Quotes of Sibiu

I collected some quotes of delegates - here they are:

* Catholic delegate in the age around 50 about the passive participation:

„I’m back in school here“

* Protestant who was already a delegate in Graz:

„Nobody asked what happened to the commitments of Graz - not at any time in this week. Probably, nobody of the church leaders want to listen to, because then it’s obvious that they didn’t perform their homework“

* Young delegate about EEA3:

„If you did a conference similar to this in your own youth organisation, nobody would come a second time“

„What will you tell people, if you come home?“ Facial expression: Nothing.

* Methodist delegate about his experiences:

„I learned a lot here. Especially, how to make contributions in an undemocratic assembly.“

Travelling...

As most of the delegates and stewards have now returned home safely, I have heard more and more stories about people's journies. When at the Assembly, after a long and hard day, one of the floor management supervisors asked us to think about the question 'where did I meet God today?'. It was a question that I couldn't get out of my head, and many of you will have seen it written on my hand for the rest of the Assembly. Over the last couple of days it's become clear that many of us met God on our travels. I offer you my experience as an example:

The journey had been a major cause of concern for me in the run up to the Assembly. I had chosen a slightly complicated route through an area where I didn't speak the language, and I was so worried about getting lost or stranded.

I flew from London to Budapest and was getting the train from Budapest to Medias via Sibiu. Through church, I have friends in Eztergom (near Budapest), Medias and Sibiu. Not only did they help me to get from plane to train or from train to train, but they welcomed me into their homes overnight. I also met a fellow steward in Budapest meaning that I didn't have to get the train alone.

On the way home I was getting the train to Bucharest and flying back to London via Frankfurt. I was again, worried about travelling alone and about the transfers, especially because I was so tired. There turned out to be a group of 12 getting the same train to Bucharest and 3 of us got the bus together to the airport. The others had earlier flights than me and I thought that I would be waiting by myself. Only to find most of the CEC staff in the departure lounge, with the Geneva office staff on my flight to Frankfurt. I then found that the English Quaker delegation, one of whom I had met just before the Assembly, were on my flight all the way to London.

Where did I meet God on my travels? Through my friends who offered me hospitality, helped me buy tickets and put me on the right trains. Through my travelling companions who made each step of the journey more enjoyable (thanks guys). Through each kind, English-speaking stranger who helped me when I was lost. Through someone noticing I'd slept through my alarm on the last morning and waking me in time for my train. Through the beautiful scenery that passed by the train window. My list goes on and on...

Pictures from the Alternative Forum

Finally, I've found a scanner to publish the artistic outcome of the Ordained-women-Working Group of the Alternative Forum:

Home

So having promised more news from the stewards before the delegates arrived, I'm only just finding time to post.

This morning I feel completely at a loss for what to do - there will not be 2000 delegates arriving at my house to say good morning to. Oh well, if I get really desperate, I'll make a 'SILENCE' sign and take it to the building site down the road.

I had a lot of experiences at the Assembly, some bad, some good but all valuable. I hope to post more about them in the next few weeks as I start to realise the impact that they've had on me.
Here, I'm not talking about the official speeches, the fora discussions, the final message. In that regard I am completely ignorant of the happenings of the Assembly. I was in the room, but with no time to listen. I did have a chance to interact with delegates, staff and stewards in a way that many of you 'in the room' did not, and it's these experiences I will offer.

For now, goodbye. And thank-you.

Press release: Alternative Forum

Young delegates of the Third European Ecumenical Assembly
Sibiu/Romania, 4.-9.9.2007

Press release

Sibiu, 8th of September 2007

Alternative Forum during the EEA3

An alternative forum took place in the afternoon, uniting around 100 delegates from all parts of Europe and media representaties who took the opportunity to discuss the first time openly with each other. The organisers promised that there won’t be „any lectures, no words of greetings, but real discussions“ only. The issues discussed covered also „taboo matters“ that had been categorically excluded by the organizers of the official Assembly, e.g the ministry of ordained women in the Church.

The focus of the working groups established was on the implementation of the results of the EEA2 in Graz 1997 and possibl improvements for a 4th Assembly in the future.

