wfn.org | Episcopalians: News Briefs

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August 28, 2002

2002-196

Episcopalians: News Briefs

WCC facing financially 'unsustainable' position

(ENI) The World Council of Churches (WCC) is in a "financially 
unsustainable position" and its central committee, meeting in 
Geneva until September 3, will have to take decisions to restore 
"financial stability," the committee was told. 

Anders Gadegaard, on behalf of the WCC's finance committee, said 
the council's audited financial results for 2001 showed an 
operating deficit of $3.91 million. The WCC is the world's 
biggest church grouping, with a staff of about 180 at its Geneva 
headquarters. 

The preliminary report of the finance committee placed the blame 
for poor financial results in 2001 on a shortfall in investment 
results, a decrease in contributions and on a one-time cost of 
an early retirement program for departing staff. The report said 
the Geneva meeting would have to make decisions that would 
reshape the council in terms of its organizational setup and 
activities. "Management has exhausted possibilities to decrease 
costs within the current structure," the report stated. 

Michiel Hardon, the WCC's income monitoring and development 
manager, said many WCC-member churches were facing financial 
difficulties, including cuts in budgets and staff, and that 
competition from other ecumenical agencies for funding had 
increased. The fall in stock markets had affected the WCC both 
directly and indirectly through its effects on the finances of 
member churches. 

WCC warned of link between globalization and violence

(ENI) Leaders of the main governing body of the world's largest 
grouping of Christian churches expressed concerns on August 26 
about how the blind acceptance of market principles can exclude 
many people in the process of globalization. The meeting of the 
central committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC) began 
in Geneva as the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable 
Development was starting in Johannesburg. 

By submitting all relationships in society to the logic of the 
market, globalization can break up communities and exclude large 
numbers of people from participation, WCC general secretary 
Konrad Raiser said in his opening remarks to the central 
committee in Geneva. "The brutal shock of 11 September has 
suddenly revealed that in a situation of globalization even the 
seemingly powerful who are enjoying the benefits of economic 
globalization are vulnerable," Raiser said. "For a short while 
after the events of 11 September there was the vain hope that 
the shock might lead to recognizing and acknowledging the 
fundamental condition of mutual vulnerability and thus might 
become an incentive for new forms of co-operation and 
solidarity." 

But, he went on, "the response on the part of people and 
governments in the powerful industrialized countries has instead 
been to demand increased security against the threats of 
terrorism Where both sides in a conflict consider themselves to 
be victims of the violence and aggression of the other we enter 
the vicious circle of violence and counter-violence which 
justify each other mutually," said Raiser. "The violent 
confrontation of Israel and Palestine provides the most dramatic 
evidence of this condition."

"It would be an obvious over-simplification to establish a 
direct and causal link between the impact of economic 
globalization and the emergence of international terrorism," 
Raiser said. Still, he noted, vulnerability as a consequences of 
poverty, disease, unemployment and violence was condemning more 
and more people to a "perennial experience of victimization 
under the domination of powerful forces beyond their controlIt 
is this generalized sentiment of being condemned to the status 
of victims which in turn is being exploited by those who engage 
in acts of terrorism," said Raiser. 

New Anglican head in Kenya opposed to abortion and 
homosexuality 

(ENI) Bishop Benjamin Nzimbi, who will be consecrated as the new 
head of the Anglican church in Kenya on September 22, is 
socially conservative and known to be vehemently opposed to 
homosexuality and abortion. 

Currently bishop of Kitui diocese in eastern Kenya, Nzimbi, 
unlike his predecessor, Archbishop David Gitari, does not have a 
reputation for being politically outspoken. 

Nzimbi was declared the new Anglican archbishop on August 16 
after a two-thirds majority vote in an election which took place 
at Nairobi's All Saints Cathedral. After his election, Nzimbi 
told ENI "any new ideas should be theologically sound. We want 
the church to be the church." 

Like Archbishop Livingstone Mpalanyi-Nkoyoyo of neighboring 
Uganda, Nzimbi is vehemently opposed to homosexuality and 
abortion. "My leadership will follow the authority of the 
scriptures," he said in an ENI interview. 

