wfn.org | Open Letter from Argentinean Churches and Ecumenical Organizations

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

An Open Letter from Churches and Ecumenical Organizations in Argentina

Buenos Aires, Argentina
December 20th, 2001

To our sister churches, agencies and Christian institutions in the Northern 
Hemisphere

Dear brothers and sisters:

Arriving to the end of the Season of Advent, and with our look already set 
to the Manger of the Nativity at
Bethlehem, the social explosion in our country does not allow us to look at 
a horizon of peace; our horizon is in
many senses very similar to that at Bethlehem where the Empire imposed on 
the people laws and projects
which did not make for people's happiness.

In this context, from the God-Made-Flesh outlook, we should, as churches, 
run the risk of being witnesses to
the dignity of all people answering the call of being servants to the truth 
and to justice. Emmanuel, God with
us, should be the basis to build a more just and sensitive world, a world 
in solidarity with the excluded, looking
towards them, as it is from them that hope comes.

All Christians are called to be witnesses to peace, a peace that is born 
from the will to build a more inclusive
society, a society where everybody can find a place with dignity. Witnesses 
to a peace that is nurtured in justice
and in truth.

The Christian Church is a universal body that includes the concept of 
equality before God and community
among people that is unique to it. The concept of communion offers the 
possibility and the duty of building
solidarity that embraces the whole earth. On this basis we appeal today, 
concretely, to your support from each
one of your places.

All that is happening these days in Argentina, and what has been brought to 
the attention of the international
community through the media, again highlights the injustice in our country, 
together with its record of
corruption, irresponsibility and the insensitivity of the ruling class. At 
the same time, however, it is an
opportunity to call the attention of the Northern Hemisphere, in their 
North-South relations, to the fact that we
also have a 500 year history of painful and unjust international relations.
In this history, full of sin, a huge transfer of natural resources, 
products of all kinds, and labour from the South
to the North, resulted in a huge accumulation of wealth in the North, 
bringing, to the present, enormous profits
to that part of the world. This leads to the fact that any proposal for a 
change of situation in the South, implies
some deep changes in the lifestyle of the North.

This transfer of wealth started with the conquest of America, continued 
throughout the centuries of colonial
power, and is continuing today with the transferring of huge profits of 
transnational enterprises, mainly in the
form of interest on a debt that is a heavy burden for our people. Here the 
ruling sector of our country
irresponsibly played the game in recent decades and into present day. The 
effect of this debt and the current
policy has been disastrous. The debt, besides originating out of an unjust 
economic relationship, is illegal; it
generates corruption and impunity in order to continue to be possible.

We call upon churches, agencies and Christian institutions in the North to 
consider the following crucial issues
that we have already raised in the past:

1)
We request you to use all means and possibilities to build up commercial 
and economic international
relationships based on justice and equality.

2)
We ask you to use the same means and possibilities to help us to alleviate 
the burden of the
international debt, which is producing misery, and is killing millions of 
people.

3)
We request you to consider concrete signs of self restriction favouring the 
needy in the South, and
to implement concrete signs of solidarity with those who are suffering more 
deeply. God created the
North and the South (Ps. 89:12) and once and for all, the dominion of one 
over the other must
stop!

We wish to express our gratitude to all those individuals and institutions 
in the North involved in the creation of
just international relations and solidarity networks. We encourage you to 
continue working towards a
transformation from the current situation in which those "above" enjoy life 
and those others "below" suffer, into
a bridge over which we may all embrace and all can talk.

We greet you in Christ, Head of the Universal Church to which we belong, 
here in the South and there in the
North.

Signing Churches:
 United Evangelical Lutheran Church (IELU) -- Rev. Angel Furlan, Presiding 
Pastor and Roberto Stein, Executive Secretary
 Evangelical Church of the River Plate (IERP) -- Rev. Juan Pedro Schaad, 
Presiding Pastor and Rev. Juan Abelardo Schvindt, Executive Secretary
 Anglican Diocese of Argentina -- Rev. Canon Carlos E. J. Halperin, 
Ecumenical Officer
 Congregational Evangelical Church (IEC) -- Rev. Antonio Schdr, Presiding 
Pastor
 Argentine Evangelical Methodist Church (IEMA) -- Rev. Guido Bello, 
Superintendent
 Reformed Churches in Argentina (IRA) -- Rev. German Zijlstra, Moderator
 Evangelical Waldensian Church of the River Plate (IEVRP) -- Rev. Delmo Rostan
 Association of the Churches of God (ALIDD) -- Rev. Daniel Vaccaro, 
Presiding Pastor
 Church of the Disciples of Christ -- Rev. Luis Macchi, Presiding Pastor

Adherent Ecumenical Organizations:
 Argentine Federation of Evangelical Churches (FAIE) -- Rev. Emilio Monti, 
President
 ISEDET Seminary -- Rev. Dr. Reni Kr|ger, Principal
 Ecumenical Movement for Human Rights (MEDH) -- Rev. Osvaldo Ulrich
 Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI) River Plate Region -- Rev. Juan 
Gattinoni, Regional Secretary
 Argentine Committee for Refugees (CAREF) -- Rev. Canon Carlos Halperin, 
President

The United Church of Canada works in partnership with several of the above 
partner churches and organizations in Argentina and Latin America. This 
work is supported by The Mission and Service Fund of The United Church of 
Canada. For more information telephone 416-231-7680 ext 5152 or e-mail Jim 
Hodgson or Maria Morales.