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ECUMENICAL SERVICE — Leaders of local Christian churches presented symbols of one gift embodied in their particular denomination during an ecumenical prayer service on the eve of the ordination of Saskatoon's new Catholic bishop. From left: Rev. Deb Walker of the United Church of Canada, Retired Anglican Bishop Rodney Andrews, Lutheran Bishop Cindy Halmarson, Rev. Bill Blackmon of the Evangelical Ministers' Fellowship, Bishop Jerold Gliege of the Evangelical Orthodox Church, Mennonite Pastor Jerry Buhler, Rev. Amanda Currie of the Presbyterian Church, Jay Cowsill of the Society of Friends, Roman Catholic Bishop-elect Donald Bolen and Bishop Bryan Bayda of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Saskatoon. (Tim Yaworski photo)

Ecumenical service precedes episcopal ordination

By Kiply Lukan Yaworski

SASKATOON — An ecumenical prayer service was held on the eve of Msgr. Donald Bolen’s episcopal ordination, reflecting his own years working for Christian unity as well as a tradition of ecumenical dialogue in Saskatoon, home of the Prairie Centre for Ecumenism.

Leaders of local Christian churches as well as guests involved in ecumenical dialogue from around the world were among those who gathered March 24 for the service at St. Paul’s Cathedral in Saskatoon. The celebration included prayers for Bolen, a reflection on the word of life and a presentation of the gifts that different denominations bring to the world.

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard of an ordination that began with an ecumenical service,” said Bishop Brian Farrell, a native of Ireland who worked with Bolen at the pontifical Society for the Promotion of Christian Unity in Rome. “Now that’s saying something about how far we still have to go.

“You have a bishop who is totally committed to the cause of Christian unity,” Farrell said in his opening remarks. “I hope that you will welcome him with an open heart.”

Taylor Croissant, a United Church of Canada seminarian from St. Andrew’s College in Saskatoon, led the call to worship. During a prayer of confession, the assembly acknowledged failures to heal the divisions that exist among the followers of Jesus and asked for strength to build bridges of love and understanding.

Angican Bishop Dennis Drainville of Quebec, co-chair of the Anglican-Roman Catholic dialogue in Canada, read a passage from 1 John, from which Bolen took his episcopal motto, “The Word of life” (1 Jn 1:1). A series of Scripture verses related to the word of God were presented by Dorothy Fortier of St. Anne Roman Catholic Parish and Jaimie Horn of the Mennonite community. The Scripture verses also formed the framework of a reflection by Bolen on the source of his motto.

“Major ecumenical gains in recent decades have to do with an increasingly common understanding of what that word is, how we hear that word and how we share that word in Scripture and tradition,” said Bolen.

Bilateral dialogues in recent decades have addressed the relationship between Scripture and tradition, one of the “classic controversial themes” dividing Christian churches, he said, quoting from Methodist-Catholic, Lutheran-Catholic and Anglican-Catholic documents released in recent years.

These dialogues have spoken of tradition as the transmission of the Gospel through time, Bolen related. “Tradition has been seen as a dynamic process, communicated through each generation: what was delivered once and for all to the community of the apostles by Jesus himself,” he said.

“If we have come to an increasingly common understanding of that word which God speaks to us, that word with which God sends us forth to live and proclaim, what does that ask of us, then, in the present? What does that call us to do together?”

Bolen identified one area for mutual effort, citing 1 Peter, which calls for Christians to give an account of their hope to others. “In our culture and in our day we all know that it is increasingly difficult, even for those who desire to believe, those who desire to have a strong faith, to believe with heart and mind and soul,” he said.

Dr. Geoffrey Wainwright, co-chair of the Methodist-Roman Catholic international dialogue, described the ongoing international dialogue between the two denominations, reflecting that “we seek to work at doctrinal issues, to find out how we are converging and can seek to converge even further” in an ongoing effort to fulfil the prayer of Jesus in John 17 that his followers would be one, in order that the world might believe.

The new bishop’s motto, “The Word of life,” is taken from “an astonishingly dense and rich passage of Scripture,” Wainwright observed, reflecting on the description in the first etter of John about seeing, hearing and touching “that which was with us from the beginning.”

Wainwright noted that a statement on revelation and faith by the Methodist-Catholic dialogue, entitled The Word of Life, grew out of a reflection on this same passage. It was followed by a statement entitled, Speaking the Truth in Love, grounded in the Letter to the Ephesians, and by the most recent dialogue, The Grace given You in Christ, which focuses on a passage from 1 Corinthians.

A theme of John Paul II’s ecumenical ministry was that efforts toward Christian unity should not merely be an exchange of ideas but an exchange of gifts, said Wainwright, noting how the Methodist hymns of Charles Wesley have been a gift to the Christian world.

The theme of a gift exchange continued as Nick Jesson, ecumenical officer for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon, called forward local church leaders to present a symbol of one of the gifts of their tradition.

Retired Anglican Bishop Rodney Andrews presented a Book of Common Prayer on behalf of recently ordained Saskatoon Anglican Bishop David Irving, as Jesson described the importance of the prayer book in Anglican life over the past four centuries.

Bishop Cindy Halmarson of the Saskatchewan Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, carried up an image of Luther’s rose, a symbol of Martin Luther’s theology, Jesson said.

Rev. Bill Blackmon of the Evangelical Ministers’ Fellowship carried a book of the Scriptures, recently translated into another of the world’s many languages, while Bishop Jerold Gliege of the Evangelical Orthodox Church presented readings from the Apostolic Fathers.

Pastor Jeremiah Buhler of the Mennonite Church in Saskatchewan presented a peace lamp as a symbol of his denomination’s focus on peace. Rev. Amanda Currie of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church brought up a copy of the Presbyterian Book of Forms, and Bolen presented a copy of the Catholic lectionary.

Jay Cowsill of the Society of Friends presented a candle as a symbol of truth, peace and integrity, while Bishop Bryan Bayda of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Saskatoon carried up an icon.

Finally, Rev. Deb Walker, chair of the Riverbend Presbytery of the United Church of Canada, brought up a rainbow-coloured bunch of balloons as a symbol of the diversity and generosity of God’s creative Spirit.

Rev. Jan Bigland-Pritchard, director of the Prairie Centre for Ecumenism, then presented local church leaders with their task to take up the yoke of Jesus (Matthew. 11:29-30) and to tend the flock of God in their charge (1 Peter 5:2-3).

Rev. Bernard de Margerie, founder of the Prairie Centre for Ecumenism, then led the leaders of the Christian churches in a final blessing.

Music ministry for the celebration was provided by a joint choir from McClure United and Holy Spirit Catholic churches, which recently celebrated the 10th anniversary of a covenant of shared life and ministry; as well as by the ecumenical Queen’s House Taizé music ministry.