A new “Ecumenical Guide” of the Reformed and Catholic Churches of Vallese, an update of the previous one dating to 1982, was recently approved by the synodal Council of the Evangelic Reformed Church of Canton Vallese (Erev), by the abbot of St-Maurice, François-Xavier Amherdt, and by the bishop of Sion, Msgr. Norbert Brunner. The publication spells out the basics for the introduction of biblical and ecumenical teaching in the canton’s schools, tackles the question of how to deal at the pastoral level with mixed marriages, explains the possibilities of common celebrations as in the case of funerals, and stresses the importance of ecumenical liturgies of the Word. The document “explicitly supports common pastoral work at the level of chaplaincies in hospitals and prisons, in tourism and leisure activities. It also encourages ecumenical commitment in service to the new forms of poverty, common actions for mission and in favour of the third world, and presence in the media”, pointed out Abbot Amherdt.
