The long-standing commitment to closer co-operation between the Anglican Communion and the Lutheran World Federation has taken a significant step forward with the ratification of a mandate for a new Anglican Lutheran Commission.
The Director of Ecumenical Affairs at the Anglican Communion Office (the Revd Canon Gregory K Cameron) last month reported to the Joint Standing Committee of the Primates and Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) that the current Anglican-Roman Catholic dialogue had reached a significant milestone. In a report to the Joint Standing Committee, which was held in Canterbury in March, Canon Gregory Cameron confirmed that the Anglican - Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) had completed its work on a document "Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ" setting out an agreed framework for the theological and devotional understanding of Mary in the Christian faith.
The Anglican Old Catholic International Co-ordinating Council (AOCICC) met at Canterbury Cathedral’s International Study Centre between 8 and 11 March 2004 under the co-chairmanship of the Rt Revd Jonathan Gledhill, the Bishop of Lichfield and the Rt Revd Dr Jan-Lambert Wirix-Speetjens, the Bishop of Haarlem. The Council was grateful for the warmth of hospitality at Canterbury and especially for the welcome by Canon Richard Marsh on behalf of the Cathedral’s Dean and Chapter and for the tour he conducted of the Cathedral on the evening of 9 March.
The Anglican - Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) met from 28 January - 3 February at the Palisades Retreat Center, Seattle, under the co-chairmanship of the Most Revd Alexander J. Brunett, Archbishop of Seattle, and the Most Revd Peter Carnley, Archbishop of Perth and Primate of the Anglican Church of Australia.
A Caribbean phase of international conversations between Anglicans and Baptists was held in Nassau from 26-28 January 2003. This regional meeting follows four previous phases held in Norwich (for Europe) in 2000, Yangon (for Asia/Pacific) in 2001, Nairobi (for Africa), in 2002, and Santiago, Chile (for Latin America) earlier in January 2003. Participants came from Bahamas, Barbados, Haiti, Jamaica, and Trinidad & Tobago, representing their respective Churches and joined the members of the "continuation committee" which is conducting these regional gatherings on behalf of the Baptist World Alliance and the Anglican Communion.
The Old Catholic Bishop of Switzerland, the Rt Revd Fritz-René Muller, last weekend celebrated an Anglican Communion service, in English, at a Church of England altar. He also addressed the Anglican Swiss Archdeaconry Synod. It was the first time this had happened in Switzerland, although con-celebrations have been held in other countries.
The World Council of Churches has announced plans to reorganise and reduce staff at its Geneva and New York offices.
Under the co-chairmanship of Metropolitan Bishoy of Damiette of the Coptic Orthodox Church, and the Rt Revd Geoffrey Rowell, Bishop of Gibraltar in Europe, Anglican and Oriental Orthodox members, appointed by their Churches, met in Etchmiadzin, Armenia, at the invitation of the Catholicosate of All Armenians.
30 August 2002
As representatives and participants from the United States, British and Canadian churches meeting at the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches, we have heard and share the concern of those of other nations about the apparent drift towards military confrontation in Iraq.
Communique
The Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) met from 10 to 18 July at the Focolare centre Am Spiegeln in Vienna, Austria, under the co-chairmanship of the Most Reverend Alexander J Brunett, Archbishop of Seattle, USA, and the Most Reverend Frank T Griswold, the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, USA. The Reverend Charles Morerod OP joined the Commission as a new member from the Roman Catholic Church. Fr Morerod is a Swiss national who teaches at the Angelicum in Rome. The Revd Jonathan Gough also joined the Commission as an observer from the office of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Fr Gough is the Archbishop’s Officer for Ecumenism, based at Lambeth Palace, London.
The Director of Ecumenical Affairs and Studies, David Hamid, is a consultant to the Joint Working Group of the Roman Catholic Church and the World Council of Churches. This group was formed in 1965 following the Second Vatican Council and is an important platform for the discussion of a range of common pastoral, theological and mission concerns between the WCC and the Roman Catholic Church. 34 of the 38 provinces of the Anglican Communion are members of the WCC. The Roman Catholic Church is not a member. The following is the communiqué from the recent meeting of the JWG which was held in Stjärnholm, Sweden.
Porto Alegre, Brazil
11-14 May 2002
Background (as referred to also in last year's communiqué)
The next meeting of the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches will be held from 15 August to 5 September 2002 in Geneva, Switzerland. This year there is an opportunity for young people from all over the world to participate in the meeting as stewards.
The Inter Anglican Standing Commission on Ecumenical Relations (IASCER) met in Cape Town, South Africa, from 1 to 7 December. The Rt Revd Dr Geoffrey Rowell served as co-ordinating chairman in the unavoidable absence of both the chairman and vice-chairman of the Commission.
