Rev. Seung Kim’s faith journey has been circuitous. It began in his homeland of Korea, and two years ago, brought him to Saskatoon, where he is pastor of Calvin-Goforth Presbyterian Church on Sommerfeld Avenue. Kim was brought up in the Presbyterian church in Korea. “My grandfather was a Presbyterian minister. He was the first Christian
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SAVANNAH, Ga. (ELCA) — Members of the Lutheran Ecumenical Representatives Network (LERN) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) held their annual meeting here May 12-15, during the National Workshop on Christian Unity. A leading topic of the meeting was how agreements the ELCA has reached with other church bodies can be “lived out”
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SAVANNAH, Ga. (ELCA) — The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), addressed the closing luncheon of the National Workshop on Christian Unity, which met here May 12-15. He expressed gratitude to those who work for Christian unity and named a series of “factors, forces and questions which
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I. When Jesus uttered the words ‘may they all be one’, they by no means represented a vision or a dream. Jesus said these words on the eve of his death. This was not the time for triumphal utopias. The Galilean spring, when the enthusiastic crowds overwhelmed him, was over. They no longer cried ‘Hosanna!’ but ‘Crucify him!’. Jesus was well aware of this, and predicted also that his disciples would not be one, and that they would be dispersed. What else could he do in this situation than to leave the future of his work in the hands of his Father? Thus, the words ‘may they all be one’ are a prayer, a prayer in a humanly perceived hopeless situation.
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VATICAN CITY, APR 2, 2003 (VIS) – Archbishop Celestino Migliore, apostolic nuncio and permanent observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, spoke yesterday at the 2003 Substantive Session of the Disarmament Commission. That speech in English was made public today. Archbishop Migliore noted that “months ago, the Holy See Delegation stated before the
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La Commission théologique internationale qui s’est réunie début octobre au Vatican a adopté presque unanimement une étude sur la nature du diaconat demandée par le cardinal Ratzinger il y a huit ans. Or cette étude ne ferme pas la porte au diaconat féminin. Dans les Églises orthodoxes aussi, des voix se font entendre depuis un
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Le 17 janvier 2003, son Excellence Madame Adrienne Clarkson, Gouverneure Générale du Canada, rendait publique la liste des nouveaux membres admis dans l’Ordre du Canada. À cette occasion, le Père Irénée Beaubien, s.j., fondateur du Centre canadien d’œcuménisme, recevait le titre d’Officier de l’Ordre en appréciation des services rendus dans le domaine des relations interconfessionnelles
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Ouest Un mouvement interreligieux pour détenus et ex-détenus, Bridging the Gap Ministry, a organisé un banquet à Winnipeg, le 15 novembre 2002, dans le cadre de la semaine de la Justice réparatrice. « Nous espérons apporter une présence et un soutien spirituels aux hommes et aux femmes présentement détenus, ou sur le point d’être libérés,
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LONDON, England (ELCA) — The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), expressed hope that the ELCA may one day enter into full communion with Anglican churches with whom other Lutheran churches are in full communion. Hanson made the comment to the Most Rev. Rowan Williams, archbishop of
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At a Vatican meeting at the end of October the International Theological Commission approved a 70-page document containing the results of its study of the nature of the diaconate, requested eight years ago by Cardinal Ratzinger. This study does not close the door on the accession of women to the diaconate. Voices within the Orthodox
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The list of new appointments to the Order of Canada was announced, January 17, by Governor General Adrienne Clarkson. On this occasion, Fr. Irénée Beaubien S.J., founder of the Canadian Centre for Ecumenism, was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in recognition of his pioneering work in interdenominational and intercultural relations.

West Bridging the Gap Ministry, an interfaith program for prisoners and ex-offenders, held a banquet in Winnipeg, Nov. 15, 2002 as part of Restorative Justice week. “We hope to provide a spiritual presence and support to men and women who are incarcerated, about to be released, or presently reintegrating into society, as well as to
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VATICAN CITY (ELCA) — Lutheran and Roman Catholic congregations must engage in a “reception” process for the agreement reached in the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ), and the document should be presented in terms that members can understand, said Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian
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VATICAN CITY (ELCA) — The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), called for the possibility of “limited interim Eucharistic sharing” between Lutherans and Roman Catholics in a brief meeting here March 24 with Pope John Paul II. Currently, it is not possible for Lutherans to commune in
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A photo of Governor General Adrienne Clarkson, a devout Anglican, standing before a Roman Catholic archbishop to receive communion has prompted a renewed discussion in the two denominations over the issue of who may take communion in a Catholic church.

