In a surprise announcement, this morning Pope Benedict XVI informed the cardinals gathered in Consistory that he has decided to resign effective February 28 for health reasons. The resignation apparently surprised even his closest of aides. The last pope to resign was Gregory XII in 1415 during the Council of Constance as a means of resolving the Western Schism. The Vatican expects a conclave will elect the next pope before the end of March. According to the BBC, Benedict XVI is not expected to take part in the conclave to elect his successor. The Vatican spokesman, Fr Federico Lombardi, announced that Benedict would retire to Castel Gandolfo after his resignation. More details are expected in the coming weeks.
… Read more » … lire la suite »

The meeting of the Roman Catholic-United Church of Canada dialogue group which I attended in October reaffirmed the report on marriage that was submitted to our sponsoring bodies last spring. I have had the pleasure to be a part of this dialogue for the last 5 years as we discussed the often personal topic of marriage and our churches’ policies regarding marriage. What could have been a very confrontational discussion ended up being a wonderful celebration of the ideals of the institution as well as the rites involved in a wedding. Indeed, our two churches have much in common around marriage.
… Read more » … lire la suite »

While the Catholic Church and the United Church aren’t about to agree about same-sex marriage (Catholic against, United in favour), the official Roman Catholic-United Church of Canada Dialogue has found significant common ground in their theologies, liturgies and pastoral approaches. “In the end it is good news that we were able to say something together on marriage,” said Michael Attridge, a University of St. Michael’s College theology professor who was one of the Catholic representatives on the dialogue. “A very important topic — something that’s very important to both our Churches.” The 23-page final report on marriage makes no change in either Church’s teaching on marriage and does not try to paper over significant differences on same-sex marriage, divorce and marriage as a sacrament. However, by analysing the Catholic and United Church marriage ceremonies and official Church documents, the dialogue found common ground. Both believe marriage must be the free choice of the spouses, is intended to be a lifelong commitment, is “a commitment to self-transcendence” which serves not just the couple but children and the whole community, is a vocation to holiness, and pastorally marriage preparation is important. The Churches decided to tackle marriage in their official dialogue after the United Church and Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops found themselves submitting opposing factums to the Supreme Court in 2004, before the court ruled on the constitutionality of same-sex marriage.
… Read more » … lire la suite »

Following remarks by Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, at an 11 January 2013 book launch in Rome that the Vatican might consider an ordinariate for Lutherans within the Roman Catholic Church, Lutheran World Information asked LWF General Secretary Rev. Martin Junge to reflect on the implications
… Read more » … lire la suite »

À la suite des remarques formulées par l’archevêque Gerhard Ludwig Müller, préfet de la Congrégation pour la doctrine de la foi, à l’occasion du lancement d’un livre le 11 janvier 2013 à Rome, indiquant que le Vatican pourrait envisager de créer un ordinariat pour les luthériens au sein de l’Église catholique romaine, Lutheran World Information
… Read more » … lire la suite »

Un dialogue international trilatéral entre mennonites, catholiques et luthériens a eu lieu pour la première fois à Rome, du 9 au 13 décembre 2012.

Un communiqué commun publié après la réunion de Rome annonce le thème général de ce processus de cinq ans : ‘Baptême et intégration dans le Corps du Christ, l’Église’. Le communiqué précise : « Ce forum trilatéral innovant permettra d’aborder des questions concernant la théologie et la pratique du baptême dans chaque communion ».

Les trois communions internationales ont déjà eut des dialogues bilatéraux les unes avec l’autre. Elles ont décidé ensemble d’avoir des conversations à trois sur le baptême, un sujet qui avait fait surface lors des échanges précédents.
… Read more » … lire la suite »

An international trilateral dialogue between Mennonites, Catholics and Lutherans began in Rome, 9-13 December 2012.

According to a joint release issued after the Rome meeting, the overall theme of the five-year process is “Baptism and Incorporation into the Body of Christ, the Church.” The release further stated: “This innovative trilateral forum will allow the dialogue to take up questions surrounding the theology and practice of baptism in the respective communions.”