The new archbishop becomes the fourth head of the Anglican 
Church of Kenya and will be enthroned when Gitari formally 
retires in September. Married with five children, Nzimbi was 
first ordained in 1985 as the Bishop of Machakos, before moving 
to Kitui. 

"I know I have a lot of challenges on the road ahead," he said.

Greek Orthodox official questioned in Israel, criticized by 
patriarchate

(ENI) Israeli police have questioned an official of the Greek 
Orthodox Church in Jerusalem on suspicion of supporting terror 
groups and illegally visiting countries hostile to the existence 
of Israel. Archimandrite Atallah Hanna, who has faced criticism 
from his patriarchate for his alleged remarks, claimed after his 
release from custody that his arrest had been unjustified as he 
had only expressed opposition to Israel's military occupation of 
areas claimed by the Palestinians. 

"Our position is consistent and thorough," he said. "We will 
continue to support the Palestinians, until they gain their 
freedom. We are not terrorists or murderers; we are people who 
aspire to live in freedom and respect." 

Hanna was taken from his home in the walled Old City of 
Jerusalem and was questioned on suspicion of having met with the 
leader of the militant Islamic group Hezbollah, Sheikh Hassan 
Narallah, during a recent visit to Lebanon. Hanna said his 
meetings with Sheikh Nasrallah had taken place in the context of 
a conference on Christian-Muslim religious dialogue. He is also 
suspected by Israeli police of calling on Palestinian Christians 
to join the uprising against Israel, which began in September 
2000. In a recent article in Gulf News, a newspaper published in 
Dubai, he is quoted as supporting suicide bombings. 

"Some freedom fighters adopt martyrdom or suicide measures. But 
all these measures serve the continued Intifada [Palestinian 
uprising] for freedom. Therefore, we support all these 
casualties," the newspaper quoting him as saying in a speech in 
Dubai. The newspaper also identified him as an official 
spokesman for the Orthodox Church in Jerusalem. 

In an official statement, however, the Greek Patriarchate in 
Jerusalem denied that he was a spokesman for the church. The 
statement said that Hanna was a clerk in the Arabic department 
of the patriarchate's secretariat. Bishop Aristorchus, a 
spokesman for the patriarchate, said the church did not agree 
with Hanna's statements reported in the newspaper, nor had it 
granted permission for him to travel to Syria and Lebanon. 
Israeli police spokesman Gil Klieman said Hanna held Israeli 
citizenship and was not allowed to visit Lebanon and Syria, with 
whom Israel is technically still at war. 

Churches celebrate pioneering work of Lausanne conference 75 
years ago 

(ENI) Church leaders gathered August 25 to mark the 75th 
anniversary of the first World Conference on Faith and Order 
that took place in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1927. 

That meeting has been described as literally the first time 
since Christendom began to be divided that official 
representatives of churches discussed divisive questions of 
doctrine in an effort to learn rather than simply to dispute. It 
paved the way alongside other church unity efforts for the 
foundation in 1948 of the World Council of Churches (WCC). 

Metropolitans, bishops and priests were among the WCC leaders 
and local Christians from all major denominations who crowded 
into the city's cathedral for an ecumenical service to mark the 
anniversary. In a simple ceremony at the Lausanne cemetery, WCC 
representatives laid a wreath on the grave of Charles Henry 
Brent, a U.S. Episcopal bishop who was the moving force behind 
the Lausanne conference and died in 1929 during a visit to the 
city. 

Today the WCC has 342 member churches from around the world from 
all mainstream traditions--Protestant, Anglican and 
Orthodox--with the exception of the Roman Catholic Church, which 
has nevertheless been a full member since 1968 of the WCC's 
Faith and Order Commission. 

One of the major achievements of Faith and Order was the 
production 20 years ago of a key text on "Baptism, Eucharist and 
Ministry"--three of the main doctrinal issues that separate 
churches. With at least 12 million copies produced in some 30 
languages, the text led to hopes of an imminent ecumenical 
advance, and some were disappointed when there was no 
spectacular breakthrough. But the church landscape "has changed 
and is changing" as a result, according to Mary Tanner, a member 
of the Church of England and former moderator of the Faith and 
Order commission. 

