A service to unity

The 10th Symposium of European bishops, to be held under the auspices of the CCEE (Council of the European Episcopal Conferences) in Rome from 24 to 28 April, will also be attended by a delegation of the KEK (a European umbrella organization representing 127 Churches of Orthodox, Anglican, Protestant and Old-Catholic tradition). The delegation will be composed of six persons including three young people. The adult participants will include the Waldensian pastor Gianna Sciclone (Italy), the Anglican Susan Helen Jones (Wales) and the Lutheran Harsten Fledelius (Denmark). Representatives of the major youth ecumenical organizations will also be present at the symposium: namely, Noemi Ligusova (Prague), of the Ecumenical Youth Council in Europe (EYCE); Daniela Rapisarda, European Secretary of the World Student Christian Federation and Lydia Obolensky D’Aloisio (Belgium) of “Syndesmos”, world fellowship of Orthodox youth. We have tried to understand the aims of these organizations better. The Ecumenical Youth Council in Europe was founded in 1968 and now represents Christian youth organizations in 23 European nations. Though belonging to various Churches, the young members of EYCE – explains the homepage of the organization’s website www.eyce.org – share a common commitment: that of deepening their own Christian mission and promoting at various levels “reconciliation, justice and a lasting peace in Europe and in the world”. “Our aim – explains Torsten Moritz (32), secretary general of the organization – is to work for the unity of Christian youth and for the unity of the Churches. To this end we organize seminars, meetings, round tables, workshops, inviting young people to cooperate together in a spirit of brotherhood. Whoever participates in our initiatives is strongly convinced that there are no alternatives to the ecumenical process. The division of the Churches is no longer explicable or acceptable at a time when nations are tending to unite”. Youth and Europe. Together with KEK’s “Church and Society” Committee, the EYCE has promoted a meeting in Brussels on the impact of Christian values on the process of European integration. “I mean such Christian values as solidarity – explains Torsten – which we believe very important but that no one respects and not just today. The European process of integration has so far been an exclusively economic one that needs something more”. To discuss these issues, EYCE is to promote a seminar in Italy on globalization from 22 to 28 April, and a representative of the organization will also participate in the symposium of the Catholic bishops in Rome. “We’ll go – says Torsten – to listen. Our hope is to foster better cooperation between the Churches. The young are ready to make their contribution. The young want to listen but they also want to have the scope to express themselves”. “Syndesmos-the World Fellowship of Orthodox Youth” is a confederation of 126 Orthodox youth organizations and theological schools, present in 42 countries throughout the world. In Greek “Syndesmos” means “bond of unity”. “At the heart of the organization – explain its leaders – is the desire of Orthodox youth to work together to serve the Church, her unity, her witness and her renewal”. The European section of the World Student Christian Federation, by contrast, has its headquarters in Sweden and is coordinated by an Italian, the Waldensian pastor Daniela Rapisarda. It is one of the oldest ecumenical organizations in the world (founded way back in 1895) and is subdivided into geographical sections: Asia, North America, Latin America, Africa and Europe. The World Council of Churches has promoted a special programme for youth aged from 18 to 30. The fields of action include the economy and justice, peacemaking, the formation of the young and the campaign against Aids. “One of the programmes on which we are working with great enthusiasm – says Freddy Knutzen (33), coordinator of the youth programme – is aimed at peacemaking in an interreligious context”. “I’ve understood – adds Lukasz Nazarko (21), an Orthodox believer from Poland – that to proclaim a monopoly of the truth and deny the need for dialogue among Christians is simply absurd and doesn’t lead anywhere”.