The three international communions came to the inaugural meeting with a history of bilateral dialogues with each other. They mutually agreed to hold three-way talks on baptism, a topic that had surfaced in earlier exchanges.
… Read more » … lire la suite »

The head of the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X said he has been receiving mixed messages from the Vatican for years over if and how the group might be brought back into full communion with the church. Bishop Bernard Fellay, superior general of the society, claimed that top Vatican officials told him not to be discouraged by official statements from the Vatican, because they did not reflect Pope Benedict XVI’s true feelings. The Vatican press office declined to comment Jan. 4 on the claims.
… Read more » … lire la suite »

On Friday, December 21, Pope Benedict XVI addressed the members of the Roman curia, the staff of the numerous Vatican offices, in what has become an annual tradition. The speech is sometimes described as a “State of the Church” address. Regarding dialogue with other religions, Pope Benedict spoke of two fundamental rules: Firstly that dialogue does not aim at conversion, but at understanding. In this respect it differs from evangelization, from mission; Secondly, that accordingly, both parties to the dialogue remain consciously within their identity, which the dialogue does not place in question either for themselves or for the other.”
… Read more » … lire la suite »

New guidelines for the increasing number of interreligious marriages in the UK have been launched by the Christian-Muslim forum. Bishop Paul Hendricks, Auxiliary Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Southwark, and Co-Chair of the Christian-Muslim Forum, welcomed the new guidelines, saying that “they offer valuable guidance for both priests and imams. With an increasing number of Christian-Muslim couples entering into marriage, we also need an increased awareness of the particular pastoral support that is owed to them, which can help them and their loved ones discover their marriage as a place of dialogue, and a beneficial link between two religions”.
… Read more » … lire la suite »

The Holy See has approved a new deanery in Canada that will minister to Anglican Use Catholics and their clergy.

Msgr. Jeffrey Steenson and Cardinal Thomas Collins announced Dec. 7 that the new deanery will minister to Anglicans in Canada who have come into full communion with the Catholic Church through the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter.

Steenson is the head of the Ordinariate based in Houston, Texas, and Collins, archbishop of Toronto, is ecclesiastical delegate for the Ordinariate in Canada. Collins and Steenson petitioned the Holy See to create the deanery. They received the full support of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops at the bishops plenary assembly in September.
… Read more » … lire la suite »

Fifty years after the Second Vatican Council launched a new Catholic commitment to interreligious dialogue, work continues on clarifying the church’s attitudes toward other religions. While some Catholics still look on other religions with disdain, other Catholics seem to believe Vatican II taught that all religions were equally valid paths to God and to the fullness of truth. The new prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith recently said both extremes are wrong. Archbishop Gerhard Müller, the Vatican’s doctrinal chief, gave a speech in Assisi in late October in which he tried to explain the differences between Catholic respect for every religion’s honest search for God and the error of thinking Christianity has nothing essential to add.
… Read more » … lire la suite »

The Special Envoy of the Evangelical Church in Germany for the 2017 Reformation Jubilee, Margot Kässmann, renewed her call for a joint Catholic-Protestant Reformation commemoration. At a meeting in Wittenberg in October, Kässmann said she thinks “a strictly sectarian Reformation Jubilee is not appropriate.” Martin Luther wanted to reform his church, not divide it. “This could be a yardstick for us, too,” she added. She also turned down a proposal by the Vatican’s “ecumenical minister” Kurt Cardinal Koch for a Protestant-Catholic acknowledgment of guilt on this occasion. “One should not speak of a ‘jubilee’, but rather of a ‘Reformation commemoration,’ for we cannot celebrate a sin,” said the president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity in September in Vienna. “Protestants cannot go along with this,” Kässmann said.
… Read more » … lire la suite »

The Biblical Foundations of the Doctrine of Justification – a publication documenting ecumenical partners’ follow up on the historic agreement by Lutherans and Roman Catholics on the doctrine of justification – is now available in English and German languages.
… Read more » … lire la suite »

One of Canada’s most eminent theologians and one of the greatest Catholic experts in ecumenism has died. Margaret O’Gara, Professor of Theology at the University of St. Michael’s College, entered the realm of eternal life on Thursday, August 16, at age 65. She had suffered from cancer for two years.

