Ecumenical & Interfaith 
Ecumenical
The attainment of union is the concern of the whole Church, faithful and shepherds alike. This concern extends to everyone, according to his or her talent, whether it be exercised in his or her daily Christian life or in his or her theological and historical research. This concern itself reveals already to some extent the bond of brotherhood between all Christians and it helps toward that full and perfect unity which God in His kindness wills.
—Decree of the Second Vatican Council on Ecumenism
Unitatis Redintegratio
Religion in Alaska
The largest religious organization in the state is the Roman Catholic Church, which had 54,359 and 102 congregations in 2000. Southern Baptists constituted the largest Protestant denomination, with 22,959 adherents and 68 congregations.
Many Aleuts were converted to the Russian Orthodox religion during the 18th century, and small Russian Orthodox congregations are still active on the Aleutian Islands, in Kodiak and southeastern Alaska, and along the Yukon River. The Orthodox Church in America—Territorial Dioceses had 20,000 adherents and 46 congregations in 2000.
Other major groups were the Latter-Day Saints (Mormons), 19,019 adherents; Assembly of God, 11,638; Independent, Non-Charismatic Churches, 7,600; and Episcopalians, 6,693. There were about 3,525 Jews and 1,381 Muslims. About 65.7% of the population were not counted as members of any religious organization.
Patriarch Welcomes Pope Benedict
ISTANBUL, Turkey, NOV. 22, 2006 (Zenit.org).- The Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople has launched a Web page to welcome and follow the Pope's visit to his see in Istanbul.
The Internet site is a document that attests to the "fraternal love" with which Patriarch Bartholomew I will receive the Bishop of Rome.
The Web page -- www.patriarchate.org -- includes information on the history of the ecumenical patriarchate, as well as on the patriarch's present ministry.
Interfaith
The Catholic Church rejects nothing that is true and holy in these [non-Christian] religions... The Church, therefore, exhorts her children, that through dialogue and collaboration with the followers of other religions, carried out with prudence and love and in witness to the Christian faith and life, they recognize, preserve and promote the good things, spiritual and moral, as well as the socio-cultural values found among these people.
—Declaration of the Second Vatican Council on the Relation of the Church to
Non-Christian Relgions
Ecumenism
Selections related to Ecumenism and Interreligious Affairs from the first homily of His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, delivered to the College of Cardinals in the Sistine Chapel, 20 April 2005.
I too as I start in the service that is proper to the Successor of Peter, wish to affirm with force my decided will to pursue the commitment to enact Vatican Council II, in the wake of my predecessors and in faithful continuity with the millennia-old tradition of the Church. Precisely this year is the 40th Anniversary of the conclusion of this conciliar assembly (December 8, 1965). With the passing of time, the conciliar documents have not lost their timeliness; their teachings have shown themselves to be especially pertinent to the new exigencies of the Church and the present globalized society.
Nourished and sustained by the Eucharist, Catholics cannot but feel stimulated to tend towards that full unity for which Christ hoped in the Cenacle. Peter?s Successor knows that he must take on this supreme desire of the Divine Master in a particularly special way. To him, indeed, has been entrusted the duty of strengthening his brethren.
Thus, in full awareness and at the beginning of his ministry in the Church of Rome that Peter bathed with his blood, the current Successor assumes as his primary commitment that of working tirelessly towards the reconstitution of the full and visible unity of all Christ's followers. This is his ambition, this is his compelling duty. He is aware that to do so, expressions of good feelings are not enough. Concrete gestures are required to penetrate souls and move consciences, encouraging everyone to that interior conversion which is the basis for all progress on the road of ecumenism.
Theological dialogue is necessary. A profound examination of the historical reasons behind past choices is also indispensable. But even more urgent is that "purification of memory," which was so often evoked by John Paul II, and which alone can dispose souls to welcome the full truth of Christ. It is before Him, supreme Judge of all living things, that each of us must stand, in the awareness that one day we must explain to Him what we did and what we did not do for the great good that is the full and visible unity of all His disciples.
The current Successor of Peter feels himself to be personally implicated in this question and is disposed to do all in his power to promote the fundamental cause of ecumenism. In the wake of his predecessors, he is fully determined to cultivate any initiative that may seem appropriate to promote contact and agreement with representatives from the various Churches and ecclesial communities. Indeed, on this occasion too, he sends them his most cordial greetings in Christ, the one Lord of all.
