For the first time in Canada, an Anglican bishop has participated, by the laying on of hands, in consecrating a bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia Abroad.
That this General Synod warmly welcome the Niagara Report of the Anglican-Lutheran Consultation on Episcope (1987) as an important contribution to the churches' understanding of apostolic ministry, commend the text to dioceses for study and response by December 31, 1991 and request the Inter-Church and Inter-Faith Relations Committee to prepare a study guide to assist in the process of reception. CARRIED WITHOUT DEBATE Act 77
That the "Report and Recommendations" of the Canadian Lutheran-Anglican Dialogue be commended to dioceses, parishes, theological faculties and relevant national committees for study and comment; responses to be reported through diocesan synods or executive committees wherever possible and appropriate, to the Inter-Church and Inter-Faith Relations Committee, c/o the Ecumenical Officer, on or before September 30, 1988. CARRIED #60-11-86
Vol. 12, no. 1 and 2 (1986) of 'Consensus : A Canadian Lutheran Journal of Theology'.
"Edited by Eduard R. Riegert."
Ten papers presented at five meetings held in 1983-1986 by representatives of the Anglican Church of Canada and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada.
Includes bibliographical references.
Contents: Participants in the Canadian Lutheran-Anglican Dialogue -- A Call to Anglicans and Lutherans in Canada / Eduard R. Riegert -- Authority in Anglicanism / John M. Flynn -- The Concept of Authority in the Church / Roger W. Nostbakken -- Ministry in the New Testament and the Early Church / Patrick T.R. Gray -- An Anglican Understanding of Ministry and Church Polity in the Sixteenth Century / Douglas Stoute -- The Idea of Ministry in Early Lutheranism / Joanna Malina and Douglas Stoute -- The Historic Episcopate in Anglican Ecclesiology : The 'Esse' Perspective / M. Ansley Tucker -- Adiaphora / G.W. Luetkehoelter -- Anglican-Lutheran Relations in Canada / Eduard R. Riegert -- Anglicans and Lutherans : The Wider Ecumenical Context / Brian Prideaux.
TORONTO, June 3, 1994 -- A group of Canadian Lutherans and Anglicans has called on the two churches to work toward "full communion" -- a state of mutual recognition which does not intend the full merger of the two churches -- by 2001.
The group, members of the Canadian Anglican Lutheran Dialogue, is composed of seven representatives from each of the two churches, and a Roman Catholic observer. It met in Waterloo, Ontario, from May 27-29 [1994].
The Biennial Convention of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada, which will each meet in the summer of 1995, will both be asked:
- to endorse a process leading to full communion by 2001
- in the meantime, to allow bishops to permit ordained ministers of one church to serve the people of the other, where appropriate
- to encourage local Anglican and Lutheran congregations to undertake joint projects of education, mission and service
- to authorize a joint working group to implement full communion
The dialogue is not encouraging the two churches to merge and form one corporate body. Rather, it proposes the following definition of full communion:
Full communion is understood as a relationship between two distinct churches or communions in which each maintains its own autonomy while recognizing the catholicity and apostolicity of the other, and believing the other to hold the essentials of the Christian fatih. In such a relationship communicant members of each church would be able to freely communicate (receive communion) at the altar of the other and there would be freedom of ordained ministers to officiate sacramentally in either church. Specifically in our context we want this to include transferability of members; mutual recognition and interchangeability of ministries; freedom to use each other's liturgies; freedom to participate in each other's ordinations and installations of clergy, including bishops; and structures for consultation to express, strengthen and enable our common life, witness, and service, to the glory of God and the salvation of the world.
These proposals are made in a context of increasingly close relationships between Anglicans and Lutherans around the world. There have been various proposals for full communion in Europe, the United States, and Africa.
The full text of the proposals is attached.
Contact: Rev. Alyson Barnett-Cowan Ecumenical Assistant to the General Secretary 416-924-9199 ext. 281 FAX 416-924-0211
Notes
The Canadian Lutheran Anglican Dialogue endorses that the following resolutions, among others, be forwarded to the General Synod and the Biennial Convention:
1. Reaffirm and extend the Interim Agreement on Eucharistic Sharing to 2001.
2. Add to section 5 c.iii of the Interim Eucharistic Sharing Agreement: "agreements which permit an ordained minister (priest or pastor) to serve the people of both churches, including presiding at the sacraments of the Church, wherever, and according to whichever rite, the bishops deems appropriate."
3. Implement a policy that each church receive, as full members, baptized persons of the other church by a service of reception without requiring re-confirmation.
4. Request that bishops specifically invite neighbouring congregations (where appropriate) to commit themselves to undertake at least one joint project and celebrate at least one joint eucharist yearly.
5. Encourage continuing work toward entering full communion by 2001.
6. Mandate a Joint Working Group of the Anglican Church of Canada and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada to oversee the process leading to the implementation of the above recommendations.
That this NEC approve the Guidelines for Anglican-Lutheran Worship, within the limits set by the agreement on Interim Sharing of the Eucharist adopted by General Synod, and commend these guidelines to the House of Bishops for consideration. CARRIED #14-11-93
That this Council of General Synod recommend the following resolution to General Synod 2013:
That this General Synod receive the Jerusalem Report of the Anglican-Lutheran International Commission (To Love and Serve the Lord) and refer it to the Joint Anglican Lutheran Commission to coordinate a process of study and response.