Society for Ecumenical Studies: 2005 Programme

Programme for 2005



In 2005 we looked at a rich range of themes, historical, practical, spiritual and academic. Click on the links below for more details.


  • Annual General Meeting, 21 June 2005
    The Anglican Methodist Covenant; and Ecumenical Faith Sharing in the Diocese of Westminster

    Speakers:

    • David Carter, English Methodist-Roman Catholic Committee
    • Stuart Wilson and Mark Woodruff, editors of the Christian Unity Handbook for the At Your Word, Lord Westminster Diocesan Renewal Programme

    • The Handbook for Parish Christian Unity is to be published in 2008 in paperback and online.


  • Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ
    The Annual Conference of the Ecumenical Commission of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Nottingham, Swanwick, July 2005

    The latest report from ARCIC was the subject of a three-day study, led by Canon Nicholas Sagovsky, Canon Theologian of Westminster Abbey and an Anglican member of the international Anglican and Roman Catholic Commission. Bishop Malcolm McMahon of Nottingham, also an ARCIC participant, gave an address, as did Mgr Andrew Faley, Assistant General Secretary of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales.

    We are very grateful to the Nottingham Ecumenical Commission for making the comprehensive report of the study sessions by David Jones available to the Society. It can be downloaded here.


  • Bringing Down Dividing Walls in the 21st Century
    A week of Study and Common Life and Prayer on Iona, 10-16 September 2005 - for seeking New Ecumenical Inspiration

    This brought together two young 'church leaders of the future' from each of the main churches in Britain and Ireland, in week of study, prayer and common life on Iona, jointly organised by the Society and the Iona Community.

    Speakers:

    • Dr Alison Elliot, 2005's Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, and Director of Edinburgh's Centre for Theology and Public Issues
    • The Revd Professor William Henn OFMCap, an American who teaches at the Gregorian University in Rome and shares, on behalf of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, in a number of important dialogue groups, including the WCC Faith & Order Commission and the joint groups with the Pentecostal and Reformed Churches
    • The Revd Kathy Galloway, leader of the Iona Community
    • The Revd Dr Garnet Parris, Director of the Centre for Black Theology at the University of Birmingham.


  • Sharing Communion in a Hungry World
    A week for Churches Together in England's National and County Ecumenical Officers, October 2005.

    The Society's took an active part in this week, which took forward our focus on eucharistic sharing and the work of Christians on all sides to build communion in fulness.

    Click here to read Archbishop Vincent Nichols' paper on the Eucharist as 'event'. Click here to read Hilary Martin's Report on the week's proceedings.

    In 2006, the Revd Bill Snelson, General Secretary of Churches Together in England, published a book on the Eucharist and its role and significance in Christian Unity, marking not only this conference, but also the review of this question by CTE's Theology and Unity Group on behalf of all the member Churches. Enriching Communion is available from Churches Together in England. Follow this link to read a review.


  • 400th Anniversary of the Episcopal Ordination of Lancelot Andrewes
    The Society was represented at a remarkable Celebration at Southwark Cathedral on 5th November 2005.

    After a beautiful Evensong, Professor Nicholas Lossky from Paris, now a deacon of the Russian Orthodox Church, gave a lecture on the significant influences of Orthodox theology on Anglican ecclesiology and episcopacy from the 17th century onwards. This is of contemporary concern, too, as the Orthodox pneumatological approach to ecumenism and and the doctrine of the Church, which some find inadequately appreciated in the West, is strong on the writings and preaching of Andrewes. Arguably his remains thinking remains an important East-West crossing point which could also aid greater understanding in Catholic-Orthodox and Catholic-Anglican dialogue. The Dean has kindly made the text of Professor Lossky's lecture available to the members of the Society.

    Marianne Dorman, one of our members, maintains a comprehensive website on the thought and influence of Lancelot Andrewes. Visit Lancelot Andrewes: Mentor of Reformed Catholicism. Her 2000 paper on Ecumenism and the Anglican Divines can be found here.