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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Bishop-elect Donald Bolen’s mission; Spiritual shepherd plans to promote reconciliation Monsignor Donald Bolen plans to be a shepherd to the faithful. However, the bishop-elect of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon also sees his ecumenical mission as bringing about reconciliation among all Christians. As bishop, he hopes to lead the Catholic faithful to deeper discipleship
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Catholics and Muslims Against Manipulation of Religions

The annual meeting of the Joint Committee for Dialogue of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue and the Permanent Committee of al-Azhar for Dialogue among the Monotheistic Religions, was held in the Egyptian capital city of Cairo on 23 and 24 February.
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Cardinal asks dialogue partners if an ecumenical catechism might work

A Vatican official has floated the idea of a shared “ecumenical catechism” as one of the potential fruits of 40 years of dialogue among Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists and members of the Reformed churches.
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Glad tidings for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon arrived a few days before Christmas with the appointment of Msgr. Donald Bolen of Regina as seventh bishop of the diocese.

Pope Benedict XVI’s appointment of Bolen as bishop was announced Dec. 21 in Rome. The diocese of Saskatoon has been without a bishop since September, when former bishop Albert LeGatt was inaugurated as Archbishop of St. Boniface, Manitoba.

Bolen, 48, is presently serving as vicar-general of the Archdiocese of Regina, and pastor of St. Joseph parish, Balgonie; St. Agnes at Pilot Butte; and St. Peter’s Colony, Kronau.

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Catholic and Jewish leaders agreed at a fall dialogue that proselytism understood as coercion or manipulation is a corruption of authentic witness to one’s faith. “Any effort to lead a person to faith that tramples on human freedom betrays a lack of respect for human dignity,” said Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Atlanta, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs.

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US Muslims and Catholics discuss role of faith in the public square

Muslims and Catholics discussed religion in the public square at an interreligious dialogue, October 25-27, in Milwaukee. Deliberations began with a well-attended public lecture entitled, “Faithful Citizenship – Catholic and Muslim Engagement in Civic Life” at the Islamic Center School. The Catholic perspective was presented by Michael Hovey, coordinator of the Office for Ecumenical and Interfaith Affairs of the Archdiocese of Detroit. The Islamic perspective was given by Dr. Irfan Omar, Professor of Islamic Studies at Marquette University.

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US Catholic & Polish National Catholic churches discuss clergy transfers

The challenges of clergy transfers between churches stood as a key topic at the annual Polish National Catholic-Roman Catholic dialogue, this year at the Polish National Catholic Church (PNCC) Center in Scranton, Pennsylvania, September 28-29. Bishop Edward U. Kmiec of Buffalo and Bishop Anthony Mikovsky of the Central diocese of the PNCC co-chaired the meeting.
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This morning the Vatican announced the publication of the apostolic constitution enacting the canonical provisions for new Anglican ordinariates. As well, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued “complementary norms” to accompany the apostolic constitution.

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The North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation finalized a joint response to the international dialogue’s 2007 “Ravenna Document” at their 77th meeting, held at Saint Paul’s College in Washington, October 22-24. Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Maximos of Pittsburgh and Roman Catholic Archbishop Gregory Aymond of New Orleans presided over it.

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The Vatican official responsible for links with other churches has rejected suggestions of a “standstill” in the search for Christian unity. “There has already been a lot of movement,” Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, told Ecumenical News International in Wittenberg, the eastern German town where in 1517, Martin Luther published his 95 Theses, thereby setting in train the breach with the papacy.

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The Chaldean Catholic community, made up of families and individuals who have had to leave Iraq in recent years, have a new place to call home – the church formerly known as St. Timothy’s Anglican, on Lansdowne Ave in southeast Saskatoon.

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Vatican offers new provisions for Anglican “converts”

Earlier this week the Vatican announced new pastoral provisions for Anglicans seeking to join the Roman Catholic Church that will allow them to keep aspects of the historic Anglican liturgy and patrimony. The announcement came from Cardinal William Levada, the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The CDF is the Vatican office responsible for doctrine. Since 1980, the CDF has supervised a special pastoral provision for former Anglicans in the United States that permitted married Anglican clergy to be admitted to Roman Catholic ministry and in a few cases for entire parishes of former Anglicans to continue to use Anglican liturgical forms. The announcement this week was touted as a means of making the 1980 pastoral provision universal.

