Lutheran: LCC, LCMS, & NALC
The dialogue between the Lutheran Church Canada (LCC) and the North American Lutheran Church (NALC) is also done in partnership with the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS). NALC is a relatively new church body in North America and is primarily made up of congregations that left the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC). The congregations that formed NALC left their previous church bodies over concerns that their church was drifting into non-biblical teaching and practice.
This dialogue group has discussed many theological topics, rejoicing where there is agreement and noting where differences remain. Recently the group has discussed how each understands the nature of Holy Scripture, as this is fundamental to any discussion of theology.
In 2016, the dialogue group released a joint statement expressing much agreement on the character and proper use of the Scriptures. Recently the group has sought to meet twice a year, with one meeting online and one in person. The next meeting is scheduled for April 2023 in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Confessional Lutheran-Anglican
The dialogue between the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), the Lutheran Church-Canada (LCC), and the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) began in 2010. Meetings generally take place in the United States. The LCC reports that “Over the years, this dialogue has taken on quite a number of topics to see how close theologically LCC and LCMS are to ACNA, and what things still separate us. These discussions are quite frank and honest, but always uplifting as the desire of every participant is to seek theological truth from Holy Scripture.”
In 2016, LCC, LCMS, and ACNA published a document entitled “On Closer Acquaintance” which outlines how the early years of the dialogue progressed. Participants are now endeavouring to produce a new document on how things have transpired since. The next meeting of this dialogue will take place in May 2023 in Fort Worth, Texas.
Ukrainian bishops
The bishops of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada (UOCC) and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) have met on occasion to address common matters of concern within the Ukrainian community. Both of these churches are full members of the Canadian Council of Churches.
Established in Saskatoon in 1918, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada has been a metropolis of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople since 1990. The UOCC consists of three eparchies with cathedrals in Toronto, Winnipeg, and Edmonton. The bishop of the Eastern eparchy, Metropolitan Yurij (Kalistchuk) is the primate of the UOCC.
The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church consists of five eparchies in Toronto, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Edmonton, and New Westminster. The eparch of Winnipeg, Metropolitan Lawrence Huculak, is metropolitan for the Canadian church. The eparchies of Toronto and New Westminster are currently vacant and are administered by the eparchs of Saskatoon and Edmonton. The UGCC bishops are part of the synod of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Kyiv, Ukraine together with other bishops in the Ukrainian Catholic diaspora. They are also members of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB). The Ukrainian Catholic Church is the largest of the 23 Eastern Catholic sui juris churches in communion with Rome.
William MacBeath Brown (1940-1984)
BROWN, William MacBeath, priest, was born on 14 June 1940 in Vancouver, British Columbia, the son of William MacBeath Brown and Margaret Emma Bell. He died in Montreal, Quebec, on 12 October 1984, and is buried in the Basilian plot of Holy Cross Cemetery, Thornhill, Ontario.
‘Mac’ Brown attended Kerrisdale Grade School and Lord Byng Junior and Senior High School, Vancouver. In 1958 he enrolled at the University of British Columbia (B.A., 1962), and entered St Basil’s Novitiate, Erindale, Ontario, making first profession on 15 September 1963. During the academic year 1963–4 he studied philosophy while living at St Basil’s Seminary, Toronto. In 1964 he taught at St Joseph’s High School, Ottawa, while concurrently taking courses at the Ontario College of Education (high school teacher certification, 1965). In 1966 he studied theology at St Basil’s Seminary, Toronto, but was then appointed to the Maison Saint-Basile, Issy-les-Moulineaux, France, where he continued theological studies. After completing his second year of theology at the Séminaire Saint-Sulpice, he transferred to the Institut catholique de Paris, where he studied for the next three years, receiving a licence en théologie in 1970. He received the diaconate on 18 June 1969 in the cathedral at Versailles (Yvelines), and was ordained to the priesthood on 18 July 1970 in Holy Rosary Cathedral, Vancouver, by Archbishop James Carney.
In 1970, while continuing his doctoral studies in Paris, Father Brown took up residence at the parish of Saint-Séverin in the heart of the Latin Quarter, where he functioned as an assistant and youth minister. He earned diplomas in Greek and Hebrew in 1971. From 1971 to 1973 he was an élève titulaire in the Ecole pratique des hautes études in the Université de Paris, and from 1973 to 1975 he was both lecturer and director of weekly conference-seminars, ‘The Origins of Institutions in the Early Church,’ in the Religious Studies section of that institution. He continued to give periodic lectures there from 1975 to 1978.
