A sign of the times

“This message is a sign of the ecumenical times”, said JEAN-ARNOLD DE CLERMONT , President of the Conference of European Churches (CEC), on presenting the message that the Christian Churches of Europe launched from Sibiu at the end of the Third European Ecumenical Assembly. “What transpires from it – he added – is a strong will to continue the dialogue and an exhortation to devise new methods. We can also say that our common witness challenges the theological debate to press ahead”. Monsignor VINCENZO PAGLIA , co-moderator of the assembly’s organizing committee, has already announced a fourth ecumenical assembly, “perhaps aimed at Africa”. “This assembly [at Sibiu] – he said – indissolubly interlinked our being European and universal Christians”. “We cannot postpone the rediscovery of Europe’s responsibility for the world. Let us continue to dream of sister Churches and the brotherhood of peoples. Divided, we become accomplices in conflicts”. Metropolitan Gennadios of Sassima, he too co-moderator, declared that, despite the fact that a painful separation persists, Sibiu was a “platform to reunite the various Churches in their role at the start of the millennium”. Below we give a résumé of the final document and also of the message that the young delegates at Sibiu presented at the Assembly.UNITY. The assembly at Sibiu pledged to continue the journey towards visible unity because that is an indispensable condition to give a “credible” witness to Europe and to the world. “Today there is no alternative to dialogue: not a compromise, but a dialogue of life in which we can tell the truth in love”: that is the commitment signed up to by the Christian Churches of Europe (Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants) in the final message that came out of the European Ecumenical Assembly in Sibiu. The final message also contains nine “recommendations” as the basis for common action in the future. “Our witness to hope and unity for Europe and for the world – says the document – will be credible only if we continue our journey towards visible unity”. “At Sibiu we felt once again the painful wound of division between our Churches”. “Despite that, our faith in the transforming power of the light of Christ is stronger than darkness, resignation, fatalism, fear and indifference”. In the first three recommendations, the delegates appeal to the Churches of Europe to renew the mission of “proclaiming Christ as the Light and Saviour of the world”, of “continuing the debate on the mutual recognition of baptism” and of engaging in “activities that unite us” such as “prayer for each other and for unity, ecumenical pilgrimages, and shared theological formation and study”.PEACE, JUSTICE AND SAFEGUARD OF THE CREATION. The fourth recommendation asks for “attention to be paid to the appeal of the young, the elderly, ethnic minorities and the disabled”. The same paragraph also contains an “appeal to European states” to “make every effort to ensure regular immigration, and the integration of migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers”. The latest recommendations, preceded by an introduction that insists on the sacred character of life “from conception to its natural end”, concern the commitment of the Christians for peace, justice and the protection of the Creation. “We reject war as a means for the resolution of conflicts, for which we pledge to promote non-violent means, and express our deep concern about military rearmament. Violence and terrorism in the name of religion are a repudiation of religion!”. The Churches then exhort all European Christians to support “with determination the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations as an urgent practical provision to alleviate poverty”. Lastly, with regard to ecological commitment, the delegates ask the CCEE and CEC to begin a “consultative process” that would examine the problems of European responsibility for ecological justice” and recommend that “the period from 1st September to 4th October be dedicated to praying for the safeguard of the creation”.THE MESSAGE OF THE YOUNG. Nine keywords including “unity”, “witness”, “creation”, “peace”, “justice” and “immigration” sum up the recommendations that the young delegates from all over Europe expressed in the final plenary of the Third European Ecumenical Assembly at Sibiu. The message of the young, greeted with a long burst of applause, proposes a series of concrete commitments and courageous positions. “Unity”, for example, “does not mean uniformity: for unity can exist in diversity”. Under the heading “witness” the young ask the Churches to “stop competing with each other and begin really living the Gospel” because “we ought to bear witness not to the dynamics of power of our Churches, but to Christ”. Another of the keywords, “peace”, requires a commitment against “the trade and production of weapons” and the establishment of a European Agency for Peace. “Since they are part of society – write the young delegates under the heading “justice” – the Churches too form part of the system of injustice”. This requires that they “raise their voice against oppressive policies of immigration and the supremacy of industrialized countries in global interaction, and promote equal opportunities of education”. The young also urge the Churches to take concrete steps in the safeguard of the “creation”, and under the heading “religions” say they are ready to consider Sibiu as “a point of departure for renewed interfaith dialogue”.