ecumenism" "
“Integrating, not ignoring”: the same slogan as last year has been chosen for the German intercultural week (26 September-2 October) by the presidents of the Churches in Germany: Cardinal Karl Lehmann, president of the German Catholic Bishops’ Conference, Bishop Wolfgang Huber, president of the Council of the Evangelic Church, and Metropolitan Augoustinos of the Greek Orthodox Church in Germany. In a joint document issued on 8 June Lehmann, Huber and Augoustinos outlined the motivations of this year’s intercultural week, which intends to raise public awareness about immigration: “Immigrants are a reality of our society. We cannot and must not ignore them, pretend not to see them, or leave them to one side”. The leaders of the German Churches lament the fact that national and European policy has for so long ignored the issue. “If we want to make use of the manpower of immigrants says the document -, we must take account of their fundamental rights. If we want their integration, we must respect their cultural and religious traditions. The numerous events being promoted during the week will include religious services, celebrations and informative events, to which both Germans and foreigners are invited. The organization of the some 2,000 events in over 150 German venues has been entrusted to an ecumenical organizing committee, which has prepared promotional material and also realized two websites to support the project: www.interkulturellewoch.de or www.woche-der-auslaendischen-mitbuerger.de.
