On 22 June, a number of leaders of Churches from England, Scotland, Ireland, Island, Germany, Denmark, Norway and Sweden will up anchor from Egersund in southern Norway for a four-day cruise along the Norwegian coast intended to draw the attention of the public to the dangers threatening the North Sea. They will be led by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew, who is also known as the “green Patriarch” for his commitment to defending the environment and is not new to such enterprises (in 1999 he participated in a cruise along the Danube, and last year in another on the Adriatic). The sixty participants intend to express “the concern of Churches for the sea, a resource for all of us and for future generations” explains the promoter of the initiative Olav Fykse Tveit, pastor of the Lutheran Church in Norway. The participants will call at the monastery of Ulstein for a seminar on environmental policy at which the Norwegian minister for oil and energy will also participate, and at Bergen for a meeting on pollution of the oceans and fishing restrictions. The end of the cruise on 25 June at Alesund in western Norway is timed to coincide with the opening of the 12th Assembly of the KEK (Conference of European Churches) in Trondheim.
