c. 1998 Religion News Service
Bulgarian Orthodox to quit World Council of Churches
(RNS) The Bulgarian Orthodox Church has announced it will withdraw from the World Council of Churches, the Geneva-based international ecumenical body, citing the WCC’s style and direction.”We have no intention of ending ecumenical church contacts or cutting links with other Christian organizations,”a spokesman for the Bulgarian church told Ecumenical News International, the Geneva-based religious news agency.”But our church took the decision to leave last April and will circulate its explanation shortly.”We have not consulted other Orthodox churches about this announcement and cannot comment on their intentions,”the spokesman added.
The WCC counts more than 330 Protestant, Anglican and Orthodox churches as members.
In recent years, however, a number of the Orthodox denominations have expressed unhappiness with what they see as Protestant domination of the WCC’s agenda and the ecumenical body’s preoccupation with what the Orthodox consider Western liberal issues such as women’s ordination, sexuality and modern, ecumenical liturgies.
The flooding of Eastern Europe by Protestant missionaries _ not necessarily affiliated with WCC churches _ has also exacerbated tensions.
Although the Bulgarian decision was made last April, it was only confirmed when the church’s synod met in Sofia on July 22. In 1997, the Georgian Orthodox Church announced its withdrawal from the WCC. Other Orthodox churches have also expressed their unhappiness but have not acted to quit.
Meanwhile, Archbishop Jeremiasz, a leader of the Polish Orthodox Church, has denied reports the Polish church will quit the WCC.”The WCC needs to reform its approach to theological dialogue, the life of member churches and other issues,”he told ENI.”But criticizing the WCC doesn’t mean rejecting ecumenical contacts. No Orthodox church will ever wish to abandon the challenge of seeking Christian unity.”The fanatics who loudly proclaim their rejection of ecumenism are motivated by particular interests and are not representative of Orthodoxy,”he said.
The Bulgarian Orthodox move comes just four months before the WCC is set to observe the 50th anniversary of its founding at its Eighth Assembly scheduled to take place in Harare, Zimbabwe.
Aid workers freed in Chechenya after 275 days of captivity
(RNS) Two Hungarian aid workers abducted in the southern Russian republic of Chechenya have been released after 275 days in captivity, Action By Churches Together has announced.
The two aid workers, Gabor Dunajszki and Istvan Olah, employed by Hungarian Interchurch Aid, were released early on July 25. The Hungarian aid group was working in cooperation with ACT, a Geneva-based agency of the World Council of Churches and Lutheran World Federation, and the Russian Orthodox Church.
When the armed conflict in Chechenya ended in 1996, the republic was hit by a wave of abductions aimed at international aid workers and journalists who are believed to be a major source of income _ in the form of ransoms _ for local warlords and also for high-ranking Chechen government officials, according to Ecumenical News International, the Geneva-based religious news agency.
A Hungarian government official and a leader of the Hungarian aid agency said that while considerable expenses were incurred during the nine months of negotiations aimed at the release, no ransom was paid for the hostages.
Another aid worker linked to ACT, Dimitri Petrov of the International Orthodox Christian Charities who was abducted in September 1997, remains in captivity.
Woman sues former employer for religious harassment
(RNS) A former employee of BSG Laboratories in Deland, Fla., has filed suit against the audio lab saying she was subjected to religious harassment such as forced attendance at prayer meetings and other religious coercion.
According to papers filed in Volusia County Circuit Court, Rosamaria Machado-Wilson said she was fired Jan. 3, 1997, after less than six months on the job after she complained about religious harassment.
Machado-Wilson said that a walk to the office coffee pot sometimes meant weaving past prostrate, praying co-workers and being forced to stop for impromptu ceremonies spoken in tongues, the Associated Press reported.
According to the suit, workers were also forced to attend company prayer meetings and to be baptized, and those found to be”nonbelievers”were fired.
An attorney for the company said it had no comment.
Romania `receptive’ to a visit by Pope John Paul II
(RNS) Romania could become the first predominantly Orthodox country to receive a visit from Pope John Paul II, according to Orthodox officials in Bucharest.
A statement released July 24 by the Romanian Orthodox Church’s synod said the synod”proved receptive”to a possible papal visit. It said”unofficial consultations”between representatives of the Romanian church and the Vatican about a visit will begin this fall.
But the synod statement also said a papal visit could not be separated from the question of relations between the Orthodox and Greek Catholic Church, an Eastern rite church that remains loyal to Rome.
There has been tension in recent months between the two bodies over the question of church property. During the communist era, the Greek Catholic Church was outlawed and its properties turned over to the Orthodox.
Despite being relegalized in 1990, the Greek Catholics have regained fewer than 100 of the estimated 2,000 buildings they had before World War II.
Ill. pastor suspended by Methodist bishop in computer porn case
(RNS) Bishop C. Joseph Sprague, head of the Northern Illinois Conference of the United Methodist Church, has suspended a Lombard, Ill., pastor arrested for alleged participation in computer-based child pornography.
Sprague said the pastor, the Rev. Timothy A. Rasey of Faith United Methodist Church in Lombard, will be suspended pending the outcome of an investigation of his July 22 arrest.”If Rev. Rasey is adjudged to be guilty of this charge or any inappropriate behavior associated with children, steps will be taken to remove him permanently from pastoral ministry,”Sprague said in a statement.”If he is innocent, we will assist him in establishing same,”the bishop added.
Rasey could not be reached for comment.
Pope prayes for murdered church workers
(RNS) Pope John Paul II prayed Wednesday (July 29) for five members of the Roman Catholic clergy killed in recent days in Yemen, South Africa and the Congo Republic.”My thoughts return now to the three missionary nuns of the (order) of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, killed some days ago in Yemen,”the pope said during his midweek public audience.”And to Sister Theodelind Scherck of the congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of the Holy Child, kidnapped and found dead in South Africa last Sunday, and to the Jesuit missionary, Father Michel Albecq, murdered the day before yesterday in the Republic of Congo.”Let us pray to God for these generous witnesses of the gospel and for all victims of violence which, unfortunately, continues to cause bloodshed in many regions of the world,”the pontiff said.
The three nuns killed in Yemen on Monday were allegedly shot by a suspected Islamic extremist while on their way to work.
Scherck, a 52-year-old German nun, was kidnapped in the South African town of Eshowe and police said she was apparently the victim of a robbery. On Wednesday, the Associated Press reported two men had been arrested as suspects in the case.
Albecq, a French Jesuit, was found murdered in his bed in the Congolese capital of Brazzaville on Monday. The motive for the murder is not known, but Reuters quoted L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, as saying initial indications suggested he was also the victim of a robbery.
Quote of the day: the Rev. Colin Chapman
(RNS)”We’ve got so much more in common with devout Muslims than with our pagan, secular British neighbors.” _ The Rev. Colin Chapman, a consultant at the Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops and founder of Faith to Faith, an organization promoting interfaith cooperation, speaking shortly before the bishops addressed the question of Christian-Muslim relations on July 27.
MJP END RNS
