The bishops of Buffalo’s Catholic and Episcopal dioceses have written a joint pastoral letter urging church members to help make sure immigrants, minorities and the poor, among others, share in the region’s economic progress. While noting new development and revitalization in Buffalo, Bishop Richard J. Malone of the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo and Bishop R. William Franklin of the Episcopal Diocese of Western New York said not everyone is benefitting. “Blacks and Hispanics still live in poverty in greater proportion than do other groups in our population,” the two bishops wrote in the letter to distributed in churches this weekend. “Children still go to bed hungry. Jobs and security elude too many families.” In what they called a pioneering letter, the two called on business and political leaders to “further all efforts to make opportunities for employment, training and advancement that grow out of this hopeful time of growth and expansion accessible to all.” For all church members, “what we say and pray on Sundays must now go out into the world, into the workplace, to the ballot box and to the councils of government to ensure that Western New York becomes a more prosperous community, not only in dollars, but in our investment in each other,” they wrote. The letter marks the first time a Catholic bishop from Buffalo, leader of more than half a million Catholics, and the Episcopal bishop, who leads about 19,000 members, issued a joint pastoral letter.

Every year those who hold official positions in the Anglican Communion with regard to Roman Catholic relations meet with their counterparts in the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU) for what are termed “the Informal Talks”. These are sessions when information is shared about developments in each Communion (including our ecumenical relations with other partners) and the progress in the dialogue between us is monitored and assessed.

I participate in these “Informal Talks” in my role as the Anglican Co-Chairman of the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Communion for Unity and Mission (IARCCUM) along with the Anglican Co-Chairman of ARCIC, who also happens to be the Director of the Anglican Centre in Rome, Archbishop Sir David Moxon. The Anglican Communion’s Director of Unity, Faith and Order, the Revd Canon Dr Alyson Barnett-Cowan attends, as well as the Secretary General of the Communion, the Revd Canon Dr Kenneth Kearon. The Roman Catholic Church fields our opposite numbers.

At our recent sessions Canon Kearon, who has recently been elected Bishop of Limerick and Killaloe in his home Church of Ireland, was given a gift by Bishop Brian Farrell, the Secretary of the PCPCU. It was an Episcopal ring. Canon Kearon said of this moving gesture, “This is both a personal gift from someone who has become a good friend during our annual meetings and other conversations, and also symbolic of the deep relationships which now exist between our two Communions, which are now being expressed at every level of our Churches”.

It was a gesture reminiscent of the visit of Archbishop of Canterbury Michael Ramsey to Pope Paul VI in 1966. At that time, the Pope gave an Episcopal ring to the Archbishop. That historic meeting led to the setting up of the Anglican Centre in Rome and to the inauguration of the official dialogue between the two Communions.

In his Presidential address to the General Synod today, Archbishop Justin spoke about the issues faced by the Anglican Communion and possible ways forward. “During the last eighteen months or so I have had the opportunity to visit thirty-six other Primates of the Anglican Communion at various points. This has involved a total of 14 trips lasting 96 days in all. I incidentally calculated that it involves more than eleven days actually sitting in aeroplanes. This seemed to be a good moment therefore to speak a little about the state of the Communion and to look honestly at some of the issues that are faced and the possible ways forward.”

When Saskatoon’s Bishop Don Bolen worked for Cardinal Walter Kasper in the Vatican, the boss would tell him that all those documents produced at the Second Vatican Council weren’t supposed to sit on shelves gathering dust. “We’re supposed to act on them,” said Bolen, recollecting his time with Kasper at the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

Bolen had just finished co-presiding with Anglican Bishop Linda Nicholls at a Nov. 9 ecumenical celebration of the 50th anniversary of the 1964 Decree on Ecumenism, one of the most significant documents of Vatican II. The evening event was held at St. James Anglican Cathedral in Toronto. Bolen used the occasion to officially launch “A Church In Dialogue,” a first-of-its-kind publication of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops intended to help Canadian Catholic dioceses act on the Decree on Ecumenism. Catholics have studied and praised the 16 documents of the Second Vatican Council in seminaries and universities for half a century, but have seldom found a way to take up the challenge in each of them. “Our beautiful documents have not had the transformative effect they were meant to have,” said Bolen.

Earlier this week, seminarians at St. Augustine’s Roman Catholic Seminary in Scarborough, Ont., were invited to join the Wycliffe College community in Toronto for an evening of ecumenical fellowship and a lecture from Andrew Bennett, Canada’s ambassador to the Office of Religious Freedom.The evening was structured in three parts, beginning with a service of evening prayer featuring a sermon by the Rev. John-Mark Missio, lecturer in pastoral theology at St. Augustine. The service was followed by a shared meal and Bennett’s lecture.

Such events have been taking place on an annual basis for some 10 years, according to the Rev. Dr. Peter Robinson, who teaches worship and ministry at Wycliffe College, and grew out of a friendship between their respective presidents. Robinson noted that such events are held in the spirit of ecumenism, with the hope that they will give Catholics and Anglicans an opportunity to get to know each other.

