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News archive for 1997

Archives d'actualités pour 1997

A sign in the hallway of the presbytery at St Patrick’s, Middlesbrough, leaves some visitors open-mouthed if they are unaware of the priest’s marital status. Under the heading of Turnham House Rules it reads: If you drop it — pick it up. If you sleep in it — make it. If you open it — close it. If you empty it — fill it up. If it rings — answer it. If it cries — love it. The list is not addressed to a misbehaving curate, nor is it there for mere display. Its author, Fr Derek Turnham, and his wife Margaret have three children, the eldest of whom has recently started at university. It’s his first time away from us and so we’re really feeling the loss at the moment, Fr Turnham says, echoing the common view of parents in a similar situation.

Yet as he leads me towards the living-room, it is also clear that this is a Catholic presbytery like most others: austere, modestly furnished and free of ornaments apart from the odd icon or statue. Outside lies the scabrous wasteland that covers much of post-industrial north Middlesbrough. Fr Turnham anticipates my thoughts as we survey it, explaining that the diocese were frankly very glad to have us occupying this house, because it would almost certainly have been vandalised if it had lain empty any longer.
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Posted: Dec. 6, 1997 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=6613
Categories: Tablet
Transmis : 6 déc. 1997 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=6613
Catégorie : Tablet

When Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople made a month-long tour of 16 cities in the United States in October and November, he was feted with honours at Washington’s Jesuit-run Georgetown University and greeted with splendour in Baltimore’s Catholic cathedral. As so often in inter-Church relations, however, the conciliatory declarations belied bitter realities.

Ironically, the sharp downturn in Catholic-Orthodox relations during the past six months came into the open after one of the Pope’s most impassioned appeals for Christian unity. The occasion John Paul II picked was a Eucharistic Congress held in May at Wroclaw in Poland. “In this our second millennium, when the unity of Christ’s disciples has suffered tragic divisions between East and West, prayer for the rediscovery of full unity is a special obligation”, the Pope said. “Can we bear joint and effective witness to Christ if we are not reconciled with one another? Can we be reconciled with one another without forgiving one another?”
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Posted: Dec. 6, 1997 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=6598
Categories: TabletIn this article: Catholic, dialogue, ecumenism, Orthodox
Transmis : 6 déc. 1997 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=6598
Catégorie : TabletDans cet article : Catholic, dialogue, ecumenism, Orthodox

On October 24, the Ottawa Citizen reported that Bill Phipps, the moderator of the United Church of Canada had stated that the “divinity of Jesus and the reality of heaven and hell are irrelevant.”

The article, which was carried coast to coast in numerous papers, generated an immediate controversy and storms of protest to both the United Church national offices in Etobicoke, Ontario and the newspapers reprinting the article.

By mid-November battle lines were drawn with pundits, theologians, clergy and laity of both conservative and liberal hues voicing their opinions of Phipps’ statements and of his orthodoxy. It would not be terribly helpful (or appropriate) for me to add my views. But, I should, in the interests of bringing clarity to the discussion, make the following observations.

Firstly, both Bill Phipps and the United Church spokespeople have pointed out that the specific statements that were reported were lifted out of context and did not accurately represent his views. The entire article was published in the Ottawa Citizen on November 2, and while the statements are direct quotes, in my opinion Phipps clearly did not intend to deny the divinity of Jesus.
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Posted: Dec. 1, 1997 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=2227
Categories: NewsIn this article: Bill Phipps, interfaith, salvation, United Church of Canada
Transmis : 1 déc. 1997 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=2227
Catégorie : NewsDans cet article : Bill Phipps, interfaith, salvation, United Church of Canada

Gambling is “an insidious form of evil that takes advantage of the poor and disadvantaged” and Christians need to take a more active role in opposing the dependency of governments on gaming revenues, says a new position paper released by the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC)
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Posted: Dec. 1, 1997 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=2226
Categories: News
Transmis : 1 déc. 1997 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=2226
Catégorie : News

