The diocese recently published a comprehensive booklet outlining the conditions under which all Christians within the diocese can participate in a Catholic Eucharist or Protestant communion celebration during ecumenically significant occasions.

The moves marks a significant departure from the traditional practice, where the reception of the Eucharist was reserved exclusively for Catholic believers.

Bishop Franz-Josef Bode approved the publication of these guidelines before his resignation in March.

Bishop Bode emphasised the need for opportunities for mutual hospitality, especially in light of the ongoing quest for full church fellowship and the growing understanding between different denominations.

The Ecumenical Church Congress held in Osnabrück mid-June provided the occasion for this historic release. On Saturday evening during the event, both Catholic and Protestant communities officially extended invitations for inclusive practices.

The nearly 40-page booklet combines two theological essays by Bishop Bode and Osnabrück theologian Margit Eckholt.

It also incorporates personal experiences and reflections from Protestant and Catholic Christians, offering readers a diverse range of perspectives. In addition, the booklet includes references to pertinent theological texts.

The material aims to assist Christians in forming a well-founded opinion, enabling them to decide on suitable occasions whether to extend an invitation to the Eucharist or Communion as a celebrant, or to accept such an invitation as a believer.

Sources

Katholisch

CathNews New Zealand

The bishop told KNA, Germany's Catholic news agency, May 11 that the services planned May 15 were not about "cross-denominational Communion in the sense of a general mutual invitation to participate in the Eucharist and the Lord's Supper" and were not about shared Communion services by clerics of various denominations.

Rather, they were about how to deal with the personal decision of conscience of individual Catholic or Protestant Christians, the bishop said.

"I respect such a decision and administer Communion if someone joins who believes what we Catholics believe and wants to receive the body of the Lord in faith in the real presence of Jesus Christ," he told KNA. Continue reading

The gathering will take place in Geneva.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) includes 348 member churches across 110 nations.

It is the largest umbrella group of Christian denominations in the world.

Members include most Eastern Orthodox churches, the Anglican, Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist and Reformed churches, and several Evangelical denominations.

The Catholic Church is not a member of the WCC, although it sends observers to meetings and events.

The Church has worked closely with the WCC through a Joint Working Group, as well as through participation in specific commissions or practical initiatives since 1965.

WCC leader Rev. Fykse Tveit says the papal visit "will be a very special way of affirming these 70 years of working and praying together for the unity of the Church, and also to find ways for common Christian witness and service for justice and peace in the world".

He says Francis's visit will take place at the conclusion of the Central Committee meeting, which happens every two years.

Francis will address participants and pray with them in the ecumenical centre in Geneva.

There will be extensive media coverage, to enable as many people as possible to "see and hear what this visit means for the WCC and for the whole ecumenical movement".

Francis's visit marks a "very strong affirmation" by the Pope and by the Catholic Church that "we are actually working together, but not only working, also praying and walking together, which will be the motto of the visit," Tveit says.

Source

• Vatican News
• Rome Reports
• Crux Now
• Image: www.oikoumene.org

246. Given the seriousness of the counter-witness of division among Christians, particularly in Asia and Africa, the search for paths to unity becomes all the more urgent. Missionaries on those continents often mention the criticisms, complaints and ridicule to which the scandal of divided Christians gives rise. If we concentrate on the convictions we share, and if we keep in mind the principle of the hierarchy of truths, we will be able to progress decidedly towards common expressions of proclamation, service and witness. The immense numbers of people who have not received the Gospel of Jesus Christ cannot leave us indifferent. Consequently, commitment to a unity which helps them to accept Jesus Christ can no longer be a matter of mere diplomacy or forced compliance, but rather an indispensable path to evangelization. Signs of division between Christians in countries ravaged by violence add further causes of conflict on the part of those who should instead be a leaven of peace. How many important things unite us! If we really believe in the abundantly free working of the Holy Spirit, we can learn so much from one another! It is not just about being better informed about others, but rather about reaping what the Spirit has sown in them, which is also meant to be a gift for us. To give but one example, in the dialogue with our Orthodox brothers and sisters, we Catholics have the opportunity to learn more about the meaning of episcopal collegiality and their experience of synodality. Through an exchange of gifts, the Spirit can lead us ever more fully into truth and goodness.

The truth I have to face is that the Christian religion I represent has become so irrelevant to the greater percentage of the New Zealand population that it's now a stumbling block in my job as a hospital chaplain.

It's not that Kiwis aren't into spirituality. Recent studies have shown that the vast majority of us consider it to be important but these days we tend to talk in terms of essence, values, meaning and purpose of life, rather than religious beliefs.

Whilst chaplains of any persuasion may see that these are exactly the questions that religious traditions have always explored, the perception for many is that the label chaplain and in particular Christian chaplain represents rigid, moralistic, outdated dogmatic religion that we don't want a bar of. Ouch!

Language matters; especially when trying to express the vulnerability our mortality brings, which is the point at which words burst the confines of their shape. All religions develop a set of signs and symbols to try and help communication along but once these have lost their potency we become unintelligible to each other.

For spirituality to become an integral part of the healthcare system, where vulnerability and mortality intersect, then the communication and perception gap has to be bridged. It's as though we need a new, shared language that crosses the traditional religious, cultural, philosophical and scientific boundaries so that we can see our human experience in an integrated way. Continue reading.

Williams is the third successive archbishop of Canterbury to visit San Gregorio al Celio, the place from where Pope Gregory the Great sent out Augustine and 40 of his monks to take the gospel to England.

