ecumenism " "
“Sexuality is a gift of God. It has to do with spirituality. It’s a question that needs to be at the centre of the Church’s reflection”: that’s one of the requests made by the 250 youth who participated in the three-day pre-assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC) held at Porto Alegre, in Brazil, on the eve of the 9th General Assembly which ended in recent days (22 youth now sit on the Central Committee, WCC executive organ formed of 150 members). Sexuality, relations between man and woman, Aids, welcome given to the handicapped in the Church, respect for human life: these are the main issues on which the young appeal to the Churches. Meeting them before the General Assembly, Pastor Samuel Kobia, WCC general secretary, recognized the difficulty of “convincing the Churches to send youth delegates” to the Assembly itself. The young, for their part, expressed the hope for a “stronger presence in the life of the WCC”. “What do you expect from youth within the ecumenical movement? As you well know, they are often used as a pretext to take forward some political agendas”, a girl delegate of the Universal Federation of Christian Student Associations told Kobia. “All the major decisions are taken in the Central Committee and in the Executive Committee replied the general secretary -. That’s why it’s important that you should be present. Today, with the decision-making system by consensus he explained each voice has the chance of being heard and taken into consideration in our deliberations. Consequently you have a real opportunity to bring the voice of the young into the ecumenical movement. You can help us grow”. The pre-assembly had opened with a celebration led by Brazilian youth and focused on diversity, through a narration of the biblical episode of the Tower of Babel.
