A common process

“The Council of Europe (CE) can only achieve its aims together with the Churches and the religious communities, not without them and certainly not against them”, said ULRICH BUNJES of the Office of the Council of Europe for the coordination of intercultural dialogue, addressing the participants in the annual plenary of the Church and Society Commission of the Conference of European Churches (CEC, the umbrella organization that represents 125 churches of Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox and Old Catholic tradition present in all the countries of Europe, founded in 1959 and with offices in Geneva, Brussels and Strasbourg). The meeting, which ended on 19 June, was held in the mother church of Saint Etchmidazin, near the town of Yerevan, in Armenia. Its had as its theme “Churches in Europe and intercultural dialogue”. Intercultural dialogue is also at the centre of the colloquium “Promoting intercultural dialogue: challenges and perspectives of the Council of Europe” which opens in Lisbon tomorrow (until 24 June). It will also be an object of reflection and debate, together with interfaith dialogue, at the summer session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the CE to be held in Strasbourg from 25 to 29 June. AN IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTION. In preparation for the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue in 2008,the Council of Europe intends to publish a White Paper on the question. To this end, the CE has sent a questionnaire among others to the Church and Society Commission and the Migrants in Europe Commission of the CEC. “The consolidated response” of the two commissions to the questionnaire, prepared “in preparation for the White Paper of the Council of Europe on intercultural dialogue, – continued Bunjes – has demonstrated in an impressive way how important the Churches’ input is. We will study very carefully the recommendations and suggestions contained in the consolidated response – he promised -, especially their proposal for an annual meeting between the CE Council of Ministers and representatives of the religious communities”. ONE OF EUROPE’S OLDEST CHURCHES. “It was very important to meet in Armenia, where the Church and the population, religion and culture are closely connected. This enabled us to study the link between religion and culture and to analyse the contribution of the Churches to intercultural dialogue, an issue that is becoming ever more important and topical in Europe and in its various countries”, commented RÜDIGER NOLL , chairman of the above-mentioned Church and Society Commission, and associate general secretary of the CEC. Noll then expressed warm gratitude to Karekin II, Catholikòs of All the Armenians, for the invitation to hold the meeting in his country, which “permitted us to come into contact with the Armenian Orthodox Apostolic Church, one of the oldest churches on the continent”. EU TREATY. The future work and programmes of the Church and Society Commission, the role of the Churches in the public sphere and the “roadmap” of the Constitutional Treaty were at the centre of the plenary. ANTJE HEIDER-ROTTWILM, co-moderator of the Commission, said that next year “it would commit itself to promoting dialogue between the European Churches, and between the Churches and political institutions on theological, social and juridical issues. The Churches have a need for appropriate space in European societies”. In view of the then imminent European Council (opened in Brussels yesterday and due to end on 22 June), the participants in the plenary – says a statement put out by the CEC – reviewed the results of the meeting of European church leaders in December 2006″ which “endorsed a letter recently sent by the Church and Society Commission to the German Presidency of the EU, indicating justice and social cohesion, and a Europe of the people able to assume its responsibilities for a just and sustainable world, as key features of any future EU Treaty”. During the plenary, contacts were also established with the OSCE mission in Armenia. The Church and Society Commission has also sent a letter of solidarity to the Churches and ecumenical partners in the Middle East who were meeting in Amman, and endorsed a joint statement with Eurodiaconia (an association of Churches and NGOs offering social and educational services based on Christian values), aimed at ensuring social rights in the European Union.