Read the complete commentary by Nicholas Jesson on our website…
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In the midst of a protest by a small number of Orthodox monks and faithful, the official Catholic-Orthodox dialogue commission met in Cyprus Oct. 16-23. The meeting of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue Between the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church focused on a key factor in the ongoing division between Catholic and Orthodox: the role of the pope as bishop of Rome. The protesters — who were arrested Oct. 20, the third day of their demonstration — claimed that the ongoing dialogue between the two churches was aimed at getting the Orthodox to submit to papal authority. According to a statement released by the dialogue commission Oct. 23, the commission’s Orthodox members discussed “the negative reactions to the dialogue by certain Orthodox circles and unanimously considered them as totally unfounded and unacceptable, providing false and misleading information.” The Orthodox delegates “reaffirmed that the dialogue continues with the decision of all the Orthodox churches and is pursued with faithfulness to the truth and the tradition of the church,” said the statement released in Cyprus and at the Vatican.
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[Paphos, Cyprus • Zenit.org] The International Mixed Commission for Theological Dialogue Between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church has progressed in its reflection on the role of the bishop of Rome. The commission issued a joint communiqué reporting on its progress at the end of its 11th plenary session, ended today in Paphos. The
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The new agreed statement of the international dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches and the fostering of vocations were the main topics of discussion at the 2009 meeting of the national dialogue between the two communions.

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The fifth round of the Lutheran – Roman Catholic Commission on Unity had its first meeting, 19-24 July 2009 at the Christian Jensen Kolleg in Breklum, Germany. The commission’s work will focus first on the ecumenical significance of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation and then on the topic “baptism and growth in communion.”
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Le patriarche œcuménique Bartholomée Ier, “premier parmi ses pairs” dans la hiérarchie de l’Eglise orthodoxe, a appelé de ses vœux la création d’une organisation rassemblant anglicans, orthodoxes, protestants et catholiques romains.
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Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomeos I, a spiritual leader who represents Eastern Orthodox Christianity, has called for the creation of a churches’ umbrella body in Europe to include Roman Catholics alongside Anglicans, Orthodox and Protestants.
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New Archbishop for Saint-Boniface

[Ottawa • CCCB] Pope Benedict XVI today named Most Reverend Albert LeGatt as Archbishop of Saint-Boniface. At the time of his appointment, he was Bishop of Saskatoon.

The Holy Father also accepted the resignation of Most Reverend Émilius Goulet, P.S.S., in accordance with the Code of Canon Law which sets the mandatory age of retirement for bishops at 75. Archbishop Goulet, who turned 76 last May, has served the diocese of Saint-Boniface for a little more than a year past his 75th birthday. He had been appointed Archbishop of Saint-Boniface in [June] 2001.
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US Catholic-Jewish dialogue examines “Note on Covenant and Mission”

[Washington • USCCB] Representatives of the U.S. Bishops and two Orthodox Jewish associations examined the recent Note on Covenant and Mission from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishop (USCCB) during a June 25 meeting in New York. The discussion was part of the regular consultation of the USCCB-Rabbinical Council of America/Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America.

The bishops issued A Note on Ambiguities Contained in Reflections on Covenant and Mission, June 18, to clarify aspects of a 2002 statement by a group of Catholic and Jewish scholars associated with a standing dialogue between the USCCB and the National Council of Synagogues. Some Catholic leaders had felt the efforts in “Reflections” to recognize the validity of the Jewish covenant appeared to undercut Catholic responsibility to witness to the entirety of the Christian faith.
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Orthodox-Catholic Consultation Studies Nature of Communion, Authority

[Washington • USCCB] The seventy-sixth meeting of the North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation took place at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in Crestwood, New York, June 1 to 3. The session, hosted by the Standing Conference of the Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA), was co-chaired by Metropolitan Maximos of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Pittsburgh and Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.
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US Methodist-Catholic Dialogue Explores Eucharist, Environment

[Washington • USCCB] Care for one’s bodily health is linked to care for the body of the Church and for material creation, Methodist Bishop Timothy Whitaker said in a sermon during the second meeting of Round 7 of the Methodist-Catholic Dialogue at St. Paul’s College in Washington, June 15-17.
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Catholic bishops of G8 countries on the July G8 summit

In a letter to leaders participating in the G8 Summit in Italy, July 8-10, the presidents of the Catholic bishops’ conferences of the G8 nations urged Summit leaders to “take concerted actions to protect poor persons and assist developing countries.”

