LAEN 9-12-2010

Latin American Ecumenical News September – December 2010 • No. 3

LAEN

Whoever speaks the truth gives honest evidence.

Proverb 12,17

Information Service of the Latin American Council of Churches

Youth networks of faith based organizations gather to seek incidence in public policies With the participation of more than 50 youth leaders from 7 countries, the Regional Forum of Faith Based Youth Organizations (OJBF), convened by the Youth Pastoral Ministry of the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI), took place in Montevideo, Uruguay, from November 5-7, to discuss the rights of young people in the current Latin American and Caribbean context.

Montevideo, November 17, 2010 (ALC)

he participants were young people from Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Guatemala, Colombia and Brazil gathered together through the United Nations Population Fund, the National Institute for Youth of Uruguay, and different civil society organizations having to do with youth.

The event allowed for interaction between representatives of the government, the civil society, specialized academics, youth leaders of the civil society and the OJBF. The gathering did an overview of the state of the rights of young peo-

T

ple in Latin America and the Caribbean, 10 years after the launching of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the role of civil society in general and especially that of the OJBF, the agencies of the United Nations and the State, and specific actions of the governments of the region for meeting the MDGs. The reflections centered round the reality of the current situation, from the perspective of four the-

matic axes: youth, employment and productive projects for the overcoming of poverty; gender inequalities and youth; health and HIV prevention; and youth participation and public policies.

The participating youth expressed concerns such as: the high indexes of juvenile unemployment in the whole region and the practically null public policies to reduce those indexes; the enormous gender and generational inequalities resulting from social models ingrained in society in such a way that they are perceived as being unchangeable; the stigmatizing of people that live with HIVAIDS; the systematic disregard of the rights of women and young Continue on page 2

The Rev. Soner Alexander of Haiti, Bishop Griselda Delgado Del Carpio of the Episcopal Church of Cuba, and the Rev. P. Joshua "Griff" Griffin, environmental justice missioner in the Diocese of California, talk before the Eucharist on the first day of the Episcopal Climate Justice Gathering in the Dominican Republic Dec. 7-10 (Lynette Wilson)

In Dominican Republic, gathering explores climate justice perspectives

By Lynette Wilson December 08, 2010 (Episcopal News Service)

What started in 2004 as a 2,000-square-foot organic garden behind La Iglesia Santa Maria Virgen in Itabo, Cuba, grew to a community-wide project that empowered people

and spread to vacant lots, yards and other dioceses.

A small group of people, in small places, doing small things, can change the face of the earth,” is a popular saying in Cuba, said Bishop Griselda

“

Continue on page 11

Ecumenical leaders from the United States visit Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador Ecumenical leaders from the National Council of Churches of Christ and from Church World Service of the United States visited Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador from August 21-30, 2010, so that United States churches could come to know the reality of the displaced, victims of violence and Colombian refugees in the region as well as to talk with leaders from churches and civil society and Congressional and government representatives to explore ways of working together to achieve peace in Colombia and lessen tension in the Andean region.

By Rev. Milton Mejia and Rev. Jose Luis Casal he visit was organizad by The National Council of Churches of Christ (USA), Church World Service, the National Boards of the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI) of the countries’ visited, the Ecumenical Network on Latin America for Migration, Refugees, and Displaced People as well as the Church and Society Observatory of the Reformed University in Colombia.

The ecumenical delegation was comprised of Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches of

T

Christ in the United States (NCCC(USA)) and his wife Mardine Davis; Bishop Johncy Itty, President of the Board of Directors of Church World Service of the United States (CWS); Rev. José Luis Casal, Secretary of the Executive Committee of NCC(USA) and General Missioner of the Presbytery of Tres Rios of the Presbyterian Church (USA); and David Leslie, President of the Ecumenical Committee on Immigration of the NCCC(USA) and CWS and Executive Director of Ecumenical Ministries in Oregon. They were accompanied by leaders of churches and universities interested in the Andean region: Rev. Dr. Matt Samson, Professor of

CLAI and NCCCUSA participants at the office of the Ecuadorian Chancellor, Dr. Ricardo Patiño.

