ECUMENISM
Anglicans: the difficult quest for unityThe 14th meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council – the leading body of the Anglican Communion, tasked with policy development and represented by Bishops, pastors and lay faithful – closed in Kingston, Jamaica, on May 13 (ongoing since May 1st). The ACC decided to postpone the approval of the “Anglican Covenant”, the document mentioned for the first time in the 2004 “Windsor Report”, which the Anglican Communion views as the most important means to preserve the unity of the various world Provinces. This unity was strongly questioned in recent years due to a number of “hot” issues that severely hit the Communion and caused its division between the more conservative Countries (of the Southern hemisphere, African countries in particular) and the more liberal ones (notably the Episcopalian Churches in the Unites States and the Churches in Canada). Controversial debate regarded the ordination of homosexual priests and the ordination of women bishops. The “Covenant” devotes a special chapter to policies that must to be adopted in case of disputes within the Anglican Communion, while Anglicans hope that if all the Provinces of the Communion endorse the Covenant, further controversies – if not even a schism – would be averted. In Jamaica the “Anglican Consultative Council” agreed that the “Covenant” requires more work, especially over paragraph 4, establishing criteria on the Churches that have the right to adopt the document. The Anglican Communion has 77 million members and is divided in regional and national Churches across 164 world countries. The various Anglican provinces will post their remarks on the said chapter of the “Covenant” by the end of 2009 and the first weeks of 2010. This calendar is endorsed also by those who fear delays in the document’s approval. The beginning of a “crisis” inside the Anglican Communion dates back to 2003, on the occasion of the ordination of the first openly declared gay bishop, Gene Robinson, in the United States. The event caused a division amongst the different Provinces of the Communion that last year led conservative bishops to boycott the “Lambeth Conference”, that called for the unification of the Anglican Communion, and gather in Jerusalem where the alternative Gafcon conference was held.Wcc: the plenary meeting of “Faith and Order” in October The Commission on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches (WCC) will gather for a plenary meeting in Crete October 7-14. The “greatest world forum for theological dialogue” as the Commission is described, is composed by 120 theologian men and women delegated to represent the Christian Churches of their respective denominations. The fact that since 1968 the Catholic Church is a member of the Faith and Order Commission, and rightfully so, (even though she is not a member of the World Council of Churches) confers ecumenical bearing to the plenary meeting in Crete. Pentecostal and Evangelical Churches are also expected to attend the meeting. The latest Plenary of the WCC Faith and Order Commission took place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2004. Three main topics were put on the agenda: “what does it mean ‘to be a Church’ (with in-depth analysis of the ecumenical movement): the sources of authority (examining how the different Churches operate when they are called to take decisions); moral discernment on 5 ethical questions which are: globalization, racism, homosexuality, bioethics and proselytism. For further information on the reunion in Crete go to: www.oikoumene.org/crete2009.Hungary: a year devoted to the BibleA year dedicated to the Bible. This the theme of cooperation between Hungary’s three Christian churches, the Catholic, Calvinist and Lutheran Church, for the promotion of various initiatives at national and local level last year. Father Mihaly Kranitz, from the Ecumenical Commission of Hungary’s Bishops’ Conference, drew a balance of the situation. In Hungary, ecumenical cooperation was revitalized only after 1989, when, after the fall of the Soviet regime, the Churches were finally free to profess their faith openly. Since then, Churches have been cooperating especially in the area of social issues with “joint statements regarding topical news such as the economic crisis and the family”. Last year it was decided to devote ecumenical reflection to the Holy Scriptures, celebrated with three major events: an international biblical symposium, a music concert that drew inspiration from the Bible, and an exhibit at the Hungarian national library. Initiatives were promoted also at local level with exhibitions, non-stop reading of the Bible and cultural programs. In the past 20 years the Christian Churches in Hungary developed an ecumenical rendition of the Pater Noster and the Creed, and made an act of reconciliation for past sins.
