NEWS STORY: WCC official has hands full leading ecumenical group

c. 1997 Religion News Service GENEVA _ The Rev. Konrad Raiser says he has enough trouble steering his unwieldy ecumenical ship through the choppy seas of Christian doctrine toward the distant port of unity without having to worry about how the churches will unite on such question as abortion and homosexuality. Of the latter issues, […]

c. 1997 Religion News Service

GENEVA _ The Rev. Konrad Raiser says he has enough trouble steering his unwieldy ecumenical ship through the choppy seas of Christian doctrine toward the distant port of unity without having to worry about how the churches will unite on such question as abortion and homosexuality.

Of the latter issues, Raiser, the general secretary of the 330-member World Council of Churches, is blunt:”I don’t think that we will be able through the World Council to work out agreements on many of the pressing moral issues _ the ethics of life, procreation, human sexuality _ which seem to be uppermost in many people’s minds,”he said in an interview as the WCC’s Central Committee met here in an effort to work out a new vision _ and perhaps structure _ for the organization.


The best he can hope for on volatile social issues is facilitating civil debate. But for the time being, there’s more pounding of chests than cool reflection.”I admit that churches at the moment are not giving a very convincing example of being able to handle these cases,”said Raiser, 59, a German Protestant.”In fact, they tear themselves apart. But I think for that very reason this is an area where the World Council needs to safeguard that space where a form of controversial discourse can take place which does not immediately explode.” Raiser is surrounded by fuses about to ignite. The WCC, which he has chaired since 1993, is trying to come to grips with many of these issues as its 156-member central committee is meeting to draft a redrawn vision of its ecumenical mission. That refined vision will be used as the framework for the council’s global general assembly next year in Zimbabwe.

The committee members, though far from united on many social issues, agree that the ecumenical movement is weakening due to the growing divisions among Christians.”Even though interreligious encounter and dialogue have become more common, religious loyalties continue to be used to foment hatred and violence,”says one line in the vision statement under consideration.

(BEGIN OPTIONAL TRIM)

Some central committee members have said the WCC has become too institutionalized, often acting on its own without consultation with member churches.”We have identified the council too much with structures and programs,”said Catholicos Aram of the Armenian Orthodox Church, central committee moderator.”Over-institutionalism made the council lose much of its creative dynamism and vision. Meetings, paperwork, computers and travel have heavily dominated the life of this house (WCC headquarters),”he added.

A number of central committee members are urging the organization to be more a conduit than a decision-making body. Such a step, they say, would invite new members _ the Roman Catholic Church, for example _ and be less threatening to more insular churches, like the Orthodox denominations.

The WCC is also faced with rough financial times, as many of the Protestant churches of Europe and North America are forced to contribute less because of their decreasing memberships.

Raiser said he has cut staff, reduced the scope of many overseas programs and consolidated administrative functions in an effort to streamline WCC finances.

(END OPTIONAL TRIM)

External problems have also forced their way onto the agenda of the council. One of the most difficult challenges facing the 50-year-old organization is the antagonism of the Eastern Orthodox Churches, some of which contend the WCC has exacerbated conflicts by failing to reign in proselytizing efforts of Christian churches in their areas _ a charge Raiser denies.”The WCC has never favored proselytism. In fact, it has consistently reacted against proselytism,”he said.


He said the Georgian Orthodox Church’s decision to withdraw from the WCC last May and the Russian Orthodox Church’s consideration of the same move, has more to do with conflicts within those churches over their respective directions than with the work of the World Council.

When asked what the WCC could do to head off an exodus among the Orthodox churches, he said,”I’m afraid very little. We can explain, we can work ceaselessly to remove causes that deepen the feeling of estrangement and being marginalized. But I’m afraid that all this does not remove the causes that are the origin of the present criticisms.” But some critics say the WCC has reacted slowly in helping the Orthodox churches regain their footing in the former Soviet Union where evangelizing efforts were barred.”When these churches come into our countries, they are not there to help us, to work with us but to spread their own word,”said the Rev. Viktor Petliuchenko, a Russian Orthodox member of the central committee.

The Rev. Keith Clements, the new general secretary of the Conference of European Churches, said the negative Orthodox reaction to the WCC and his organization have little to do with their work.”The groups most at fault (for proselytizing) _ like the Pentecostal and other Christian groups from the United States _ are not members of our organizations,”he said.”They think we’re heretics. But from a distance, it’s difficult (for the Orthodox) to separate us out. We’re the targets.” Raiser said that in the end the Orthodox churches have to come to grips with the fact that the WCC cannot give orders to member churches.”The World Council was never constituted to speak with one voice and one mind,”he said.”It was constituted precisely because the churches are not of one mind. And a church that expects to find in the World Council only affirmation of its position is mistaken about the very nature of the World Council of Churches.” MJP END HEILBRONNER

Donate to Support Independent Journalism!

Donate Now!