After the photo was published in January in the Ottawa Citizen, there was a flurry of letters to the newspaper over the issue. The story was widely covered across the country and the letters and coverage prompted a published response in the newspaper from Archbishop Marcel Gervais, Catholic archbishop of Ottawa.
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[Toronto – February 18, 2003] The Anglican Church of Canada and The United Church of Canada have begun an ongoing dialogue. These are the first formal conversations between the two denominations since the end of the Plan of Union talks in the 1970s. The meeting took place February 13-16, 2003 at the Vancouver School of
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DENVER, Colo. (ELCA) — The Department for Ecumenical Affairs of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) was advised to continue current bilateral church dialogues, build on positive signs from recent meetings with officials of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) and maintain funding for the Lutheran World Federation (LWF). The department’s advisory committee discussed those
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Jesus Christ, Bearer of Living Water: A Christian Reflection on the ‘New Age’, prepared by the Pontifical Council for Culture and the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue VATICAN CITY, FEB 3, 2003 (VIS) – Today in the Holy See Press Office there was a conference to present the document “Jesus Christ, Bearer of Living Water.
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A vision for the most inclusive Christian organization ever in the United States advanced dramatically when a diverse group of 46 national church leaders agreed Jan. 29, 2003, on a concrete proposal to take back to their church bodies for consideration.
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[SCOTLAND | ACNS 3257] The Scottish Church Initiative for Union (SCIFU) began its work in 1996 in the closing years of “the ecumenical century of the Christian Church” when Christians from different traditions – “often bitterly and even violently divided” – began to talk, work and witness together and even re-unite after long separation. SCIFU
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What do you do when you’ve been given the gift of preaching and you’re a Catholic woman? Marie-Louise Ternier-Gommers faced that dilemma. Ironically, she discovered her gift for preaching at the Lutheran Theological Seminary (LTS) where she enrolled in 1990 with the intention of taking a class or two to better equip her for the
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Foi et constitution a fêté, le 25 août, ses 75 ans d’activité depuis sa première conférence mondiale à Lausanne, en 1927. Les participants à cette célébration à la cathédrale de Lausanne étaient invités à se rappeler et à se réapproprier les perspectives de l’assemblée fondatrice de 1927. À Lausanne, les représentants des Églises ont identifié
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La révérende Karen Hamilton, ministre de l’Église unie du Canada, est la nouvelle secrétaire générale du Conseil canadien des Églises. Elle succède à Janet Somerville dont le mandat de cinq ans se termine fin septembre. Mme Hamilton est membre fondateur du Greater Toronto Council of Christian Churches, directrice du Dialogue judéo-chrétien de Toronto et membre
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Rev. Karen Hamilton, a minister of the United Church of Canada, has been appointed as the new general secretary of the Canadian Council of Churches, succeeding Janet Somerville whose five-year term expires at the end of September. Hamilton is a founding member of the Greater Toronto Council of Christian Churches, a director of the Christian-Jewish
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Ouest Pour la première fois au Canada, un pasteur luthérien, James Buenting, est devenu pasteur à plein temps de l’église anglicane All Saints, à Regina. Le passage a été rendu possible grâce à l’accord de Waterloo entre l’Église évangélique luthérienne au Canada et l’Église anglicane du Canada signé en juillet 2001 à Waterloo, Ontario. Le
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West In the first appointment of its kind in Canada, Lutheran minister James Buenting has become the full-time pastor at All Saints Anglican Church in Regina. The crossover was made possible by the Waterloo Accord between the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Anglican Church of Canada, signed July 2001in Waterloo, Ontario. Rev. Buenting
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Les foyers interconfessionnels peuvent représenter un espoir et un modèle pour l’éventuelle unité visible de l’Église: c’est ce que déclare le Dialogue catholique-réformé aux États-Unis. Tout en croyant que c’est le cas, nous, les foyers interconfessionnels, tenons à souligner que nous n’avons pas choisi cette voie consciemment. Nous avons tout simplement rencontré quelqu’un d’une autre tradition chrétienne, l’amour est né et, en dépit des différences, nous avons décidé de conserver cet amour l’un pour l’autre, exclusivement, pour le reste de nos jours. Tout le reste découle de cette décision et de cet engagement permanents.
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“Interchurch families may present and model the hope for the eventual visible unity of the Church.” So says the Catholic / Reformed Dialogue in the United States. While we believe that to be the case, we interchurch couples insist we didn’t consciously choose this path. We simply met someone from another Christian tradition, fell in love and, despite the differences, decided to continue that love for each other, exclusively, for the rest of our lives. Everything else flowed from that ongoing decision and commitment.
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It’s almost always front-page news when a bishop says something obviously true. Dr George Carey has spent most of his time in office pretending he is the spiritual leader of 70 million people in the worldwide Anglican Communion (a figure that assumes about 24 million followers in England alone).

