Two ecumenical partners greeted the Anglican Church of Canada’s General Synod members on Wednesday. The Archbishop of Halifax Anthony Mancini represented the Roman Catholic Bishops of Canada, and Moderator Mardi Tindal represented the United Church of Canada. … Read more »… lire la suite »
Pope offers good wishes to WCRC
Pope Benedict XVI has been one of several church leaders who have acknowledged the newly organized World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC). The pope sent a letter to the new organization as well as a representative of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. … Read more »… lire la suite »
Basel Bishop Koch is the Vatican’s new church unity head
The Vatican has officially confirmed the appointment of Swiss Bishop Kurt Koch to replace Cardinal Walter Kasper as head of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, after widespread speculation that such a move was to take place. A Vatican announcement on 1 July said that Pope Benedict XVI had accepted the resignation of 77-year-old-Kasper and had named in his place Bishop Kurt Koch of Basel, aged 60. … Read more »… lire la suite »
Webcam for the new Saskatoon cathedral construction
Construction began last winter on Holy Family Cathedral and Pastoral Centre, the largest project in the history of the RC Diocese of Saskatoon, and the first Catholic cathedral to be built in Canada since St. Boniface cathedral in Winnipeg was rebuilt after a 1968 fire. A webcam is now available to view the progress of the construction. The image updates every 30 seconds. … Read more »… lire la suite »
A recent meeting of the executive committee of the Mennonite World Conference (MWC) was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from July 28 to August 4, 2010. Among other topics on the agenda for the meeting were proposals for two ecumenical dialogues, one with Seventh Day Adventists, and the other with Lutherans and Catholics. … Read more »… lire la suite »
U.S. Anglican-Roman Catholic Theological Commission plans statement on Approaches to Moral Issues
The Anglican-Roman Catholic Theological Consultation in the United States held its sixty-eighth meeting in Alexandria, Louisiana, on September 9 and 10. This session was largely devoted to the examination of a draft outline of a potential agreed statement on the topic of the current round of dialogue, “Ecclesiology and Moral Discernment: Common Ground and Divergences.” This topic explores the fact that while the two churches share the same convictions on a wide range of ethical questions, there are serious differences regarding certain issues in personal morality, especially those pertaining to human sexuality. In earlier meetings of the Commission, members discussed Catholic and Anglican positions on contraception, debt relief, immigration, same-sex unions and health care. … Read more »… lire la suite »
Pope & Archbishop of Canterbury call for common Christian witness
Pope Benedict XVI and Anglican Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury knelt together before the tomb of an 11th-century Christian king after affirming the need for Catholics and Anglicans to give a united witness to society. St. Edward the Confessor, who is buried in the Anglicans’ Westminster Abbey, reigned five centuries before English Christians became divided.
The pope and the primate of the Church of England paid homage together to the Christian king Sept. 17 at the end of an afternoon that included public speeches, a 30-minute private meeting and a joint ecumenical prayer service in Westminster Abbey. Archbishop Williams welcomed Pope Benedict as the first pope ever to visit Westminster Abbey, which was home to a community of Catholic Benedictine monks until 1540 when King Henry VIII dissolved the monastic community. … Read more »… lire la suite »
Fifty years after the first meeting of a Pope and an Archbishop of Canterbury in modern times — that of Pope John XXIII and Archbishop Geoffrey Fisher, in December 1960 — Pope Benedict XVI paid a fraternal visit to Archbishop Rowan Williams. … Read more »… lire la suite »
You have spoken, Your Grace, of the historic meeting that took place, almost thirty years ago, between two of our predecessors – Pope John Paul the Second and Archbishop Robert Runcie – in Canterbury Cathedral. There, in the very place where Saint Thomas of Canterbury bore witness to Christ by the shedding of his blood, they prayed together for the gift of unity among the followers of Christ. We continue today to pray for that gift, knowing that the unity Christ willed for his disciples will only come about in answer to prayer, through the action of the Holy Spirit, who ceaselessly renews the Church and guides her into the fullness of truth. … Read more »… lire la suite »
[Vienna, Austria] The twelfth meeting of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church took place in Vienna, Austria, a city with a long history, a bridge between West and East, with a rich ecumenical life. The meeting, generously and fraternally hosted by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vienna, from 20-27 September 2010, in the Kardinal König Haus. … Read more »… lire la suite »