Different forms of presentation included also the joint search for an „Ecumenical Miracle“ and an artistic way of presenting the vision of a „dancing ecumenism“.

The participants asked to call for a Forth European Ecumenical Assembly, taking place within the next 10 years that must be based on the equal involvement of women and men and on the participation of grassroots movements in the preparation process and the design of the new assembly, as some participants felt like „delegates in a prison“. A further discussion and implementation of the Charta Oecumenica was demanded as well as the start of a new process of inter-religious dialogue that could lead to a similar document as the Charta Oecumenica signed in 2001.

The Alternative Forum proved the strength of the European ecumenical youth movement, involving young delegates from every denomination. However, especially Orthodox young delegates expressed their wish to be better informed by their Churches about ecumenical activities and up-coming events.

As a conclusion, a vision of the Ecumenical movement in 2020 was presented which included the expectation that „Churches live in a reconciled diversity“and recognise each other as churches.

For interviews and questions, please contact:
Christoph Otto, +49 / 173 / 582 15 60
Tobias Traut, +49 / 163 / 820 86 00
Or just ask us. We are the people with the yellow caps ;-)

----

Appendix – Results of the Alternative Forum

Working group: Comparing Basel, Graz and Sibiu

We ask churches to commit themselves to organise another European Ecumenical Assembly within 5 – 10 years. It should be organised in a more participative way, with a prepatory committee to ensure that grassroots Ecumenical groups are included. A consultation process should be carried out to produce topics for discussion throughout the EEA4 journey. This journey should comprise national Ecumenical assemblies, with themes of justice, peace and integrity of creation at their core. At EEA4 we would examine and discuss the past, present, and future of practical implications of the Chara Oecumenica’s commitments.

Working Group: Ecumenical Miracle?

Is there life after Sibiu? What is the ecumenical miracle we need in our ecumenical journey? Like Goethe was quoted previously in the assembly, we need big visions, which can make our heart move.
The „Miracle“ group was heading for a brighter future, a big vision we Christians share. What would be the state of churches in 2020 and what would be the way there?

Church 2020:
Churches live in a reconciled diversity. We tolerate different theological views between the churches and also among our own churches. The essential basis of faith is common for all of us.
Churches got one voice in a society in fighting agains injustice, for peace etc. Christianity shows itself strongly in our societies and the lives of individuals.
We live in Christian happiness, joy of faith, and love to our neighbours.
Lay people have a big role in a life of churches. People bare responsibility and every person is a full member and represents its church.
Churches shoгld tear down fences between different groups of people. There’s no need to separate people on basis of age, gender, etc.
While we recognise members in different churches to be full Christians, and therefore see the prospect of joining the same table in heaven, why not joining the same table in this life? This may not happen in this very moment, but theological discussions must be emphasized and slow movements towards common eucharist must be taken, implementing common eucharist occationally in ecumenical event, churchs days, etc. special days. The Christ is the one who is calling us to holy communion.
On a way to the miraculous vision we need etc.
- self-commitment in our churches to the aims
- theological agreement on etc. justification
- consiliar process
- common ecumenical events
- recognition of each others churches
Waiting for parusia and doing something already before that.
A small miracle for EEA3 would be, that the final message would be composed on the basis of the message from youth pre-meeting instead of the draft of the drafting committee.
Collected by Topi Haarlaa

Working Group: Youth

· The group agreed on the aim of improving the communication between young Christians interested in the Ecumenical movement through strengthening Ecumenical youth networks and Ecumenical youth organisations.
· The group developed the idea of an European Ecumenical youth meeting to get to deepen the knowledge of other denominations and to inspire young people’s enthusiasm on Ecumenism.
· Especially, the Orthodox members of the group wished to be better included on the European level. Also, they wished for more support by their home churches in their involvement in Ecumenism.

