ECUMENISM
St. Peter and Paul: a delegation in RomeThe Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, following an ancient tradition, is marked by a strong ecumenical bearing. Also this year, during the traditional exchange of visits between the Church of Rome and the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, on the occasion of the respective Patron Saint Days, a delegation appointed by Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I will arrive in Rome for the Feast of June 29, amongst whom figure His Eminence Emmanuel, Metropolitan of France, chairman of the Office of the Orthodox Church at the European Union; the bishop of Sinope, Athenagoras, auxiliary of the Metropolitan of Belgium, and by Archimandrite Maximos Pothos, Vicar General of the Metropole of Switzerland. On June 28, states a communiqué, the delegation will be received by Benedict XVI, while on June 29 the delegation will attend a Eucharistic celebration officiated by the Pope in the Vatican Basilica. The delegation will have meetings with the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity. The exchange of delegations between Rome and Constantinople began in 1969 with the visit in Constantinople of Cardinal Johannes Willebrands, president of the then Secretariat for Christian Unity, on the occasion of the Feast of St. Andrew, protector of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.KEK: churches for migrants in EuropeThe 27th General Assembly of the Church’s Commission for Migrants in Europe (CCME) took place in Bucharest (Romania). On the occasion of the International Refugee Day of June 20, CCME General Assembly commemorated the 60th anniversary of the Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. To the light of the political revolutions in North Africa, European Churches reiterated that the rigorous and integral application of the said Convention – and of other similar ones stipulated in Europe and at international level- is critical to prevent the loss of human lives linked to the migration of hundreds of thousands of people. The Assembly opened with a conference on “Changes and economic crisis, European migratory models” set to analyze the impact of the economic crisis on migratory models and situations across 21st century Europe. Hence the decision to hold the Assembly in Romania, that is witnessing strong outflows and inflows of migrants. The general Assembly underlined the need for shared responsibility of European countries in ensuring dignity and human rights to all migrants and refugees. This includes also the responsible use of language and images, avoiding expressions such as “invasion”, “migrant flow”, or, worse still “human tsunami”. At the end of the works participants elected Professor, Vice-President of the Federation of Protestant churches in France Victoria Kamondji with unanimous vote. She will succeed English Arlington Trotman.Church of England: towards the general SynodA document on the possibility of ordaining homosexual bishops, the steps undertaken for the unity with the Methodist Church and the future of religious schools tied to the Church of England. These are the key-themes that the General Synod of the Church of England will discuss at the university of York next July 8-12. Ecumenical representatives will be attending the meeting of the body that controls the Church established by Henry VIII in the 16th century. These include: the archbishop of Tirana, Durres and all of Albania, Anastasios, who will speak at the Synod on Friday afternoon. On the eve of the announcement of the agenda of the meeting all the members of the Synod sent an explicatory note underlining the possibility to ordain a homosexual bishop, provided he is celibate and not in a sexually active relationship. According to the press office of the Church of England, the document titled “Choosing bishops. The equality act 2010”, represents what has longtime been the Church’s official stand on the issue. “There is nothing new in this summary of the legislation on sexuality released a few days ago, as it refers to the 2010 Equality Act”, said a spokesperson. However, the news was disseminated by the British press as an opening, on the part of the Official Church of the British State, to the ordination of gay bishops. The Synod will eventually discuss the second phase of the works of the Commission for the joint implementation of the agreement signed by the Church of England in 2003 with the Methodist Church whose most important point is the decision, by Anglicans and Methodists, to exchange their pastors.
