- Hold a prayer service each year during Eastertide, alternating between the two cathedrals and involving planning and participation from both churches;
- Remembering each other and the Covenant relationship in prayer, including in the intercessions at the Eucharist;
- Working together on justice issues;
- Meeting jointly with First Nations elders to promote healing and reconciliation; and
- Committing to communicate with each other when issues arise which may affect the relationship.
How that Covenant is lived out in other places I'm not sure. Where I hang my biretta, it has meant a deepening of our relationship with our down the back alley neighbours at St. Cecilia's. It has also meant the creation of a weekly rotation of prayer intentions for a list of our ecumenical partners, including all of the Roman Catholic parishes within our parish boundaries as well as both Evangelical Lutheran parishes and the other member churches of the neighbourhood ecumenical group.
 |
| Bishop Don Bolen, Roman Catholic Co-Chair of the International Anglican - Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission |
One of the people driving the creation of this Covenant was then Monsignor Don Bolen. Don had previously worked in the Vatican at the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, and he had sent a draft of the proposed Covenant to his former colleagues for their comments and insights.
Don has since become the Roman Catholic Bishop of Saskatoon and more recently the Roman Catholic Co-Chair of the International Anglican - Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission. In that latter role, it is perfectly natural that he would be interviewed by Vatican Radio in their coverage of Archbishop of Centerbury Justin Welby's visit to Rome this weekend. But of particular note to me was that Don chose to highlight our Saskatchewan based Covenant as an example of best ecumenical practices.
Is this the big time?
The story can be found here.
No comments:
Post a Comment