Working Group: Ministry of ordained women in Church

Drawing: „Without title“

Three steps away

One remark still from yesterdays presentation of the final message draft which took place in the end of the morning's plenary. First of all, the draft papers were not distributed before the draft was read, which made it a bit difficult to comment on the draft. The floor microfone was opened to short comments after the presentation. I rushed to comment the draft paper with two notions:

1. The Light of Christ is not a dim candle some where, it is a radical and revealing light that demands a transformation. Therefore the final message should have concrete proposals and bold recommendations for the churches.
2. The language of the draft paper was very exclusive. It was written only to theologians and people deep in the Ecumenical slang. In order for the paper to change anything, it should be written in as "normal" and concrete language as possible.

I was the 14th delegate on the queue and the moderator cut off the discussion on the 11th person. That was the closest I (or any young delegate) could get to the microphone.

Now I'm writing this blog from the plenary tent and listening to the comments on the second draft. There are about 50 people in the queue to comment the draft paper. I have to say that the final message commitee improved a lot on this new version and has much more concrete things. Now also many people are for attaching the St.Maurice statement as an appendix to the final message. I hope we will see that happen!

Iona Experience

Prayers are the salt of the meeting. Yesterday I attended evening prayer of the Taizé community and tonight was Iona community's turn. Both were held at the beautiful Lutheran cathedral of Sibiu and both were really nice.

Iona community is an ecumenical Christian community in Scotland. They had prepared an evening prayer on the topic of Israel-Palestine 'fence'. The people attending were divided into two groups, one in the choir (front) of the church and the other in the normal benches. The prayer had some songs from Israel and texts that went through the history of the Israel region, showing that there has always been someone putting up fences. During the readings people built a wall in between the two groups of people out of boxes. This was really efficient, because everybody would have wanted to see the other group which was on the other side of the wall. In the end of the prayer the wall was left there, because the 'fence' still exists between the Israelians and Palestinians.

This was a really concrete way of making people open their eyes on the issue and in a way that showed how sad the situation is for the people living on both sides, not just from the view of one side. Thank you Iona, I appreciate.

Concerns and pains

No, I will not write in Russian, noone reads in this case.
First, I want to agree with two inputs from my friends Benoit and Tobias. I wanted to write it myself but they were more rapid. One is about "checking" every morning - and it is visible that people are discriminated - for example I never seen any Orthodox priests being cheacked, but in the same time young lay people are checked really detailed.
Second is Greetings from Russia by Rabbi Zinoviy Kogan. It was something I couldn't really stand to hear. It was about Chechnya and its very good President Kadyrov and very new beautiful city of Grozny. It is new because it was ruined! I was really shocked! While question of human rights and religious freedom in Russia and Belarus are hidden in this Assembly, some "guests" are preaching such things! How is it possible? Do KEK and CCEE really concerned about human rights and religious freedom issues?
Sorry for a lot of emotions, people. But what can I say more? At the same moment while I spend very pleasent time at this safe and silent assembly my friends in Belarus are arrested, prosecuted by KGB, fined only for praying together, reading Bible together at their flats, my spiritual father is banned from serving because he raised his voice for religious freedom in Belarus. What can I say? Input from Rabbi Kogan sounds like a mockery.
Of course, Chechnya is not a problem any more. Of course, Belarus is not a problem.
You speak about Christian roots and European identity, but closing eyes while you brothers and sisters in the same continent suffer has nothing in common with Christian roots and European identity.
And I will return from this marvellous event and I can be checked at Belarusian customs much more detailed than it is here. Moreover, the laptop I write you from can be confiscated from me in the train at night 11.09. - it is very usual practice in the country. Here I presented myself as Syndesmos regional representative for Central Europe, but I can be arrested in Belarus because of that: acting on behalf of unregistered organization is an offence. When I want to share with my brothers and sisters in Belarus about the results of the Assembly and invite them at my place to drink some tea together, I can be fined for having unregistered religious event in private house. And then when I look from my window I will see "New Life" Full Gospel church building which is being withdrown from the community because it is former cattle-farm. You know, I can't sleep well at night, when view from my window shous me suffering of my brothers protestants. I am concerned. It is very near. I hear their voices.
European Christians, maybe you can look from your window and see your neighbour Belarus? Maybe you can tune your ears to hear voices of prosecuted Christians? Only then I will believe that Christ of light shines upon Europe and Christians Churches still are able to see this Light.

