Ecumenism
after 1925
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Useful links The United Church report on ecumenism "Mending the World," 1997. "Our ecumenical journey," from the United Church (from Mending the World). Archdeacon Douglas Watney was deeply involved in the Anglican-United "Principles of Union"; his papers are summarized here. So was Bishop Tom Greenwood. PDF bibliography on Anglican-Lutheran dialogue. "The Waterloo Declaration" between the Anglican Church of Canada and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, 2001. An Anglican news article on ACC-ELCIC rapprochement. Report of the Joint Anglican/ Lutheran Commission, 2003. Guidelines for common worship, Anglicans and Lutherans, 2003. A statement on Anglican-Oriental Orthodox dialogue. John Baycroft, former Anglican bishop of Ottawa, on the importance of ecumenical agreements, 2004.
Print bibliography Du Charme, Doug. "Ecumenism in Canada - 'an Affection for Diversity'." The Canadian Society of Presbyterian History Papers X (1984-1985): 25-41
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Ecumenism in Canadian Protestantism after 1925 took several forms: a significant attempt at organic union, intercommunion, collaboration through ecumenical agencies, and dialogue. The Lund Formula The Lund Formula is that Churches should "act together in all matters except those in which deep differences of conviction compel them to act separately." It was adopted at the 1952 meeting of the World Council of Churches at Lund University in Germany. (A guide to World Council documents is available at Yale Divinity library.) The failed dream of Anglican United Church Union In 1943 the General Synod of the Church of England in Canada struck a union committee and invited all Christian churches to discuss reunion. The United Church responded. A joint Anglican - United committee was struck, and reported back in 1946, recommending that the clergy of both churches be re-ordained. This suggestion was unacceptable to both churches.
In The first draft of a Plan of Union was published in 1971. In that year two unionists were elected to head their respective denominations: Edward (Ted) Scott (pictured here) became primate of the Anglican Church, and A.B.B. Moore became moderator of the United Church. To receive and respond to comments on the Plan of Union, a revision committee was appointed, which submitted a Revised Plan of Union in 1973. There was more controversy. In February 1974 the three churches agreed to a four-year timetable for the Revised Plan of Union. But in February 1975 the House of Bishops of the Anglican Church published a "statement of counsel" which said that the Plan of Union was unacceptable. That ended the union discussions between Anglicans and Uniteds. Discussions between the United Church and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) ended in 1985. See John Webster Grant, "Leading a Horse to Water: Reflections on Church Union Conversations in Canada," in Horton Davies, ed., Studies of the Church in History, COURSE DOCUMENT 29; and Douglas F. Campbell, "The Anglican and United Churches in church union dialogue, 1943-75," Studies in Religion 17 (1988): 303-314.
He discusses the "Principles of Union" of June 1, 1965, which were endorsed by both churches. How does he think they influenced the course of discussions?
Why didn't church union work? How did it probably feel to be a commissioner? James R. Mutchmor (Document 27) was moderator of the United Church, 1962-1964. In the Christian Century, 7 April 1971, he reports on union negotiations. In the very midst of the negotiations, how does he evaluate the prospects for union? What influences his perspective? Ralph R. Latimer, general secretary of General Synod in the Anglican Church, was the executive commissioner on the Anglican side for church union. In Doument 28 he reports to General Synod of 1969. What's his perspective? What has he been recommending? What problems, present and anticipated, does he seem to be addressing? After the failure of union in 1925, discussions between the Anglican and United Churches resumed for the first time in 1999; here's a report on the meeting of that year; formal talks followed in 2003; and, finally, here's a 2005 update. The inter-church coalitions for justice Several ecumenical coalitions were formed in the 1970s and 1980s. More information to come. See Hugh McCullum, Radical Compassion: The Life and Times of Archbishop Ted Scott (Toronto: ABC Publishing, 2004). Dialogues Bilateral ecumenical dialogues blossomed after Vatican II. Some are international and have Canadian participation. Others are national. Inter-faith dialogue has also grown. International Anglicanism. Ecumenical discussions were summarized in the "Agros Report," produced for the 1998 Lambeth Conference. Anglicans have been in dialogue with Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Reformed, and Methodist traditions, among others.
