This was the sixth meeting in the third phase of international dialogue organised by the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and the pontifical council for promoting Christian unity of the Roman Catholic Church.

The theme of this third phase is the church as community of common witness to the kingdom of God. The main focus of this meeting was to continue work on a draft outline for the report of this phase of dialogue. As presently conceived, the draft outline includes chapters on the kingdom of God in biblical, historical and theological perspective, the church as communion/community, the discernment of the kingdom of God, unity and common witness as well as summaries of several case studies offering both Reformed and Roman Catholic perspectives on the role of the church as instrument of the kingdom of God in South Africa, Northern Ireland and Canada.

Before the session began, some participants visited the Grand River United Church on the Six Nations Reserve and had discussions with representatives of Canadian first nations. During the week the dialogue heard a presentation on the aboriginal rights coalition by Anglican deacon Andrew Wesley. These contacts shed further light on the Canadian case study mentioned above.

The dialogue was warmly welcomed by officials and faculty of Emmanuel College and the president of Victoria University, Dr Paul Gooch. During a reception on the first evening participants were also greeted by the principal of Knox College, Rev Prof Dorcas Gordon, the president of Regis College, Rev Joseph Schner, sj, Prof George Vandervelde of the Institute of Christian Studies and Rev Edward Jackman, of the Jackman Foundation.

Previous phases of this international dialogue were held from 1970 to 1977 and 1984 to 1990, publishing reports entitled The Presence of Christ in Church and World (1977) and Towards a Common Understanding of the Church (1990).

The co-chairs of this dialogue are Prof Russel Botman (Reformed, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa) and Most Reverend Anthony Farquhar (Catholic, Auxiliary Bishop of Down and Connor, Northern Ireland). In the absence of Prof Botman, President Huang Po-no (Tainan, Taiwan) and Prof Alasdair Heron (Erlangen, Germany) co-chaired this session on behalf of the Reformed delegation.

Other Reformed participants were Rev Prof Leo Koffeman (Utrecht, the Netherlands); Rev Prof Rathnakara Sadananda (Mangalore, India); Rev Maria Luiza Ruckert (Vila Velha, Brazil), Principal Peter Wyatt (Toronto, Canada) and Dr Odair Pedroso Mateus (Geneva, Switzerland), who served as secretary.

Other Roman Catholic participants included Rev Prof John Fuellenbach svd (Rome, Italy); Dr Donna Geernaert, sc (Halifax, Canada); Rev Prof William Henn, ofm cap (Rome, Italy); Rev Dr Henry O'Brien (Wishaw, Scotland); Rev Dom Michel Van Parys, osb (Chevetogne, Belgium); Rev Prof Benedict Viviano op (Fribourg, Switzerland) and Msgr Dr John Radano (Vatican City), who served as secretary.

The next session is scheduled for October 2004.

For background information, see Alain Blancy, "Reformed-Roman Catholic dialogue", Dictionary of the Ecumenical Movement, ed Nicholas Lossky et al, 2nd edition (Geneva: WCC, 2002, ), pp.969-971, and visit the dialogue section of our department of theology's website.