wfn.org | Enthronement Service an Ecumenical Signal for the Future

["Frank Imhoff" <FRANKI@elca.org>]

LWF President Meets with New Archbishop of Canterbury

CANTERBURY, United Kingdom/GENEVA, 3 March 2003 (LWI) - President
of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), Bishop emeritus Dr
Christian Krause, has described the festive enthronement service
of the new Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. Rowan Williams,
as an ecumenical signal for the future. Krause attended the
enthronement in Canterbury's historic cathedral on Thursday, 27
February. Lutheran bishops and archbishops of the Nordic and
Baltic churches, in full altar-and-pulpit fellowship with the
Anglican churches of Great Britain and Ireland since the 1995
conclusion of the Porvoo Agreement, were present as well as
numerous representatives of other confessions.

The service put emphasis on interest in strengthening current
ecumenical links on both the Lutheran and Anglican side, Krause
told Lutheran World Information (LWI). He said he raised this
point during private conversation with Williams on 28 February.
Bishop Juergen Johannesdotter of the Evangelical Lutheran Church
of Schaumburg-Lippe, co-chair of the Meissen Commission, was also
present.

This close, direct relationship is reflected in the churches'
active involvement in Israel and Palestine. Each is concerned
about contributing to peace and reconciliation in the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Krause said. Anglican and Lutheran
presence in the Holy Land illustrate this. He said he thanked
Williams specifically for his commitment to a peaceful solution to
the conflict over Iraq.

Krause presented the new archbishop with a copy of the Imervard
Cross to mark the enthronement. The cross is considered to be the
most valuable work of art in Brunswick's cathedral. One of
Williams' predecessors, Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Becket, is
a patron saint of Brunswick cathedral. Krause was bishop of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Brunswick from 1994 to 2002.

Now officially enthroned as the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury,
Williams, 52, is primate of the Church of England and spiritual
head of the whole Anglican Communion of 70 million members. Welsh,
and former Archbishop of Wales, he succeeds Rt Rev. George Carey.
He legally became Archbishop of Canterbury at a ceremony in St
Paul's Cathedral, London, last December. The enthronement service
was his formal reception and a celebration of the start of his new
ministry.

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the
Lutheran tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund (Sweden), the LWF now
has 136 member churches in 76 countries representing over 61.7
million of the 65.4 million Lutherans worldwide. The LWF acts on
behalf of its member churches in areas of common interest such as
ecumenical relations, theology, humanitarian assistance, human
rights, communication, and the various aspects of mission and
development work. Its secretariat is located in Geneva,
Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is LWF's information service.
Unless specifically noted, material presented does not represent
positions or opinions of the LWF or of its various units. Where
the dateline of an article contains the notation (LWI), the
material may be freely reproduced with acknowledgment.]

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