On December 1, the SCE entered a new era. Our long serving director of Beit Avraham (our interfaith section) retired. After 12 years at the Centre, Rita decided to move on to further endeavours. Her greatest desire is to travel, and she had begun her latest trip before her retirement had even become official. On November 28, Rita set off for Taiwan, Philippines, Korea, Japan, India, Pakistan and other Asian locations with only a back-pack and an open ticket. She is expected back in Saskatoon in March before heading to Israel and the Middle East.
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Posted: Dec. 1, 1997 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=2225 Transmis : 1 déc. 1997 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=2225

For many Anglicans, the eleventh day of the eleventh month stirs memories of present as well as past conflicts: last Tuesday was the fifth anniversary of the General Synod’s vote in favour of women priests. By common consent the decision presaged the biggest upheaval in the Church of England since the Reformation, prompting 300 clergymen to resign their orders in protest at what they saw as a fracturing of the apostolic ministry. But in ordaining its women deacons in 1994 the Church gained nearly seven times as many new priests as it lost, and the new recruits are now serving at all levels of the hierarchy up to the rank of archdeacon. There appears to be ready agreement among most church people that the ordained ministry has been refreshed by “more open and collaborative styles of leadership”, and that women priests are accepted with enthusiasm by an evergrowing majority of congregations in consequence. “It’s an incarnational thing”, said one erstwhile sceptic. “When you see someone doing the job effectively, you’re quickly won over.”
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Posted: Nov. 15, 1997 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=6595
Categories: TabletIn this article: Catholic, ordination, women
Transmis : 15 nov. 1997 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=6595
Catégorie : TabletDans cet article : Catholic, ordination, women

CHICAGO (ELCA) — The Formula of Agreement approved at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s Churchwide Assembly this summer presents a “unique and historical opportunity” for the expansion of mission outreach in the United States and Caribbean, according to a document called, “Ecumenical Shared Congregations.” The board of the ELCA’s Division for Outreach approved the
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Posted: Oct. 23, 1997 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=4671
Categories: ELCA News
Transmis : 23 oct. 1997 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=4671
Catégorie : ELCA News

In 1993 there was a first meeting in Venice (Italy) for conversations between Evangelical and Roman Catholic representatives, co-sponsored by the World Evangelical Fellowship and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. The themes were Justification, Scripture and Tradition. As a follow up to it, a second meeting for conversations was held in the Ecumenical Institute of Tantur (Jerusalem), October 12-19, 1997. Participants represented different regions of the world and a variety of Christian ministries.

The main themes for these conversations — agreed upon during the Venice meeting — were issues related to the nature and mission of the Church. Representatives of each tradition presented a paper on each theme. The discussion that followed evidenced a spirit of mutual acceptance and disposition to listen to one another and pray together.

From the discussions, some points of agreement emerged, as well as areas that demand more reflection and theological work. It was felt that it is still too early to present an elaborate document. We therefore limit ourselves to list the main points on which we have come to a common understanding as well as the points that we would suggest as an agenda for the future conversations between the World Evangelical Fellowship and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, if both partners agree to do so.
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Posted: Oct. 19, 1997 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=2192
Categories: Communiqué, Evangelical-Roman Catholic DialogueIn this article: Catholic, Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, World Evangelical Alliance
Transmis : 19 oct. 1997 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=2192
Catégorie : Communiqué, Evangelical-Roman Catholic DialogueDans cet article : Catholic, Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, World Evangelical Alliance

The text that follows is the outcome of more than eight years of study and consultation on the “common understanding and vision of the World Council of Churches“, mandated by the WCC Central Committee at its meeting in 1989. Since the Seventh Assembly of the WCC in 1991, this subject has continuously been on the agenda of the Central Committee; in addition, it has been extensively discussed in meetings of WCC commissions, advisory bodies and staff. Insights have been sought and received from WCC member churches, other churches and a broad range of ecumenical partners, as well as many individual participants in and students of the ecumenical movement.

