The meeting of the Ccee-Kek Joint Committee, the first "top-level" meeting after Sibiu, is opening in London today (until 24th February). One of the main items on the agenda "will be an assessment of the assembly (Aee3) and its implications on the ecumenical scenario in Europe", states Thierry Bonaventura, who was the secretary of Aee3. "Open questions", goes on Bonaventura, include "the need to improve cooperation between Ccee and Kek, and the need to think of new spaces and methods for leading ecumenical life in its many forms". "In addition, the meeting will discuss the challenges that the different ethical views raise against such cooperation, and how to put in practice the recommendations contained in the final message of the assembly, relations with the Muslims in the continent, and the main topical issues regarding the EU institutions". The agenda also covers some proposals for the future of the two bodies, for instance "thinking of one single European ecumenical body" for "a long-term view of ecumenism", as stated by the president of Kek, Jean-Arnold de Clermont, in a recent interview. The participants will be received by the Catholic archbishop of Westminster, card. Cormac Murphy O’Connor, and by the Anglican bishop of London, Richard Chartres. The meeting will be attended by seven members of Kek and by seven members appointed by Ccee.