"It is good to touch the soil on which your are nurtured," Williams said.

Both leaders made only glancing references to the divisions between their Churches.

Pope Benedict called the celebration a "stimulus for all the faithful, Catholic and Anglican, encouraging them to renew their commitment and prayer for the unity that Jesus himself asked of His Father."

Williams spoke of the "certain but imperfect" link between the two Christian traditions.

Previous popes and Anglican leaders have raised more 'testy' topics such as women priests, homosexuality and Church doctrine.

That none of these issues were addressed publicly will be seen my many as a sign just how entrenched the differences have become, reports Reuters.

Before leaving the church, the two leaders lit a candle in the small chapel thought to have been Pope Gregory's simple monastic cell - a tangible reminder of the need to continue bringing the light of the Gospel to today's world.

Sources

• Vatican Radio
• Vatican Insider
• Reuters
• Images: Reuters

The Choir of Westminster Abbey will sing alongside the Cappella Musicale Pontificia, the Sistine Chapel Choir, at the liturgies of the Solemnity of St Peter and St Paul which will be broadcast across the world. This momentous ecumenical occasion is the first time in its over-500 year history that the Sistine Chapel Choir has joined forces with another choir.

The invitation to Rome came after Pope Benedict XVI visited the Abbey in September 2010 when he attended Evening Prayer and prayed at the tomb of St Edward the Confessor with the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend and Right Honourable Dr Rowan Williams, as part of his State Visit to England and Scotland.

Benedict and representatives of the world's major religions will make speeches and sign a common commitment to peace when they meet in Assisi in October, but they will not pray together, the Vatican said.

In fact, Pope Benedict's formal prayer service will be held at the Vatican the evening before the encounter Oct. 27 in Assisi with leaders of other Christian communities and representatives of the world's main religions.

The 1986 event was seen by many as a milestone in interreligious relations but was criticized by some Catholics who said it appeared to inappropriately mix elements from Christian and non-Christian religions.

The Vatican press office issued a statement April 2 giving the theme for the 2011 event — "Pilgrims of Truth, Pilgrims of Peace" -- and a general outline of events.

"Every human being is ultimately a pilgrim in search of truth and goodness," the Vatican statement said.

The search requires people to enter into dialogue with others, "believers and unbelievers alike, without sacrificing one's own identity or indulging in forms of syncretism" where elements of different religions are used indiscriminately, the statement said.
Source

• US Catholic
• Image: Eur-Med.dk

Benedict will use the visit to stress ecumenical cooperation, meet Protestant leaders and tour a monastery in Erfurt where Luther once worked and prayed, and while the visit could foster closer ties with Protestant leaders, but fundamental differences remain.

"Hopes about this visit have gone wild," Rev. Hans Langendoerfer, secretary of the German Bishops Conference, said in Monday's edition of the weekly magazine Focus.

"There's talk Pope Benedict could grant the Protestants a new status or could just say 'OK, let's completely change those rules about communion services. It doesn't work that way," he said.

The visit has prompted calls from Protestants and Catholics for him to allow joint communion services and grant their churches full recognition.

Others have suggested Christians of other churches who have "Catholic faith" in the Eucharist be invited to receive communion as a foretaste of our hope in full communion. They cite the precedence when the Pope gave communion to former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, prior to his becoming a Catholic.

Sources

• Reuters
• US Catholic

The conference cosponsored by the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, and the Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols, sought to address the threat that Christianity's birthplace is now under.

The risk, as the Catholic Patriarch of Jerusalem, Fouad Twal, has put it, is that the Holy Land is becoming a "spiritual Disneyland" - full of glittering rides and attractions, but empty of its indigenous Christian population.

French Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Vatican's Pontifical Commission for Inter-religious Dialogue pointed out the seriousness of the situation by comparing the Christian centers of the Holy Land as archeological and historical sites, to be visited somewhat like the Colosseum in Rome, a museum with entrance tickets, and guides who explain the beautiful legends.

The decline in the Holy Land was seen as part of a broad Christian exodus all across the Middle East and attributed to the:

• Israeli - Palestinian conflict, which affects Arab Christians just as much as Arab Muslims,
• economic instability and lack of opportunity
• rising Islamic fundamentalism,
• Christians in the area being disproportionately better educated and more affluent, and therefore are more likely to be able to emigrate

The summit offered three main contributions:

• a rationale as to why the Christian world should care,
• a survey of open questions, and a
• set of concrete ideas about how to support the Christian presence in the Holy Land.

The event,was held at Lambeth Palace and brought together some 90 church leaders, politicians, activists and media to raise what Williams described as a "literate, compassionate awareness" of the Christian plight, and to galvanize action.

Sources

• NCR
• Image: WSJ

Many training events are planned to show churches how they can put on simple events that build community spirit and demonstrate the Gospel.

Australian organisation Fusion Youth and Community festivals director, Marty Woods, has moved to the UK to share his expertise with churches looking to do something similar.

"Community festivals can position a church at the heart of community life in a highly strategic way", Woods said.

Organisers are hoping churches will work together to run a festival in their community in the run-up to or during the Games.

The training events are being coordinated by More than Gold, the charity overseeing church outreach during the 2012 Olympic Games.

"Athletes around the world are in training, the UK public are thinking about which events to attend, and it is time for churches to be making their own plans," David Wilson, chief executive of More than Gold said.

Source

• Christianity Today
• Image: etravelblog.com