ECUMENISM
Immigration: an appeal from BucarestSome 80 Church, government, union, police and NGO representatives gathered in Bucarest (Romania) on March 27-30 to attend an international conference on “Christian action against human trafficking”. The meeting was jointly organized by the Churches’ Commission for Migrants in Europe (CCME) and by the Romanian ecumenical association AIDRom. The meeting was hosted by the patriarch of Romania’s orthodox Church S.B. Daniel. Participants reiterated the importance of ongoing cooperation between governments and civil society in fighting the phenomenon of human trafficking. “Nobody has the right to transform human beings into profit”, the patriarch said in his address. The problem is strongly felt in Romania where in the past years – as stated by the representatives of Romania’s government agency set up to fight trafficking of human workers – this “has become the major form of human exploitation”. Before such a serious and complex situation, conference participants reiterated the importance of joint action between the different institutional and civil society players. “It’s increasingly evident -said Doris Peschke, CCME Secretary General – that the trafficking of human beings forced to work with no rights must be viewed with the same concern we have for sexual exploitation. In this framework, trade unions are natural partners in the fight against human trafficking and forced labour”. Russia: reunion of the mixed commission An “improvement in the media realm” was registered between the Orthodox and the Catholic church along with “a more just and benevolent attitude between the representatives of the two Churches in their official declarations”. The statement was given by the mixed Orthodox-Catholic working commission gathered in Vladimir, Russia, past March 27. The commission has been asked to enalyse all difficulties in the relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church. According to a Note published today on the website of the Orthodox Church in France, during the past meeting the commission studied “the implementation of its recommendations in the field of pastoral care and cooperation between the two Churches in the media sector”. The mixed commission expressed its satisfaction in seeing that “the initiatives of one Church are increasingly supported by the other”. The Note also pointed out that “it’s important to prevent mutual criticism becoming a news item”. Members asked to “seek openness and cooperation” among the two Churches “in working with the youth”. The mixed Orthodox-Catholic group is chaired by archpriest Vsevolod Tchapline, from Moscow’s patriarchate, and by father Igor Kovalevsky from Russia’s bishops conference. Germany: the inauguration of “Luther’s road” It’s called “Martin Luther’s Road” (Lutherweg). It was inaugurated at the end of March. It’s a 410 km-long path along the Sassonia Anhalt Länd which passes throughout the major sites indicated by a large green “L”, symbolically representing the German Reformer and the birth of the Reformation in Germany. The first site is Wittemberg, the city where Martin Luther spent most of his life and on whose Schlosskirche, on October 31, 1517 he affixed his 95 theses against indulgence, a suggestive episode, which however is not backed by historical evidence. The second city along the path is Mansfeld, where it’s possible to visit the home of Luther’s parents and Eisleben, Luther’s hometown .The last of the 34 sites along the itinerary is Kemberg, where the first parish evangelical home was erected. Someone has already compared this path following Luther’s footsteps to the “Camino di Compostela”, defining “Luther’s path” a Lutheran spiritual pilgrimage. According to pastor Holger Milkau, deacon of the Lutheran Evangelical Church in Italy (CELI) this comparison is inappropriate: “Don’t call it a pilgrimage: Luther would turn over in his grave! In Protestantism – Milkau explained – there no devotion for the Saints; therefore interest for Luther can only be of historical and cultural nature”. This interest is increasing also in view of the Fiftieth anniversary of the Reformation in 2017.