How many delegates are in Sibiu?

I just discovered an interesting information in a news release of the World Council of Churches dealing with yesterday's speech of Samuel Kobia: Kobia was addressing some 2500 delegates and other official participants from most European church traditions attending the opening session of the Third European Ecumenical Assembly, which he termed as the "single largest regular gathering of Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican and Protestant church leaders in the world".
You can read the whole news release here.

Plenaries: second edition

What is your feeling when you enter the plenary and see the people on the stage? How do you feel when you see two female moderators at one table and venerable male elders on the other side? Doesn't it look like a gender segregation? Maybe it's just a morning impression...
And what does it say about ecumenism in Europe when you try to guess the age of people on the stage? Where is the youth? Do they have nothing to say? I don't think so. I don't think that there are young people good only for "Morning Prayers and Bible Meditations". I believe, there are also young individuals able to contribute to the main plenary discussions. So, where are they?
I still wonder: Why do we have numerous speakers who just read their well prepared speeches without any attempt to interact, to dispute or to dialogue among themselves? How are we to be light shining on the way of life in dialogue with each other if we are able just to use monologue to express our ideas?
Well, at least, delegates without privilege to speak to the plenary learn to listen...
I'm looking for Round Tables to change my a bit skeptical point of view ;-)

Some more reflections on the Opening Plenary

I share Antti's disappointment with not having anyone of underrepresented youth delegates in the Drafting Committee. And I would add my disappointment with the process of presenting the whole Committee at the very end of the plenary when not so many delegates were there, nobody wanted to react and comment on the proposals. And judging the reaction of the delegates present, I would say that there was not anything like a consensus on the proposed candidates...
I understand that the Opening Plenary was too packed for caring about such issues, but dealing with them in such a rushy way doesn't make delegates feel respected. To the feeling that there are not so many people caring about what the delegates think contributed also the way of addressing the questions written on the papers during the speeches of the three venerable speakers: everyone could write whatever she/he wanted but there was no time and no speaker to be addressed with the question. Thus, it was quite hard not to have a feeling of not being heard...
And I would add one more thought about the content, not just the form, of the Opening Plenary. The majority of speakers mentioned current European problems and challenges we have been facing. I guess, vast majority of us can agree on them. However, when it came to proposing some ways of solving them, silence... Oh, that would be unfair: better to say - vague phrases about light of Christ shining upon all of us...
Anyway, after some criticism, I still feel optimistic about future continuation of the assembly and finding some concrete solutions for the problems and actions to take after our returns to local realities ;-)

Assembly message?

The opening plenary is now over and all the delegates are recovering from a heavy Romanian three-course lunch. We heard interesting opening speeches from church leaders and many important aspects on the assembly themes. One of the most interesting imho was Cardinal Walter Kaspers' speech in which he dealt with the issue of the recent statement of the Roman Catholic Church:
(a brief quote, see eea3-assembly page for the full version)

In a recent document from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith my Church, the Catholic Church, set out differences that unfortunately exist and, in doing so, reminded us of the task that lies before us. I know that many, especially many of my evangelical brothers and sisters, felt hurt by this. I am not unaffected by it, either; I, too, had problems with it. For the hurt and pain of my friends is my hurt and pain as well. It was not our intention to hurt or belittle anyone. We wanted to bear witness to the truth, just as we expect other churches to, and just as other churches already do. The declarations other churches make are not all to our liking, and nor does what they sometimes say about us. But what are we to expect? Cosy ecumenism and fake ecumenism, which are all about being nice to each other, do not get us very far; the only way forward is dialogue in truth and clarity.

So, we are not dealing with easy issues here. But hope and unity were called for in almost every speech held.

At the end of the plenary the Assembly final message draft group was introduced. Supposedly the final message has already been sketched to some extent forehand, but this group has a great influence on it trying to extract the important matters discussed in the fora. Anyway, for the big disappointment, none of the appointed members were of the youth delegates. Though the moderator told that youth delegates should contact these people for their message to be heard, I think a far more better solution would have been to select at least one young member on board. After all, this is supposed to be an "youth assembly" and we lack 350 youth delegates of the quota of 500 that was called for from the member churches.