The WCC Executive Committee agreed in February 1995 that this process of consultation should aim at preparing a document for the Eighth Assembly, on the occasion of the WCC’s 50th anniversary, which might serve as an “ecumenical charter” for the 21st century. In September 1995, the Central Committee approved a procedure for preparing such a text. An initial draft came from a consultation in December 1995 which brought together some 35 persons from all regions and church traditions. This was shared with a variety of groups and individuals, then revised in June 1996 and sent to the Central Committee for discussion in September 1996. Its responses were incorporated into a “working draft” distributed to WCC member churches and ecumenical partners, who were asked to react to it by the end of June 1997. On the basis of some 153 written responses received from member churches and ecumenical bodies, as well as discussions during personal visits by WCC staff and others to many churches and partners, a new draft was presented to the Central Committee for discussion at its meeting in September 1997. The text that follows incorporates amendments proposed during that meeting.
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Posted: Sept. 19, 1997 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=9706
Categories: DocumentsIn this article: Christian unity, WCC Central Committee
Transmis : 19 sept. 1997 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=9706
Catégorie : DocumentsDans cet article : Christian unity, WCC Central Committee

PHILADELPHIA (ELCA) — By a narrow margin the Evanglical Lutheran Church in America has rejected a proposal to enter into “full communion” with The Episcopal Church here Aug. 18. The proposal needed the support of two-thirds of the ELCA Churchwide Assembly for approval. It failed by a vote of 684 to 351 — six votes
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Posted: Aug. 18, 1997 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=4669
Categories: ELCA NewsIn this article: Christian unity, ecumenism, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, full communion, Lutheran
Transmis : 18 aoüt 1997 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=4669
Catégorie : ELCA NewsDans cet article : Christian unity, ecumenism, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, full communion, Lutheran

PHILADELPHIA (ELCA) — Two prominent Lutheran theologians squared off Aug. 16 on the subject of relations between Lutheran and Reformed churches. The exchange between the Rev. William H. Lazareth, former bishop of the Metro New York Synod and the Rev. Timothy Lull, president of Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkeley, Calif., opened a discussion at
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Posted: Aug. 17, 1997 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=4667
Categories: ELCA NewsIn this article: Christian unity, ecumenism, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, full communion, Lutheran, Reformed churches
Transmis : 17 aoüt 1997 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=4667
Catégorie : ELCA NewsDans cet article : Christian unity, ecumenism, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, full communion, Lutheran, Reformed churches

PHILADELPHIA (ELCA) — “Unity in Christ has never been uniformity. Divisions in the church have injured us, but diversity has been enriching,” the Rev. Michael Rogness, professor of homiletics at Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn., told voting members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America as they met in assembly here Aug. 16. He opened
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Posted: Aug. 17, 1997 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=4665
Categories: ELCA NewsIn this article: Episcopal Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, full communion, Lutheran
Transmis : 17 aoüt 1997 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=4665
Catégorie : ELCA NewsDans cet article : Episcopal Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, full communion, Lutheran

To some, he is the agent of England’s conversion to the True Faith, to others, a danger to the nation’s soul. At first sight Fr Michael Seed seems an unlikely candidate for either role. Sue Gaisford encounters the man behind the reputation.
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Posted: June 28, 1997 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=6593
Categories: Tablet
Transmis : 28 juin 1997 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=6593
Catégorie : Tablet

by John A. Bolt. Reprinted from “The Presbyterian Outlook” [DALLAS] Nearly four decades of Presbyterian presence in the Consultation on Church Union (COCU) could come to an end in Syracuse as commissioners to the 209th General Assembly consider whether to proceed in the face of overwhelming presbytery rejection of the mechanism proposed to participate in
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Posted: June 19, 1997 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=4915
Categories: News, OpinionIn this article: Christian unity, church union, Consultation on Church Union, ecumenism, Presbyterian Church USA
Transmis : 19 juin 1997 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=4915
Catégorie : News, OpinionDans cet article : Christian unity, church union, Consultation on Church Union, ecumenism, Presbyterian Church USA