Anthropology at Davidson University in North Carolina; Rev. Dr. Dale Patterson, Pastor of the Hackberry Creek Presbyterian Church; Nancy Cecilia Casal, National Moderator of Presbyterian Hispanic/Latina

Women in the United States; and Ian Leslie, a student of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Oregon.

In Bogotá, Colombia the delegation participated in and various

members preached in worship services with the Methodist, Episcopal, and Presbyterian Churches in the city. They also had a conference with Continue on page 12

LATIN AMERICAN ECUMENICAL NEWS • SEPTEMBER – DECEMBER 2010

2 Clai News

Consultation on Poverty, Wealth and Ecology in Budapest Call for Climate Justice Budapest, November 17, 2010 (CEC)

“The communion within the global ecumenical movement helps churches to discover the signs of hope. This we experienced through the promising outcomes of the first stage of the direct dialogue of the Conference of European Churches (CEC) and the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI) on threats and challenges of globalisation. The global ecumenical movement helps churches to understand to what extent their work and witness for climate justice is a matter of faith.” consultation on Poverty, Wealth and Ecology in Europe organised by the Conference of European Churches (CEC) and the World Council of Churches (WCC) in cooperation with churches in Hungary ended on Friday, 12 November by adopting a final statement, the Budapest Call for Climate Justice.

The document underlines that the methods of wealth creation and the pursuit of unlimited wealth in rich industrialised countries of Europe often impoverish communities and harm creation as a whole.

Challenges of injustice and climate change are interlinked. Social and climate justice belong together. The document indicates that: “Climate justice and therefore both social and ecological values should be a central goal of policy-making. In industri-

A

By Héctor Carrillo Concepcion, November 13, 2010 (ALC)

alised countries economic growth should no longer be seen as an aim in itself.”

The statement calls for “The redistribution of wealth and sharing of technology between rich countries and poor countries affected by climate change…” as crucial elements of climate justice. This has to go along with “additional support for climate change mitigation and adaptation.” The EU should stick to its ambitions with regard to greenhouse gas emission limitations independent of policies of other large economies and put additional efforts for tackling poverty and social exclusion also among marginalised migrant communities.

In addressing poverty, wealth and ecology, the statement underlines that “we should build on the Church’s mission in society and in harmony with creation.” Churches in their different contexts have common but differentiated responsibilities. They need global ecumenical dialogue in order to define these responsibilities and to strengthen each other in living it out.

The document calls for strength-

ening of the churches’ work on climate justice and closer cooperation and coordination of this work in the World Council of Churches and Regional Ecumenical Organisations.

Direct links between churches from different continents and regional ecumenical organisations have to be strengthened and more structured, concludes the document.

Following the outcomes of the General Council of the World Communion of Reformed Churches’ (WCRC), participants in the consultation call for a joint preparation of a global ecumenical conference to propose framework and criteria for a new international financial and economic architecture that is based on the principles of economic, social and climate justice.

They invite the World Council of Churches to put climate justice and poverty eradication as well as the relationship between the two as a priority on the agenda of its 10th General Assembly in South Korea in 2013.

Source: Conference of European Churches, CEC: http://www.ceceurope.org/news-andmedia/news/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=230&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D =17&cHash=5917295165

Youth networks of faith based…

From page 1

people, groups at high risk of sexually transmitted infections and the

LAEN Latin American Ecumenical News is a quarterly produced by the Communication Department of the Latin American Council of Churches Editor: Christopher Morck Translation: Geoff Reeson, Patricia Morck and Christopher Morck.

Layout and Editorial Coordination: Amparo Salazar Chacón Press service: ALC, Methodist News Service, ENI, Presbyterian News Press, ACNS, Zenit, Factiva, ACPress.

