Canadians named to Anglican Communion Ecumenical Dialogues

On June, 25, 2014, the General Synod Communications announced that two Canadian Anglicans have been appointed to serve on international-level ecumenical dialogues.

The Rev. Dr. Tim Perry of the Diocese of Algoma has been named to the new round of theological dialogue initiated between the Anglican Communion and the World Communion of Reformed Churches. The dialogue will explore issues that emerge in areas where Reformed and Anglican churches work closely together, discuss what it means to be a communion of churches, and review the reception of the dialogue’s 1984 final report, God’s Reign and our Unity.

The first meeting of the new Anglican-Reformed International Commission will be in Hanover, Germany, in early 2015.

Perry serves as rector of the Church of the Epiphany in Sudbury, Ontario. He is also a lecturer at Thorneloe University, Sudbury, and at Manitoba’s Providence Theological Seminary. He earned a doctorate from Durham University in 1996.

The Ven. Edward Simonton OGS of the Diocese of Quebec will serve on the new iteration of the Anglican-Oriental Orthodox International Commission. This dialogue was recently reconvened after a 10-year suspension, with new delegations appointed by both families of churches. The commission has circulated an agreed statement on Christology, will address questions about the nature and work of the Holy Spirit, and will discuss the exercise of authority in the church. The dialogue’s next meeting will take place in Cairo, Egypt, in October 2014.

Simonton is rector of Saint George’s Church in Lennoxville, Quebec, and Archdeacon of Saint Francis. A graduate of the University of Edinburgh and Cambridge University, he is completing a doctor of ministry degree at the University of the South (Sewanee).

The pair joins three other Canadian Anglicans already serving on international-level ecumenical dialogues. Bishop Linda Nicholls is a member of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission. The Rev. Canon Philip Hobson and Ms. Natasha Klukach are members of the International Commission for Anglican-Orthodox Theological Dialogue. The Rev. Canon Alyson Barnett-Cowan, another Canadian Anglican, serves as co-secretary to all of the international dialogues in her capacity as the Anglican Communion’s Director of Unity, Faith, and Order.

To learn more about ecumenical conversations between the Anglican Communion and eight other Christian world communions, please visit the Anglican Communion website.

For more information on these appointments and Anglican Church of Canada participation in ecumenical dialogue, please contact Archdeacon Bruce Myers, Coordinator for Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations at bmyers@national.anglican.ca.

Source: Anglican Church of Canada