Summary: Bishops note that those who contributed least to current crises may suffer the most; Urge G8 not to cut international aid for poor countries as result of economic crisis; Ask G8 leaders to combat climate change and protect the most vulnerable people.
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An international expert on church unity has urged the Roman Catholic Church to declare officially that its excommunication of Martin Luther no longer applies.

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Last November, attention turned once again to comments made by Pope Benedict XVI, this time on dialogue with Islam. Precisely as the Vatican was intensifying efforts to open dialogues with Islam on ethical and other practical issues, a book was published in Italy by Marcello Pera that contained a forward written by the pope. In this text, the pope commended Pera’s argument that interreligious dialogue is not strictly possible. The book, entitled “Why We Must Call Ourselves Christian” was an argument for the indispensably Christian character of Europe. Prior to his election as pope, Cardinal Ratzinger had co-authored another book with Pera about Europe’s identity, and so it is not a great surprise that he would write a forward for another book on the same subject by his academic colleague.

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Pope Benedict XVI has acknowledged “mistakes” in the way the Vatican lifted the excommunication of four bishops from a breakaway Catholic group, including a prelate who had denied that Jews died in Nazi gas chambers. In a letter issued on 12 March to Roman Catholic bishops around the world, the Pope described as an “unforeseen mishap” the case of British-born Richard Williamson, one of the four bishops belonging to the Society of St Pius X (SSPX).

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Made public yesterday afternoon was the final declaration of the annual meeting of the Joint Committee for Dialogue of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue (Vatican) and the Permanent Committee of al-Azhar for Dialogue among the Monotheistic Religions (Cairo, Egypt). The meeting was held in Rome on 24 and 25 February.

… read more
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The head of the Vatican’s education office has described the religious education curriculum introduced by the government of Quebec as bordering on “anti-Catholic”.

Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, the Prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education, stepped into the row over religious education, which has divided the Canadian province, when he criticised the Ethics and Religious Culture programme. It was implemented last September and has replaced all other RE curricula in the province’s state schools and Protestant and Catholic schools.

Eighty-two per cent of Quebec’s 7.5 million population are at least nominally Catholic, and boycotts of the course are occurring throughout the province. Cardinal Grocholewski said: “Talking in the same way about all religions is almost like an anti-Catholic education, because this creates a certain relativism.” He said this approach could ultimately be anti-religious, since young people are left with the impression that each faith is a fictional narrative. Speaking to the Zenit news agency in Rome, he also said that teaching all religions equally “violates the right of parents to educate their own children according to their own religion”.

Some Quebec schools have suspended pupils who take part in the boycotts. Loyola High School, a private Jesuit school in Montreal, is suing the province after its request that it be exempted from teaching the programme because it was “contrary to its faith mission” was denied.

• Read the complete news article in The Tablet, February 28, 2009
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The Vatican’s new YouTube channel has posted the following short video about a dialogue this past week between the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue (PCID) and a Muslim partner, the Permanent Committee of Al-Azhar for the Dialogue with Monotheistic Religions.

Watch it here
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In a pastoral letter to the faithful in his diocese, Roman Catholic Bishop Luc Bouchard of St. Paul in Alberta, Canada decried that “the integrity of creation in the Athabasca Oil Sands” – the largest reservoir of crude bitumen in the world and the largest of three major oil sands deposits in Alberta – “is clearly being sacrificed for economic gain.”