Fifty years on, it’s time for the ecumenical movement to take on a more pastoral mission and worry less about trying to untie the knots of history and theology, Saint Paul University theology professor Catherine Clifford told a small gathering of bishops, clergy, and laypeople in Toronto commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council’s Decree on Ecumenism. Clifford and Anglican ecumenist Archdeacon Bruce Myers were the featured speakers at a prayer service marking the anniversary sponsored by the Ontario Diocesan Directors for Ecumenical and Interfaith Affairs and the Assembly of Catholic Bishops of Ontario. “We’ve lost sight of the pastoral importance of ecumenism,” Clifford said. From interchurch marriages to dwindling communities that can’t survive in isolation, the Church’s ecumenical mission is urgent, she said. “A perception that it (ecumenism) has been the domain of professional ecumenists” must be overcome, said Myers.

King Richard III ruled for two short years, between 1483 and 1485, before he was defeated by the future Henry VII during the Battle of Bosworth, according to Biography. The usurper’s son, Henry VIII, was the king who severed his country’s ties with papal authority, creating the Church of England which is now known around the world as the Anglican Communion. Historical sources suggested Richard was buried in the Grey Friars church, close to the battle site but far from his ancestral home in York. The church was destroyed in the 1530s and Richard’s gravesite remained lost for nearly 500 years. Two years ago, his bones were discovered in a Leicester parking lot. Richard is currently the only English monarch without a marked grave. Now, centuries later, Catholic and Anglican clergy are working together to give the last king of England’s Plantagenet dynasty a proper funeral.

Church of England cricketers beat a Vatican team on Friday in a historic match in support of a joint initiative to wipe out modern slavery and human trafficking. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, congratulated both sides and presented the trophy to winning captain Stephen Gray after the match, played in the shadow of Canterbury Cathedral at Kent County Cricket Ground. The match was organized to raise awareness and funds for the Global Freedom Network, a joint initiative between religious leaders including Pope Francis and the Archbishop of Canterbury which is committed to eliminating modern slavery and human trafficking across the world.

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has written to ecumenical partners about the Church of England General Synod’s decision to allow women to become bishops, emphasizing that churches “need each other.”

Anglican and Roman Catholic First XIs will face each other in Canterbury on 19 September in a historic match to raise awareness of slavery and human trafficking. Details of a historic cricket match between Anglicans and Roman Catholics to raise awareness of modern slavery and human trafficking have been announced today. The Twenty20 match, which will be played at Kent County Cricket Club in the shadow of Canterbury Cathedral on 19 September at 4pm, will raise funds for the Global Freedom Network, the joint Anglican-Roman Catholic anti-trafficking initiative launched in March.

Pope Francis met on Monday with the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, saying he hoped their meeting would serve to “strengthen further our bonds of friendship and our commitment to the great cause of reconciliation and communion between Christian believers.”

The audience came on the second day of the Anglican leader’s visit to Rome which also included a meeting with a meeting with the St Egidio community, Vespers at St Gregorio on the Caelian Hill, a visit to Rome’s Joel Nafuma Refugee Centre and an encounter with the ecumenical Global Freedom Network for the eradication of human trafficking.

Recalling the shame of the first disciples when Jesus asked them was they were arguing about, Pope Francis said we too feel ashamed when we “ponder the distance between the Lord’s call and our meagre response.” The goal of full unity may seem distant, he said, yet it remains the aim which should direct our every step along the way.

Archbishop Justin Welby and Pope Francis meet in Rome and recommit to the struggle against modern slavery and human trafficking

In their second meeting within eighteen months Pope Francis and Archbishop Justin Welby today recommitted themselves resolutely to the struggle against modern slavery and human trafficking.

Following their first meeting last year the two global leaders have continually spoken out to challenge this crime against humanity, and have acted decisively to support the foundation of the new faith based global freedom network. They both endorsed this network as a crucial force in the struggle to rid the world of a global evil.

Archbishop Justin gave Pope Francis the following gifts during their meeting in Rome on 16 June.

Lambeth Palace Fig Tree Cutting: The Ficus carica ‘White Marseilles’ fig tree was brought to Lambeth Palace by the last Roman Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury, Cardinal Reginald Pole in 1556. It probably came from southern Italy where Pole spent a lot of time. The fruits are white fleshed and very rich and sweet, they are ripe when the skins turn a chartreuse colour and start to split.

The Register of Cardinal Reginald Pole: This is a specially bound facsimile copy of two leaves from the Register of Archbishop. The images show the Archbishop’s coat of arms as both Cardinal and Archbishop, with both the papal Cardinal’s hat and the coat of arms of the Archbishop of Canterbury together, and then the elaborately decorated opening page of the Register itself. They come from the long series of archbishops’ registers (from the thirteenth century onwards) which are held by Lambeth Palace Library. The text is the opening of Pole’s register as Archbishop, which recites his various titles, such as Papal Legate and Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria in Cosmedin.