by Gordon Legge, Calgary Herald Calgary Roman Catholic Anna Tremblay spent a week in Montreal a year ago that energized her faith as a Christian. She attended a week-long institute on ecumenism at the Canadian Centre for Ecumenism in Montreal. “It gave me the bug,” she says. “It was a really wonderful experience.” Next week,
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Posted: June 14, 1997 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=6065
Categories: NewsIn this article: Calgary, covenant, Summer Ecumenical Institute
Transmis : 14 juin 1997 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=6065
Catégorie : NewsDans cet article : Calgary, covenant, Summer Ecumenical Institute

Rome — and Poland — are buzzing with rumour, counter-rumour and denial: will Pope John Paul and Patriarch Alexis of the Russian Orthodox Church meet in Vienna on 21 June or won’t they? Perhaps by the time this article is published there will have been an announcement that puts paid to the rumours, but even an eventual negative provides a timely stimulus to consider relations between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches.

One argument against the likelihood of a meeting between the Pope and the Russian Patriarch is obvious: there has been no preparation. The Patriarch will be in Vienna on his way to the European Ecumenical Assembly in Graz and the Pope wants to meet him. The Pope has spoken prophetically about his desire to see the reunion of East and West, to reverse the basic division in Christendom of nearly a millennium, before the year 2000. Yet his health and the ticking of the clock make this an unattainable goal, at least in human terms.
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Posted: June 14, 1997 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=6590
Categories: TabletIn this article: Catholic, ecumenism, John Paul II, Moscow Patriarchate, Orthodox
Transmis : 14 juin 1997 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=6590
Catégorie : TabletDans cet article : Catholic, ecumenism, John Paul II, Moscow Patriarchate, Orthodox

by Virginia Battiste, Saskatoon Star Phoenix Dr. Roy Oswald has some advice for churches who want to keep their pastors in long-term ministry. He says it can help to avoid both clergy burnout and the frequent changes of clergy that can be disruptive and costly to a parish. “We live in a high stress culture
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Posted: May 17, 1997 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=6177
Categories: NewsIn this article: clergy, Saskatoon, workshop
Transmis : 17 mai 1997 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=6177
Catégorie : NewsDans cet article : clergy, Saskatoon, workshop

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (ELCA) — “Grand Forks is inundated, and the one thing they can’t get is water,” the Rev. H. George Anderson told the National Workshop for Christian Unity here. “Conflicts seem to flood our church. We are awash in raw sewage and debris, amid dangerous currents, and we need the pure water of Baptism.”
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Posted: May 1, 1997 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=4663
Categories: ELCA News
Transmis : 1 mai 1997 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=4663
Catégorie : ELCA News

Ecumenism is not an appendix to the Church’s mission. Rather the search for Christian unity touches the very heart of what it means to be a disciple in the modern world. As Christian people, and as a Church, our ecumenical vocation calls us to examine our relationships with all who bear the name of Christ. In humility, and with integrity, we must be prepared to confess our failures and our sins of disunity, and forgive those of our Christian brothers and sisters where they have sinned against us.

These principles described above are the insight and commitment of the Catholic Church expressed at the Second Vatican Council and repeated in a number of other forums since. Our formal commitment and collected energies as a Church have strongly influenced the ecumenical agenda, and given a needed boost to the search for Christian unity in our day.
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Posted: Apr. 30, 1997 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=6336
Categories: OpinionIn this article: Christian unity, ecumenism
Transmis : 30 avril 1997 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=6336
Catégorie : OpinionDans cet article : Christian unity, ecumenism

WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. (ELCA) — Bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, meeting here March 6-11, talked about response in ELCA synods to ecumenical proposals to be considered at the ELCA Churchwide Assembly in August. The church is scheduled to vote on entering into “full communion” with the Episcopal Church and with three churches
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Posted: Mar. 20, 1997 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=4661
Categories: ELCA News
Transmis : 20 mars 1997 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=4661
Catégorie : ELCA News

Have any Catholic bishops in Ireland undergone equal-opportunities training? It is a serious question that I have asked before with a depressingly predictable answer. I could have asked the same question about the Pope and the entire Curia and been tolerably sure of the answer.

