PRESS OFFICE
Armenian Holy Apostolic Church Canadian Diocese
Contact; Deacon Hagop Arslanian, Assistant to the Primate
615 Stuart Avenue, Outremont Quebec H2V 3H2
Tel; 514-276-9479, Fax; 514-276-9960
Email; adiocese@aol.com – Website;
November 23, 2006
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On the Road to Mutual Understanding between Christians of Diverse Traditions

By Father Jacques Faucher, Ecumenical officer
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Ottawa
The Ontario Conference of Catholic Bishops (OCCB) assembles all the Bishops
of the Latin Rite and the Eastern Churches in Ontario. It serves fourteen
Archdioceses and Dioceses, two Eparchies and the Military Ordinariate:
Alexandria-Cornwall, Hamilton, Hearst, Kingston, London, Moosonee (ON-QC), Ottawa,
Ottawa (Military Ordinariate), Pembroke (ON-QC), Peterborough, Sault
Ste-Marie, St. Catharines, Thunder Bay, Timmins, Toronto, Toronto (Byzantine
Slovak Eparchy), and Toronto (Ukrainian Eparchy).
Many dioceses have an ecumenical officer involved in promoting better
understanding and cooperation with all Christian Churches, according to the will
of the Lord Jesus. These officers meet every year for two days to share their
experiences and develop better expertise with the help of participants
invited from other Christian traditions to provide further resources. This group
is called The Ontario Catholic Conference for Ecumenism. An officer from the
Canadian Center for Ecumenism, located in Montreal, participates every year
in these activities.
The OCCB, met in Toronto on November 14-15. This year, the presentations
focused on the Oriental and the Eastern Orthodox Churches. This particular
topic had been selected for this year’s conference, the reason that, Pope
Benedict XVI would be visiting the Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew in Istanbul, on
November 30, on the feast of Saint Andrew.
Deacon Hagop Arslanian was invited to speak about the history, tradition,
the mission and current challenges facing The Armenian Holy Apostolic Church.
Deacon Arslanian serves as Assistant to the Armenian Primate of Canada in
Montreal.
His presentation focused on: the history of the Armenian Church in the
mother country, the political circumstances that affected its development,the
creed and liturgy, the trials suffered by the Armenian population over the
centuries, the specificity of the Armenian identity merging faith, cultureand
nationhood, the main ecclesiastical structures supporting the activities of
the Armenian Church, some aspects of the life of the Armenian Diaspora notably
in the Canadian context.
Questions and answers shared in the group following Deacon Hagop’s
presentation covered a wide variety of topics: the understanding of the word,
apostolic, the relationship of the Armenian Church with the World Council of
Churches, the monastic tradition, and the role of the patriarchs.
Special attention was paid to the evolution of the Church in the independent
mother country, the Republic of Armenia since the break-up of the Soviet
communist regime. A high-ranking Canadian delegation of Church leaders was
invited last year to visit the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, the Spiritual,
and Administrative center of the Armenian Church worldwide, to spend some time
in Armenia, and to discover the various aspects of Church life in the new
political circumstances. This was interpreted as a genuine ecumenical endeavor
that will continue to bear fruit.
On the Canadian scene, questions dealt with the blessing of marriages with
partners of a different Christian tradition, the evolution of the youth born
in Canada, their enculturation through schooling into the mainstream of
various Canadian cities, the special challenges to preserve the Armenian heritage
in the secular context of North America.
The group expressed its warm gratitude to Deacon Hagop Arslanian for his
significant participation in this ecumenical dialogue.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress