By Stephen Brown
Harare, 3 December (ENI)--Opening the plenary session of the most important ecumenical gathering of the last years of the century - the World Council of Churches' assembly - Catholicos Aram I of the Armenian Apostolic Church, the moderator of the WCC's central committee, described the event as "an important signpost for our common ecumenical journey and a turning point in the life of the WCC".

The assembly was an opportunity, he said, "to reaffirm and rearticulate our common vision as we move towards the next millennium".

More than 900 delegates representing the 332 Protestant, Anglican and Orthodox member churches of the WCC, along with more than 3 000 other participants and observers, are in the Zimbabwean capital Harare for the assembly, the eighth since the organisation was founded in Amsterdam 50 years ago. The assembly ends on 14 December.

The choice of Zimbabwe for the WCC's eighth assembly is particularly significant because the WCC gave humanitarian aid in the 1970s to Zimbabwean liberation movements then engaged in armed struggle against white rule in what was then known as Rhodesia. Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe, was a key figure in the campaign to end white minority rule.

Addressing the assembly, Zimbabwe's acting president, Simon Muzenda, speaking on behalf of President Mugabe who is in Europe, paid tribute to the aid given by the WCC. He also thanked the WCC for its support for the campaign for the cancellation of external debt owed by the poorest African countries.

The assembly also comes at a particularly sensitive time in the life of the WCC. Since the last WCC assembly, in 1991 in the Australian capital Canberra, there has been increasing tension between Orthodox and other member churches about the role and activities of the WCC.

A meeting of high-level representatives of the 15 Eastern Orthodox self-governing churches,
held in Thessaloniki in Greece from 29 April to 2 May, recommended that the Orthodox
churches take part in the assembly but "express their concerns" about the WCC by not joining
in various aspects of the assembly, including worship services and common prayers.

Asked at a press conference today about relations with Orthodox member churches, the WCC's general secretary, Dr Konrad Raiser, said that he regretted the recommendations of the Thessaloniki meeting, but pointed out that "the response of Orthodox churches to the recommendations has been very different" and that the recommendations had "not been unanimously affirmed".

"We will see how Orthodox delegates participate in this assembly and I think we will be surprised," Dr Raiser said.

He said that the Orthodox churches "constitute a structural minority" in the WCC "over against the overwhelming majority of Protestant churches".

"They are not asking for an increased quota but to be recognised as one of the two major Christian traditions represented in the WCC - Orthodox and Protestant.

"They are asking to be heard and to have a possibility of truly influencing the agenda of the WCC," Dr Raiser said.

"The Orthodox churches feel that the procedures by which the WCC organises itself are shaped by an ethos and tradition of decision-making and governance which are foreign to their tradition." He said many other member churches shared their feelings.

Dr Raiser was also questioned at the press conference about the issue of human sexuality. Although the subject is not officially scheduled for debate at the assembly, the repeated denunciation of homosexuality by President Mugabe, and the fact that homosexual acts are illegal in Zimbabwe, has caused concern among some of the WCC's member churches, mostly in Europe and North America. There has also been controversy over the fact that a local homosexual organisation, Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe, is not able to participate in a special section of the assembly called the Padare (meeting place).

Dr Raiser told the press conference that there would be 12 events organised in the Padare relating to homosexuality but that GALZ had failed to secure the necessary endorsement of a member church to participate in the Padare.

However, members of GALZ would be present at the assembly as visitors, Dr Raiser said. [693 words]

Photographs of the assembly are available from Photo Oikoumene

Related sites:

WCC Assembly Web Site

Photo Oikoumene

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