Borrowed from the Newsletter of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe.
The Episcopal Church has been a leader in Christian Ecumenical Work since the 1860s. In the 1950s significant work began also with Interfaith partners, particularly with Jews and later with Muslims.
In the European context, this is especially important. Bishop Whalon, together with many Clergy and Laypersons of the Convocation are involved in ecumenical and inter-religious dialogue, councils, activities, and joint work with many ecumenical and interfaith partners throughout Europe.
The Rev. Christopher Easthill, Rector of St. Augustine's Anglican/Episcopal Church in Wiesbaden, is a board member of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Christlicher Kirchen in Deutschland (ACK), the "Working Group of Christian Churches in Germany." It is the largest and most significant ecumenical body in Germany. The Board members of the ACK visited Rome as part of their "Reformation Year" ecumenical discussions. Among their stops was a visit to the Pope at the Vatican, as well visits to the Anglican Centre, the Waldensian Center, the Collegium Germanicum et Hungaricum, and the German Embassy to the Holy See.
Fr. Easthill remarked how German Christians leaders are continually amazed at the ongoing ecumenical spirit that exists among Episcopalians and Anglicans, and particularly the advanced stage to which Anglican ecumenical dialogues have progressed in recent years, particularly with the Roman Catholic Church.
Starokatolíci v Bratislave (Old Catholics in Bratislava) is a new Old Catholic Mission congregation in Bratislava, Slovakia. It is a mission of the Czech Old Catholic Church, as there is no OC church in Slovakia connected with the Union of Utrecht. This Old Catholic mission is among the only progressive Christian congregations in Slovakia. Recently, Fr. John Perris, Rector of Christ the King in Frankfurt, and wife Cat were in Bratislava, and Fr. John was the guest preacher and celebrant at the mass.
In Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, and France, Episcopalians and Old Catholics work closely together, as do our friends in the Church of England chaplaincies in those countries. Our Italian-language ministry in Milan, led by The Ven. Maria Vittoria Longhitano, began as an Old Catholic mission from the Church in Switzerland. Bishop Whalon serves on the International Bishops' Conference of the Union of Utrecht. Archdeacon Baer and the Rev. Clair Uhlmannare members of the Old Catholic clericus of Austria.