Pastoral Letter of the Catholic Bishops of Saskatchewan on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission

From June 21st to 24th, Saskatoon will host one of the seven national gatherings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). We are writing to invite you to give serious attention to this gathering and its aims.

As many of you are aware, the Government of Canada organized ‘Indian Residential Schools’, most run by Christian churches, from the 1840s onward, with the last school closing in 1996. Not everything that happened at residential schools was negative, and many people worked there with good will and generosity. However, the schools were a part of a policy of deliberate cultural assimilation of Aboriginal peoples, and over the decades, much abuse took place at these schools. As the Catholic Church in Saskatchewan, we were involved in the residential schools and we recognize a moral responsibility and obligation to be involved in healing and reconciliation efforts.
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The Anglican Church of Canada has entered a new round of dialogue with the United Church of Canada. The aim is to explore ways in which the two churches can work together for more effective ministry and mission.

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

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

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

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

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

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

“All the doctrinal decisions of the church are binding on a Catholic, including the Second Vatican Council and all its texts,” Cardinal Koch said when asked if the SSPX would be expected to accept all the teachings of Vatican II. “The ‘Nostra Aetate’ declaration of the Second Vatican Council is a clear decree and is important for every Catholic,” he added. At the same time, Cardinal Koch said, “it is very necessary to make clear the difference between the position of the Society of St. Pius X and the negation of the Shoah (the Holocaust), which is a position that has no place in the Catholic Church. It is very clear.”
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After years of preparation, a new Christian denomination will be formed this week in France when two synods meet in the eastern town of Belfort, a location historically important in the growth of Protestantism.

The Reformed Church of France (L’Église Réformée de France, ERF) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of France (L’Église Évangélique Luthérienne de France, EELF) are merging to form the United Protestant Church of France (L’Église Protestante Unie). The new entity will be a reality after the churches’ synods meet 17-20 May, said Pastor Laurent Schlumberger, president of the ERF’s national council.
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Hong Kong – As the 4 to 10 May meeting of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) drew to a close, participants emphasized the importance of social witness and openness in ecumenical dialogue.

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

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

The Hong Kong ecumenical gathering is the second meeting for the third phase of ARCIC, which is focused on the examining the question of moral decision-making within the local and universal church.
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The Board and staff of the Prairie Centre for Ecumenism are excited to have a new Director in place. We welcome Dr. Darren Dahl, who began his duties on May 1st. He will be working half-time at the Centre. He is also a sessional lecturer in the department of Religion and Culture at St. Thomas More College and a Fellow in the Classical, Medieval, and Renaissance Studies programme at the University of Saskatchewan. A former Lutheran pastor, Darren was recently received into the Roman Catholic church. He is interested in the relation of ecumenical dialogue to its secular cultural context as well as ecumenical dialogue between Roman Catholics and the Orthodox churches.
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The Archbishop of Birmingham has said he understands those frustrated with ecumenical dialogue but stressed the long term aim is “full visible unity”. Archbishop Bernard Longley was speaking to The Tablet days before members of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) gathered for their latest round of meetings in Hong Kong, which was due to start on Friday.
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After several hundred years of separation, members of six Pan-Methodist denominations have committed to ministry together. The United Methodist Church (UMC) is the last of the denominations to adopt the full communion agreement, which was celebrated May 1 during the 2012 UMC General Conference.
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As religious leaders from Ukraine sat in the gallery, the House of Commons passed unanimously on April 24 a motion honouring Ukrainian Catholic Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky for his courageous efforts to save Jews during the Second World War.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney’s motion said Sheptytsky, who headed the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church from 1900 until his death in 1944, courageously spoke out against violence against Jews and sheltered and saved the lives of more than 160 Ukrainian Jews, many of them children.

“This House is united in expressing Canada’s recognition of Andrey Sheptytsky’s courageous actions, compassion for his oppressed Jewish Ukrainian countrymen and enduring example of commitment to fundamental human rights as humankind’s highest obligation,” the motion said.
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The international resources for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in 2014 are being prepared by a Canadian writing team. Church musicians and composers from across Canada are invited to submit original hymns, praise choruses, or shorter songs for worship for possible inclusion with the resources for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity worldwide in 2014.