Now back to the rainy Sibiu and the assembly tent where the Forum on Unity is just starting.

Is participation something active or something passive?

Looking into the detailed programme of the Assembly, written in the delegates’ handbook, you can find that at the end of the week there shall be an Assembly message with the general outcomes, with objectives the European churches want to achieve in the next years and with plans for some concrete action. Naturally, such a message should be developed in a democratic way. According to Colin Williams, the General Secretary of CEC, this will happen: The process leading to the message will be “as democratic as possible”.

The handbook where all necessary information is written down (unfortunately not available on the internet) gives another picture:

1. The Assembly has no rules of procedure. Written rules are already common in commissions with 10 members to guarantee an outcome. But how to manage an Assembly with more than 2.000 members? How is it possible to agree on a Assembly message, if nobody knows, in which way? It’s a mystery. OK, it’s not that easy. It’s impossible that every delegate can express his position on the stage. It’s impossible to satisfy every delegate and to consider every individual argument. But: If there is the aim to incorporate delegates contributions, we should know, in which way.

2. The only thing we know is that there will be a message committee. That’s all. All other important information are unknown: Who are the members of the committee? Are there some delegates within? May we elect the members, or may we at least elect some additional members? If we had this information, we could prepare some committee candidates, or we could address to the members some contributions. But we cannot.
My conclusion: The whole process is behind a veil of ignorance. Intransparency rules, and not transparency as one of the main conditions for participation.

3. On Saturday evening one part of the programme (approximately 15 minutes) will be the “Presentation of the Assembly Message”. No decision, no voting, no affirmation. In combination with missing rules of procedure, there is only one possible conclusion. The delegates will not be asked about the final version of the message. This prognosis is even strengthened by the information, we got at the Assembly office: “There’s no voting, because there will be no decision.” But if we cannot vote – who are the decision makers? A small circle of people will decide on the contents of the message. Nevertheless, the message will be presented as a position of the whole assembly.

What is then participation? Is it about sitting there and listening speeches, lectures, greetings, addresses, and in the end they present you the result? Or is it far more? That was my main question when I saw the detailed programme.

In the foreword of the Assembly’s handbook, Metropolitan Gennadios of Sassima and Bishop Vincenzo Paglia describe participation as “sharing, experiencing and enjoying the Assembly ecumenically”. Contributions of delegates or open discussions don’t find their place in this definition. Is the EEA3 then only a show which was already scripted before?

No, it won't, because this depends on the efforts of the delegates with an interest in higher partipation. I think that there are a couple of possibilities:
- Asking for more time of open discussion
- Asking for an election of the members of the message committee
- Asking for a voting on the Assembly message
- If there is no way to express the position within the programme, finding other places for opinion making and discussion (as for example this blog)
- Not waiting, but starting now to act
- ...

I’m sure, this will be a very interesting and spirited assembly.

The yellow caps

The yellow caps are the distinctive mark of the young delegates. At our preliminary meeting in St.Maurice (Switzerland) we thought that it would be very useful to have something common. Voilà, here they are:

The verse from the Holy Scripture in Jer. 1,7 is God’s request to us young people to take active part in the world and also within the church:
“But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak.”

So we shouldn’t be modest in terms of staying quiet and leaving all of the discussions to the church leaders and the well-experienced Ecumenists, but raise our voice, if we have some new aspects, if we wand to direct the attention to other main focuses or if we think, some critical statements are needed to give the Ecumenical discussion a boost.

Young people often have a little bit different view on things as others have, just because we have less experience and still more vision, where the way of “ouikoumene” could go. But every movement, not only the Ecumenical, needs some refreshment not to go out of date: That’s why we have to raise new questions and new fruitful ideas for the Ecumenical movement.

The yellow colour very good represents that task. It’s similar to lemons, which are very fruitful and at the same time with a sour taste. But it’s the lemon, which gives a lot of dishes (as fish or Schnitzel) the special taste and which is needed, if you want to enjoy your meal.