In 1976 he joined the Secretariat for Non-Believers in Paris and took up residence at the parish of Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet. He remained with the secretariat for four years, during which time he also served as chaplain and tour guide on pilgrimages to Israel, Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Turkey, and Greece for the Service international des pèlerinages, Paris. In 1980 he returned to Canada to work at the Canadian Centre for Ecumenism in Montreal as associate director, and from 1982 to 1984 he acted as co-ordinator for the Montreal Chapter of the World Conference of Religious for Peace, in addition to serving as liaison for the Centre to numerous peace and justice groups and activities. His premature death from a blood condition cut short a vibrant and promising work in the Church.
Mac Brown had a gift for friendship and hospitality. Passionately attached to the cause of ecumenism, he dreamed of a united Christendom by the year 2000. He spoke frequently and worked tirelessly for the cause of peace. He wrote in the journal Ecumenism, ‘Every moment we turn our attention to the depths of our being, to our good energies in communion with those of the whole cosmos, every time we stop, everything, for three minutes or thirty minutes each day, every time we overcome feelings of violence, aggression within us, we will become a little more peace-full, and thereby more efficient and fruitful peacemakers.’
From the Dictionary of Basilian Biography, 2nd ed. (University of Toronto Press, 2005)
George Vandervelde (1939-2007)
George Vandervelde (ThD Vrije Universiteit) taught systematic theology at the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto from 1977 until 2005, specializing in soteriology, pneumatology, and ecclesiology. As a Reformed theologian, he wrote a doctoral dissertation on Roman Catholic theology entitled Original Sin: Two Major Trends in Contemporary Roman Catholic Reinterpretation (University Press of America 1981). From his location as a leader in the Christian Reformed Church of North America, he dedicated his life to research and study about the unity of the church, as well as on the subject of indigenous spirituality.
Dr. Vandervelde held many positions on ecumenical committees. He served on the Canadian Council of Churches Faith and Witness Commission as well as the U.S. National Council of Churches’ Faith and Order Commission. He was a leader in the development of the Global Christian Forum in the early 2000s. He was co-chair of the World Evangelical Alliance—Roman Catholic International Consultation, which produced the report Church, Evangelization and the Bonds of Koinonia (2003). He represented the Canadian Council of Churches as an observer at the 1998 Synod of Bishops in Rome, urging those gathered to work towards greater unity, calling the brokenness of the church “a prolonged, festering wound in the side of Christ.” He was pleased to have a private dinner at that time with Pope John Paul II, and there is a photo that marks the event in which he is shaking the pope’s hand.
In a dialogue between his denomination, the Christian Reformed Church in North America, and North American Catholic Bishops, Vandervelde was key in acknowledging that the Heidelberg Catechism (Q. and A. #80), a central confessional standard, was inaccurate in its critique of the Catholic Mass. He was also instrumental in the development of a Contemporary Testimony for his denomination, entitled Our World Belongs to God (1988).
Vandervelde said of his own work, which was at the nexus of theology and philosophy: “I have gradually moved into issues of ecclesiology, gospel and culture, and ecumenism as my areas of concentration. I think this is related to never having quite left behind the fork in the road between academic theology and engagement in the mission of the church.”
One of his students, Danny Swick said of his teacher: “George Vandervelde’s insight into ecumenism, formed largely through his own ecumenical activity, may be his most valuable attribute as a teacher… it is the way his passion for the unity of the church shapes his erudition that makes him a great teacher.”
His friend and colleague Al Wolters said of him: “He was an ecumenist in the best sense of the word: passionate for Christian unity, but also aware of the significance of long-standing theological differences and the importance of dealing with them winsomely and at a foundation level… he enhanced the prestige and respect of the ICS and the various Reformed and evangelical bodies he represented in ecumenical dialogue.”
Dr. Vandervelde lived in Willowdale, in the north end of Toronto, Ontario, with his wife Beatrice and three sons. He died in 2007 after a short battle with cancer. A festschrift in tribute to him was published in 2006 entitled That the World May Believe: Essays in Honour of George Vandervelde edited by Michael Goheen and Margaret O’Gara (University Press of America). Dr. O’Gara wrote that she considered George a colleague and a friend, extrapolating on the importance of friendship to ecumenism. She maintained that George reminded her that “one gift ecumenical partners offer each other in the gift exchange is serious criticism. Such criticism can be heard because of the basic mutual recognition present between dialogue partners… Ecumenists who experience this [friendship in Christ] have been made ready for the demands of dialogue.”
