The Prairie Centre for Ecumenism has traditionally had open office hours five mornings per week. Starting the first week of 2006, the office hours will be: Monday — 1 to 5 p.m. Tuesday — 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday — 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday — 8:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. Friday to
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À la suite d’un accord provisoire, les membres de l’Église évangélique luthérienne en Amérique ( ELCA ) et de l’Église méthodiste unie en Amérique peuvent pratiquer l’hospitalité eucharistique. L’accord provisoire a été approuvé le 11 août 2005 par 94% des 1 018 délégués à l’assemblée de la ELCA à Orlando, Floride. Les Églises comptent ensemble
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Members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the United Methodist Church in America can share Communion under an interim agreement approved 11 August 2005. The interim pact was approved by 94% of the 1,018 delegates attending the ELCA meeting in Orlando, Florida. The churches have a combined membership of 13 million and
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Le Conseil canadien des Églises a célébré et consacré ses nouveaux locaux le 2 octobre 2005. Tous étaient les bienvenus, en tant qu’estimés collègues, pour le début officiel d’un nouveau ministère ouvert sur plus de possibilités au plan œcuménique et interreligieux. Les nouvelles coordonnées sont : 47 Queen’s Park Crescent East, Third Floor, Toronto, Ontario
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The Canadian Council of Churches celebrated and consecrated their new offices on 2 October 2005. Everyone was invited to attend as cherished colleagues as the CCC officially began its ministry of further and future ecumenical and inter-faith possibilities in its new location. The new address is: 47 Queen’s Park Crescent East, Third Floor, Toronto, Ontario
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L’Alliance du Grand Edmonton ne fait pas qu’organiser des campagnes pour améliorer les revenus des pauvres et promouvoir le logement abordable. Elle s’occupe aussi de développer des relations afin d’acquérir assez de pouvoir pour devenir la voix des sans-voix. Depuis sa fondation, en mai 2005, quelque quarante institutions, comprenant des Églises, des congrégations religieuses, des
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West The Greater Edmonton Alliance (GEA), while working on campaigns to improve wages for the working poor and to defend affordable housing is also busy building relationships in order to gain the necessary strength to become the voice of the voiceless. Since its founding in May 2005, about forty institutions, including churches, religious congregations, social
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[Genève • 19.12.2005] Plus que deux mois avant que se tienne en 2006 la Neuvième Assemblée du Conseil œcuménique des Eglises! Les organisateurs lancent une invitation aux Eglises et aux chrétiens du monde entier pour qu’ils accompagnent et soutiennent cet événement. “Les Assemblées sont souvent des tournants dans la vie du Conseil œcuménique et celle-ci
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With two months remaining until the World Council of Churches‘ 9th Assembly in 2006, the organizers have launched an invitation to churches and Christians everywhere to accompany and support the event. “Assemblies are often turning points in the life of the World Council and this Assembly will surely leave its mark on ecumenical history,” says
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Un rapport de voyage par Dr. Stuart Brown, Centre canadien d’oecuménisme. Le but de ce voyage était d’assister à un colloque international sur les investissements responsables : « Une Réponse non violente à l’occupation israélienne? » Notre Centre s’est inscrit parmi les soixante agences qui ont parrainé le colloque, qui était organisé par les Amis canadiens du Sabeel.
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The Prairie Centre for Ecumenism’s 21st birthday party will be celebrated with an open house on November 17 at 4 p.m. Come and join us for tea and cake. In addition we will be dedicating our new photocopier!

“Walking in someone else’s shoes: Using empathy to heal conflict” is the title of the 2005 Restorative Justice Week workshop. Keynote speaker: Mary Rose Boyer, and additional workshops. At Mount Royal Mennonite Church (610 Avenue O North, Saskatoon) on November 15, from 1:30 to 9 p.m. $15 for registration, $7 for underwaged persons, students no
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40 YEARS OF WCC-ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH COLLABORATION: KASPER AND ARAM I TO ADDRESS THE RENEWAL OF ECUMENISM IN 21ST CENTURY Forty years after they set out on an ecumenical journey together, the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU) are celebrating their joint anniversary with a public event
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“After the first few months of the new pontificate, the general impression is that no one within the Church is seriously criticizing the central theses – philosophical and theological – of Benedict XVI’s preaching. But that’s not the way it is. One Catholic philosopher has disputed one of the main points of Joseph Ratzinger’s thought: the one dealing with the natural law and relativism. The philosopher is Dario Antiseri, a professor of social sciences methodology at the Free International University of Social Studies in Rome.”

