wfn.org | WCC NEWS: Human sexuality discussed in consensus mode

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World Council of Churches - News Release
Contact: +41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org
For immediate release - 17/02/2005

"ECUMENICAL CONVERSATION" ON HUMAN SEXUALITY MODELS NEW WAY TO APPROACH
DIFFICULT ISSUES.

Free photos available, see below

Dialogue and conversation took centre stage at the WCC central committee
meeting on Thursday as members broached the subject of human sexuality.
Using a proposed new consensus model for conducting meetings, information
was presented and discussed without the heated atmosphere that often
surrounds such controversial issues.

"This is our first encounter with this type of session," central committee
member Anne Glynn-Mackoul of the Orthodox Church of Antioch said in
introducing the process for the hearing. Glynn-Mackoul, a lawyer from the
United States, helped to draft the proposed new consensus rules. "We would
ask that you enter into a spirit of discernment," she said.

Erlinda Senturias of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, who
moderates a reference group appointed to study the subject after the WCC's
Harare Assembly in 1998, outlined the work done on the topic thus far.

Dr George Mathew Nalunnakkal of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church
followed with a summary review of the 80 church statements on human
sexuality collected by the WCC.

Dr Valburga Schmiedt-Streck of the Lutheran Church of the Evangelical
Confession in Brazil presented an overview of a series of seminars that
examined the issue from several perspectives via "intense mutual encounter
and exchange" in small groups.

And Rev. Leonid Kishkovsky of the Orthodox Church in America explored the
ethical challenges facing the church on this broad issue.

WCC Europe region president Bishop Eberhardt Renz, who moderated the
session, said that the presentations and table discussions that followed
provided "the possibility to exchange our experiences, give our insights
[…] Consensus starts with this kind of conversation."

The approach was in keeping with the WCC's history on an issue on which
its member churches hold a wide variety of viewpoints, stemming from
differences in culture, geography, and theology. Rather than enter into
decision-making, the WCC has sought to serve as a forum where churches can
share these diverse views and learn together from the discussion process.

The consensus model being studied and tried out this week is a step
towards formalising that approach for all WCC business. If approved by
delegates at this meeting, it would take effect for the WCC ninth assembly
in February 2006 in Brazil.

Several delegates affirmed the value of the approach during the human
sexuality discussion.

"This allows us to go from confrontation to dialogue," said Msgr John
Radano of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, a
delegated observer to the meeting. "The world needs to see Christians
doing that at this particular point."

No statement on the issue is being planned for the ninth assembly.
However, the central committee is expected to continue looking at other
ways to continue the conversation, possibly via one of the "ecumenical
conversations" being planned for the almost-800 delegates.

In a later press briefing, Kishkovsky said that the dialogical approach
represents the best way forward for this time.

"Ideological debate is a totally unfruitful process," Kishkovsky said.
"(The issue) is better taken up in discernment mode at this point rather
than in a for/against mode." By focusing on dialogue, he said, "Maybe we
can still recognise the image of God in those taking the opposite
position."

For further information: http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/who/sexuality.html

Free high resolution pictures and additional information about the WCC
central committee meeting are available at:
www.oikoumene.org > Central Committee

Additional information: Juan Michel,+41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363
media@wcc-coe.org

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The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches, now 342, in
more than 120 countries in all continents from virtually all Christian
traditions. The Roman Catholic Church is not a member church but works
cooperatively with the WCC. The highest governing body is the assembly,
which meets approximately every seven years. The WCC was formally
inaugurated in 1948 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Its staff is headed by
general secretary Samuel Kobia from the Methodist church in Kenya.