In 37 years of work as a theologian O’Gara was able to foster dialogue among Christians for the sake of overcoming divisions between the churches. Besides her teaching, research, writing, and extensive public lecturing, she was a member of official ecumenical dialogues in Canada, the United States, and at the international level. She served terms as president of both the North American Academy of Ecumenists and the Catholic Theological Society of America.
… Read more » … lire la suite »

The Lutheran-Roman Catholic Commission on Unity had its fourth meeting from 12-19 July 2012 at the “Johann-Adam-Möhler-Institut für Ökumenik” in Paderborn, Germany. This is the fifth round for an official dialogue which began already in 1967. Looking toward the 500th Reformation anniversary in 2017, the Commission noted that this year will mark also the 50th anniversary of this process of dialogue. Harvesting the results of this ecumenical work, the Commission finalized a document “From Conflict to Communion: Lutheran-Catholic Common Commemoration of the Reformation in 2017.”
… Read more » … lire la suite »

The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops welcomes the decision of the Federal Government to appeal all aspects of the British Columbia Supreme Court decision on assisted suicide, rendered June 15, 2012. We agree with the statement by Federal Justice Minister, Rob Nicholson, that “laws surrounding euthanasia and assisted suicide exist to protect all Canadians, including those who are most vulnerable, such as people who are sick or elderly or people with disabilities”.

In a statement issued June 18, 2012, the CCCB President, Most Reverend Richard W. Smith, Archbishop of Edmonton, underscored the importance of respecting the gift of life, from the moment of conception until natural death. He reminded us: “We are the stewards, not the owners, of the life God has entrusted to us. It is not ours to dispose of.” (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2280)

The CCCB will continue to monitor this issue closely and offer its perspective as it unfolds.
… Read more » … lire la suite »

On July 16, 2012, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, accepted the resignation of the Most Reverend Sylvain Lavoie, O.M.I., Archbishop of Keewatin-Le Pas, Manitoba, according to canon 401, §2, and at the same time appointed Father William Stang, O.M.I., as Apostolic Administrator of the same Archdiocese.
… Read more » … lire la suite »

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI today appointed the Reverend Gregory Bittman as Auxiliary Bishop of Edmonton, Alberta. He will assist the Archbishop of Edmonton, the Most Reverend Richard W. Smith, who is also President of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops.
… Read more » … lire la suite »

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI today appointed the Most Reverend Donald Bolen, Bishop of Saskatoon, as a member of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. Before being named Bishop of Saskatoon in 2009, Bishop Bolen had served on the staff of the Pontifical Council from 2001 to 2008, with special responsibility for relations with the Anglican Communion and the World Methodist Council. In November, 2008, he was awarded the Cross of Saint Augustine by the Archbishop of Canterbury for his contributions to relations between the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion.

Editor’s note: appointment as a member of the PCPCU means that Bishop Bolen will share with other bishops in guiding the work of the Pontifical Council. He remains bishop of Saskatoon. We have not lost him yet.
… Read more » … lire la suite »

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.
… Read more » … lire la suite »

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.”
… Read more » … lire la suite »

The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) today released a pastoral letter on freedom of conscience and religion. Issued by the CCCB Permanent Council, the letter expresses concern about an “aggressive relativism” in Canada that seeks to relegate religion to the private sphere.

“Legitimate secularity draws a distinction between religion and politics, between Church and state,” the pastoral letter states, but is open to the engagement of religious beliefs and faith communities in public debate and civic life. “Radical secularism”, however, excludes religion from the public square “and from freely engaging in the public debate necessary for shaping civic life.”
… Read more » … lire la suite »

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.
… Read more » … lire la suite »

The Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission has completed the second meeting of its new phase (ARCIC III), at the Mission to Seafarers in Kowloon, Hong Kong (3-10 May 2012).

