released by the CCC.
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The 2015 World Conference of the International Lutheran Council (ILC) continued the afternoon of September 24 as delegates heard reports from the Executive Council and discussed ecumenical relations.

ILC Chairman Hans-Jörg Voigt gave his report to the conference in the afternoon, highlighting various successes of the past triennium, including joint relief and aid following Typhoon Haiyan, the ILC’s 2013 World Seminaries Conference held in Lithuania, new contacts between ILC churches and other Lutheran churches, and the 2015 Wittenberg Conference on global confessional leadership.
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In the name of the Triune God, and with the blessing and guidance of our Churches, the International Commission for Anglican-Orthodox Theological Dialogue (ICAOTD) met in Buffalo, New York, from 19 to 25 September 2015. The Commission is deeply grateful for the generous hospitality extended by the Orthodox Church of the Annunciation in Buffalo (Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople).

Metropolitan Nicholas of Detroit formally welcomed the Commission to its meeting in his diocese. He offered praise and encouragement for the work of the dialogue. He stressed the urgent need for expressions of Christian unity in light of the deep challenges and crises before the global community, mindful of events unfolding even as the Commission undertook its deliberations.

The Commission brought to completion the first section of its work on the theological understanding of the human person, with the adoption of its agreed statement, In the Image and Likeness of God: A Hope-Filled Anthropology. The report, shortly to be published, is the culmination of six years of study on what Anglicans and Orthodox can say together about the meaning of human personhood in the divine image.
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“My fear is that he’s just nudging the public to be more hostile toward the idea of free markets,” said Stephanie Slade in a CBC Radio interview.

Slade, a self-professed libertarian and a practicing Catholic, comes off as a relatively moderate opponent of Pope Francis’s statements about unfettered capitalism. In the set-up to a debate on the subject, CBC’s The Current captured some truly vitriolic comments from people who don’t like the Pope’s message.

The Pope, who will deliver an address to the United Nations in New York today, has been labelled a “luddite leftist.” The chief economist at the conservative Heritage Foundation accuses him of having “Marxist leanings.”
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