Departamento de Comunicaciones CLAI Inglaterra N32-113 y Av. Mariana de Jesús Casilla 17-08-8522, Quito, Ecuador Telepone: (593-2) 255-3996/252-9933 Fax: (593-2) 256-8373 E-mail: nilton@claiweb.org www.claiweb.org ISSN 1390-0358 Suscriptions: Latin American and the Caribbean: One year US$ 12, Two years US$ 20 Other regions: One year US$16, Two years US$26

Trial of Mapuches begins in Chile with Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI) observers requested by relatives

lack of integral, quality and longterm programs of sexual education, with a focus on human rights, gender and ethics; the pseudo participation which young people face when attempting to contribute in the preparing of public policies with a gender and generational perspective in a world that is principally adult centered.

“Given such a panorama we do not keep our arms crossed,” said Nicolás Iglesias Schneider, Continental Coordinator of the CLAI Youth Pastoral Ministry. He pointed out that their youth organizations contribute to the generating of productive projects beginning with small business undertakings; accompany children and adolescent victims of family and structural violence; promote youth training in sexual education from

an integral and responsible perspective; and generate spaces for youth participation so that they have an incidence in the public policies that seek to guarantee their rights.

The CLAI Youth Pastoral Ministry Continental Coordinator affirmed that they are aware that the actions should be integral and coordinated, not only those of the OJBF. “In this sense, the State and civil society should coordinate to promote a citizen’s participation that contributes to the construction of a democratic political culture, to stimulate the joint work of the organizations of the civil society and the State, and reduce the social inequalities in consonance with the MDGs.”

The trial, expected to last between two to three began on months, November 11 in Cañete, 120 km south of Concepción, is for the 18 Mapuche indigenous people accused of being terrorists in their defense of their ancestral lands. t the request of relatives of the political prisoners, observers from the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI) are accompanying the accused. The observers are Lutheran pastors Oscar Sanhueza and Carlos Caamaño, and the representative of Build Network, Mario Carrasco.

Also present is the Mapuche Methodist pastor Hugo Marillán.

The trial began with the accused Mapuches entering the courtroom, which was full of news correspondents, with an arm raised high as their relatives waved cinnamon branches, a sacred tree for th

A

Free Mapuche Prisoners Demonstration (ALC)

Mapuche people.

The Mapuches being tried are accused of a series of crimes, and if found guilty could mean an accumulated sentence of 103 years imprisonment for one of them. The least of the sentences being asked for by the prosecution could amount to 50 years imprisonment.

The federal government has, however, withdrawn its demand that the Mapuches be tried under the Antiterrorist Law, but not the remaining accusations for which it is asking sentences of 20 years imprisonment. That petition itself contradicts the government’s promise of dropping all charges.

The Mapuche people understand that the trial is a political one.

Limitations block interreligious dialogue, say member churches of the National Council of Christian Churches of Brazil (CONIC) November 9, 2010 (ALC)

Christian denominations belonging to the National Council of Christian Churches of Brazil (CONIC) gathered in São Paulo from November 4-5 for a Seminar on Ecumenism and Interreligious Dialogue.

“We perceive that a clear definition does not exist with regard to what is ecumenism or what is interreligious dialogue. Be that as it may, we can affirm that the churches are committed to the ecumenical cause,” said the Reverend Luiz Alberto Barbosa, General Secretary of CONIC.

Marcelo Schneider (ALC)

That same commitment is not consolidated when the dialogue seems to intend to surpass other religions. Although there is a disposition for that dialogue, “certain limitations exist that need to be worked out,” explained Barbosa.

The representative of the Episcopal Anglican Church of Brazil (IEAB) at the event, the Reverend Pedro Tirana, said that the great challenge is to dialogue with the other, “who feels the divinity in a different way.” The theological adviser of the Evangelical Church of Lutheran Confession in Brazil (IECLB), Marcelo Schneider, pointed out that being closed to the dialogue opens the way for fundamentalisms.

The gathering was organized by the Theological Commission of CONIC, and also included the participation of representatives of the Ecumenical Service Coordinator (CESE), the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI), and the FAITHBrazil movement.

CONIC is made up of the Roman Catholic Apostolic Church, the Orthodox Syrian Church of Antioquia, the United Presbyterian Church, the Episcopal Anglican Church of Brazil, and the Evangelical Church of Lutheran Confession in Brazil.