Finally, a copy of Lambeth Palace Library: Treasures from the Collection of the Archbishops of Canterbury will be presented for the Vatican library. This is the volume published to mark the 400th anniversary (in 2010) of Lambeth Palace Library.

The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby arrives in Rome on Saturday for a two day visit that will culminate on Monday in a meeting with Pope Francis in the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace. On Sunday the Anglican leader will preach at Vespers at the church of St Gregory on the Caelian Hill, visit the two Anglican churches here in Rome and take part in a prayer service with the St Egidio community at St Bartholomew’s on the Tiber Island. During his packed programme, the Archbishop will also launch a new website for the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission on Unity and Mission (IARCCUM), showcasing ways in which members of the two communions are increasingly worshipping, working and witnessing side by side.

To find out more, Philippa Hitchen spoke with Canadian bishop Donald Bolen, co-chair of IARCCUM and Canon Alyson Barnett-Cowan, director of Unity, Faith and Order at the Anglican Communion office in London and co-secretary of IARCCUM.

The Anglican-run University College of Emmanuel and St. Chad has awarded an honorary fellowship to the seventh bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon, Donald Bolen. Bolen, 53, a well-respected ecumenist in Canada and internationally, received the honour May 9 in recognition of his work in building Anglican-Roman Catholic relations, according to a press statement. Anglican Diocese of Saskatoon Bishop David Irving, who is also the university’s chancellor, presented the award during the 13th Joint Convocation of the Saskatoon Theological Union, where Bolen was the convocation speaker. In a telephone interview, Bolen said it was “a great privilege and a great delight,” to have been bestowed the award. “It’s been a great joy to work with Anglicans to foster reconciliation,” said Bolen. There is a “deep bond of friendship and deep relations between Anglicans and Roman Catholics. We hold so much in common that it’s a lovely field of ecumenism to work in.”

The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby will meet Pope Francis in Rome next month.

The visit, from 14th to 16th June, will focus on the joint modern slavery and human trafficking initiative launched by Archbishop Justin and Pope Francis earlier this year.

The Archbishop will visit the Anglican Centre in Rome and hear about the new international Anglican Roman Catholic Commission on Unity and Mission website, which will be launched at this time.

The Archbishop of Kampala, Cyprian Kizito Lwanga, together with his counterpart Stanley Ntangali, the Archbishop of the Church of Uganda, on Wednesday, broke the ground for the foundation of the Uganda Martyrs Museum estimated to cost sh36b. As part of the activities to commemorate the Uganda Martyrs Day due June 3, next week Tuesday, the Christian leaders, accompanied by several other bishops of both the Catholic and Anglican faiths, also paid homage to both the Catholic and Anglican martyrs’ shrines, located in Namugongo.

The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and Cardinal Vincent Nichols met with delegates from the Peace in the Great Lakes campaign at Lambeth Palace last Thursday. The campaign brings together Roman Catholic and Anglican leaders from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Burundi and Rwanda to encourage a grass-roots movement for peace in the Great Lakes region, which for decades has been affected by political instability and armed conflicts, porous borders and humanitarian crisis, along with tensions over natural resources. The initiative, which was formally launched in December 2013, reaches out to those most affected by the conflict and longing for peace, including women and girls who have experienced trauma and sexual violence.

The Anglican-Roman Catholic Theological Consultation in the U.S.A. (ARC-USA) has released a keynote document, Ecclesiology and Moral Discernment: Seeking a Unified Moral Witness.

Ecclesiology and Moral Discernment: Seeking a Unified Moral Witness was approved at the ARC-USA meeting February 24-25 at Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, VA. The meeting was chaired by Bishop Bauerschmidt; the Roman Catholic co-chairman, Bishop Ronald Herzog of Alexandria, Louisiana, was unable to attend for health reasons.

ARC-USA prepared the document with a preface signed by co-chair the Rt. Rev. John C. Bauerschmidt, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee, and the Most Rev. Denis Madden, Auxiliary Bishop of Baltimore and Chairman of the Bishops’ Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

“ARC-USA has produced some important statements in the past,” commented Bishop Bauerschmidt. “This statement represents the latest landmark in our journey together as churches, and is a valuable contribution to an important topic.’

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has underscored the value of continuing ecumenical dialogue at a “passionate theological level” while at the same time having “a closer relationship of action” that addresses the needs of the world in such areas as poverty and social justice. Ecumenism must be “something that is our burning desire,” Welby told a gathering of ecumenical guests at a reception at Toronto’s St. James’ Cathedral Centre, during his “personal, pastoral visit” to the Anglican Church of Canada April 8 to 9. “In the last seven verses of John: 17, Jesus prays with extraordinary passion and extraordinary directness about the absolute necessity of the visible unity of the church… Love one another…” In a divided and diverse world, Welby said the church could demonstrate “how humanity can overcome its cultural divisions and truly be… a holy nation of God’s people.”