Contact: World Council of Churches, +41-22-791-6153, +41-79-507-6363, media@wcc-coe.org

MEDIA ADVISORY, Oct. 2 /Standard Newswire/ -- In the context of rapid social and political changes in Eastern and Central Europe, some 37 leading representatives of theological and ecumenical institutions throughout the region gathered in Romania recently to seek more mutual cooperation and ecumenical commitment to ecumenical theological education.

The conference, which was held at the Sambata de Sus Monastery 24-28 September 2008, was organized by the programme on Ecumenical Theological Education (ETE) of the WCC and the Conference of European Churches (CEC) in cooperation with Volos Academy in Greece.

The participants of the conference, who came from more than a dozen different Central and East European countries, proposed to strengthen the network of Eastern and Central European Ecumenical Institutes and Theological educators, to unfold its potentials and also invited the Roman Catholic Church to join in this project.

Both ETE/WCC and CEC were urged to continue playing an initiating, enabling and accompanying role in this new process of networking and equipping this network.

A statement issued by the group said it is "vital for churches and societies, and the participants therefore recognized the need to promote ecumenical dialogue in theological education in the curricula of their universities and seminaries as well as in the life of the churches of this region."

According to the organizers, Dr. Viorel Ionita (CEC) and Dr. Dietrich Werner (ETE), there was an enormous enthusiasm and commitment in the consultation, based on the feeling that there is a certain kairos and new longing for ecumenical cooperation in theological education in Central and Eastern Europe.

This was expressed in many new openings and innovative projects of ecumenical learning going beyond the boundaries of denominational and national identities, they said. Several centers of ecumenical education were created in the last years to address and answer the newly evolving stage of the ecclesial and civil consciousness.

Apart from collecting some major case studies on innovative models for ecumenical learning in theological education, the participants identified some important principles for ecumenical theological education and also shortcomings in their implementation as well as positive strategies towards the future.

The group recommended that ecumenism as an attitude of sincere openness and dialogue needs to find ways to go much deeper into the structures and contents of theological education. A cultivation of an ecumenical ethos should be encouraged, which allows learning from each other beyond denominational traditions, fosters the development of friendship and at the same time avoids stereotypes and distorted images about the others.

It was said that only together can the different Christian traditions more fruitfully reach the width and depth of Christian faith and contribute to a missionary presence of Christian churches in contemporary societies.

The participants included theological educators and theologians from Belarus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Greece, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Switzerland and Ukraine, representing the Greek-Catholic, Hussite, Lutheran, Orthodox, Reformed and Roman-Catholic churches.

Key contributions in attendance were Konrad Raiser (Berlin), Stefan Tobler (Sibiu), Anne Kull (Tartu), Teresa Rossi (Rome), Dietrich Werner (Geneva), Constantin Scouteris (represented by Marina Kolovopoulou, Athens), Pantelis Kalaitzidis (paper presented) and Eleni Kasselouri (Volos Academy), Dagmar Heller (Bossey), Vasile Leb (Cluj-Napoca), Antoine Arjakovsky (Lviv), Ivana Noble (Prague) and Kakhaber Kurtanidze (Georgia).

Statement issued by participants of the conference:
http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=6316

Papers of the conference and a list of important centers for ecumenical theological education and research will be available in the ETE section of the WCC website:
http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=2557

WCC programme on Ecumenical Theological Education (ETE):
http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=3137

Conference of European Churches (CEC):
http://www.cec-kek.org/

Additional information: Juan Michel,+41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, from the Methodist Church in Kenya. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.