Formation for Transformation: Enhancing Ecumenical Reception Through Ecumenical Formation in the Anglican Church of Canada

Abstract

The Anglican Church of Canada has officially and repeatedly identified ecumenism—the movement among the separated Christians to seek reconciliation and visible unity—as one of its priorities. However, the manner in which this stated priority has (or has not) been respected has never been clearly assessed. This study is aimed at assisting the Anglican Church of Canada in determining the extent to which it is (or is not) actually giving tangible expression to its engagements with other churches, especially locally. The reception of any teaching, policy, or initiative within the Anglican Church of Canada depends in large part on the receptiveness of its ordained leadership, particularly its bishops and priests. These two orders of ministry have particular responsibility for the pastoral, educational, and administrative leadership of the local churches. Therefore, this study of the degree to which ecumenical agreements in the Anglican Church of Canada have been received pays particular attention to this group. The theological concept of reception, particularly as it is applied to the ecumenism and ecumenical formation, is also assessed. The governing claim of this research is that there exists a relationship between the form and content of the formation of the clergy of Anglican Church of Canada and their subsequent knowledge of and commitment to ecumenism. Those who, for example, studied as seminarians with students and instructors of other Christian traditions will as priests (or bishops) be more naturally inclined to work collaboratively with individuals and groups from other churches, and promote ecumenical engagement in their parishes, dioceses, and in the life of the church in general. To test this claim, a mixture of quantitative and qualitative research methods was employed through the use of an online survey instrument that permitted both closed- and open-ended questions. Two sets of surveys were conducted to test the hypothesis that there exists a link between the context and content of an ordained cleric’s theological and pastoral formation and his/her subsequent ecumenical engagement or consciousness. Two populations of individuals were solicited to participate voluntarily in this study. One group consisted of self-selected deacons, priests, and bishops of the Anglican Church of Canada. The other consisted of the principals (or other designated representatives) of theological colleges, seminaries, or other training schemes through which most Anglican clergy in Canada receive their primary theological and pastoral formation for ordination. Upon analysis, the survey results suggest a gap between what ought to be occurring in terms of local ecumenical engagement and what is actually happening on the ground in congregational ministry. Examples of local ecumenical best practices are determined in a focussed literature review. The survey results further suggest that this cleavage between ecumenical formation and ecumenical action can be traced to the kind of ministerial formation these clergy received. Principles of how seminaries and theological colleges should integrate ecumenical learning into their structures, curricula, and ethos have been developed over several decades by the Roman Catholic Church, the World Council of Churches, and the Anglican Communion. Rarely, however, do they find more than a partial expression in institutions of ministerial formation. These principles are explored and concrete recommendations on how they might be implemented into the courses of study and the extracurricular lives of these centres of ministerial formation are reviewed. Among these principles is that a successful ecumenical ministerial formation is holistic in its approach, involving formal and informal encounters with faculty and students from different church backgrounds. This form of all-encompassing learning can result in a kind of conversion or transformation of the theological student, such that they fundamentally reassess their previous negative attitudes and conceptions toward Christians of other traditions and this new disposition permanently changes their approach to these other groups. This study therefore takes an interdisciplinary turn in engaging with the field of pedagogy by exploring transformative learning theory and its potential application to a holistic form of ecumenical ministerial formation. The critical reflection on the church’s practice which is at the heart of this research makes it particularly well suited for the methods of practical theology, which demands the proposal of a revised practice to address the perceived disconnect between the existing state of affairs and what ought to be normative. This research attempts to do so by drawing from and expanding upon a proposal developed by American Lutheran ecumenist Mitzi J. Budde. Following a threefold teaching method (“inform,” “form,” and “transform”), Budde suggests using a church’s existing ecumenical agreed statements as a basis for a sustainable and meaningful form of ecumenical ministerial formation. This study’s proposed revised practice attempts to adapt Budde’s proposal in two ways. First, it reorients its content toward a Canadian Anglican context, using four different ecumenical agreed statements to which the Anglican Church of Canada is a direct or indirect party as the documentary basis for what would be a core course in ecumenism. Second, it reorients its form, by proposing a delivery method that is primary online and removed from the denomination’s traditional centres of ministerial formation. The latter is a particular attempt to enhance the proposal’s chance of actually being taken up in a context where seminaries and theological colleges lack the capacity or will to provide a more robust form of ecumenical ministerial formation. The challenges of online learning—especially with respect to trying to create the conditions for a transformative ecumenical experience—are also addressed.