Peter Schuurman grew up in Willowdale Christian Reformed Church, where Dr. Vandervelde’s family also attended. He is the executive director of Global Scholars Canada.
Harry McSorley (1931-2017)
by Professor Catherine E. Clifford
Harry McSorley was Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of St. Michael’s College, Toronto, from 1970 to 1997, where he guided many young scholars into the world of ecumenical studies. He died on May 1, 2017, in Naples, Florida.
Born in Philadelphia in 1931, the middle child in a family of five boys. The family moved to Atlantic City, NJ, Harry attended Bucknell University, a small undergraduate college in Lewisburg, PA, on an academic scholarship. In addition to being an outstanding student, he took great pride in playing guard on the school’s unbeaten football team. He then joined the Paulist Fathers, studying philosophy and theology in Washington, DC, California, and Germany. In 1959 Harry was among the first North American priests sent to study Protestant theology, rereading the theological works of Martin Luther with new eyes in the changing ecumenical context of the Second Vatican Council.
From 1960 to 1966 his doctoral studies took him to the Johann Adam Möhler Institut in Paderborn and to the University of Münich, where he studied with the likes of Karl Rahner and completed a ground-breaking thesis under the supervision of Michael Schmaus (both of whom served during this same period as periti on the council’s Doctrinal Commission), Luther Right or Wrong? An Ecumenical-Theological Study of Luther’s Major Work, The Bondage of the Will (Newman Press/Augsburg, 1967; Original German edition, Max Hüber Verlag, 1967). In this study into a work that Luther himself considered “the hinge” on which his entire theology turns, especially his doctrine of justification by faith, McSorley sought to look behind Luther’s unique language and thought world to discover his “deepest intention”, examining this work in historical perspective, and finding it consonant with the Catholic tradition. He showed how Luther’s primary concern is to defend “the biblical truth that the sinner can in no way break through the bonds of guilt and condemnation by any effort of [their] own.” Harry wrote with no little pleasure of how he learned “one morning during the final session of Vatican II … in one of the coffee bars in St. Peter’s” from the distinguished Lutheran observer, Professor Edmund Schlink of Heidelberg University, that his thesis had “passed his critical muster with flying colours.” These years of study prepared him well for years of service on the US Lutheran-Roman Catholic Dialogue and for the formation of future ecumenists who would come to see dialogue as a way of seeking the truth of the gospel together.
In the late 1960s, Harry left the Paulist Fathers. He married Clare McGurk, with whom he had two children, Grace and Paul. In 1970 the family moved to Toronto where Harry would teach theology and religious studies until his retirement in 1997. His courses on the Reformation, the Second Vatican Council, on Protestant and Catholic Theologies in Convergence, and on the Petrine Ministry drew graduate students from across denominations and made him a much sought after thesis supervisor. Anyone who sat through his graduate seminars was sure to be impressed by his encyclopedic knowledge and mastery of the literature on a host of topics – all of it presented with great charm and wit.
Harry was active in the Catholic Theological Society of America and in North American and European networks of ecumenical scholars. Michael Vertin, a long-time colleague at St. Michael’s College, rightly notes that Harry’s usual demeanour was one of “radical hopefulness.” He took great joy not only in sharing his wealth of knowledge but in carrying out the tasks of research and teaching as forms of service – including his passionate service to the quest for unity.
Anglican-Mennonite
The possibility and promise of an Anglican-Mennonite Dialogue in Canada is something that had been talked about in various circles for many years, going back at least until the 1990s. Interest continued to grow up to recent days, in large degree due especially to the increasing number of interesting connections and partnerships which were emerging between these two churches in different parts of the country. A Resolution approved by the General Synod in July 2016 served to give formal approval for the Anglican Church of Canada to begin a bilateral dialogue with representatives of Mennonite Church Canada. Thus the Dialogue was born.
This dialogue is unique in comparison to some of the others in which the Anglican Church of Canada is engaged in that it has been specifically mandated to work according to the “receptive ecumenism” model of ecumenical conversation. Receptive ecumenism, to put it succinctly, refers to a form of dialogue which is not focused so much on seeking doctrinal convergence or agreements that take us beyond or above the historic differences that exist between two divided Christian communities. Rather, it seeks to encourage the mutual exchange of gifts between these different traditions by holding them side by side in their distinctiveness.
As such, the Anglican-Mennonite Dialogue concerns itself primarily with the following pieces of work:
- Encouraging greater mutual understanding of the distinctive histories, spiritualities, and theologies of the Anglican and Mennonite expressions of Christian faith and life.
- Identifying areas where Canadian Mennonites have gifts from their traditions to share with Canadian Anglicans, and where Canadian Anglicans have gifts from their traditions to share with Canadian Mennonites.
- Communicating the fruits of the dialogue to the constituencies of the two churches at all levels.
- Helping to facilitate greater contact and collaboration in mission and ministry by Anglicans and Mennonites in Canada.
Having met for the first time in early 2018, the Anglican-Mennonite dialogue is still young and finding its legs. However, it promises to be a very vibrant forum for growth in relationship and partnership between these two historic traditions that have both always defined themselves as “bridge churches” across the major lines of historic Christian division.
Lutheran-Reformed: ELCIC, CRC, PCC, UCC
July 2005
What follows is a brief (and no-doubt incomplete) history of the multi-lateral conversations prepared by Stephen Kendall of The Presbyterian Church in Canada from memory and notes of meetings.
Since late in the year 2000, The United Church of Canada, The Presbyterian Church in Canada, The Evangelical Church in Canada and the Christian Reformed Church in North America (through Canadian members of the Interchurch relations committee) have engaged in a ‘multi-lateral conversation’.
The initial reason for this came as a result of discussions among various ecumenical officers about the Lutheran-Reformed conversations in the United States that led in October 1998 to A Formula of Agreement between the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, The Presbyterian Church (USA), the Reformed Church in America and the United Church of Christ. Some of us wondered if a similar agreement would be a good idea in Canada, and at the very least, if discussions should be held to consider the question.
Hence an invitation was made by the then Ecumenical officer of the United Church of Canada (Peter Wyatt) to the four churches, to begin a conversation. The term ‘conversation’ was chosen specifically to respect those churches that require more formal decisions of governing bodies to enter into ‘dialogues’ or ‘partnership negotiations’ beyond what we were initially intending.
The conversations have been fruitful for those in attendance, and representatives have been keeping various levels of governing bodies informed of their work. There have been periods of more activity and less activity.
Meetings have been held as follows:
1. 4 Dec 2000 Waterloo CRC Peter Wyatt, UCC chaired this first meeting, being the one who invited participants. Communiqué re Baptism was produced recognizing each other as churches in Christ, joined to Christ and to one another through baptism. The purpose of the conversation was articulated as: growing in knowledge of our history, worship polity and doctrine; identifying and discussing theological sacramental or practical issues that unite or divide us and; envisioning and proposing to our governing bodies any steps that might lead to fuller expressions of the unity in Christ to which we are called. (Summarized from Communiqué)
2. 5 Feb 2001 Waterloo CRC (It was agreed that chair, hosting and providing refreshments would be shared in turn among the churches. Various foundational documents of interest to each church were circulated, presented and discussed over the next few meetings.)
3. 22 Mar 2001 Woodstock (2 denominations presented foundational documents)
4. 11 Oct 2001 Maranatha CRC Woodstock (reports of authorization from PCC, ELCIC, 2 more denominations presented foundational documents)
5. 30 Nov 2001 St. David’s United, Woodstock (Looked at ordination procedures and questions and liturgies)
6. 22 Jan 2002 Kingsway Lambton UC (Questions arose about the direction of the conversation now that the history sharing had taken place. Lutherans spoke in more detail about the bilateral agreement with the Anglican Church of Canada)
7. 18 June 2002 Kingsway Lambton UC (Conversation on Christology)
8. 5 Nov 2002 Kingsway Lambton UC (A lapse in energy seemed to take place after this meeting resulting in a hiatus before the next meeting. Changes in denominational offices and membership appointments were taking place.)
9. 14 May 2004 Trinity York Mills, Toronto (This was the first meeting that was connected to the Canadian Council of Churches meetings in an attempt to make travel and cost arrangements easier for member churches. It was a brief gathering following the CCC meeting. There was a re-commitment made to gathering and clarifying our raison d’etre.)
