Christians for Europe

Some 150 representatives of the Christians Churches of Europe met at Wittenberg (Germany) from 15 to 18 February for the third and last stage leading to the European Ecumenical Assembly (Eea3), promoted by the Council of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe (Ccee) and the Conference of European Churches (Cec), and due to be held in Sibiu (Romania) from 4 to 9 September 2007. “The light of Christ shines on all – Rediscovering the gift of light that the Gospel of Christ represents for Europe today” was the theme that the delegates examined in the city of Martin Luther. “Luther never wanted division, but unity in fidelity to the message of Christ”, explained pastor JEAN-ARNOLD DE CLERMONT (France), President of the Cec, in his opening address. It is a unity of the Churches that, as the President of the Ccee, Cardinal PÉTER ERDÖ (Hungary), added, “is a great challenge for Christians and a sign of hope” in an increasingly enlarged Europe. A NEW ACTIVISM OF EASTERN EUROPE. The activism of the new member states of the European Union and of the states situated in the easternmost part of the continent was one of the salient features of the meeting in Wittenberg. Bulgaria and Romania are asking today that their entry into the EU be matched by renewed ecumenical commitment. “The hopes are great”, said Sister JOLANTA GALACH of the Roman Catholic Church in Bulgaria, a country in which Catholics form only 1% of the population, but the hopes are accompanied by “the fear of losing our own identity, swallowed up by Europe itself. We hope – she concluded – that Christian Europe, to which Bulgaria is opening herself, will be able to support her also in spiritual aspects”. The identity of the continent goes far beyond the process of institutional enlargement, and for many countries – such as Switzerland, Serbia and Montenegro, Bosnia, Belarus, Ukraine and Turkey, whose delegates intervened in the debate – “dialogue and common endeavour between the Churches is a factor that helps to draw them closer together”. THE CHURCHES AND EUROPE. But France and Holland said no to the ratification of the European Constitution. “We in the CEC take seriously also this opinion”, said the Lutheran Rev. RÜDIGER NOLL , chairman of the Church and Society Committee who, in the meeting dedicated to the “Vision of the Churches for Europe today”, affirmed the need for “a new signal”. Cross-fertilization is the metaphor of the new situation, rich in challenges also for Christians: a more equitable sharing of resources, attention to the “poverty that affects one child in five in Europe”, climate change, migration, the freedom of minorities, a European Union “for human beings and not just for institutions”, and an “enlargement of values and not just of geography”. In response to all these challenges, the EEEA3 will be “a forum where the voices of the new member states shall be heard”. “As church leaders we must re-educate ourselves and re-educate others to recognize the success of the European project”, maintained NOËL TREANOR , general secretary of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community (COMECE). Though mindful of the new challenges, internal and external, he declared that “we already have a vision, the vision that led to the birth of Europe in the 1950s: that of consolidating peace through reconciliation”. UNITY IN DIVERSITY. The idea that there is, within the Churches, a reconciled diversity was also implicit in the interventions of Cardinal JEAN PIERRE RICARD , President of the French Bishops’ Conference and Vice-President of the CCEE, and of the Rev. THOMAS WIPF , President of the European Evangelical Churches and member of the CEC. They and other delegates affirmed that the prospect of the “deployment of different but harmonious voices of a Church as communion”, which has its roots in Vatican Council II, and the model of “unity in reconciled diversity” are the contribution that Roman-Catholic theology and Protestantism are able to offer Europe, also by means of the concreteness of interpersonal and community relations. A MESSAGE . The meeting ended on Sunday 18 February with the consignment to all the delegates of the “Letter to the Christians of Europe”. “In this common endeavour”, says the document, “we have tried to deepen mutual trust and understanding by living, working and praying together”. The thoughts of the Churches go “to the many who live their vocation as sacrificial witnesses in the difficult situations that still exist in our continent”; “those who work for human freedom and dignity” encourage the Christian communities to “overcome fear and mistrust”. “We invite everyone to take part in a pilgrimage of light”: that is the proposal to European Christians in preparation for EEA3, “which invites us to recognize the dark sides of our incomprehension”. To overcome “suspicion and enmity” the steps we need to take are those of “uniting ourselves in prayer” and “working to bring justice and hope” to the continent. The hope is that “the journey towards Sibiu may become another point of departure, for the Christians of Europe”.