The theme that we have chosen for the week is “Has Christ Been Divided?” based on the biblical text of 1 Corinthians 1:1-17. Submissions should be suitable for congregational singing in a variety of ecumenical contexts around the world. They should include words in either French or English, and preferably in both languages. Other languages may also be included, provided that translation into English or French is included as well.

Successful submissions will be focused on prayer for the unity of the Christian Church and may relate directly to the biblical text from 1 Corinthians 1:1-17. They will be distributed freely with the international resources, so the copyright will need to allow for free use of the music and words for worship and prayer gatherings related to the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2014.

Please make all submissions by Thursday, May 31, 2012 to the Rev. Amanda Currie by email to music [at] ecumenism [dot] net or by mail to 436 Spadina Crescent East, Saskatoon, SK, S7K 3G6.
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The United Church of Christ‘s five-member Collegium of Officers is making a road trip this week to engage the United Church of Canada in a historic moment of the [US church].

“This is the first time we’re taking a delegation of sorts to Canada,” said the Rev. Karen Georgia Thompson, [United Church of Christ] minister for ecumenical and interfaith relations. “I was in Canada last year and had some conversations with their [General Council] and ecumenical officers to talk about what we can do to be more intentional about working with each other.”

Thompson is making the trip April 3-4 to Toronto along with the United Church of Christ’s Collegium: the Rev. Geoffrey A. Black, general minister and president; W. Mark Clark, associate general minister; the Rev. J. Bennett Guess, executive minister for Local Church Ministries; the Rev. M. Linda Jaramillo, executive minister for Justice and Witness Ministries; and the Rev. James Moos, executive minister for Wider Church Ministries.
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While the Tim Hortons Brier is going on at the Credit Union Centre, a concurrent national curling event will take place at the Nutana Curling Club. That event is the Friars’ Briar, a bonspiel for clergy from all denominations and regions of Canada. The Friars’ Briar is national in theory, says Augustana Lutheran Pastor David
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There’s nothing more Catholic than ecumenism, nothing more Christian than unity, nothing more urgent than the need to heal divisions in the body of Christ, but none of it will happen based on resentments, fears and identity politics, the head of the World Council of Churches told a couple hundred people in Toronto March 14.

On his first official visit to Canada, Rev. Dr. Olav Fykse Tveit laid out challenges to ecumenism which he said oppose the Christian mandate to fulfill the Lord’s Prayer — “Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in heaven.”

“We are forced to ask whether we are seeking a consensus for the sake of our own institution, for our tradition, for our own group,” said Tveit. “Or if we are seeking a consensus that is giving space for the other, for the wholeness of God’s Church and God’s creation.”
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[WCC News] “Christians are to acknowledge that changing one’s religion is a decisive step that must be accompanied by sufficient time for reflection and preparation, through a process ensuring full personal freedom.” This assertion is one of the guiding principles for Christian mission in India suggested in early March by a consultation convened under the
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The Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams has today revealed that he is to step down from his role at the end of the year. His decision comes after 10 years in the post and after accepting the position of Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge.
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On Friday, March 16th, the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) issued a communiqué regarding the current status of relations with the traditionalist Catholic organization Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), founded by the late Archbishop Lefebvre. For some years now the CDF has been engaged in a consultation with the SSPX regarding a number of matters of dispute. The letter states that the position [the SSPX] expressed is not sufficient to overcome the doctrinal problems which lie at the foundation of the rift between the Holy See and the SSPX.
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Remembering the common roots of the Christianity they share, Roman Catholics and Anglicans should renew their commitments to praying and working for Christian unity, Pope Benedict XVI said.

The Pope and Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury, spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion, held an evening prayer service March 10 at Rome’s Church of St. Gregory on the Caelian Hill, the church from which Pope Gregory the Great sent St. Augustine of Canterbury and his fellow monks to evangelize England in 597.

The service was part of celebrations marking the 1,000th anniversary of the founding of the Camaldolese branch of the Benedictine order. Camaldoli monks and nuns live and pray at the Church of St. Gregory and have an active program of ecumenical contacts.
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CHICAGO (ELCA) – In gratitude for the “unity in Christ” between the Catholic Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson shared with Pope Benedict XVI a sense of urgency between Lutherans and Catholics in responding to the “great needs of poverty and human care” in the world.
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The Board of KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives is pleased to announce that Jennifer Henry has been appointed to be the new Executive Director of KAIROS, effective March 12, 2012.
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The fourth meeting of the Anglican-Methodist International Commission for Unity in Mission (AMICUM) took place near Baltimore, Maryland, 10-16 February 2012, hosted by the World Methodist Council, at the Bon Secours Spiritual Center. Members of the Commission worshipped together morning and evening, and the Eucharist was celebrated according to both traditions.

