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Comments from the Christian Council of Sweden to the proposed Charta Oecumenica for the Cooperation of Churches in Europe
The Christian
Council of Sweden has warmly welcomed the initiative to create a Charta
Oecumenica for Europe. The document has stimulated a constructive dialogue
among the churches in Sweden. Some of the churches have gone into a
study process of their own, preparing responses to the Charta Oecumenica.
There has also been an important ecumenical process, where we have seriously
tried to develop a common ecumenical response to Charta Oecumenica from
the Christian Council of Sweden. The Christian Council of Sweden deeply shares the concern of CEC/CCEE to develop a common understanding of the role of the churches in a swiftly changing Europe and a code of conduct as a help in deepening relations and developing a common responsibility for the different churches and church families on the European scene. In a Europe that is deeply hurt and threatened by political, economic, social and cultural tensions and splits it is imperative for the churches to witness clearly together to the necessity of peace and co-existence and the possibility of reconciliation. In this respect the issues of peace and ecumenical relations cannot be separated. The churches must never be utilised by powers that forward a split and divided Europe. We appreciate the ecumenical atmosphere and the humble tone of self-examination in the document. We are conscious that sectarianism and ecclesiastical self-sufficiency are threats for all churches and this consciousness calls us to curiosity in learning from the experiences of others as well as to a healthy self-examination where we try to look at ourselves which each others´ eyes. The call for "renewal of our hearts and our readiness for repentance and conversion" is a challenge for us as churches in Sweden. Thus, the Charta Oecumenica has contributed to a good dialogue in and between the churches and Sweden and, hopefully, also helped us in the North of Europe to a better understanding of ourselves as being European. We share deeply the conviction, expressed in the introduction to the Charta, that "there is no alternative to reconciliation and ecumenism" and also the statement later in chapter 5 that "there is no alternative to dialogue" - which is true both in the relations inside and between the churches and in the relations with people of other faiths. All efforts should be made to forward and maintain an honest dialogue between churches that meet each other with openness and mutual respect for each other´s traditions, convictions and experiences. Most of all we would like to point out that the spiritual conditions of our common Europe challenge us as churches to take seriously our common responsibility and try to develop a common witness to people of our time. Secularisation, uprootedness, a new cultural and religious pluralism and a strengthening of the power of the market mechanisms are phenomena that effect all European societies in different ways and at different rates. These are realities that have to be faced by the churches and, if taken seriously, will change relations between the churches.
Our strong support for the efforts to create a bridge-building Charta Oecumenica for Europe is founded in our own experience. In the present historical situation of Europe there is a strong need to maintain old bridges and build new bridges between the established historical church families but there is also a strong need to build bridges and develop mutual understanding and respect between majority and minority churches in different parts of Europe. In today´s Europe those churches that are majority churches in one area are at the same time minorities in other areas. This fact should create new possibilities for dialogue between majority and minority churches in each place with a deeper understanding of each other´s perspectives and experiences. Like many other European countries, Sweden has a majority church, the Church of Sweden (Lutheran) with a majority of the population (more than 80 %) as members and a long tradition as the established church of Sweden. For centuries after the reformation of the 16th century the Lutheran faith was the only faith allowed in Sweden - unity in belief was seen as a guarantee for stability in society. Only some minor exceptions were made for foreigners. During the 19th century this religious unity was challenged by revival movements from within Sweden and from abroad, and a change of legislation in 1860 confirmed the emerging pluralism by making it possible for Swedish citizens to leave the Church of Sweden - but only in order to enter another Christian Church, which was recognized by the King. During the 140 years from 1860 the historical religious unity of Sweden has been succeeded by a far-reaching religious pluralism and an almost total individual religious liberty as far as other people´s rights are not threatened. The 20th century also has seen a strong ecumenical development with the Lutheran Archbishop Nathan Söderblom as one of the pioneers of the international ecumenical movement in the beginning of the century. This has been followed by the development of ecumenical structures for different tasks with a successively broader base among the churches in Sweden. Now we
can bring witness of a continuing good ecumenical climate which has
resulted i a in the foundation (in 1992) of the Christian Council of
Sweden, which now gathers 25 member churches and 3 observers, in four
church families: There are some other words and notions used in the text that are very differently interpreted inside different church traditions, why their use in the text requires operational definitions. Especially, we would like to point at the notions of "ecumenical spirituality" (ch. 3) and "church communities" and "sects" (ch. 4) The women´s perspective is almost totally lacking in the present text - except where women are mentioned as a weak species in need for the shelter of males! The role of women in Church and society is a central issue with deep ecumenical complexity and therefore - if the issue should at all be mentioned - it has to be much more deeply elaborated in order to make a real dialogue possible on this issue over the borders between different church traditions. Since the initiative to the Charta was taken by the Conference of European Churches and the Council of the Catholic Bishops´ Conferences in Europe it is quite natural that the process so far has been restricted to the members of the CEC and the Roman Catholic Church. Anyhow, a number of churches outside this group are active in the national councils of churches in Europe and thereby already are parts of the ecumenical movement in Europe. The possibilities of including also these churches in the process should be explored.
We certainly hope that it will be possible to conclude the process before the Ecumenical Encounter the week after the common Easter 2001. Anyhow, we want to underline that the aim of the process is much wider and its relevance so great that the process has to continue after Easter 2001, regardless of whether it has been possible to reach an agreement before that date or not.
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