10. 16-17 Nov 2004 Mississauga (Note – on Jan 14, 2005 the PCC and the CRC began bi-lateral conversations)
11. 24-25 May 2005 Montreal (By and large new members were present at this meeting, discussions again focused on affirming a purpose for meeting and there was agreement that there were benefits to continuing our conversation but perhaps with a revised mandate that revisits the original intention for gathering.)
12. 16 Nov 2005 Pickering (Scheduled)
Anglican-Evangelical Lutheran
In October 1982, the leaders of the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC), the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Canada (ELCC) and the Lutheran Church of America – Canada Section (LCA-CS) called upon their respective churches to enter into a process of dialogue, the goal of which would be a convergence adequate to establish a pattern of (a) the mutual recognition of each other as churches where the Gospel is preached and taught, (b) the encouragement of practical cooperation, and (c) interim sharing of the eucharist, similar to that approved one month earlier in the United States. The first meeting of the Canadian Lutheran-Anglican Dialogue (CLAD) was held in October 1983. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC), which came into being on January 1, 1986 following the merger of the two participating Lutheran churches, has also firmly committed itself to ecumenism.
A Joint Anglican-Lutheran Commission (JALC) provides oversight for the ACC-ELCIC full-communion relationship. The Commission meets twice yearly and maintains close ties with a similar agency — the Lutheran-Episcopal Coordinating Committee (LECC) — which binds The Episcopal Church (USA) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) in their own decade-long full-communion relationship.
The JALC maintains a Directory of Waterloo Ministries wherein communities share rostered or ordained ministers, worship, facilities and programs.
La Commission mixte anglicane-luthérienne (JALC) est un groupe d’individus de chaque église qui se réunissent chaque année deux fois explorer les moyens nos deux églises peuvent travailler encore plus étroitement ensemble dans la pleine communion. Un exemple de cette coopération est de plus en plus l’Assemblée paritaire anglicane-luthérienne 2013.
The members of the Joint Anglican-Lutheran Commission are:
Anglican Church of Canada
- The Very Rev. Peter Wall (co-chair)
- Bishop Chris Harper
- Ms. Marilyn Malton
- The Rev. Dr. William (Bill) Harrison
- Ms. Dorothy Patterson
- The Rev. Dcn. Maylanne Maybee
- The Rev. Canon Dr. Scott Sharman (staff)
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada
- Bishop Larry Kochendorfer
- The Rev. Dr. Kayko Driedger Hesslein
- Ms. Kathryn Smith
- The Rev. Susan Climo
- The Rev. Paul Gehrs (staff)
Lutheran-Episcopal Coordinating Committee Partner
- Bishop Donald Kreiss
Roman Catholic-Christian Reformed
As a bi-national church with about 25% of its members in Canada, the Christian Reformed Church in North America (CRCNA) invited the CCCB’s Ecumenism Commission to respond to the Report of its “Committee to Clarify the Official Doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church Concerning the Mass”. A few theologians were consulted and the Commission developed its response over the course of two meetings. Members of the CRCNA expressed appreciation for the response which they found to be clear and helpful. At their request, the Commission named three representatives to participate in a meeting with representatives of the CRCNA and the USCCB on August 17-18, 2001, in Washington D.C. The results of this meeting were integrated into a report submitted by CRCNA representatives to their Synod in 2002.
Following the 2002 Synod, the Report was sent the USCCB and the CCCB requesting “their agreement that the report gives an accurate presentation of the official Catholic teaching regarding the sacrament of the Eucharist.” This confirmation was received from the two Conferences of Catholic Bishops, as well as the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity acting in consultation with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In light of the Catholic responses, slight alterations were made and a briefer, subsequent report was prepared for submission to CRCNA Synod in 2004.
Following careful discussion, it was agreed that a footnote would be added to new translations of the Heidelberg Catechism recognizing that “Q. and A. 80 can no longer be held in its current form as part of our confession.” According to the Acts of Synod 2010, “Synod 2006 directed that Q. and A. 80 remain in the CRC’s text of the Heidelberg Catechism but that the last three paragraphs be placed in brackets to indicate that they do not accurately reflect the teaching and practice of today’s Roman Catholic Church and are no longer confessionally binding on members of the CRC.
The Reformed Church in America retains the original full text, choosing to recognize that the Catechism was written within a historical context that may not accurately describe the Roman Catholic Church’s current stance.”
Compiled by Sr. Donna Geernaert, sc