By Jerry Van Marter
Harare, 14 December (ENI)--Far behind schedule as they gathered for the last time, the 900-plus delegates at the eighth assembly of the World Council of Churches rushed headlong this afternoon to conclude the assembly, passing a string of major resolutions with little or no debate.

In whirlwind fashion, the assembly adopted resolutions on global debt, globalisation, the status of Jerusalem, child soldiers and human rights. It also approved a three-page "message", adopted broad policy guidelines and priorities for the next seven years and approved some follow-up processes for the Ecumenical Decade of the Churches in Solidarity with Women, which has just been concluded.

And in the most unusual action of the day, the assembly summarily approved a motion made from the floor by a delegate from the Mennonite Church in Germany to establish the years 2000 to 2010 as "The Decade to Overcome Violence".

The most contentious decision of the day was the election of the eight presidents of the WCC, only two of whom are women - one fewer than previously - despite the stated intention of the Ecumenical Decade to increase women's participation in church structures. Several delegates criticised the lopsided list of candidates. Lennart Henriksson, of the Mission Covenant Church of Sweden, declared angrily that "the meager gains by women during the Ecumenical Decade have been blown away".

The new presidents, who are chosen on a regional basis, are Africa: Agnes Abuom of the Anglican Church of Kenya; Asia: Moon Kyu Kang of the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea; Europe: Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Ephesus, Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, and Bishop Eberhardt Renz of the Evangelical Church in Germany; Latin America/Caribbean: Bishop Federico J. Pagura of the Evangelical Methodist Church of Argentina; Middle East: Mar Ignatius Zakka I Iwas of the Syrian Orthodox Church; North America: Kathryn Bannister of the United Methodist Church in the USA; and Bishop Jabez Bryce of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa/New Zealand and Polynesia.

The issue of homosexuality - the focus of much attention at press conferences during the assembly and the subject of a dozen Padare workshops, but which had been barely mentioned on the assembly floor - finally made it into discussions late today. Complaining that a resolution on human rights failed to mention discrimination against gays and lesbians, Paul Sherry, president of the United Church of Christ in the United States, said: "Our support for human rights will ring increasingly hollow until we speak out against the violence done to our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters. Our silence in the midst of this violence is deafening." However he did not formally try to amend the resolution.

Later, when the programme guidelines committee identified the issue of human sexuality as one of seven areas for future WCC work, Russian Orthodox delegate Vladimir Shmaliy warned that "any move to develop a homosexual agenda would severely jeopardise Orthodox participation in the WCC". But his move to delete human sexuality from the report was soundly defeated.

The other six "broad areas of concern that merit intensified attention" approved by the assembly were: "an ecumenism of the heart" marked by greater attention to worship and spirituality, inclusive community, non-violence and reconciliation, human sexuality, globalisation, debt cancellation, and creative "methodologies" for accomplishing the WCC's work with less budget and staff.

Some highlights of the major resolutions:
 Global debt resolution - called for debt cancellation for impoverished nations, debt reduction for middle-income nations, participation by "civil society" in determining how funds made available by debt cancellation are spent, and international economic reforms to prevent recurrence of debt coupled with "tough" conditions imposed on borrowing countries.
 Globalisation resolution - called for "formulating alternative responses to activities of transnational corporations and other international financial institutions, and restrictions on the unlimited flow of capital that produces "instant profits and equally instant disasters" for the rich and poor.
 Jerusalem resolution - declared that the status of Jerusalem must be decided by the three faith groups - Jews, Muslims and Christians - for whom the city is holy and by the two peoples - Israelis and Palestinians - who call it home.

Asked at a press conference today why so many important debates had been squeezed into the last hours of the assembly, the WCC's general secretary, Dr Konrad Raiser, said delegates had insisted on spending time "discussing secondary, tertiary, and even less important things" related to organisational issues. "Now they suddenly realise there is no more time."

The problems would not have arisen, he added, had delegates "stuck to the agenda proposed".
Some delegates - mainly from "West European Protestant churches" - were "so wedded to procedures in their churches", he said, that they "find it very difficult to adapt to the fact that the WCC has a different ethos". [754 words]

Photographs of the assembly are available from Photo Oikoumene

Related sites:

WCC Assembly Web Site

Photo Oikoumene

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