The Commission spent time considering the ministry of oversight in a way that honours the traditions of both world families. It paid careful attention to how Anglicans and Methodists have expressed the form and understanding of mission, episcopal ministry, and apostolicity.
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POSITION AVAILABLE: The Board of the Prairie Centre for Ecumenism in Saskatoon invites applications for the half-time position of Director for the Centre. The Director is to innovate and implement programs, services and other undertakings in accordance with the vision and priorities of the Centre as outlined in the Constitution of the Prairie Centre for Ecumenism. The Director will address such priorities as developing resources, implementing programs, promoting ecumenism, being an ecumenical facilitator for the sponsoring and other churches and engaging in ecumenical dialogues.

The Director will have a theological formation in the Christian Faith with experience in and first-hand knowledge of ecumenism. The Director will have a combination of University Education and experience in related topics. The Director’s skill set will include interpersonal skills; written, oral and computer/electronic abilities; the ability to work with the Board on programs and operations and the ability to supervise staff.

For more information contact the Prairie Centre for Ecumenism at 306 653-1633 or at pce [at] ecumenism [dot] net. Resumes may also be sent to 600 – 45th Street West, Saskatoon, SK S7L 5W9.

Closing date for applications is Feb. 29, 2012
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Lutheran Bishop Johannes Friedrich has said that the Pope’s visit to the Augustinian monastery at Erfurt on his visit to Germany last year “cannot be rated highly enough”. The former Bishop of Bavaria was writing in the German Protestant monthly Chrismon about the papal visit to Germany’s Protestant heartland last year. The visit came amid
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Jewish and Catholic leaders agree that much work lies ahead in accurately presenting the religious identity and practices of each other’s communities in their respective religious education textbooks.
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As of Jan. 2, the Anglican Church of Canada will have a dedicated new advocate for ecumenism.

Archdeacon Bruce Myers, missioner of communications in the diocese of Quebec, will assume a one-year, part-time position as coordinator for ecumenical relations with the Faith, Worship and Ministry department of General Synod.

“I’ve always had a passion for ecumenism even if I didn’t always call it that,” says Myers, who is manager of the Quebec diocese’s website and editor of its newspaper, Gazette. “Early on, I recognized that it was not right that the body of Christ was divided into so many pieces.”

Myers, who holds a master’s degree in ecumenical theology from the The Ecumenical Institute of Bossey in Switzerland, now brings that passion to healing the divisions in Christendom, so much of which was united as one church for 15 centuries. “I think ordinary Christians of every denomination are questioning whether the differences are all that important when we share so much in common,” he says. “The overarching ecumenical task is how to mend those broken fences and relations.”
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An international study process developed by the World Council of Churches (WCC) is preparing a report on freedom of religion as a fundamental human right for all.

The fundamental rights of freedom of religion or belief are often violated by both governments and individuals, acting either on their own behalf or as members of majority groups. Despite significant initiatives taken by states and the international community, religious minorities in several parts of the world are becoming the targets of discrimination, acts of violence or hostility and persecution because of their religion.

The extent to which freedom of religion or belief can be considered as an absolute right in pluralistic societies, as well as its relation to various aspects of human rights, was the centre of discussion among experts who participated at an international consultation organized by the WCC’s Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA).
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With a view toward the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, a pontifical committee has launched a worldwide treasure hunt.

Many of the more than 2,800 cardinals and bishops who participated in all or part of the 1962-65 council kept diaries, or at least notes; some wrote articles for their diocesan newspapers and most — in the days before emails and relatively cheap trans-Atlantic phone calls — wrote letters home.

The Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences is asking church archivists, and even the family members of deceased council fathers, to look through their papers to find reflections that can add a personal touch to the historical research already conducted on the official acts of the council.
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Churches in Canada addressed challenging questions, with a strong interfaith perspective, while responding to the document “Christian Witness in a Multi-Religious World: Guidelines for Conduct” in an event held at the University of Toronto on 22 November.