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The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has awarded the Cross of St Augustine to Monsignor Donald Bolen for his service to Anglican-Roman Catholic relations. In a private audience at Lambeth Palace the Archbishop paid warm tribute to the theological acumen and spiritual discernment that Monsignor Bolen had put unreservedly at the service of Anglican-Roman Catholic relations during his seven-year assignment to the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity in Rome.

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Pope Benedict XVI has lifted the excommunication of four bishops ordained against papal orders in 1988 by the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. The move was considered a major concession to the archbishop’s traditionalist followers. The Vatican said the decree removing the excommunication, signed Jan. 21 and made public three days later, marked an important step toward full communion with the Society of St. Pius X, founded by Archbishop Lefebvre in 1970.

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Final Communiqué on the 11th Catholic-Muslim Colloquium

[Vatican • VIS] Today was made public the final communiqué on the 11th Colloquium organized by the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and the World Islamic Call Society (WICS), which took place in Rome from 15 to 17 December.
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A few years ago, other than a few specialists in Christian-Muslim dialogue, the average churchgoer would have little awareness of the tentative steps taken in dialogue between Christians and Muslims. The Danish cartoon controversy and Pope Benedict’s comments at a lecture in Regensburg re-focused attention on the difficult relationship between Christianity and Islam. Since then, there has been an intentional effort to bring more publicity to the existing forms of dialogue. There have also been new forums for dialogue established.
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New Vatican Instruction on Bioethics

A new document entitled Dignitatis Personae was released by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on Friday morning. The document on “certain questions of bioethics” is intended to update the current teaching on moral issues arising from in-vitro fertilization, stem cell technology, cloning, and other embryonic research. The last comprehensive CDF Instruction on these issues was published February 22, 1987 with the title Donum Vitae.

• The document is available on the CCCB website.
• A summary of the document was released to reporters at the morning news conference. It is available on the Vatican Information Service website.
• An excellent explanation of the document and its history is available from John L. Allen Jr. at the National Catholic Reporter.
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The growth in ecumenical relations has great promise for the proclamation of the Gospel in our time, says Benedict XVI.

The Pope affirmed this today when he presided at an ecumenical celebration with Aram I, Catholicos of Cilicia of the Armenians. A delegation from the Catholicosate also participated in the event.
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Benedict XVI’s catechesis on justification at the [November 19th] general audience and his comments regarding Martin Luther were welcomed by a Lutheran leader in Rome.

The dean of the Lutheran Church of Italy, Holger Milkau, said that “it’s always a pleasure to hear the Pope speak of Luther, above all if he considers arguments they share.”
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The membership of Germany’s two largest churches is shrinking, but the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), the country’s biggest Protestant grouping, has dropped below 25 million members for the first time since the unification of Germany in 1990.

At the end of 2007, EKD members accounted for 24.83 million of Germany’s 82-million people, the German Protestant news agency epd reported on 17 November. The EKD now has more than a million fewer adherents than it did five years ago.
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Lutheran-Roman Catholic Dialogue continues ‘Hope of Eternal Life’ theme

[ELCA] The U.S. Lutheran-Roman Catholic Dialogue added to its current round of meetings on the topic of “Hope of Eternal Life” a new study on the sacrament of the Eucharist. The Oct. 10-14 session at St. Paul’s College, Washington, D.C., was the sixth of Round XI in the historic relationship between Lutherans and Catholics that began 43 years ago at the end of the Second Vatican Council.

Dialogue participants have explored beliefs and practices related to eternal life in Christ since the round began in 2005. At the October session a special task force from the Dialogue membership welcomed Msgr. John Radano, former undersecretary, Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, The Vatican, as part of a new discussion on areas of consensus and disagreement between Catholics and Lutherans on eucharistic doctrine. The new initiative is the result of conversations between members of the Pontifical Council and the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).

In response to a written message from Hanson to Pope Benedict XVI in September 2007, the Pontifical Council suggested that the ELCA and the U.S. Roman Catholic Church seek to formulate a joint teaching statement, said the Rev. Lowell G. Almen, Lutheran co-chair of the U.S. dialogue and former ELCA secretary. The statement would acknowledge the mutual confession of the churches of the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, he said.