Tanner pointed to new rules in her church to allow eucharistic 
hospitality and shared ministry in the many local ecumenical 
partnerships in towns and villages in England. The Church of 
England had come into communion with Nordic and Baltic Lutheran 
churches and drawn closer to Lutheran and Reformed churches in 
Germany and France. Anglicans and Roman Catholics had reached 
"substantial agreement in faith," she said. "Each of these new 
relationships of communion, or closer fellowship on the way to 
visible unity, are based upon the fruits of the ecumenical 
conversations begun in Lausanne," she told the symposium. 

New West dissidents take case behind closed doors

(ACC) The normally public dealings of a group of Anglicans 
opposed to same-sex blessings in New Westminster have moved 
behind closed doors on the say-so of a Texas priest. 

>From August 30 through September 3, the Anglican Communion in 
New Westminster (ACinNW), a coalition of eight parishes and 12 
clergy who walked out of a June diocesan synod after hearing 
that same-sex blessings could go ahead in the diocese, will hold 
consultations with sympathetic foreign primates and bishops, but 
the meetings will be private. 

Organizers say the only part of the gathering open to the press 
will be a September 1 celebration at a nearby Baptist church. 
They predict that more than 1,000 people, not only members of 
their coalition, will attend. 

The Rev. Ed Hird, a spokesperson for the coalition, said in an 
interview that if it were up to him, the entire gathering would 
be open. Indeed, Hird's coalition has made public much of its 
correspondence with primates and bishops of the Anglican 
Communion, even before the diocesan synod. 

It was not the coalition that which declared the consultations 
closed, but the Rev. Bill Atwood, a Texas priest and head of a 
conservative international mission organization called Ekklesia, 
whose membership is largely made up of conservative primates, 
archbishops and bishops. Atwood, who is serving as a booking 
agent of sorts for the primates, wrote in an e-mail, "The 
archbishops have not made a final decision about whether or not 
to have any press briefing, but I would be surprised if they do. 
The archbishops I know do not like to comment to the press about 
ongoing conversations." 

Atwood, Hird, and the diocese all refused to name those who have 
confirmed that they will attend the gathering, but a Sunday 
bulletin insert for ACinNW parishes identified them as 
Archbishop Bernard Malango of the Province of Central Africa; 
Archbishop Yong Ping Chung of the Province of South East Asia; 
Bishop Peter Njenga, representing Archbishop David Gitari of 
Kenya; and Bishop Andrew Fairfield from North Dakota.

New Westminster bishop Michael Ingham is in Brazil and has not 
said if he will meet with the primates, who have requested a 
meeting. Anglican protocol dictates that bishops and primates do 
not enter each other's dioceses without an invitation or 
permission from the local bishop. That did not happen in this 
case.

Fort Worth boycotts provincial synod over same-sex 
blessings

(ENS) Bishop Jack Iker and the standing committee of the Diocese 
of Fort Worth have refused to join other members of Province VII 
for their annual synod in October because of Kansas bishop 
William Smalley's decision to authorize the blessing of 
relationships other than heterosexual marriage. Smalley is chair 
of Province VII, of which Fort Worth is a part. 

"The Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth 
and I want to express our alarm and dismay over your decision to 
authorize the blessing of same sex unions and of other persons 
living in 'committed relationships' other than marriage," Iker 
wrote in a letter dated August 19. "This decision repudiates the 
clear teaching of Holy Scripture, the witness of the Christian 
Tradition over the ages, and the mind of the Anglican Communion 
as expressed in the Lambeth Conference of 1998.

"Your decision is a serious departure from Christian faith and 
practice, which violates our communion as Christians. It is 
divisive and schismatic. By your action, you have seriously 
compromised our relationship with you, and we wish to go on 
record as repudiating this new policy. As a consequence of this, 
no representatives from this Diocese will be present for the 
Province VII Synod, which you are to Chair in October.

"We call upon you to rescind this action in the interest of 
preserving the peace and unity of our Church," the letter 
concluded. 

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