The Commission, chaired by the Most Revd David Moxon (Anglican Archbishop of the New Zealand Dioceses) and the Most Revd Bernard Longley (Roman Catholic Archbishop of Birmingham) comprises nineteen theologians from a wide range of backgrounds across the world. According to the mandate given to it by the two Communions, the Commission is addressing interrelated issues: the Church as Communion, local and universal, and how in communion the local and universal Church come to discern right ethical teaching. The Commission has also been mandated to present the documents of ARCIC II for reception by the relevant authorities of both communions. Accordingly, the Commission is reviewing responses already received in order to prepare some elucidations, together with commentaries, which will enable the material of ARCIC II to be studied at all levels of the churches’ life.

Read more on “Ecumenism in Canada”
… Read more » … lire la suite »

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.
… Read more » … lire la suite »

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.
… Read more » … lire la suite »

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.
… Read more » … lire la suite »

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.
… Read more » … lire la suite »

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
… Read more » … lire la suite »

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.
… Read more » … lire la suite »

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.”
… Read more » … lire la suite »

The island of Malta located in the Mediterranean Sea between Italy and the shores of Tunisia and Libya was the setting for the last plenary meeting of the Joint Working Group between the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) and the World Council of Churches (WCC) before the forthcoming WCC assembly in 2013 in Busan (Korea). Malta has been at the crossroads of Europe, Northern Africa and the Middle East throughout its history. According to Acts 28, the Apostle Paul stayed three months on the island following his shipwreck on the way to Rome. While a prisoner, he established the Church in Malta that remains faithful to its apostolic origins until today. Meeting in Rome and Damascus before, the members of the JWG were again reminded of the breadth of St. Paul’s missionary vision of the church and community in Christ. Our deliberations were guided by the words of St. Paul to “receive one another just as Christ has received you, for the glory of God” (Rom 15:7).
… Read more » … lire la suite »

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.
… Read more » … lire la suite »

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
… Read more » … lire la suite »

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.
… Read more » … lire la suite »

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.
… Read more » … lire la suite »

On Pentecost Sunday, Gregory Kerr-Wilson, Anglican bishop of the Diocese of Qu’Appelle, and Daniel Bohan, Roman Catholic archbishop of the Archdiocese of Regina, jointly celebrated a service in Regina.
… Read more » … lire la suite »

At its meeting in Geneva, 9-14 June, The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Council approved plans for a three-way talks that will include Lutherans, Roman Catholics and Mennonites.
… Read more » … lire la suite »

The third phase of ARCIC, or Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission, started on Tuesday at the monastery of Bose in northern Italy. ARCIC III is spending its first few days reviewing the work of the previous phases of work, particularly looking at what ARCIC I and II said about ecclesiology and ethics. It is doing this within a context of regular community prayer with the members of the monastery. Biblical study of the Epistle to the Ephesians, led by the co-chairs, provides a biblical framework for the days’ discussions.
… Read more » … lire la suite »

“One cannot hold to the charge that the Jewish people, either in the first century or at any other time, are responsible for the death of Jesus (the so-called charge of deicide) without falling out of communion with the Catholic Church. It contradicts both Vatican II (1962-1965) and the Council of Trent (1548-1563), not to mention a proper reading of the New Testament,” Father Massa stated.
… Read more » … lire la suite »

Reconciliation — between the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches and between Inuit and Dene students who attended residential schools in the North — will be the major focus of the 2nd Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) event June 28 to July 1.
… Read more » … lire la suite »

Pope Benedict XVI has intervened personally to demand more time for ecumenical talks with the Protestant Churches when he visits Germany in September. In a highly unusual move he has written directly to the leader of the Protestant Churches, Chairman Nikolaus Schneider, expressing dissatisfaction with the brevity of the session allotted for their meeting. Barely
… Read more » … lire la suite »

The Synod of Bishops of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church has elected the Most Rev. Sviatoslav Shevchuk as Major Archbishop
… Read more » … lire la suite »

Evangelical and Catholic Christians recently gathered to pray and to celebrate their common faith in Jesus Christ at a joyful gathering at St. Paul’s Cathedral in Saskatoon.