Clai News 3

Cochabamba, September 16, 2010 (CLAI/ALC)

Representatives of associations of national and regional ecumenical theological seminaries founded, on 11, in September Cochabamba, Bolivia, the Forum of Ecumenical Theological Education of Latin America and the Caribbean (FETELAC), for the purpose of creating a common space of dialogue, to rationalize initiatives and the use of resources, and to avoid a duplication of undertakings. ith the new organism, the Forums of Theological Associations of Latin America and the Forum of Seminaries of the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI) are absorbed by FETELAC. “We are called to create new work tools and to be open to the manifestations of the Spirit in the midst of our peoples. The creation of the Forum inserts itself in our reality,” says the official statement

announcing the founding of FETELAC. The founders of the Forum point out that the appearance of new religious forms and expressions, the renewed manifestations of the indigenous and afro cultures and religions, and the new social movements and political experiences in Latin America and the Caribbean, all call for a revision of the content and method in which theological education is being done, of the ecumenical understanding, and of the inter-religious dialogue in the region.

The participants in the founding gathering were representatives of the Latin American Association of

Institutions of Theological Education (ALIET), the Association Evangelical Theological of Seminaries (ASTE) of Brazil, the Association of Seminaries and Theological Institutions (ASIT), the Latin American and Caribbean Ecumenical Theological Education Community (CETELA), and CLAI. Those associations comprise over 120 Evangelical, Protestant and Pentecostal seminaries in the region.

FETELAC has the support of the Evangelische Missionswerk of Germany, and that of the Ecumenical Theological Education Program of the World Council of Churches.

W

Founding of FETELAC, September, 2010, Cochabamba, Bolivia (CLAI ALC)

Coordinator of the Ecumenical Human Rights Observatory in Honduras asks pastors to join in statements to avoid a nuclear war The possibility that pastor theologians in Honduras can prepare a document in the light of the threat of a possible nuclear war arising out of the crisis in the Middle East is being encouraged among the members of the Ecumenical Human Rights Observatory of the Latin American Council of Churches (OEDHCLAI) in Honduras, by its Coordinator, the Reverend Leonel Casco Gutiérrez.

Tegucigalpa, September 16, 2010 (ALC) he proposal asks that an urgent consultation be held for the purpose of drafting a document, given the threat that world peace is facing and as part of the commitment of the Christians of Honduras, although Casco Gutiérrez suggests that it be also offered as a contribution of the whole continent.

The document would have a biblical-theological reflection and a demand that the President of the United States, Barack Obama, and other world leaders, as well as of the United Nations Security Council, put an end to “the hostilities and the preparations for a war that would affect all the inhabitants of the planet, with catastrophic and deadly consequences for humanity.”

The proposed document would articulate a denouncing of the mili-

T

tarization processes in the region, resulting in the installing of two military bases in Honduras (Islas de la Bahía and La Mosqutia) and seven in Colombia, and the unilateral maneuvers being carried out by the U.S. armed forces in Costa Rica through December of this year, “as an insult to democracy and the pacifist vocation of the Costa Rican people, who, since the 40s of the 20th century, eliminated the army, and by

that achieving high levels of human development and quality of life in comparison to our other countries,” says Casco Gutiérrez in his proposal.

Casco Gutiérrez’s proposal also includes the public presentation of the final document to the U.S. Ambassador to Honduras, Mr. Hugo Llorens, and the United Nations mission in the country.

Finally, the OEDHCLAI Honduras Coordinator makes reference to a statement for peace made public in Havana, Cuba, which has been signed by political parties, organizations and movements accredited in Cuba from countries like Chile, Guatemala, Colombia, the Dominican Republic and Spain, in addition to Palestine, the Sudan, Puerto Rico, El Salvador, Venezuela, Argentina and Nicaragua.

Women of the Meso American Platform and the Caribbean of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI) Gathered in Guatemala City

By Mayra Rodríguez Guatemala City, November 19, 2010 (ALC) omen from Mexico, Nicaragua, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Brazil and the host country, Guatemala, met in the capital city of Guatemala, analyzing from a gender perspective the challenges that the Millennium Development Goals have brought to the region, especially for the churches, in the context of the Meso American Platform of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Women and Gender Justice Pastoral Ministry of the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI).