The fact that the answer is a resounding no is problematic today in a way that it was not even four or five years ago. The Western secular world has felt the impact of decades of serious equal opportunities debate, critique, research and legislation. Its momentum has gathered in Ireland as in many other countries, bringing all of us up a steep learning curve which has changed the face of education, employment, social policy, politics, human relationships and cultural perspectives. Some bastions of conservatism remain slumped at the bottom of the curve. Others climbed it reluctantly, some were pushed and yet others jumped it.
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Posted: Mar. 15, 1997 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=6616
Categories: Tablet
Transmis : 15 mars 1997 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=6616
Catégorie : Tablet

In the furore surrounding the ex-communication of Fr Tissa Balasuriya, very little has been said about the overall project of his book, Mary and Human Liberation. Beyond specific theological questions, Fr Balasuriya’s treatment of Mary touches on issues which go to the heart of the conflict between traditionalists and reformists which is dividing the Catholic Church today.

As in so many of Christianity’s decisive theological moments, the role of Mary is pivotal. The saying, “As Mary goes, so goes the Church,” is as true today as it was of the fifth century when the Council of Ephesus affirmed Christ’s divinity by declaring Mary Theotokos, or Godbearer.
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Posted: Mar. 8, 1997 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=6554
Categories: Opinion, TabletIn this article: Catholic, feminist, liberation, Mary, theology
Transmis : 8 mars 1997 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=6554
Catégorie : Opinion, TabletDans cet article : Catholic, feminist, liberation, Mary, theology

by Rev. Edgar R. Trexler, editor of The Lutheran (the magazine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) GENEVA (ELCA) — The Rev. Eugene L. Brand leaned back in his chair and reflected on recent ecumenical breakthroughs in Europe. Agreements between Lutherans and Anglicans and between Lutherans and the Reformed have “re-drawn the Christian map,”
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Posted: Feb. 17, 1997 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=4656
Categories: ELCA News
Transmis : 17 févr. 1997 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=4656
Catégorie : ELCA News

Thirty years ago, my father, Charles Davis, then a secular priest and considered by many the leading Catholic theologian in Britain, publicly denounced the Roman Catholic Church as corrupt, and left. It was a move which sent shock waves around the Catholic world. At the same time he married my mother, then Florence Henderson, a long-standing member of the international Catholic lay women’s organisation, the Grail. They had become friends through their joint work in the ecumenical movement in Britain. She followed him in his decision to leave the Church and together they went into a form of exile, which my father, in different contexts, has often referred to as the desert. It was in the desert that my brother and I were born and raised.
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Posted: Jan. 25, 1997 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=6547
Categories: Opinion, TabletIn this article: Christian, Christianity, church, church reform, theology
Transmis : 25 janv. 1997 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=6547
Catégorie : Opinion, TabletDans cet article : Christian, Christianity, church, church reform, theology

On 2 January, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith published a Notification, signed by the prefect, Cardinal Ratzinger, and by the secretary, Archbishop Bertone, and approved by Pope John Paul II, which declared that Fr Tissa Balasuriya OMI of Sri Lanka “has deviated from the integrity of the truth of the Catholic faith and, therefore, cannot be considered a Catholic theologian; moreover, he has incurred excommunication latae sententiae (can. 1364, par. 1)”. This canon states that an apostate from the faith, a heretic or a schismatic incurs an • automatic excommunication. The charge of “deviation from the truth of the faith” indicates that it is for heresy, rather than for apostasy or schism, that Fr Balasuriya has been excommunicated.
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Posted: Jan. 18, 1997 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=6694
Categories: TabletIn this article: Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, doctrine, ordination, women
Transmis : 18 janv. 1997 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=6694
Catégorie : TabletDans cet article : Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, doctrine, ordination, women