“The Eucharist is the place of encounter with Christ who is eternal life,” said the Rev. James Massa, executive director, Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligous Affairs, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Washington, and also one of the two staff coordinators of the dialogue. “I see it as particularly appropriate that we take up Bishop Hanson’s proposal precisely at a time when the dialogue team is talking about prayers for the deceased as part of its overall treatment of eternal life. For many Christian believers the Eucharist is the preeminent prayer of thanksgiving for Christ’s life-giving sacrifice, to which he joins all of the faithful, living and dead.”

The dialogue adopted a time line for conclusion of the current round, which includes a review process for a Common Agreement on Eternal Life. Drafters have presented portions of a draft text that treat the topic from a biblical-historical, systematic and pastoral standpoint. “The report, when completed, will be helpful to both pastors and members of parishes,” Almen said. “It will serve as a resource for teaching and discussion as members of congregations ponder questions about death and dying as well as the promise of eternal life in Christ.”

Almen added, “The report also will highlight the broad reality of the Church throughout time and eternity. After all, as we gather at the table of our Lord, we are surrounded by all the faithful who have gone before us, the great cloud of witnesses, as we anticipate the eternal banquet of our Lord.”

The next session of the dialogue is March 12-15, 2009, in Washington. Participants will examine a complete draft of the common statement and also consider the contents and format of a possible publication that would include the statement along with a series of essays based on papers that have been presented over the course of the round.

Participants in the October 2008 meeting mourned the loss of one of the longest serving members of the U.S. Lutheran-Roman Catholic Dialogue, the Rev. John Reumann, professor emeritus of New Testament and Greek, the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. Reumann, who died June 6, 2008, was remembered by dialogue participants in a memorial service at the end of the meeting.

Last year the dialogue held a memorial mass for the passing of another long-serving member, the Rev. George Tavard A.A., an Augustinian of the Assumption priest and prolific author, who died in 2007.

—
• Information for this release was provided by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
• Information regarding the U.S. Lutheran-Roman Catholic Dialogue is on the ELCA Web site.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or
www.elca.org/news
ELCA News Blog
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Catholics and Muslims find common ground in Rome

[The Tablet] The first meeting of the Catholic-Muslim Forum of scholars and religious leaders has ended in a joint declaration saying religious minorities have a right to “practise their faith in private and public” and to have their own houses of worship.

Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, ranked this as the most important of the 15 points agreed with delegates from the Common Word project, a dialogue initiative launched last year by 138 Islamic leaders from the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Western countries. The declaration also called for respect for personal “choices in matters of conscience and religion,” which could apply to the thorny question of conversion from Islam, which the delegates discussed briefly but did not seek consensus on.

• See the complete article from The Tablet, November 15, 2008 at www.thetablet.co.uk/article/12282
• See the Final Declaration of the Catholic-Muslim Forum at ecumenism.net/archive/news/2008_11.htm#000787
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Final Declaration of the Catholic-Muslim Forum

[Vatican City • VIS] Made public yesterday afternoon was the final declaration of participants in the First Seminar of the Catholic-Muslim Forum, which took place in Rome from 4 to 6 November on the theme: “Love of God, Love of Neighbour”.

Each of the two sides in the meeting was represented by 24 participants and five advisers who discussed the two great themes of “Theological and Spiritual Foundations” and “Human Dignity and Mutual Respect”. Points of “similarity and of diversity emerged, reflecting the distinctive specific genius of the two religions” the English-language declaration says.

1. “For Christians the source and example of love of God and neighbour is the love of Christ for His Father, for humanity and for each person” reads the first of the fifteen points of the declaration. “Love of neighbour cannot be separated from love of God, because it is an expression of our love for God. … Grounded in Christ’s sacrificial love, Christian love is forgiving and excludes no-one; it therefore also includes one’s enemies”.

“For Muslims … love is a timeless transcendent power which guides and transforms human mutual regard. This love, as indicated by the Holy and Beloved Prophet Muhammad, is prior to the human love for the One True God”.

2. “Human life is a most precious gift of God to each person. It should therefore be preserved and honoured in all its stages”.

