Stay awake to the wider world, British and Irish churches urged
-27/02/05
As the 300-strong assembly of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI) drew to a close in Swanwick on Friday, guests from different parts of the world called on church leaders in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales to look beyond their own concerns to the needs and opportunities of the wider world.
The general secretary of the National Council of Churches of the Philippines (NCCP), Sharon Rose Joy Ruiz-Duremdes, asked for prayer, solidarity and understanding from Christians in Britain and Ireland towards the churches in her country. She highlighted the struggle for justice, the quest for authentic witness and the plight of national minorities as among the major concerns of NCCP.
Roman Catholic Archbishop Mario Conti of Glasgow also offered greetings on behalf of Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, a key Vatican body. The Council is active in the inter-church of the World Council of Churches, based in Geneva, and has also been involved with sensitive Jewish-Christian and Orthodox-Catholic relations.
Meanwhile a representative of the French Protestant Federation suggested to the CTBI assembly that if, as St Paul says, ìChrist has broken down the walls between usî then ìmaybe he will also help us to get across the channel.î Her remark, which brought warm laughter from the British and Irish church representatives, signalled the need to take seriously the wider European reality in ecumenical and societal cooperation.
The main business of the assembly, however, focussed on the need to revise ecumenical structures for cooperation in Britain and Ireland in the light of declining denominational resources and the desire for more integrated ways of working.
The week-long CTBI assembly did not take firm decisions on the future, but recognised the responsibility of further meetings of church leaders in the spring and autumn to hammer out the details. In theory new structures would be implemented following a further special assembly in November.
However at least one senior church leader said this was too quick and called for further time and money ìto get it rightî. Several alternate proposals and views were also put forward. Churches Together in Britain and Ireland and its national ecumenical partner bodies were asked to take these options seriously as the discussion and decision-making process moves forward.
The absence of some major church leaders, such as the Archbishop of Canterbury who was adjudicating arguments at the Anglican primates meeting in Ireland, was noted during the CTBI assembly.