c. 2007 Religion News Service

Christian Leaders Mark 50 Years of Ecumenical Movement

(RNS) Marking 50 years since a prominent ecumenical gathering in Oberlin, Ohio, representatives from a host of Christian denominations this week wrapped up a five-day conference promoting a new wave of interdenominational unity.

Speaking to 300 attendees from 80 different Christian denominations and organizations, the Rev. James Forbes compared the effort, which was organized by the National Council of Churches’ Faith and Order Commission, to a revival.

“If there ever was a time for a new Great Awakening to happen in our nation, the time is now,” Forbes said, telling ecumenists that they were “the salt of the earth.”

According to the National Council of Churches, the modern ecumenical movement can be traced to a 1957 conference in Oberlin, the first to include Catholic representatives.

This year’s conference gained a special urgency after the Vatican’s recent assertion that Protestant denominations are not churches “in the proper sense.”

Attending the conference were representatives from Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Pentecostal, Anglican and evangelical denominations. In addition to speakers, panels and small-group discussions, breakout sessions covered topics such as “Faith and Order in a Post-Modern World” and “New Horizons in Christian Unity.”

Communal prayer and confession times were interspersed throughout the schedule.

For the first time ever, the event also included a film festival showcasing eight ecumenically themed productions. The short films included “Culture Shock _ From Nairobi to Copenhagen,” a 28-minute piece documenting two Kenyan sisters who visit churches in Denmark.

There were also abstract entries such as “One Body, Many Parts,” a four-minute production that layered Scripture reading with choreography and larger-than-life puppets.

The festival was dubbed “Oikumene,” after the Greek root for “ecumenical” that translates to “the whole inhabited world.”

Some participants at Oberlin 2007, including Jesuit theologian Cardinal Avery Dulles, applauded the 50 years of interdenominational dialogue, saying the conversations “have been of immense value for dispelling the past prejudices.”

Dulles added that they are beneficial in “identifying real but hitherto unrecognized agreements, and for enabling parties to see that they can say more together than they previously deemed possible.”

Despite the progress, speakers noted that the dialogue still needs to evolve.

“We constantly have to be expanding the `we’ with whom we do this work,” said the Rev. W. Douglas Mills, who represented the United Methodist Church.

The Faith and Order movement has marked significant strides since the inaugural conference _ Roman Catholics sent several official delegates to Oberlin 2007, as opposed to two “observers” in the 1957 talks.

_ Michelle Rindels

Ukrainian Catholics Protest Plans by U.S. Firm to Make Church a Casino

(RNS) Ukrainian Catholics are fighting to stop a U.S.-owned company from turning a 19th-century church into a casino, according to international reports.

Protesters inside St. Joseph’s church in Dnipropetrovsk were forcefully evicted before the roof and ceiling were removed Friday (July 20), according to Ecumenical News International.

“The authorities are laughing at us, thinking we can do nothing as they take the church to pieces under our eyes,” said the Rev. Jan Sobilo, vicar-general of the Roman Catholic Kharkiv-Zaporizhia diocese.

Sobilo said Ukraine’s president, Viktor Yushchenko, has requested an explanation from local government officials, who have defended the firm’s right to use the building as private property.

But Sobilo believes that the U.S. firm working on the renovation, which ENI named as California Dagsbury Inc., was not properly informed that the structure is a church.

“The only other places of worship we have here are a house belonging to the Capuchin order, and a small chapel with room for just 60,” Sobilo said. “This explains why we’re so desperate to keep the church.”

Catholics have long struggled to reclaim church property that was confiscated during Soviet rule. Though ENI says there are 870 Catholic parishes in Ukraine, St. Joseph’s was the only church in Dnipropetrovsk, a city of over a million.

The Catholic News Agency estimates that there are 4 million Catholics in the country of over 46 million.

_ Michelle Rindels

Buddhist Monks Oppose Bhutan’s Electoral Laws

CHENNAI, India (RNS) Buddhist monks in the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan are opposing laws that deem them ineligible to vote in forthcoming parliamentary elections and to run for office.

The country’s first democratic elections are scheduled for later this year.

Under the Bhutanese constitution, monks are to “remain above politics.” Some of the monks in the country agree, saying “in the Buddhist tradition spiritual leaders should not handle political issues.”

Other monks, however, view the ban as contrary to the reformist spirit announced by the king of Bhutan, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, who gave up absolute power in 1998 after a reign of more than 30 years.

The king announced in December 2005 that he would step down in favor of his son, Crown Prince Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck, following the first democratic elections.

Satisfied that the democratic transformation was under way, Jigme Wangchuck turned over the crown to his son last December.

Bhutan, which is surrounded by India to the south and China to the north, has many monasteries. Buddhism is the state religion. Bhutan has little contact with the outside world, although tourism has been encouraged in recent years. There are no railways, but roads join many parts of this small country.

_ Achal Narayanan

Quote of the Day: Jeff Abshire, administrative pastor in Waco, Texas

(RNS) “We believe that we’ll have greater integrity with our people if we’re living off a salary that is similar to what most of the people in our church earn.”

_ Jeff Abshire, administrative pastor of Antioch Community Church in Waco, Texas, discussing why his church has chosen to pay all its staff members the same annual salary, currently $26,400. He was quoted by Associated Baptist Press.

DSB/PH END RNS