Now, in a final gesture towards his liberal successor, he has cited the obvious, that the Communion is deeply divided over homosexuality. It has, he says, reached “crisis point”.
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To virtually all the 70 million Anglicans spread in an arc from London to Kuala Lumpur, the name Capilano College has no significance. But, if the outgoing Archbishop of Canterbury is to be believed, the college on the Pacific shores of Canada could soon be a name as infamous for religious schism as the Diet of Worms, the Edict of Nantes or the Council of Trent.
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A public feud has broken out between the Archbishop of Canterbury and the British Columbia bishop he accused of creating a worldwide schism in the Anglican Church by deciding to bless homosexual relationships.

Dr. George Carey, the spiritual head of the Anglican Church, warned this week of a possible split in two over divisions caused by liberal-minded North American bishops. He specifically mentioned Michael Ingham, Bishop of the Diocese of New Westminster, B.C., which includes Vancouver.

Bishop Ingham shot back, questioning the Archbishop’s ethics and accusing him of using his office to meddle in local affairs.
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The growing split between factions of the worldwide Anglican Communion has reached “crisis proportions” and the issue of homosexuality is tearing the church apart, the outgoing Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, has said.

In his swansong address as president of the Anglican Consultative Council, Dr Carey also took a swipe at the Sydney Diocese for its drive to allow lay people to give Holy Communion.
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The issue of homosexuality could push the Anglican Church to the brink, the Archbishop of Canterbury has warned.

Dr George Carey said divisions in the Church had reached “crisis” point.

In a farewell address as president of the Anglican Consultative Council, a senior church body, he warned of the danger of breakaway groups emerging.
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The retiring archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, yesterday warned of the risk of fragmentation in the 70 million-strong worldwide Anglican communion, of which he is the nominal leader, on the issue of homosexuality in the church.
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A flurry of new acronyms is appearing on the ecumenical stage: ACR (The Association for Church Renewal); CCT (Christian Churches Together in the U.S.A.); FCFONA (Foundation for a Conference on Faith and Order in North America); GCF (Global Christian Forum). All affect evangelicals.

These acronyms represent attempts to transcend and to some extent replace, redefine, or reconfigure the older acronyms of the NCC (National Council of Churches) and the WCC (World Council of Churches), the carriers of ecumenical vitalities and viruses during their last 50 years.
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If believers are to follow Jesus, they must work and pray for Christian unity. But unity means vastly different things, and some efforts toward unity are more faithful to the biblical vision than others.

In May of 2001, I went to Malaysia to attend the General Assembly of the World Evangelical Fellowship (since renamed the World Evangelical Alliance, or WEA). In December 1998 I attended the General Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Zimbabwe. What I saw in these very different meetings helps us think about cohesion and cooperation between Christians—about our participation in global, national, and even local efforts at “being one.”
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Last weekend, taking a brief respite between bouts of ‘Bread of Heaven’ and the national anthem in our exhaustive school end-of-term ceremonies, I dived into a paper and turned on the radio. Bad mistake. I was assaulted from two directions.