The document “Christian Witness in a Multi-Religious World: Guidelines for Conduct” was launched by the World Council of Churches (WCC), the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and the World Evangelical Alliance in June. It was commended to the churches for reflections in their own particular contexts.
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The first mainstream Jewish seminary in Canada “will be an important part of Judaism’s future in this country,” says Rabbi Roy Tanenbaum of the Canadian Yeshiva & Rabbinical School

Rabbi Roy Tanenbaum marvels at the idea that the first mainstream Jewish seminary in Canada will be housed inside a Catholic school of theology and be part of seven Christian schools that comprise the Toronto School of Theology.

“I have never heard of a situation like this in the world in which a Jewish seminary is among Christian theological schools and seminaries,” said Rabbi Tanenbaum, president of the recently founded Canadian Yeshiva & Rabbinical School.

“The creation of this school really marks the coming of age for Canada’s Jewish community. It’s a sign of our maturity and will be an important part of Judaism’s future in this country.”
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A number of church leaders gathered for an early morning meeting Oct. 12 at St. George Anglican parish in Saskatoon, to receive an update about Station 20West and discuss plans for another ecumenical Advent campaign in support of Good Food Junction Cooperative Grocery Store.

Good Food Junction continues to work to raise funds to equip and stock the cooperative grocery store, which is one part of Station 20 West, now under construction in the city’s core neighbourhood. During an Advent campaign undertaken by a number of Christian churches in Saskatoon last year, some $150,000 was raised for the project.

An estimated $350,000 to $400,000 is still needed to equip and stock the grocery store, permitting it to open without debt, something that the business plan deems necessary to ensure the Good Food Junction’s ongoing viability, said Ralph Winterhalt, the cooperative grocery store’s business development manager. “If that grocery store can open without debt for equipment, and has its inventory paid for, it’s going to be a very successful project in the core neighbourhoods.”
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Teams from the Baptist World Alliance and the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople held exploratory talks Oct. 30-Nov. 2 that could lead to formal dialogue between Baptist and Orthodox Christians internationally.
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A top Vatican ecumenist said different types of divisions affect Catholic relations with the Orthodox churches and with those that were born from the Protestant Reformation, but both can be resolved with dialogue.

He also criticized the “anti-Catholic attitude” displayed by some Pentecostals and said Catholics must resist a temptation to adopt the “sometimes problematic evangelical methods” of those churches.

Cardinal Kurt Koch, the Swiss-born president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, spoke at The Catholic University of America Nov. 3. The title of his talk was “Fundamental Aspects of Ecumenism and Future Perspectives.”
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It’s sometimes been said in recent years that the Church of England is still used by British society as a sort of stage on which to conduct by proxy the arguments that society itself doesn’t know how to handle. It certainly helps to explain the obsessional interest in what the Church has to say about issues of sex and gender. It may help to explain just what has been going on around St Paul’s Cathedral in the last couple of weeks.
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Roman Catholics and leaders of the 16 Commonwealth countries where Queen Elizabeth II serves as head of state have welcomed an announcement by U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron about changes to the royal succession that include allowing the monarch to marry a Roman Catholic.

“Attitudes have changed fundamentally over the centuries and some of the outdated rules … just don’t make sense to any of us any more,” Cameron told reporters on Oct. 28 at the 2011 Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Perth, Australia.
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The Episcopal Church‘s Executive Council has rejected the Anglican Covenant. On 24 Oct 2011 the council unanimously endorsed a resolution recommending the General Convention – the governing body of the Episcopal Church – not endorse the covenant as it now stands. The Anglican Covenant was a political and theological threat that would alter the American church’s power base and undo the advances made by the church’s liberal wing in recent years.
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At an interfaith gathering in Assisi, called by Pope Benedict XVI, the general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit said, “The cross is not for crusades but a sign of God’s love embracing everybody.” He praised the role of “young change makers” in pursuit of peace and called faith leaders to engage in dialogue by addressing conflicts and accepting “the other.”
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Faith communities throughout Canada believe they have a moral responsibility to address global warming. As a result, religious leaders have prepared a Canadian Interfaith Call for Leadership and Action on Climate Change. This is among the first times that such a broad interfaith effort at a faith leaders’ letter has been undertaken in Canada.
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A new research centre at Ottawa’s Saint Paul University will study the contribution Canadians made to Vatican II as well as how the Council has shaped religious communities here.

