wfn.org | Ecumenical Delegation visits Yugoslavia

[Sheila MESA <smm@wcc-coe.org>]

World Council of Churches
Press Update
16 April 1999

ECUMENICAL DELEGATION VISITS YUGOSLAVIA

cf. WCC Press Update of 25 March 1999
cf. WCC Press Release of 29 March 1999
cf. WCC Press Release of 31 March 1999
cf. WCC Press Update of 15 April 1999

An ecumenical delegation is visiting the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
16 - 18 April. The objective of the pastoral visit, which is jointly planned
by the World Council of Churches (WCC), the Conference of European
Churches (CEC) and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), is "to
express our profound concern and solidarity  with our member churches
at a time of great crisis which will have serious implications for
intra-European ecumenical relations, especially between the East and the
West", explains Alex Belopopsky, WCC Europe secretary.

The delegation will meet in Belgrade with representatives of the Serbian
Orthodox Church and in Novi Sad with the church leaders of the
Reformed Christian Church in Yugoslavia, the Slovak Evangelical Church
of the Augsburg Confession in Yugoslavia and the Evangelical Methodist
Church in Yugoslavia. The visit is being made as a response to an
invitation issued by the member churches.

Further objectives of the visit are the exchange of perceptions of the
violence and military conflict in the region, the forced exodus of the
Kosovar Albanians as well as identify further  ecumenical initiatives,
including humanitarian assistance. The visit may also include meetings
with representatives of churches and humanitarian organizations.

According to Huibert van Beek, WCC executive secretary, Church and
Ecumenical Relations, there are also plans to send a separate delegation
to Albania, which is welcomed by the Albanian Orthodox Church. It had
been hoped that this visit could happen simultaneously with the
delegation to Yugoslavia. "However, we respect Archbishop
Anastasios' request that the visit occur later as the church has to focus
all its attention and energy on the refugee situation," van Beek explains.
The diaconical wing of the Albanian Orthodox Church, Diaconia Agapes,
is closely cooperating with ACT International - WCC's and LWF's
ecumenical network for emergency response - in its efforts to provide
humanitarian aid to the refugees from Kosovo.

The members of the delegation led by Rev. Dr Keith Clements, CEC
general secretary are:

- Mr Alexander Belopopsky, WCC Europe secretary
- Rev. Dr Olli-Pekka Lassila, LWF Europe secretary

Members of the delegation are prepared to talk with journalists after their
return from Yugoslavia.

Contact:  Karin Achtelstetter, Media Relations Officer          

**********
The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches, now 338, in
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was formally inaugurated in 1948 in Amsterdam, Netherlands.  Its staff is
headed by general secretary Konrad Raiser from the Evangelical Church
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