World Church-In Brief
Diocesan Press Service. October 8, 1966 [47-11]
For the first time in the history of the theological academy in Leningrad, U.S.S.R., an Anglican service of Holy Communion was celebrated. The Rt. Rev. Oliver Tomkins, Bishop of Bristol, conducted the service in the presence of faculty and students during his visit to Russia for a meeting of the working group of the Committee on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches held at the Sergius Monastery in Zagorsk, near Moscow.
Twenty-three national Methodist churches are currently engaged in unity discussions with Anglican churches, according to a survey published by the Church of England. The same number of Presbyterian bodies are similarly engaged.
The Roman Catholic Secretariat for Christian Unity will include a staff member who will handle Anglican relations. He is Father W. A. Purdy, educated at Christ's College, Cambridge, and a long-time professor of philosophy at Rome's Beda College.
The United Church of Canada took a first step in union plans with the Anglican Church of Canada when its 400-member General Council agreed to accept the Principles of Union as "a working document upon which to proceed in negotiating with the Anglican Church. "
The Rt. Rev. Alfred Alonzo Gilman, retired Episcopal missionary Bishop of Hankow, China died Sept. 13 in Pompton Lakes, N.J. at the age of 88.
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Jan. 18-25, will see eight days of special activities designed to strengthen the Christian community's sense of oneness and focus its witness before the community at large. Sponsored in this country by the National Council of Churches' Faith and Order Department and recommended by the Roman Catholic Bishops' Commission for Ecumenical Affairs, the theme of this years observance will be "Called to One Hope." A prayer leaflet for use in U. S. services during the week can be obtained from the NCC Publications Service, 475 Riverside Drive, New York City or the Graymoor Friars' Unity Office, Garrison, N. Y.
Hurricane Inez passed to the South of the Dominican Republic, the Rt. Rev. Paul Kellogg, Bishop of the Dominican Republic, was able to inform the Overseas Department. This averted much of the feared disaster. Haiti, however, was hit hard, particularly in the rural areas, although damages are not yet known with certainty.
The Rt. Rev. Russel S. Hubbard will retire April 30, 1967, if the necessary consents are obtained, it has been announced. Bishop Hubbard has stated that his decision to retire was motivated because of a realization that he can not presently do justice to the duties of his office. Although fully recovered, Bishop Hubbard has undergone major surgery twice during the past two years.