For an interesting short article on the recent vote of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to enter into full communion with the Episcopal Church, see Richard E. Koenig "A catholic vision" in The Christian Century, September 8-15, pages 838-840.

For "Excerpts from the Report of the General Secretary" Konrad Raiser at the World Council of Churches meeting in Harare, see Mid-Stream: The Ecumenical Movement Today, Volume 38, #3 (July, 1999): 79-90. The January, 1999 issue of the ecumenical review, vol. 51 is devoted in part to reports and documents of the Harare meeting.

Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon, Professor of Theology and Ecumenical Studies at Lexington Theological Seminary offers a hard-hitting assessment of the World Council of Churches meeting in Harare this past December.

He says: "I want to name six broad issues/problems, evident in Harare, that, in my judgment, must be confronted by churches committed to the ecumenical movement."
*The Impoverishment of the ecumenical vision
*The narrowness of the ecumenical tent
*The challenge of communications across cultures
*The difficulty of Orthodox-western churches relation
*The danger of theological thinness
*The misunderstanding of what it means to be a council of churches

In Mid-Stream volume 38 (July, 1999), pages 36-42.
More positive assessments are offered in other articles in this issue.

The July, 1999 study "Ministry to Interchurch Marriages" done at The Center for Marriage and Family at Creighton University provides multiple insights into these marriages. Results include:

Approximately one-third of all respondents were in interchurch (IC) relationships at time of engagement."
Married interchurch respondents had lower average religiosity scores than married all same church(SC) respondents.
"IC respondents reported the highest overall percentage of divorce (20.3%)...."
On average, married IC respondents emphasized religion in raising children less than married all-SC respondents.

For information on the agreement on justification by the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation, try their websites: nccbuscc.org and then the ecumenical department or lutherworld.org/oea/jd.html.

Let me recommend once again the Introduction to Ecumenism of Jeffrey Gros, FSC, Eamon McManus, and Ann Riggs (New York: Paulist, 1999). It is well-written and filled with references to other documents.

I will go back a year to recommend a series of essays on proselytism in the ecumenical review Volume 50, #4, October, 1998. This is a key ecumenical issue in some recent discussions.