A year before the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, the Research Centre for Vatican II and 21st Century Catholicism launched Oct. 13. It will examine ecumenism and interreligious dialogue in contemporary society and look at issues of progress and decline in the Catholic community.

“I hope we find a way to help contemporary young Catholics, other Christians and non-Christians to understand the commitment and the opening of the Catholic Church to the world, to contemporary society and to contemporary issues,” said Saint Paul theology professor Catherine Clifford, one of Centre’s co-founders, in an interview.
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To Love and Serve the Lord is the title of a new report published in October by the Anglican-Lutheran International Commission (ALIC) on diakonia (church social service work). Jointly produced by The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and the Anglican Communion for the third phase of their bilateral dialogue – ALIC III – the publication offers a diverse array of stories about church ministries that are transforming relations between churches in both communions.

The ALIC III co-chairpersons Lutheran Bishop Dr Thomas Nyiwe (Cameroon) and Anglican Archbishop Bishop Fred Hiltz (Canada) point out that the concluding report of the 2006-2011 dialogue period was intended to highlight what both partners had learned from their growing experience and therefore focus on “why growth in relations between Anglican and Lutheran churches is possible.”
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The head of the German Church’s Ecumenical Commission has said that he believes the Pope “rehabilitated” the reformer, Martin Luther, during his visit to the country last month, write Jonathan Luxmoore and Christa Pongratz-Lippitt. Speaking on 23 September to the council of the Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland, in the Augustinian convent in Erfurt where Luther
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The Rev. Eric Dyck, chaplain-general of the Canadian Priory of the Order of Saint Lazarus was in Saskatoon recently to confirm a financial grant the order is giving to the Prairie Centre for Ecumenism’s Ecumenical Shared Ministries Bureau. The Order of St. Lazarus, or, more correctly, the Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of
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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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Pope Benedict XVI’s third visit to Germany last week was billed as the 84-year-old pontiff’s latest effort to help convince people in highly secularised Europe that their society would be better and more human if God were at its centre. He won high praise for a deeply philosophical paper given to the Bundestag in Berlin on the foundations for a free state of law (see page 10). In that address, he said it was “urgent” to start a “public debate” on the necessity of retrieving the natural law tradition in developing legislation. As with his speech at Westminster Hall a year ago, the Pope was hailed for reaching across the political and religious divide of Germany’s parliament and its intellectual class.
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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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As the Bishop of Rome, it is deeply moving for me to be meeting you here in the ancient Augustinian convent in Erfurt. As we have just heard, this is where Luther studied theology. This is where he was ordained a priest. Against his father’s wishes, he did not continue the study of Law, but instead he studied theology and set off on the path towards priesthood in the Order of Saint Augustine. And on this path, he was not simply concerned with this or that. What constantly exercised him was the question of God, the deep passion and driving force of his whole life’s journey. “How do I receive the grace of God?”: this question struck him in the heart and lay at the foundation of all his theological searching and inner struggle. For Luther theology was no mere academic pursuit, but the struggle for oneself, which in turn was a struggle for and with God.
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WCC and Globethics.net launch global online theological resource

A unique and ambitious web-based theological resource was launched in Geneva on 23 September by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and Globethics.net. It aims to redress a global imbalance of access to research materials in theology and related disciplines.

The Global Digital Library on Theology and Ecumenism (GlobeTheoLib) contains several hundred thousand articles, documents and other academic resources that can be accessed online free-of-charge by registered participants from anywhere in the world via Internet (www.globethics.net/gtl).
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Religious leaders in Jerusalem are more willing than ever before to take part in dialogue with members of other faiths despite growing political turmoil in the region, said Daniel Milo, the director of the Jerusalem Center for Ethics, prior to the start of the third annual Interfaith and Ethics Symposium on 14 September.
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The joint commemoration of the Reformation by Catholics and Lutherans could begin with an admission of guilt by both sides, the president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Cardinal Kurt Koch, said in an interview last week. The Vatican and the Lutheran World Federation are planning a joint declaration on the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017. “Without joint recollection, joint purification and without an admission of guilt on both sides, an honest commemoration will not be possible,” Cardinal Koch told the Austrian Catholic Press Agency.
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The Fijian government has banned all Methodist Church meetings except for Sunday worship in an unprecedented crackdown on religious freedom. This includes house groups, women’s prayer fellowship, choir practice, mid-week communion and youth fellowship, as well as the Church’s governance meetings.
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