We have been awaiting you ” “for a thousand years” “

“We have been waiting for you! And not only since the decision to hold the 12th assembly of the Kek/Cec, Conference of European Churches, in Trondheim (25 June – 2 July). We have been awaiting you for a thousand years. We awaited your arrival so that we, Christians of all Europe, could be united and thank God together for the road the Gospel has travelled from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth, through the whole of Europe”. With these words Finn Wagle , bishop of Nidaros and president of the Norwegian Church, greeted participants at the opening celebrations of the assembly in Trondheim cathedral on 26 June. “Never before”, he added, “has this shared history been visible in such great diversity here, in the extreme north”. Effective witnesses. In the presence of King Harald V of Norway, the Patriarch Bartholomew replied to Wagle’s greeting with a question: At this historical moment for a Europe “that is seeking to understand and define itself in a new way, at this moment when measures are afoot to exclude Christ and Christian Churches from the definition of what constitutes Europe, how can we be effective witnesses?” And he replied: “For Europe, we wish to represent a word of healing and reconciliation. What we can offer is not a programme or an ideology, but a person: God-man, Jesus Christ…”. Going on to speak of the “painful and contrasting” themes the assembly is called to consider, the patriarch dwelt on the question of sharing the Eucharist: “We Orthodox remain convinced that the moment has not yet arrived when we can share the Lord’s table, his sacramental body and blood, together. The Church and politics. In order to highlight the fact that Christians are already united in baptism, the delegates poured water brought from their own countries into a large sliver bowl placed at the centre of Trondheim cathedral. They then went in pilgrimage to the congress centre where Kjell Magne Bondevik, Lutheran pastor and prime minister of Norway (a country that is not a member of the EU), welcomed them with the old pilgrim greeting of ‘pax et bonum’. “Your theme, ‘Jesus Christ heals and reconciles'”, said Bondevik, “is a central issue both for the Church and politics” and he invited “Churches to be part of the solution not the problem, in European conflicts”. Similar sentiments were expressed by Kenneth D. Kaunda, first President of the republic of Zambia: “As Churches you can act to improve the problems weighing on the lives of your brothers and sisters; you can act to remove injustice”. Kaunda then analysed the drama of European history over the last two centuries: conflicts, divisions and racial hatred which have involved the rest of the world, and Africa first of all. But Europe has also given indispensable support in the fight against racism and apartheid. And now, he concluded, “as the USA seeks to become the dominant force, Europe has a vital role to play”. New ecumenical aspirations? “Must we continue with this form of co-operation? Or must the KEK and the Roman Catholic Church reflect on the need to create new ecumenical aspirations, ones that are truly inclusive at the European level?” This is the question now facing the Conference of European Churches. The point was highlighted by Keith Clements, secretary general of the KEK. The secretary general went on to consider events of the last few years and recalled the integration, in 1999, of the old European Ecumenical Commission for the Church and Society (EECS) into the structure of the KEK, through the Church and Society Commission. According to Clements, “the work of this commission, jointly undertaken with the corresponding Catholic commission (Comece), for the process of the convention; and the drawing-up of the Charta oecumenica, undertaken together with the Council of European Episcopal Conferences (Ccee), are the best fruits of last few years”.