World Council of Churches Central Committee struggles with issues of unity
Episcopal News Service. October 19, 1995 [95-1271]
(ENS) Struggling with severe financial challenges and questions about the role the World Council of Churches should play in the future of ecumenism, the WCC's Central Committee meeting in Geneva in September nevertheless issued strong and unified statements on issues ranging from Bosnia to nuclear testing.
The mingling of perspectives from the 150 representatives of member churches who make up the Central Committee offered a fascinating window on the ecumenical world, both in the differences and in the shared concerns, said Pamela Chinnis, president of the House of Deputies, who represented Presiding Bishop Edmond Browning at the meeting. "You certainly get your horizons expanded," she said.
The Central Committee supervises the work of the council and its staff between assemblies, which are held every seven years.
In an unusual and concrete sign of solidarity, the committee marched en masse to the nearby United Nations office building to protest nuclear arms testing by China and particularly by France, which conducted much-criticized tests in the Morurua Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. Jacques Ihorai, president of the Evangelical Church of French Polynesia, a WCC member church, thanked the committee for supporting "the peaceful struggle of the Pacific peoples against nuclear tests."
Given that "things are often so divided" in the 330-member council, "I don't think that happens very often in the Central Committee," noted the Rev. David Perry, the Episcopal Church's ecumenical officer. The committee prayed and sang hymns outside the U.N. office, he said, including Polynesian songs emphasizing the environment.
The committee also adopted a statement condemning exclusivist claims on Jerusalem that echoed statements endorsed by Browning. Describing Jerusalem as a place of "deep religious, historical and emotional attachments" for Christians, Jews and Muslims, the committee called for freedom of access to holy places for all three faiths, among other rights, and repeated its opposition to Israel's unilateral annexation of East Jerusalem.
In a three-page message, the committee also appealed to religious, political and military leaders in the former Yugoslavia to end the war there and begin "to heal the deep wounds of history... and to transform the climate of hatred and violence." While expressing hope about recent diplomatic steps toward resolution, the statement also condemned the "reprehensible escalation of the cycle of violence" fed by a continued flow of arms.
Differences emerged, Chinnis said, in disagreement over whether the next assembly, scheduled for September 10-22, 1998, in Harare, Zimbabwe, should include a eucharistic service. Because some member churches, particularly Orthodox and Roman Catholic, would not participate, holding a Eucharist would highlight the divisions that remain, Orthodox representatives argued. But many Protestant speakers said failure to include the Eucharist would send the wrong signal to the world and be an occasion for further division.
"I'm glad that's finally out on the table," said Perry. "It's important in our ecumenical conversations to dig deeper into our inability to share Communion."
While Anglicans have "our own eucharistic norms as well" that have to be considered in an ecumenical Eucharist, "because of our diversity and the way our Communion works I think we have some models the council can look at" when it wrestles with difficult issues, Perry said. "I think the Anglican Communion has had an important role to play in the council," he added, particularly in demonstrating "how we make decisions and what consensus means."
The committee is expected to decide about the service at its next meeting in September, 1996.
Concern was also raised about the safety of homosexual delegates to the assembly, given strongly anti-homosexual statements made by Zimbabwe's president Robert Mugabe. While assurances have been given that the delegates will not be harassed, "that's not the point," said Chinnis. She said she argued that "we need to protect the rights of all."
The committee also highlighted a WCC study, "Towards a Common Understanding and Vision of the World Council of Churches," that it is hoped the Harare assembly will adopt as a statement of the WCC's future shape. In his opening address to the committee, WCC General Secretary Konrad Raiser raised the question of how, in an era of increasing fragmentation of the ecumenical movement, the council could help crate "an inclusive framework" for dialogue among all ecumenical partners, including the Roman Catholic Church (which is not now a full member), other non-member churches, and even ecumenical organizations that are not actual churches.
The search for new models is prompted in part, Raiser admitted, by the need to deal with dwindling resources. A financial shortfall, brought on by a combination of unwise investments, lack of support from some member churches, and a weak dollar, continues to plague the council, though the committee was assured by finance committee moderator Birgitta Rantakari that the WCC is not in "a financial crisis, so long as urgent pro-active steps are taken."
Since the WCC operates in Swiss francs, but gets many of its contributions in dollars, having a weak dollar has cut its expected income. More than half of the member churches, many of whom are struggling with their own financial difficulties, failed to contribute at all in 1994, which led the committee to approve a recommended minimum membership donation.
While the Episcopal Church has been unable to pay its full asking in recent years, it has been committed to supporting the WCC, Perry said. "We always pay what we say we're going to pay."