Sharing song, scripture and prayer, some 300 people attended the groundbreaking gathering March 22, 2011. Pastor Harry Strauss of Forest Grove Community Church, representing the Saskatoon Evangelical Ministers Fellowship, and Bishop Donald Bolen of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon presided together at the service. Welcoming all those attending from many denominations and local churches, Bolen described the origins of the event, which he traced back to the prayer and friendship experienced when three Catholic women joined those in the Evangelical community gathering regularly to pray for local Alliance Church Pastor Ken Rutherford, who was ill with cancer and who died in September 2010.

“It was Ken’s request that those who gathered would also pray for the wounded body of Christ in the city of Saskatoon,” said Bolen, who attended one of the prayer services, where he first met Ken’s wife Lenna. “Eventually I got to meet Pastor Ken as well, and I was stirred by his profound desire for unity and reconciliation.”

In a sermon shared with Bolen and Strauss, Lenna Rutherford recalled her husband’s experience of joy when he introduced two of his beloved friends to each other – something that also reflected his experience of connecting to other friends through a mutual love of Jesus Christ.

Christ had introduced Ken to many other dear friends. Ken found them in many shapes and presentations, they came from many pastoral and priestly places, in various denominations across the city and Ken found that he was called to see not from a worldly, or religious, or denominational point of view, but from Christ’s point of view, which was: “let me introduce you to someone I love so much that I died for them too.’”
… Read more » … lire la suite »

Last month, the national Canadian ARC Bishops’ Dialogue celebrated 40 years of bringing Anglican and Roman Catholics closer together. “The Canadian Anglican-Roman Catholic dialogue is one of the longest running in the world,” says Bishop Michael Ingham of the Anglican diocese of New Westminster in Vancouver.

Unity headed the agenda as five Roman Catholic and four Anglican bishops (one was absent due to illness) met over three days in Pickering, Ont., to discuss–among other things–Growing Together in Unity and Mission, a document produced by the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission.

Growing Together encourages practical co-operation at local levels between Anglican and Roman Catholic churches and visible signs of religious unity. “For example, it recommends that the two churches consider offering baptismal preparation together, using the same baptismal certificates or making public professions of faith together at Pentecost or on other significant occasions,” says Bishop Ingham.

It also encourages other joint ventures such as non-Eucharistic worship, pilgrimages and social justice initiatives. Religious collaborations are not common now, but Bishop Ingham is optimistic that they may become so. “We discussed how to develop this co-operation in Canada. The bishops will be taking the recommendations back to the House of Bishops. If the bishops are supportive, then they have to go out to the dioceses and encourage the clergy there.”
… Read more » … lire la suite »

The co-Chairmen and co-secretaries of the new phase of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC III) have drawn up a plan for the first meeting of the Commission. This will be hosted by the Monastery of Bose, northern Italy, from 17 to 27 May 2011. The new phase of ARCIC’s work was mandated by Pope Benedict XVI and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, at their meeting in Rome in November 2009.
… Read more » … lire la suite »

The Centre for Inter-Religious Dialogue of the Islamic Culture and Relations Organisation (Tehran, Iran) and the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue held their seventh colloquium in Tehran from 9 to 11 November under the joint presidency of Mohammad Baqer Khorramshad, president of the Islamic Culture and Relations Organisation, and of Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue.
… Read more » … lire la suite »

Members of the Lutheran-Roman Catholic Dialogue in the United States approved by unanimous consent on October 17 the dialogue’s final report on “The Hope of Eternal Life.” The 65-page report represents the fruit of the dialogue’s four-and-a-half-year study. It explores issues related to the Christian’s life beyond death, such as the communion of saints, resurrection of the dead, and final judgment, as well as historically divisive issues such as purgatory, indulgences, and prayers for the dead.
… Read more » … lire la suite »

Orthodox-Catholic Dialogue Lays Out a Vision of Unity in Unprecedented Document

Representatives of the Orthodox and Catholic Churches have issued two new documents outlining immediate steps they can take to overcome their thousand-year separation.
… Read more » … lire la suite »