The above comes from Sandro Magister, an Italian journalist. The full text can be found at www.chiesa.espressonline.it. Magister’s article includes a translation of a major piece of Dario Antiseri’s original journal article.
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International Meeting on Responsible Investment:
“A Non-Violent Response to the Israeli Occupation?”

Toronto, Ontario, 25-29 October 2005
A trip report by Stuart Brown, Canadian Centre for Ecumenism
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SÃO LEOPOLDO, Brazil (ELCA) — Some people find it confusing that Lutherans are involved in many different “full communion” relationships, the Rev. Mark S. Hanson said in a panel discussion on ecumenism here Oct. 13. “I always say that’s because our confessions call us to seek deeper unity in the church but allow greater flexibility
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Nelson – Calgary – Saskatoon – Winnipeg, 4-18 October 2005
A trip report by Stuart Brown, Canadian Centre for Ecumenism
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Nelson – Calgary – Saskatoon – Winnipeg, 4 – 18 octobre 2005
Un rapport de voyage par Stuart Brown, Centre canadien d’œcuménisme
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[Montreal] On the Montreal leg of his visit to Canada, Aram I, Catholicos of Cilicia of the Armenian Apostolic Church and president of the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches, addressed leaders of various churches at a dinner held at the Armenian Prelature of Canada on 26 September. The next day saw His
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Fifteen years ago, Carol Pek felt an urgent desire to meet and talk with Christians outside her own Holy Spirit Catholic Church. That urgency would eventually spawn SESIG (South East Saskatoon Interchurch Group), sole purpose of which is to create understanding and unity among Christian churches. Ecumenism is no stretch for Pek, who was raised
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On 25 August, 2002, the Faith and Order Commission celebrated 75 years of work since the first world conference on Faith and Order in Lausanne (1927). The celebration in the Lausanne cathedral invited participants to remember and reappropriate the insights of the 1927 founding assembly. The Lausanne conference identified central aspects of Christian faith that
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Margaret O’Gara a été élue vice-présidente de la Catholic Theological Society of America le 10 juin 2005. Mme O’Gara enseigne la théologie à l’Université St. Michael’s College, Toronto School of Theology. Elle est impliquée dans le mouvement œcuménique depuis 1976 et fait partie de la Commission internationale luthérienne-catholique sur l’unité, la Commission internationale disciples du
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Le pasteur Setri Nyomi s’est vu remettre le Prix E.H. Johnson 2005 afin de souligner ses réalisations en faveur du dialogue interreligieux. Cette distinction, fondée par l’Église presbytérienne du Canada en 1983, porte le nom d’un missionnaire mort en 1981. Le pasteur Nyomi, secrétaire général de l’Alliance réformée mondiale ( ARM ), a tenu à rappeler que
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Provinces de l’Ouest Plusieurs religions ont honoré la sainteté de la création lors de la sixième célébration annuelle de la Journée mondiale de l’environnement organisée par Multi-Faith Saskatoon. L’événement, intitulé Walking Sacred Ground ( Fouler une terre sacrée ), comprenait une marche dans le labyrinthe derrière l’église luthérienne de la Résurrection. Walter Linklater, un ancien autochtone, a
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Margaret O’Gara was elected Vice-President of the Catholic Theological Society of America on 10 June 2005. O’Gara is a professor of theology with the University of St. Michael’s College’s Faculty of Theology, Toronto School of Theology. She has been active in the ecumenical movement since 1976 and sits on the Lutheran-Roman Catholic International Commission on
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A “Women Doing Theology” event was held in Montreal 9-12 June on the theme, “Creating Justice, Recognizing Differences.” This bilingual, feminist, womanist and interspiritual gathering was sponsored by the Women’s Inter-Church Council of Canada. The aims were to celebrate and collectively experience feminist inter-spirituality; resolve inequalities through solidarity and concrete actions for change; transform relations
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West Many faiths embraced the holiness of creation in the sixth annual celebration of World Environment Day organized by Multi-Faith Saskatoon. The event, entitled Walking Sacred Ground, featured the labyrinth behind Resurrection Lutheran Church. Walter Linklater, a First Nations elder, led a sweetgrass ceremony before beginning the labyrinth walk, described by speakers as “a metaphor
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The murder this week of Brother Roger Schutz, founder of the Taizé community, shocked Christians everywhere. But his vision will still draw pilgrims.