The Church today must revive within herself an awareness of the task to present the world again with the voice of the One Who said: "I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life." In undertaking his ministry, the new Pope knows that his task is to bring the light of Christ to shine before the men and women of today; not his own light but that of Christ.
With this awareness, I address myself to everyone, even to those who follow other religions or who are simply seeking an answer to the fundamental questions of life and have not yet found it. I address everyone with simplicity and affection, to assure them that the Church wants to continue to build an open and sincere dialogue with them, in a search for the true good of mankind and society.
Ut Unum Sint | That All May Be One
In writing Ut Unum Sint, John Paul II was very conscious of being at the beginning of the third millennium since the birth of Jesus (cf. paras 1, 3, 57, 100, 102). It was during the second millennium that most of the divisions which still wound the body of Christ occurred. For these, Christians need to ask pardon from one another, but most of all from God (cf. the jubilee letter Tertio Millennio Adveniente, para. 34). Ut Unum Sint was a plea written by an old pastor, an old "apostle", who now, five years later, realized without illusions that his life was "already being poured out like a libation" and his departure cannot be so far away (cf. 2 Tim. 4:6). His plea is: "Do not lose heart. Do not let impatience derail the path to full communion. With humility and repentance, God's grace can penetrate the fertile soil of our obedience and the unity for which Jesus prayed, the night before his great sacrifice, may yet blossom into unexpected fruition in our time."
Anchorage Celebrates Prayer for Christian Unity Week
Archbishop Schwietz presided at an ecumenical service for Christian unity on the feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, the Apostle the evening of January 25, 2005 at Holy Family Cathedral. The event included representatives from the Russian Orthodox, Presbyterian, Methodist, Lutheran, Episcopal, Salvation Army, and Catholic (both Roman and Eastern rites) faiths. We share the excerpted homily by The Very Reverend Chad Hatfield, Dean of Saint Herman Russian Orthodox Theological Seminary in Kodiak.
Homily for Christian Unity
Recently while visiting my youngest son Sean at the University of Kansas, he took me to visit the Dole Center where he works part-time. While there I was reminded of a story from one of Sen. Bob Dole’s campaigns for the White House. A heckler had followed the senator all day and at every stop he did his best to interrupt the speech. Late in the day, in a large hall, the man yelled out, “I wouldn’t vote for you if you were St. Peter!” After a brief pause, with his famous Kansas accent, the senator responded: “If I were St. Peter I doubt if you would be living in my district!”
Tonight, my brothers and sisters in Christ, I too am out of my district. In fact, Kodiak weather almost kept me in my district. Thankfully I have arrived and I am grateful to Archbishop Schwietz for his kind invitation to preach the homily.
The theme for tonight is baptism. This is a most appropriate theme. Ecumenical services such as the one taking place here were once very popular but have, for the most part, died out. To jump-start interest once again in the search for common Christian bonds it is only right that baptism is the starting point.
When we look at baptism we turn to the opening pages of Genesis to find the foundation. In the opening words of the Bible we see the power of God working to bring forth creation and life. Baptism is about the creative and life-giving breath of God moving over the waters and making us a new creation and giving us the promise of eternal life in Christ Jesus. Baptism is about repentance too as we see in the story of Noah and the Flood. God works through water to clean that which no longer reflects the glory of his creation. In Exodus we see the crossing of the Red Sea as our journey through the waters of baptism. That which is slavery and death, which chases us, is cut off and we pass through the waters to begin our journey to the promised kingdom.
To seek Christian unity means to live a life in recognition of what St. Paul teaches us: You and I are a new creation and we have put on Christ. We must be in a constant state of repentance as we seek to journey to the Kingdom of God. The Christian church now looks like the after effects of Humpty Dumpty’s fall off the wall! The question we must ask tonight is, can we afford to continue in this state?
I remember clearly when serving in Africa how Islamic evangelists entered Rwanda after the bloody civil war there and pointed to the fact that Christians killed each other in the war. They asked where the Christian family bond was in light of this fact and they offered it as proof that we are not the true faith. There are many stories just like this one — to our utter shame!
What we do here tonight is important. In celebration of our baptism in Christ let each of us remember the fact that once we come up from the waters we are not who we were before baptism. We must repent of everything that keeps us divided and we must seek, in our journey, the Church and the Kingdom of God.
Bishop Nikolai, Bishop of Sitka, Anchorage and All Alaska of the Orthodox Church of America, presents an Icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary to the people of Our Lady of Guadalupe at the consecration of their new church - December, 2006.
