Authored by Rev. John Ford, CSC, S.T.D.

MENTORING FOR MISSION: NURTURING NEW FACULTY AT CHURCH-RELATED COLLEGES. By Caroline J. Simon, Laura Bloxham, Denise Doyle, Mel Hailey, Jane Hokanson Hawks, Kathleen Light, Dominic P. Scibilia, Ernest Simmons. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 2003. Pp. ix + 129. Paper, $14.00. In recent years, many church-related institutions of higher education have produced "mission statements" that reflect administrative concerns about preserving an institution's religious heritage. Nonetheless, many such institutions seem negligent about transmitting the institution’s religious heritage to the next generation of faculty. This co-authored book offers a wealth of practical advice about the process of mentoring for the purpose of transmitting a college's "religious mission"; plus its experiential examples, should be extremely useful for administrators, faculty-mentors, and new faculty, who are interested in "mentoring for mission."

COMMUNION WITH NON-CATHOLIC CHRISTIANS: RISKS, CHALLENGES, AND OPPORTUNITIES. By Jeffrey VanderWilt. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2003. Pp. ix + 229. Paper, $18.95, ISBN 0?8146?895?8. The Roman Catholic Church officially allows baptized Christians of other churches to receive communion (also the sacraments of reconciliation and anointing of the sick) with appropriate permission, but does not extend a general invitation. VanderWilt advances multiple arguments--biblical, canonical, historical, theological, ecumenical, pastoral--in favor of Roman Catholic eucharistic hospitality to other Christians. While readers will find these arguments persuasively, indeed passionately, presented, unfortunately the presentation is rambling, repetitious, and occasionally flawed.

The Fifth World Conference on Faith and Order, which met at Santiago de Campostela (Spain) in 1993, recommended a study on the nature and purpose of the Church; the initial results, a document on "The Nature and Purpose of the Church: A stage on the way to a common statement" (Faith and Order Paper No. 181) was published in November 1998 (and is available at: www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/faith/nature1.html). Detailed comments on this document are provided by Catherine E. Clifford, "Reflections on THE NATURE AND PURPOSE OF THE CHURCH," ECUMENICAL TRENDS 32/9 (October 2003) 1-9 (129-37).

Guenther Gassman, “Edmund Schlink: An Ecumenical Pioneer of the Twentieth Century,” ECUMENICAL TRENDS 33/1 (January 2004) 6-10, describes the ecumenical involvement of Schlink (1903-84), a pastor of the confessing church in Germany (1933-45) before becoming a professor at Heidelberg (1946-71); Schlink’s activities in three areas--Lutheran-Roman Catholic dialogue, Orthodox dialogue and the World Council of Churches—resulted in important theological contribution to the ecumenical discussion on intercommunion, eschatology, conciliarity and ecumenical methodology.

David Carter, “The Ecumenical Wesleys,” ECUMENICAL TRENDS 33/2 (February 2004) 10-15, points out that if John Wesley was polemic on occasion, he was also irenic and that the work and thought of the brothers Wesley provide “proto-ecumenical insights and impulses” especially in some of their writings and hymns.

Alexander Voelker, “Hans Dombois, October 15, 1907, Berlin-June 24, 1997, Minden,”
ECUMENICAL TRENDS 33/3 (March 2004) 12-13, memorializes an ecumenically minded teacher of civil and ecclesiastical law, who considered “church law as a law of grace.”