Yearbook 2001
ECUMENICAL SPACE: BUILDING TRUST FOR COMMON ACTION
ECUMENICAL SPACE: BUILDING TRUST FOR COMMON ACTION
6 February: A consultation on Orthodox theological education is taking place in Athens, Greece. It brings together theological educators from across the Orthodox world.
22 April: A seminar on Orthodox theology and spirituality starts today in Damascus, Syria.
9 May: “We reaffirm our commitment to the ecumenical movement through the World Council of Churches and our serious engagement in the work of the Special Commission that aims at a greater Orthodox participation and role in the WCC,” says a final statement from the third meeting of the heads of Eastern Orthodox churches in the Middle East. Attending the meeting at the Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia (Antelias, Lebanon) were: Shenouda III, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St Mark, Ignatius Zakka I, Patriarch of Antioch and all the East, and Aram I, Catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church (Cilicia).
25 May: Two WCC staff members travel to Georgia to focus specifically on church relations since the withdrawal of the Georgian Orthodox Church from the WCC in 1997.
25 May: The Joint Working Group between the WCC and the Roman Catholic Church is holding its first plenary meeting after the WCC’s eighth assembly. The meeting, in Beirut, Lebanon, has the following issues on its agenda: the ecclesial consequences of baptism, the ecclesiological implications of national and regional councils of churches and other ecumenical instruments, and the nature and purpose of ecumenical dialogue. Other issues identified for discussion are: interchurch marriages, social thought and action, theology and Christian anthropology.
20 June: A new Joint Consultative Group of the WCC and Pentecostals, approved by the WCC’s eighth assembly, is holding its first meeting at the Abbey of Hautecombe, France, 20-25 June.
8 July: Hosted by the Coptic Orthodox Church in Germany, a consultation in Höxter on ecclesiology and mission is offering a platform for a dialogue between different denominational positions on the relationship between mission and church.
5 September: The WCC reaffirms the importance of genuine ecumenical dialogue, and of common Christian witness on the problems facing the world today. This is a first reaction of the WCC to Dominus Iesus, a declaration issued today by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome. “All churches have gained enormously from the recent entry - through the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s - of the Roman Catholic Church into the ecumenical movement,” says WCC Faith and Order team staff member Thomas Best. “Within the framework of the WCC, and in the wider ecumenical movement, many sensitive conversations are underway about the relationships of the churches to one another. What a loss if these were hindered - or even damaged - by language which precludes further discussion of the issues. In addition, one would hope for an acknowledgment of the many positive developments in common Christian confession, witness and service which have happened within the ecumenical movement over the past hundred years.”
11 September: On the invitation of His Holiness Garegin II, WCC general secretary Konrad Raiser is visiting Armenia to strengthen ties with the Armenian Apostolic Church. Noting significant progress in the rebuilding of the Armenian church, Raiser expresses hope that with new energetic and pastoral leadership, religious traditions can be rebuilt in the struggling country.
13 September: Representatives of a variety of Christian traditions are meeting under WCC auspices in Pasadena, California, USA, to discuss the formation of a forum of Christian churches and ecumenical organizations that could “go beyond present ecumenical structures”. Participants have envisaged a framework for a future forum in which “churches from a wider range of traditions may have a common space to discuss issues of mutual concern”.
4 October: A meeting of the standing commission of Faith and Order in Matanzas, Cuba, is presenting opportunities, not all of which are programmed, for dialogue: between Cuban Protestants and Roman Catholics; between Cuban churches, the state and Cuba’s communist party; and between commission members and local theological seminary students. The presence of the Roman Catholic archbishop cardinal of Havana is, hopefully, a sign of closer cooperation to come between Catholics and Protestants here. And commission members have been asking visiting party representatives questions that may improve church-state relations in the future.
11 October: Teaching people to be more sympathetic to believers of other faiths can be a strategy to eliminate violence. “Religious identities can create narrow, exclusive and rival communities, leading to both racial and religious prejudice, confrontation and sometimes violence,” cautions a letter by educators from Buddhist, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh and Indigenous Filipino traditions. At a meeting organized by the WCC in Bangkok, Thailand, the educators are emphasizing the need to affirm positive common ground between religions, and suggesting new directions for religious education.
25 October: The Special Commission on Orthodox Participation in the WCC meeting in Cairo, Egypt, is preparing a progress report to be forwarded to the WCC central committee at its next meeting in Potsdam, Germany, 29 January-6 February 2001. The commission has also approved an intensive work plan for the period until its next plenary meeting in November 2001.