ECUMENISM
Meeting of CCEE Secretary and CEC President”Despite the fact that the ecumenical process is slow and beset by difficulties we cannot give way to discouragement. We cannot surrender in the face of difficulties. We are called to be faithful to Jesus to be able to find just solutions. In the meantime we cannot stand idly by with our hands in our pockets. There are so many pastoral fields and social questions on which we can collaborate and already enable the unity of the Christian people to be glimpsed”, said Father Duarte da Cunha, Secretary of the Council of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe (CCEE), on the margins of his meeting with the new President of the Conference of European Churches (CEC), Metropolitan Emmanuel of France. The meeting between the two was held at the CEC offices in Geneva on Wednesday, 20 January. “It is a commandment of Christ, ‘that they may all be one’ (John 17:21) in heart and in mind”, recalled Father Duarte da Cunha, who said he “was meeting the President of the CEC for the first time”. The CCEE and CEC representatives also paid a visit on the Rev. Dr. Olav Fyske Tveit, General Secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), and “shared with him common concerns about the challenges that all the Churches in Europe are facing”, says a joint CCEE/CEC press release. “The cooperation between CEC and CCEE is very important for us and it should be strengthened. This is due also to the fact that we are facing a lot of issues in common and the faithful in Europe are encountering the same challenges”, said Metropolitan Emmanuel. “Europe has a specific responsibility in the ecumenical effort, as it has been the stage upon which separations have been initially enacted, and later exported to other continents”, replied Father Duarte da Cunha who, quoting Benedict XVI, added: “Our proclamation of the Gospel will be more credible and effective inasmuch as we are united in His love, as true brothers. Ecumenical dialogue undertaken by CCEE and CEC is a clear witness of this awareness and this shared desire”. After a brief exchange regarding the ecumenical situation in Europe and the state of play concerning co-operation between CCEE and CEC, the Secretariats of the two bodies – continues the joint press release – “worked jointly on the upcoming CCEE-CEC Joint Committee due to take place this year in Istanbul, at the See of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, from 8 to 11 March, following an invitation by the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I”. The Joint Committee, set up in 1972, has the task of overseeing co-operation between CEC and CCEE. It comprises, apart from the general secretaries of the two organizations, seven members of the CEC and seven members nominated by the CCEE. To mark the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (18-25 January), the President of the CEC invited the CCEE General Secretary to pause for a brief moment of prayer.CEC supports the European Year against PovertyThe European Commission has designated 2010 as the European Year for combating poverty and social exclusion. The European Year was officially launched at a Conference held in Madrid on 21 January and jointly organized by the Spanish Presidency of the European Union and the European Commission. The Church and Society Commission of the Conference of European Churches (CEC) has developed the contribution of the European Churches for the European Year 2010. “Its objective – says a CEC press release – is to encourage the European institutions, EU Member States and other stakeholders to come to a more holistic understanding of the reasons which lead to poverty and social exclusion, as well as the manifold impact of poverty and social exclusion not only on the people affected, but on the whole of society”. “In Christian understanding, poverty and social exclusion are multi-dimensional phenomena based on economic factors, but ones which affect all dimensions of life; not only the individual, but also the community”, explains Rüdiger Noll, Director of the CEC Church and Society Commission. The planned activities of the churches in the framework of the 2010 European Year for combating poverty and social exclusion are closely linked to the joint project of CEC’s member churches with the Churches’ Commission for Migrants in Europe (CCME) on “Migration 2010 – European Churches responding to migration 2010”. Cardinal Ricard joins the Pontifical Council for Christian UnityThe Holy Father has nominated as members of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, Archbishop of Bordeaux, and the Most Rev. Johan Jozef Bonny, Bishop of Antwerp (Belgium). The announcement was made in a statement of the Vatican Press Room on 21 January. Cardinal Ricard is also Vice-President of the Council of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe. Strongly committed to the field of ecumenical dialogue, he led a French Catholic delegation on a visit to Moscow from 1 to 3 December last year. The members of the delegation were received by Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill on 3 December.
