wfn.org | CEC on the 60th Anniversary of end of World War II in Europe

["Ruth Gill" <rag@cec-kek.org>]

Conference of European Churches - Office of  Communications
Press Release No. 05-15/efg				 12 April 2005

CEC ON THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF END OF WORLD WAR 2 IN EUROPE

The Presidium of the Conference of European Churches (CEC), meeting in
V*ster*s, Sweden, 6-10 April 2005, has agreed to send a message to the
churches concerning the 60th anniversary of the end of the Second World
War in Europe.

"We call upon the churches, peoples and governments of Europe", the
message states, "to pay special attention to this commemoration and to
reflect seriously upon its significance. On 8 May we shall recall how 60
years ago, Europe found itself at last delivered from a war of unparalleled bloodshed and destruction. (…) Despite the passage of time it is never
too late to recall and reflect that it was the impulses to domination,
militarism and racism that led Europe to disaster then, and that these
false gods must never again be allowed to seduce the mind of any people in
Europe".

The CEC Presidium also remembers " those who resisted tyranny and evil
even to death for the sake of a new order of justice and peace ", and
particularly recalls the 60th anniversary of the death of the German
theologian Dietrich Bonnhoeffer (9 april 1945), executed for his part in
the resistance to Adolf Hitler.

"We give thanks to God", the message states, "that out of the wreckage and
carnage which engulfed Europe lessons have been learnt, fresh visions seen
and ventures undertaken for a new ordering of the life of peoples and
nations. We welcome and affirm every effort that has been made and every
step taken for post-war reconciliation in Europe… We recognise that the
end of the Second World War did not by itself fulfill all hopes of peace
and in fact ushered in a new era of division and confrontation between
East and West, but we now rejoice that Europe today has the opportunity,
unprecedented for centuries, to become a true community of peoples founded
upon trust, cooperation and interdependence".

"We affirm the vital role which the European institutions have to play in
this continuing process, especially the European Union, the Council of
Europe and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The
founding vision of the EU", the message recalls, "was that of making
future war impossible between nations by making their economies interdependent and by acceptance of common standards in their public life". The
European institutions "will only fulfill their stated aims if there is
real commitment to their founding ideals and if in the light of them the
peoples of Europe themselves call to account both their governments and
the institutions. There is need of a Europe-wide people's movement for
peace, human dignity, solidarity and justice. These are values which as
Christians we believe are rooted in the gospel of Christ and can only be
sustained by vital faith and deep commitment".

The full text of the message can be found at: www.cec-kek.org/pdf/WWIIEnglish.pdf.

The 10-member Presidium of CEC also approved a message on the 90th
commemoration of the Armenian genocide: the text will be released later
this week.

The Presidium reviewed the activities of the different Commissions and
desks of CEC, and received reports on the restructuring of CEC and on the
planning of the 3rd European Ecumenical Assembly (Sibiu, Romania, 4-8
September 2007). It finalised the agenda of the CEC Central Committee,
meeting in Crete, Greece, from 4-10 June. The Presidium met with representatives of the churches of V*ster*s, and was invited to a reception by the
local Lutheran Bishop, the Right Rev. Claes-Bertil Ytterberg.

* * * *

The Conference of European Churches (CEC) is a fellowship of some 125
Orthodox, Protestant, Anglican and Old Catholic Churches from all
countries of Europe, plus 40 associated organisations. CEC was founded in
1959. It has offices in Geneva, Brussels and Strasbourg.

For information:
Office of Communications
Conference of European Churches
Phone +41 22 791 64 85 or 791 63 25
Fax +41 22 791 62 27
e-mail Luca.Negro@cec-kek.org