So: If you are in Sibiu and see people, walking around with yellow caps – they are young delegates or show their support to the work of the young people at the EEA3.

Let’s have a delicious successful sweet-and-sour Ecumenical Assembly!

The stewards' tasks

Yesterday evening our small delegates group met the stewards at their Romanian evening. It seemed to us that there is a good atmosphere within the stewards group, as the laughed a lot. We heard a lot of information about religion, culture and food (inclusive drinks!) in Romania and could get a very spirited impression of the country. Definitely they’ll make a good job and will contribute their attitudes and their enthusiasm to the Assembly.

One thing was a little bit irritating: They started to assign the different tasks since there are a lot of different jobs the stewards are responsible for. Yesterday some people already were chosen to be the “worship stewards” – unfortunately some of them didn’t remember that they had declared to do this tasks - some “misunderstanding”? Maybe.

Today the rest of the stewards will get to know what will be their main function during the Assembly – dependent on the different gifts and interests they have.
Best wishes to them and their work!

On the way

It is now two hours till the plane from Helsinki to Bucharest takes off. All things packed (hopefully) and printed. Little bit of excitement sneaking in also... The Finnish delegation will be spending one night in the capital of Romania and tomorrow we'll take a bus to Sibiu.

I'm really looking forward to meeting all the youth delegates & stewards and seeing how the preparations for the youth actions have gone. Hopefully we'll meet at the opening ceremony tomorrow and in the youth cafe afterwards.

Have a safe journey everyone, Godspeed!

Greetings from Sibiu!

Not much time to post now, but the stewards' programme is well-and-truly underway. We've had a busy, interesting and fun time so far and we look forward to welcoming the delegates in a few days time. I'm sure one of us will post in more detail when we have some more free time!

I'm feeling more and more excited- I know that this is a great event, but also that only if we pray and listen to the Spirit, we can get somewhere.. Last month, I have attended the third assembly of Orthodox Youth, in Istanbul, (within the Catholic delegation) and I was impressed by the speech on ecumenism that a Finnish Orthodox priest held. He said: 'We are not called to erase the differences between us, but to pray together and to learn from each other'. Diplomacy brings nothing, unless we have Christ among us! Let's pray for this assembly, so that the Holy Spirit will enlighten the participants and help us love the other's confession as we love our own.

Standing together...

I'm posting from the annual conference of the Association of Interchurch Families in Derby, England. This evening we (the young adults' group) ran a prayer meeting, taking part of eea3's theme - 'the light of Christ shines upon all'. We used some of the material from the study guide and had a meditation on John 1:

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things were made through Him and without Him was not anything made that was made.
In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."

All around Europe, while the main assembly is running, Christians will be meeting for services and discussions and prayer vigils. In this way, we stand together, despite the miles between us and say as one 'Christ is our light'.

***

Tomorrow, during our closing worship, we will stand together as Anglicans, Catholics, Methodists, URC etc...as Christians and recite our creed "We believe in one God...". This is the moment of the conference I will carry in my heart to Sibiu. There is vastly more that unites us than divides us.

From Blocks to Blogs

It is quite amazing to study the near history of the ecumenical movement. It seems almost unbelievable that just 20 years ago (when I just had started my primary school) there wouldn't have been a slightest chance for such a meeting to take place in Sibiu. Eastern and western blocks in Europe had built up huge borders. Ecumenical meetings had an important role in building relations between the churches and nations in the late phase and post era of the Cold war (see an interesting study on this). Blocks started to diminish and borders changed. Now it seems that none hardly even bothers to ask for your passport at the airports - it's far more important how many millimeters of liquids you carry and in what kind of bags they are wrapped.

Well, it seems though that some borders still exist, even huge ones. EU and non-EU countries, Europe - 3rd world, men - women, conservative - liberals, different denominations, traditions and so on. Those and many others will surely be under discussion in Sibiu.

Now, hopefully, this blog can be one instrument to overcome blocks and borders. Let us turn blocks into blogs.

ps. The EEA3 youth delegates had their pre-Sibiu meeting in St.Maurice, Switzerland at the end of July. The statement from this meeting can be found here :)

pps. 10 days to go :)