CCC President the Rev. Canon Dr. Alyson Barnett-Cowan joined a large global, ecumenical, and interfaith delegation in attending the 42nd General Council of CCC member the United Church of Canada last week in Corner Brook, Newfoundland.
The delegation—which also included CCC Vice President the Rev. Dr. Willard Metzger of Mennonite Church Canada and CCC governing board member Bishop Michael Oulton of the Anglican Church of Canada—delivered a message to the church, integrated into the council’s Friday morning liturgy. Each representative delivered one portion of the message, Barnett-Cowan’s encouraging the church to uphold its “history of strong leadership in the ecumenical community nationally and globally.”
Read the full text of the message.
Among highlights of the council, Barnett-Cowan particularly wished to affirm the church’s decision to embrace full communion with the United Church of Christ, mutual recognition of ministries with the United Church of Christ in the Philippines and the Presbyterian Church of Korea, and the “very fine day” the council spent with TRC commissioner Marie Wilson and AFN National Chief Perry Bellegarde.
“There was clearly a lot of resonance in the room,” said Barnett-Cowan. “The council commissioners took it very seriously.”
Read the CCC’s Expression of Reconciliation, presented at the TRC Edmonton event in 2014.
Another important part of the council was the election of the church’s new moderator, the Rev. Jordan Cantwell. Rev. Cantwell “has a strong ecumenical track record,” says Barnett-Cowan.
Bishop Oulton participated in the installation of the Rev. Cantwell—asking one of the questions included in the liturgy of the installation ceremony.
