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The Prairie Centre for Ecumenism offers the programmes listed below as widely as possible. If you would like to participate in any of them, please .
Inter-faith relations
For many years the PCE had a section under the leadership of Rita Gillies entitled "Beit Avraham" responsible for the inter-faith ministry of the Centre. Meaning "House of Abraham," this section was charged with responsibility for Jewish-Christian relations and multi-faith dialogue. In recent years due to the reduction in staff complement, the Beit Avraham section has been closed. The ministry however continues.
We continue to work in close cooperation with Multi-Faith Saskatoon
(our local inter-faith council), with the "Multifaith Social Justice Circle" and
with the representatives of the diverse faiths living and thriving in Saskatchewan. We are
available for workshops, retreats, and consultation.
The Centre's staff are available for workshops or presentations on a
variety of inter-church and inter-faith topics. These can be arranged for individual
congregations or for other church organizations.
This 3-5 day annual program of ecumenical education and
networking is an opportunity for training and continuing education in the area of current
ecumenical events, documents, dialogues, and projects both international and local. Each
year there will be a component of formation for those newly arrived in ecumenism, a
component of networking and sharing news and views from across Canada, and a component of
continuing education. It will be hosted by various centres across the Prairies, in liaison
with the Prairie Centre for Ecumenism.
Since 1982, the Canadian Summer Ecumenical Institute (SEI) has been a national program coordinated by the two Canadian ecumenical centres. Beginning in 2001, the Prairie Centre for Ecumenism will have sole responsibility for the project.
The SEI is open to participants from across Canada and around the world. The Summer Ecumenical Institute is attended by ecumenical officers, church leaders, and lay people concerned about ecumenical issues. Normally 5 days in length, the Institute explores a variety of themes related to contemprary church life. Each theme is explored in such a way as to seek insights into the nature and practice of Christian unity.
For further information, contact the Prairie Centre by phone (306-653-1633) or by .
Inter-Church Families - Saskatoon
Inter-Church
Families - Saskatoon is a support and advocacy group. The member couples each belong to
two churches, and regularly worship in each other's churches. The group has been meeting
at the Centre for nearly 9 years. They are actively involved in the Canadian Association
of Interchurch Families and the international Association of Interchurch Families.
The Centre staff maintain an active liaison with other ecumenical agencies and ministries. The staff is responsible for animating and providing leadership to a number of local and regional agencies. In addition to liaising with other agencies, the staff maintain contact with the various churches and faith communities found in Canada.
The Centre hopes to facilitate contact and cooperation between the
churches and faith communities. With this in mind, the Centre is available as a referral
service on request.
Resource Library
The Centre has an extensive library of ecumenical material. In addition, we are prepared to contact other ecumenical agencies nationally and internationally to attempt to find appropriate material for our users. Material is available for reference or borrowing. For users across Western Canada, we will ship as appropriate.
Our library is particularly strong in denominational publications, liturgy resources, and documentary sources. In addition we have videos, some audio tapes, and a good collection of Christian/Jewish and Christian/Muslim resources. Some material has been collected in French, but the majority of the material is collected in English.
The library is currently being re-catalogued and classified. The
new computer catalogue will be a searchable MARC-encoded database. We will be
exploring ways of making our catalogue available over the internet. No plans have
yet been made for this, however.
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
The Centre works closely with the local churches, ministerials, and
ecumenical agencies across Canada in the distribution of materials for worship and
reflection during the annual octave. The Canadian dates for the Week of Prayer
include two Sundays, between which January 25th falls. Frequently local
congregations use the resource material at other times of the year instead, or as
well. This is something that we encourage.
The PCE website has been online since 1995. It has moved from the Saskatoon FreeNet to a local commercial ISP, and finally to our own domain name: ecumenism.net. On July 1, 2003 the Prairie Centre entered into a collaborative arrangement with the Canadian Centre for Ecumenism to share a website. This arrangement was in place until July 2007. The Canadian Centre now has their own website at www.oikoumene.ca.
The website aims to show the many fruits produced by the Christian Church in Canada. We will examine all the fruit stemming from ecumenical efforts, such as dialogues, covenants, cooperative ventures, and common commitments between churches. This fruit stems from the desire to abide in the vine by making real the love all disciples of Christ have received for one another. The ecumenical movement recognises the common roots shared by all Christian believers. It understands the multitude and diversity of the different Christian traditions as a sign of fruitful abundance.
Our website is an instrument for information and sharing which allows believers of different traditions to deepen their knowledge and understanding of one another and to come to greater mutual appreciation. The site shows what has already been achieved on the ecumenical journey and hopes to contribute to the growing together of all Christians towards a more visible unity in the world.
The site contains numerous links to ecumenical agencies, churches, documents and social justice projects. Its content is regularly updated. Your suggestions are always welcome, and in fact necessary. Contact the to make suggestions.
| Volunteer needed for translation The webeditor is seeking a volunteer translator to assist with English to French translation or proof-reading. If you are interested, please email . |
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