United Church - Muslim. A study docment "That We May Know Each Other" has been produced for discussion at General Council 2006. United Church - Jewish. The document "Bearing Faithful Witness" was approved by General Council in 2003. United Church - Roman Catholic. This dialogue was instituted in 1974. A study report on the use of the Trinitarian formula in baptism, "In Whose Name?" is linked here. The Presbyterian Church Ecumenical Relation Office The Waterloo declaration
The Anglican and Lutheran churches were particularly well positioned for ecumenism since they both began as ethnic or national churches of the Reformation, and had never declared themselves out of communion with the other. Picture: July 8, 2001, Waterloo, Ontario, Recreation Complex: Bishop Telmor Sartison of ELCIC and Archbishop Michael Peers of the ACC sign the Waterloo Declaration, while Jim Cowan, then Anglican co-chair of the joint ELCIC-ACC working group (and now bishop of British Columbia), looks on. Ecumenical organizations
A particularly impressive fruit of the WCC is the Faith and Order document Baptism Eucharist and Ministry (BEM) published in 1982 after six decades of ecumenical study and dialogue. While the main authors were Protestant and Orthodox, major contributions were also made by theologians from the Roman Catholic Church, a full member of Faith and Order since 1968. The final text was agreed at Lima, and it is therefore sometimes called the Lima document. A companion liturgy, called the Lima liturgy, was celebrated at the WCC meeting at Vancouver in 1983, and is remembered by many as a highlight of the week. For a theological appraisal, see Paul Crow's essay in a Princeton Theological Seminary publication. BEM was generally endorsed by the Lambeth Conference of the Anglican Communion in 1988.
The Canadian Centre for Ecumenism in Montreal was founded in 1963 by the Rev. Irénée Beaubien, S.J. It obtained a federal charter in 1976. It publishes a quarterly journal Ecumenism. The current director is Stuart E. Brown. The Prairie Centre for Ecumenism was founded in 1986. The Churches' Council on Theological Education, founded in 1990, represents the Anglican, Baptist (Canadian Baptist Ministries), Lutheran (ELCIC), Presbyterian (PCC), Roman Catholic (CCCB), and United Churches. The Canadian Churches' Forum for Global Ministries, founded in 1921 as the Canadian School of Missions, has also been known as the Ecumenical Institute and the Ecumenical Forum. It prepares people for cross-cultural mission and ministry. It represents the Anglican, Lutheran, Presbyterian, and United Churches, and the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto and the Scarborough Foreign Mission Society. It publishes an annual newsletter, Forum Focus. The director of the Canadian School of Missions from 1921 to 1947 was J. Lowell Murray; he has a prominent place in Robert A. Wright, A World Mission: Canadian protestantism and the quest for a new international order, 1918-1939 (Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1992). Here's the Forum's narrative of its own history. The Church Council on Justice and Corrections, founded in 1974, represents eleven churches. Its work includes education, advocacy, and community development. Its principles include humane corrections, a fair system of criminal justice, a fair refugee system, and the worldwide abolition of executions. Kairos: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives was formed in 2001 to bring together the work of ten previous ecumenical ad hoc coalitions. It works in such areas as international human rights, global economic justice, ecological justice, aboriginal rights, and Canadian social development. It follows the example of Kairos/USA, founded in 1990.
The Women's Inter-Church Council traces its beginnings to 1918, when the Presbyterian women's missionary organization invited the representatives of the women's missionary boards of five other denominations to consider possibilities for united action. It publishes an ecumenical feminist journal Making Waves. Eleven denominations are represented, though not all are sponsors. It is the Canadian sponsor of the World Day of Prayer, and is active in various justice and feminist issues.
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity began in 1908, organized by an Episcopal priest, Paul James Wattson, the founder of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement, who advocated Anglican and Roman Catholic reunion. Wattson became a Roman Catholic in 1909! The week began at the Feast of the Chair of Peter, at that time January 18, and ended with the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, January 25. The Decree on Ecumenism of Vatican II, promulgated in 1964, encouraged observance of the Week, and in 1966 the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches began collaborating on texts. A fuller history is linked here. The Canadian WPCU is linked here.
Evangelical Fellowship of Canada includes 40 denominations, another 120 or so ministry agencies, and 1000 congregations. It functions in some respects as a Canadian Council of Churches for evangelical denominations. EFC began as a meeting of Toronto area pastors in the early 1960s, and dates its beginning to a meeting in 1964 at Knox Presbyterian Church, Toronto. It approved a constitution in 1966 which in its preamble condemned "liberalism, apostacy [sic], and spiritual nihilism": the constitution was amended in 1981 and this phrase was dropped. In 1968 it began publishing a periodical Thrust, now called Faith Today. Its first full-time director, Brian Stiller, served from 1983 to 1997, and built the organization considerably. (He is now president of Tyndale College and Seminary, Toronto.) EFC sponsors "Share, Canada," an organization connected with the American organization World Relief. Presbyterian and Anglican evangelicals have been conspicuous in its leadership. Its current director is Bruce Clemenger.
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