Churches in movement

Bearing witness to the deepest human values based on “Christian” consciousness of the value of each human being created in the image of God; pursuing with commitment the ecumenical path to respond with responsibility to the challenge of unity (“if the Churches seek unity it’s because the world is alive”); and being a sign of hope for Europe: these are main strands of the “pact” signed up to the Christian Churches of Europe at the end of the 13th General Assembly of the CEC (Conference of European Churches) held in the city of Lyon from 15 to 21 July on the theme “Called to One Hope in Christ”. The assembly was attended by delegates of 126 CEC member churches (Orthodox, Protestant, Anglican, Old Catholic). The “features” of future ecumenical commitment in Europe were described by the pastor of the Swedish Church, Margarethe Isberg, in the sermon she preached on the Assembly’s conclusion. “That is us – she said – we are God’s people here in Europe. We know about all things that separate us – languages, cultures, politics, religions, you name it! We celebrate different religious festivals; as Churches we even celebrate Easter at different dates. But we believe in the triune God and we share the same hope in Christ. We can offer a substantial contribution to Europe – of human values, unity and hope”. The discussions of CEC’s General Assembly were followed by a delegation of the Catholic Church headed by Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, Archbishop of Bordeaux and Vice-President of the CCEE, and composed of CCEE General Secretary, Fr Duarte da Cunha, and General Secretary of COMECE, Fr Piotr Mazurkiewicz. Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, as Archbishop of Lyon, was always present during the most important celebrations of the Assembly. The final motions. The CEC Assembly, major decision-making organ of the CEC, is held every six years. It brought together some 700 delegates in Lyon, including 300 delegates of churches with voting rights, representatives of associated organizations, guests, young “stewards” and staff. The Assembly ended with the approval of a final message and six motions on: migrations and the trafficking of human beings; the financial and ethical crisis; religious freedom as a human right; climate change; the abolition of nuclear weapons; and rom minorities in Europe. In their motion on migrations, the Churches express their alarm: “In recent years – they declare – a worrying increase of racism and acts of violence against immigrants and ethnic minorities in Europe has been registered”. The motion commits the member churches of the CEC to “denounce acts of racial discrimination and institutional racism and asks the public authorities to guarantee fundamental human rights to ‘sans papiers’, and in particular to those in detention”. In this regard, the decisions taken by the Assembly include the fusion of the CEC with the Commission of the Churches for Migrants in Europe (CCME), thus turning reflection on the plight of migrants into a privileged area of work. Another commitment taken in this direction is that the CEC intends to promote a Year of the European Churches for Migrants in 2010.Decisions taken. During the Assembly the delegates of the Churches also voted on the composition of the new Central Committee of the CEC, which will have the task of electing in December, during its first meeting, the new President of the Conference, to replace the current postholder, French pastor Jean-Arnold de Clermont. Satisfaction for the composition of the new Committee was expressed at a press conference by CEC general secretary, the Anglican Colin Williams: “The heterogeneity of our member churches – he said – was reflected to the best from every point of view: whether that of national or that of confessional representation, or that of gender, minority churches and especially that of different generations. It’s the first time that 6 of the 40 members of the Central Committee are young”. Following a motion presented by the Evangelical Church in Germany the delegates also voted for the election of a workgroup composed of 15 members which from now to 2011 will have the task of formulating a proposal for the structural reform of the CEC.The Russian controversy. No delegate of the Patriarchate of Moscow took part in the Lyon Assembly. The reason for the boycott dates back to the last meeting of the CEC Central Committee, held in Cyprus in October, during which the Orthodox Patriarchate of Moscow announced its decision to suspend its participation in the European organization. The reason for the pullout was CEC’s refusal to admit among its members the Orthodox Church of Estonia, an autonomous Church created in 1993 and linked to the Patriarchate of Moscow. The Estonian question (which also has had consequences in Catholic-Orthodox dialogue) conceals an historic diatribe between the Patriarchates of Moscow and Constantinople. This question was also tackled at Lyon. It seems that the CEC, pending a definitive solution of the problem, has left a “door open”, making provision for vacant seats on the new Central Committee pending a possible return of the Patriarchate of Moscow to the CEC.