The success story of this Protestant “monastery” is the unlikely story of a determined man, Roger Schutz, and of his impossible dream: the reconciliation of Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox Christians. How did his little community of companions, both Protestant and Catholic, who settled in a small village in Burgundy in 1940, become the European ecumenical pastoral youth centre which it is today, visited by 6,000 adolescents each week and 100,000 pilgrims every year, from every part of the world? The programme is austere – worship three times a day in the hangar-like church (built by young volunteers), Bible study and discussion groups – and the lifestyle spartan – sleeping rough in tents or barracks, simple food hastily consumed after queuing at length to be served.
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La Communauté de Taizé et la communauté œcuménique entière a de la peine la perte de Frère Roger, le fondateur de la Communauté de Taizé. Frère Roger fondé la Communauté en août de 1940 dans le village de Taizé, près de Cluny. La Communauté est dédié à la réconciliation de chrétiens. Taizé est su pour
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The Community of Taizé and the whole ecumenical community grieve the loss of Bro. Roger, the founder of the Taizé community. Bro. Roger founded the community in August of 1940 in the village of Taizé, close to Cluny. The community is dedicated to the reconciliation of Christians. Taizé is known for its outreach to youth
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A delegation of church leaders will be visiting Armenia from August 24 to September 1, 2005. The delegation is the first such visit by the Canadian churches to Armenia. The delegation will be visiting His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians. The visit is organized by the Canadian Diocese of the
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The College of Emmanuel and St. Chad has signed a lease agreement with the Lutheran Theological Seminary (LTS) that will lead to sharing the LTS building for the next three years. Emmanuel-St. Chad is the Anglican college in the Saskatoon Theological Union (STU), in partnership with LTS and St. Andrew’s, the United Church college. For
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The United Church of Canada is engaged in a study process towards the adoption of a new statement of faith. The proposed statement would not replace any existing document — the Basis of Union, the 1940 Statement of Faith, or A New Creed (1968) — but would supplement the existing statements. The study process, entitled
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An official application for membership in the Canadian Council of Churches from the Mennonite Church Canada has been enthusiastically received and unanimously approved by the other member churches of the CCC. This brings the membership of the Canadian Council of Churches up to twenty traditions, including Anglican, Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Eastern and Oriental Orthodox
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The Presbyterian Church in Canada (PCC) and the Christian Reformed Church in North America (CRC) have begun a “bilateral conversation” at the invitation of the CRC. The PCC Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations committee reported to this summer’s General Assembly that the CRC have issued an invitation to “bilateral conversation, or dialogue, about issues of common
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En vue de reconnaître et de promouvoir l’animation œcuménique tant au plan local qu’au plan régional, le Centre canadien d’œcuménisme décerne annuellement l’Ordre du Mérite œcuménique canadien. Le nom du récipiendaire sera dévoilé dans notre numéro de décembre 2005. Nous vous invitons donc à soumettre des candidatures accompagnées d’une courte description de leurs réalisations œcuméniques.
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D’après un sondage HCD Research auprès de 1 100 médecins chrétiens, musulmans, juifs, hindous et bouddhistes aux États-Unis, 75% ont dit que la religion fournit un guide nécessaire et fiable dans la vie; 59% prient pour des patients, 58% fréquentent un lieu de culte au moins une fois par mois et 46% font une place à
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The Catholic and Protestant branches of the British Royal Army Chaplains’ Department have been merged into a single ecumenical team. Since 1920 the department has had a Roman Catholic branch and a Unified branch which included the Anglican Church, Church of Scotland, Methodist, Baptist and United Reformed Churches. Under the new arrangements, a single head
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L’archidiocèse du Canada de l’Église orthodoxe en Amérique a inauguré, à l’automne 2003, un Institut de formation théologique, le St. Arseny Institute, afin de répondre au besoin de prêtres, à la proclamation de la foi, à l’accroissement de la compréhension de la foi au niveau paroissial et au besoin de réunir les gens pour le
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The St. Arseny Institute, which began its first official year of classes in the fall of 2003, offers theological training for the Archdiocese of Canada of the Orthodox Church in America. The Institute seeks to respond to the need for priests, for the spread of the faith, for raising the level of understanding of the
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Provinces de l’Ouest Diakonos House, dans le quartier sud d’Edmonton, est une maison d’accueil pour les agents de la paix, les pompiers et les membres du personnel de services d’urgence qui font face à des crises personnelles : ruptures, abus de substances toxiques ou urgences médicales. Administrée par un conseil bénévole de directeurs et financée par
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West Diakonos House, located in South Edmonton, operates like a safe house for peace officers, firefighters and emergency services personnel facing crises such as marital breakdowns, substance abuse and medical emergencies. Managed by a volunteer board of directors and funded by donations, Diakonos House is modelled after a similar residence in Calgary that opened in
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Papal Reflections on Marriage and the Family