"Islam" is derived from the Arabic root salaama meaning peace, purity, submission and obedience. Islam stands for making peace by submitting to the will of God and obeying His law.
Thirteen Christian, Jewish, Muslim and inter-faith organizations have endorsed a statement for the Special Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) on HIV/AIDS, which is currently taking place in New York.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is calling on the European Union to support the Human Rights Commission resolution, amidst increasing tension and attacks on Palestinian civilians by the Israeli military, in the Middle East.
The dialogue between Anglicans and Lutherans on the worldwide level has been underway in varying formats since 1970. Prominent among the reports produced by this dialogue are The Niagara Report (1987), focusing on the mission of the church and the role of the ordained ministry, and The Diaconate as an Ecumenical Opportunity (1995), which were produced by the Anglican - Lutheran International Commission.
Governments need to work in close collaboration with religious communities if they are to carry out effective HIV/AIDS programmes, a World Council of Churches (WCC) team told participants in a meeting at the United Nations (UN).
The bold idea that began at the World Council of Churches' (WCC) Eighth Assembly in Harare, Zimbabwe, in December 1998, became a reality Sunday (February 4) with the formal launch in Berlin of the Decade to Overcome Violence: Churches Seeking Reconciliation and Peace 2001-2010.
(LWI) The Anglican and Lutheran Churches of northern Europe will address the challenges facing Europe together. Church leaders of both confessions met in Turku, Finland, March 12-17, the first meeting of the Porvoo Communion since the solemn ratification of the Porvoo Declaration in the autumn of 1996. Among challenges identified by the leaders was the erosion of traditional values accompanied by "an inarticulated search for spirituality".
(ACNS - David Hamid) The establishment of a Pan African Anglican-Lutheran commission to work toward a relationship of full communion as a stage along the way to full visible unity was discussed in a consultation held in Johannesburg, South Africa in December. The consultation brought together 10 Lutherans and 10 Anglicans, including bishops, pastors and lay people, from different parts of Africa.
The Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) met from 26 August to 4 September at the Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, USA. The Commission has the task of undertaking the official theological dialogue between the Anglican Communion and the Catholic Church. The Commission produced agreed statements on Eucharist, Ministry and Ordination, and Authority in the Church, published in 1981 as The Final Report, which have received an authoritative response from both the Anglican Communion and the Catholic Church. Since then, the Commission has produced three further agreed statements: Salvation and the Church (1986), Church as Communion (1990) and Life in Christ: Morals, Communion and the Church (1993).
It is a great pleasure and privilege for me to welcome you, together with Cardinal Vik, to this Second European Ecumenical Assembly and to thank all who have made this Assembly possible - in the Council of Catholic Bishops' Conferences for Europe, in the conference of European Churches, in the member churches and Bishops' conferences, in associated organisations, in movements and religious orders and especially our hosts here in Graz, in Styria and in Austria.
The Anglican-Orthodox informal talks took place in Istanbul from 9 to 11 May. Anglican representatives were invited to the meeting by the Ecumenical Patriarchate, His All Holiness Bartholomaios 1. The Anglican representatives included the Rt Revd Mark Dyer, the Anglican Co-Chair of the meeting; the Rt Revd Edward Holland, the Bishop of Colchester; Canon John L Peterson, Secretary General of the Anglican Consultative Council; the Revd Canon Dr Richard Marsh, Ecumenical Officer of the Archbishop of Canterbury; and the Revd Canon David Hamid, Director of Ecumenical Affairs for the ACO. Representatives of the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate also attended the meeting.
An extensive Anglican-Lutheran Ecumenical Bibliography is now available through the Anglican-Lutheran Society. The 33-page document, the first of its kind ever produced, includes 525 items. They date from the 16th century to the present time.
Ecumenism is an inseparable part of the mission of the church to spread the Good News about Jesus Christ, a group of worldwide Anglican Church delegates was told recently.
The Porvoo Declaration, signed at Trondheim, Norway, 1 September, has drawn strong comment from Anglican and Lutheran leaders.
The Declaration, in which the signatory Churches acknowledge not only mutual baptism and communion, but also the office of bishop, bridges "a Reformation gap," according to Trondheim's host bishop, Finn Wagle. The agreement makes a mark in Church history comparable to the Reformation, he said.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is facing a "serious financial situation", and "drastic action" is needed to achieve a balanced budget for 1997, according to the organisation's General Secretary, Konrad Raiser. The financial crisis has already resulted in some job cuts at the WCC's headquarters in Geneva and may affect the programmes and services of the WCC, which is the world's biggest ecumenical organisation, with a wide range of dialogue, development and aid programmes and services.
