Archdeacon Bruce Myers has been appointed coordinator for ecumenical relations with the Anglican Church of Canada's Faith, Worship and Ministry department.

As of Jan. 2, the Anglican Church of Canada will have a dedicated new advocate for ecumenism.

Archdeacon Bruce Myers, missioner of communications in the diocese of Quebec, will assume a one-year, part-time position as coordinator for ecumenical relations with the Faith, Worship and Ministry department of General Synod.

"I've always had a passion for ecumenism even if I didn't always call it that," says Myers, who is manager of the Quebec diocese's website and editor of its newspaper, Gazette. "Early on, I recognized that it was not right that the body of Christ was divided into so many pieces."

Myers, who holds a master's degree in ecumenical theology from the The Ecumenical Institute of Bossey in Switzerland, now brings that passion to healing the divisions in Christendom, so much of which was united as one church for 15 centuries. "I think ordinary Christians of every denomination are questioning whether the differences are all that important when we share so much in common," he says. "The overarching ecumenical task is how to mend those broken fences and relations."

Participants of the WCC consultation on freedom of religion in Istanbul

The fundamental rights of freedom of religion or belief are often violated by both governments and individuals, acting either on their own behalf or as members of majority groups. Despite significant initiatives taken by states and the international community, religious minorities in several parts of the world are becoming the targets of discrimination, acts of violence or hostility and persecution because of their religion.

The extent to which freedom of religion or belief can be considered as an absolute right in pluralistic societies, as well as its relation to various aspects of human rights, was the centre of discussion among experts who participated at an international consultation organized by the WCC's Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA).

Equal rights of all individuals in any society should be the broader parameter which should be seen beyond legal measures when addressing the issue of the Freedom of Religion and belief in today's global context: This was the principle emphasized by thirty experts from 23 countries in Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe and the Middle East.

The consultation was held in Istanbul, Turkey from 28 November to 2 December and hosted by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.

Participants from Canadian churches responding to the document Christian Witness in a Multi-Religious World: Guidelines for Conduct

The document "Christian Witness in a Multi-Religious World: Guidelines for Conduct" was launched by the World Council of Churches (WCC), the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and the World Evangelical Alliance in June. It was commended to the churches for reflections in their own particular contexts.

The meeting brought together eighty participants from a wide diversity of church traditions, university students and interfaith partners.

The event was initiated by the WCC and jointly organized by the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Canadian Council of Churches, and the Canadian Churches Forum for Global Ministries.

Natasha Klukach, WCC programme executive for North America, asked participants not to shy away from difficult questions, especially in regard to Canada's history of mission and the tragic legacy of church-run native residential schools in the 19th century, where children were mistreated in the name of "cultural assimilation".

She said, "The text of the document does not assume the end of a conversation, but the beginning of one."

The first mainstream Jewish seminary in Canada "will be an important part of Judaism's future in this country," says Rabbi Roy Tanenbaum of the Canadian Yeshiva & Rabbinical School

by Charles Lewis, National Post

Rabbi Roy Tanenbaum marvels at the idea that the first mainstream Jewish seminary in Canada will be housed inside a Catholic school of theology and be part of seven Christian schools that comprise the Toronto School of Theology.

"I have never heard of a situation like this in the world in which a Jewish seminary is among Christian theological schools and seminaries," said Rabbi Tanenbaum, president of the recently founded Canadian Yeshiva & Rabbinical School.

"The creation of this school really marks the coming of age for Canada's Jewish community. It's a sign of our maturity and will be an important part of Judaism's future in this country."

The school, which will be officially launched at a ceremony Sunday on the University of Toronto campus, will be housed inside the University of St. Michael's College, on St. Joseph Street, a school renowned for its graduate program in Catholic theology.

Professor Ann Anderson, the school's president and a Catholic nun, sits on the rabbinical school's board and was instrumental in bringing the Jewish seminary to the campus, Rabbi Tanenbaum said.

Rabbi Tanenbaum retired from congregational life in Toronto two years ago and since then has put his energy into creating a Jewish seminary, something that has been a longtime dream of many Canadian Jewish leaders.

by Austin Ivereigh, America Magazine

Of all the challenges faced by the Vatican in organizing the 25th anniversary of the historic interreligious gathering in Assisi in 1986, the hardest was how to make it newsworthy. The 176 delegates—representing, said the Vatican, "not only the world's religions, but all people of good will, everyone seeking the truth"—whom Pope Benedict XVI led by train from Rome to the town of St Francis were comprehensive in their diversity. But if the Christian delegations on October 27 included the top men—Pope Benedict himself, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomew I—the delegates from Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and others included no obvious celebrities, or even organizations whose presence might have raised an eyebrow. Even the inclusion of four non-believers failed to create a stir, for it was not Richard Dawkins or Christopher Hitchens standing with the pope but little-known academic philosophers.

• Read the complete web-only article on the America Magazine website.