I found this article on the Vatican Information Service about Pope Benedict’s comments at a Rome congress on “The Family and the Christian Community.” I think that he has some positive affirmations to make about families, but I find it interesting that as I was trying to attend to the positives, he kept turning to the negatives. So, for example, he speaks about marriage but ends the section by cautioning about “pseudo-marriage” and divorce.

I wonder whether this gives us some insight into Benedict’s character, or at least some insight into his attitude towards married life. He ends his comments by calling for more vocations to the priesthood and religious life. That’s not exactly a rousing endorsement of marriage.

We should remember that Benedict’s favourite theologian is Augustine of Hippo, who had very similar fears about marriage. It is good and natural in theory, but a risky venture that might imperil your salvation. One is better off avoiding it altogether.
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When Catholics hold interfaith dialogue with Muslims, one of the first topics to be discussed is the veneration given to the Virgin Mary in the two traditions. Teaching about Mary is seen as something that unites, rather than divides Catholicism and Islam; yet among Christians, the practices of Marian doctrine and devotion have generally been read as clear indicators of the differences between Catholics and Protestants. They have also, on occasion, signified the differences even between Catholics and Orthodox.

It is only fairly recently, therefore, that ecumenical dialogue groups have arrived at this touchy subject. The most recent statement from the ARCIC (Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission), “Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ” – which was ready many months ago, but had been awaiting approval from Rome before it could be published – has therefore been anticipated with bated breath.
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During Holy Weeek, one Anglican member of ARCIC sent the rest of us the poem, “Good Friday Falls on Lady Day” via email. The poet, G. Studdert Kennedy, also an Anglican, wrote:

She claims no crown from Christ apart
Who gave God life and limb
She only claims a broken heart
Because of Him.

I knew that the Feast of the Annunciation of the Lord would coincide with Good Friday this year, but I did not know the poem, and I was touched to receive it. In a way, this captures something special about the process of producing “Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ”.
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Some of the liveliest debates at ARCIC meetings have been over titles. We worked together for five years on the “Mary document”, so we all have strong feelings about the progress we made and the best way to present it. “Put Mary in the title”, said one member, “and it will fly off the shelves.” “Put grace and hope in the title”, said another, “because that’s how we have approached the two Marian dogmas.” “Put Christ in the title,” we all agreed, because again and again we reminded each other that the Church is interested in Mary because she is the mother of the Lord.

ARCIC does not set its own agenda. We worked on Mary because we were asked for “a study of Mary in the life and doctrine of the Church” and because of the acknowledged differences between our two communions over Mariological teaching.
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[ACNS 3978a | ACO | 16 MAY 2005] The Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) has released its latest document in its continuing dialogue. Also called ‘The Seattle Statement’, the ARCIC Co-Chairs, Archbishop Alexander Brunett of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle, and Archbishop Peter Carnley, Primate of the Anglican Church of Australia, were present
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Since taking over in January as director of the Prairie Centre for Ecumenism, Jan Bigland-Pritchard has been kept busy. The centre has just been host to a shared ministry conference that she describes as “a wonderful event, and extremely gratifying in terms of the number that attended.” This has been a homecoming for Bigland-Pritchard, who
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VATICAN CITY, MAY 13, 2005 (VIS) – The Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and the Anglican Communion Office announced in a communique today that the most recent report of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC), entitled “Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ,” will be presented on May 16, 2005 in Seattle, U.S.A., where the
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by Don Retson, Edmonton Journal EDMONTON – David Johnston says he’s been troubled for years over “compromises” on faith and doctrine by the national leadership of the Anglican Church of Canada. Last Saturday, Johnston, a former Anglican priest in Fort Saskatchewan, and seven of his former parishioners, were received as lay members of the Orthodox
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