3. Human dignity is derived from the fact that every human person is created by a loving God and has been endowed with the gifts of reason and free will, and therefore enabled to love God and others. On the firm basis of these principles, the person requires the respect of his or her original dignity and his or her human vocation. Therefore, he or she is entitled to full recognition of his or her identity and freedom by individuals, communities and governments, supported by civil legislation that assures equal rights and full citizenship.

4. “We affirm that God’s creation of humanity has two great aspects: the male and the female human person, and we commit ourselves jointly to ensuring that human dignity and respect are extended on an equal basis to both men and women.

5. “Genuine love of neighbour implies respect of the person and her or his choices in matters of conscience and religion. It includes the right of individuals and communities to practice their religion in private and public.

6. “Religious minorities are entitled to be respected in their own religious convictions and practices. They are also entitled to their own places of worship, and their founding figures and symbols they consider sacred should not be subject to any form of mockery or ridicule.

7. “As Catholic and Muslim believers, we are aware of the summons and imperative to bear witness to the transcendent dimension of life, through a spirituality nourished by prayer, in a world which is becoming more and more secularised and materialistic.

8. “We affirm that no religion and its followers should be excluded from society. Each should be able to make its indispensable contribution to the good of society, especially in service to the most needy.

9. “We recognise that God’s creation in its plurality of cultures, civilisations, languages and peoples is a source of richness and should therefore never become a cause of tension and conflict.

10. “We are convinced that Catholics and Muslims have the duty to provide a sound education in human, civic, religious and moral values for their respective members and to promote accurate information about each other’s religions.

11. “We profess that Catholics and Muslims are called to be instruments of love and harmony among believers, and for humanity as a whole, renouncing any oppression, aggressive violence and terrorism, especially that committed in the name of religion, and upholding the principle of justice for all.

12. “We call upon believers to work for an ethical financial system in which the regulatory mechanisms consider the situation of the poor and disadvantaged, both as individuals, and as indebted nations. We call upon the privileged of the world to consider the plight of those afflicted most severely by the current crisis in food production and distribution, and ask religious believers of all denominations and all people of good will to work together to alleviate the suffering of the hungry, and to eliminate its causes.

13. “Young people are the future of religious communities and of societies as a whole. Increasingly, they will be living in multi-cultural and multi-religious societies. It is essential that they be well formed in their own religious traditions and well informed about other cultures and religions.

14. “We have agreed to explore the possibility of establishing a permanent Catholic-Muslim committee to co-ordinate responses to conflicts and other emergency situations.

15. “We look forward to the second seminar of the Catholic-Muslim Forum to be convened in approximately two years in a Muslim-majority country yet to be determined”.

The declaration concludes by affirming that all the participants “expressed satisfaction with the results of the seminar and their expectation for further productive dialogue”.
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Address of His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch BARTHOLOMEW to the XIIth Ordinary General Assembly of Bishops of the Roman Catholic Church (The Vatican, 18 October 2008)
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The Role of the Bishop of Rome in the Communion of the Church in the First Millennium
Joint Coordinating Committee for the Theological Dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church
Aghios Nikolaos, Crete, Greece, September 27 – October 4, 2008
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The Coordinating Committee of the Joint International Commission for the Theological Dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church met in Elounda, Crete, Greece from 27 September to 4 October 2008.

At the opening session, the two Co-Presidents of the Commission, His Eminence Cardinal Walter Kasper (President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity) and His Eminence Metropolitan John of Pergamon (Ecumenical Patriarchate), expressed their joy and thankfulness to God for the continuation of the theological dialogue between the two Churches. They reaffirmed the goal of the dialogue as stated at its beginning in 1980: “The purpose of the dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church is the re-establishment of full communion between these two churches. This communion, based on unity of faith according to the common experience and tradition of the early Church, will find its expression in the common celebration of the Eucharist.”
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At the close of their 2008 Plenary Assembly which met in Cornwall, 22-26 September, the Bishops of Canada issued a pastoral letter, titled “Liberating Potential”, which invites all the faithful “to discover or rediscover,” the message of the Encyclical Humanae Vitae, issued by Pope Paul VI in 1968.
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