First, in a seemingly authoritative survey, a quarter of Church of England clergy and nearly one in five of the laity say that even now, eight years after the first women priests were ordained, there ‘should not be any women bishops, anywhere’. So the old horror of an oestrogenated ministry still lurks strongly within that Church, despite the shake-out when herds of outraged clergy and miffed laity defected to Rome over the issue (their worries about transubstantiation and papal infallibility strangely vanishing overnight in their greater worry about women in cassocks).
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Plus de 1200 leaders religieux aux Etats-Unis ont lancé un appel interreligieux pour la préservation de l’énergie et la justice environnementale. Dans leur déclaration, les responsables religieux reprennent les préoccupations du protocole de Kyoto de 1997, qui définit des normes internationales en vue de réduire les émissions de gaz à effet de serre dans l’atmosphère
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Une religieuse orthodoxe syrienne étudie présentement la théologie et l’anglais à l’Université de Toronto et à la Toronto School of Theology, grâce à une bourse d’études Saint Basil le Grand, de la Anglican Foundation of Canada. sœur Tabitha, âgée de 48 ans, membre de la communauté de Saint-Jakoboite de Baradaos, est le quatrième récipiendaire de
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Ouest Des représentants des Églises catholique, anglicane et luthérienne ont récemment renouvelé leur accord afin de continuer à administrer le centre de retraites St. Michael à Lumsden, Saskatchewan, pendant trois autres années. Que trois traditions religieuses administrent conjointement un centre de retraites est un cas unique en Amérique du Nord. Lorsqu’un médecin à la retraite
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An interfaith appeal for the protection of energy resources and for environmental justice was made by over 1200 religious leaders in the U.S. Their statement took up again the concerns of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol which set international standards for the reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions which, according to scientists, bring about global warming. They maintain
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A Syrian Orthodox nun is currently studying theology and English in Toronto, courtesy of the Anglican Foundation’s Scholarship of St. Basil the Great. Sister Tabitha, 48, is the fourth recipient of the scholarship which was founded by now-retired Bishop Henry Gordon Hill. A member of the sisterhood of St. Jakoboite of Baradaos, Sr. Tabitha is
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West Representatives of the Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran churches recently renewed their agreement to continue running St. Michael’s Retreat House in Lumsden, SK for another three years. It is unique in North America to have three religious traditions working together as the governing board of a retreat house. When a retired doctor in Texas
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VATICAN CITY, JUN 18, 2002 (VIS) – Archbishop John P. Foley, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, is participating in a meeting of the General Assembly of the United Nations dedicated to Information and Communication Technologies for Development which is taking place in New York from June 17 to 18. In his speech
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The celebrations of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee reached a high point this past week. The stunning success of the festivities shows that the British monarchy has climbed back into the affection of the people. What does it need to do to stay there? A Church of Scotland minister looks particularly at the monarch’s role as Supreme Governor of the Church of England and Defender of the Faith.
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“Hope, Good Will” Mark Exploration of Broader Christian Unity, Lead to Formation of Christian Churches Together in the U.S.A. “A good deal of hope and common good will” mark explorations by church leaders of a broader expression of Christian unity in the United States, reported National Council of Churches President Elenie Huszagh to the NCC’s
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The first meeting of the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches (WCC), held in Lausanne on 3 August 1927, had very high hopes. Participants believed that the goal of visible unity of the churches was really attainable.

The preacher at the time, Bishop Charles Brent of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the US, reminded the representatives of the churches of Christ’s hope “that they might all be one”.
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À la fête de Diwali, le président du Conseil Pontifical pour le Dialogue Interreligieux a adressé ses voeux les meilleurs aux croyants hindous et leur a proposé d’éduquer nos communautés respectives au dialogue pour assurer la paix à l’avenir. « La guerre et la violence menées au nom de la religion sont contraires au véritable
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Un congrès national sur le thème de l’Église canadienne au troisième millénaire réunira des conférenciers de huit confessions chrétiennes représentant une large gamme d’idéologies et points de vue théologiques et liturgiques, les 4 et 5 juin 2002 à l’église anglicane St. Peter à Cobourg, Ontario. La principale conférence de ce congrès, intitulée « Les dieux
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Ouest En réponse aux attaques terroristes du 11 septembre, les communautés musulmane et chrétiennes de Winnipeg ont organisé une journée pour exprimer leur désapprobation de la violence. Le 13 décembre, les chrétiens étaient invités à passer la journée dans le jeûne et la prière, en solidarité avec les musulmans qui participaient au Ramadan. Le soir,
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