During the gathering, the participants have been reviewing the

W

CLAI workshop looks at issues of food sovereignty and resource extraction

By Christopher Morck December 3, 2010

Sponsored by the Indigenous Ministry and the Environmental programs of the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI), and with the broad colaboration of the Association of Indigenous Evangelicals of Imbabura, a CLAI member church in Ecuador, the workshop “Food Sovereignty, Land and Territory, and Natural Resources” was held in Otavalo, Ecuador, from 29 November through 1 December 2010. ith the purpose of creating a space for indigenous pastors and church leaders to deepen their knowledge and to dialogue about topics such as food sovereignty, indigenous autonomies and rights, and the extraction and exploitation of natural resources, the formation and awareness-raising workshop included participants from eight church bodies from Ecuador, Bolivia, and Peru.

The event included presentations by specialists who dealt with

W

Imagine peace (WCC)

general orientations on the thematic processes being developed between the UNFPA and CLAI, with the Women and Gender Justice Pastoral Ministry, in societies where women are at a clear disadvantage in all the settings of social, political, economic and religious participation, because of the worsening inequity, exclusion and discrimination in relation to the indigenous and so called Third Age (the elderly).

The participants ended the meeting with a public statement which, as a result of their analysis, includes the challenges seen for the building of a regional platform having incidence in public policies, so as to improve the quality of life of women and the commitment undertaken by their regional coordination.

three specific topic areas: eco-theology, which included a relational and holistic reading of Genesis and an exploration of the Trinity as mutuality between the whole creation; food sovereignty, whose discussion included the Ecuadorian Food Sovereignty Law, the history of nutrition in the Andes, and the negative side of globalization which affects it; and the extraction of natural resources with a focus on energy, mining and petroleum – its history, contamination, and the social, economic, and health aspects in indigenous people groups and small farmer communities, and the expropriation of indigenous territories.

As well, the presenters spoke about the relationship between these themes, climate justice, and the extractivist economy and civilization.

Through the presentations, devotions, moments of Biblical reflection, work groups, and times of dialogue and conversation, the participants shared experiences, challenges, and achievements, and together they looked for ways of raising consciousness in their churches and to work so that churches would have incidence in their respective contexts in the economic, social, and political realities which impact the relationship between human and non-human communities.

LATIN AMERICAN ECUMENICAL NEWS • SEPTEMBER – DECEMBER 2010

Forum in Bolivia gathers together Latin American and Caribbean ecumenical theological seminaries

LATIN AMERICAN ECUMENICAL NEWS • SEPTEMBER – DECEMBER 2010

4 Church and Society

World Council of Proposals abound during rounds of dialogue at the Fourth Ecumenical Churches (WCC) to strengthen ecumenical support for peace Gathering in Brazil efforts in Colombia Gathered in Itaici in São Paulo, Brazil, from November 11-15, 2010, and organized by the Brazil Forum of the ACT Alliance (FAITH Brazil), the more than 300 participants have engaged in the so called “rounds of dialogue” on the theme, “Ecumenism, Ecology, Economy and Life.”

By Marcelo Schneider November 16, 2010 (ALC) It is in groups smaller than the plenary sessions where everybody is gathered together, that people feel more comfortable to speak, to share their experiences and to defend their proposals,” said Lucia Leiga, methodological advisor for the event.

The 2010 gathering had seven rounds of dialogues. At different moments, each group dealt with one of the issues that made up the triple conception that inspired the work of the event: ecumenism, ecology and economy. Transverse matters, such as the public incidence of the alternatives presented, the clamor for more support for development projects that are geared toward and marked by sustainability, and the call for social responsibility on the part of the business companies, sprang from voices coming from all of Brazil and countries of Latin America.

Among the tasks of the rounds of dialogue was that of identifying clear issues within the matters of economy and ecumenism. A large number of the participants came from social movements where they are involved

“

in projects supported by organizations that make up the Brazil Forum of the ACT Alliance (FAITH Brazil), and in youth groups in their churches. For that reason, the affirming of family agriculture and an economy of solidarity were two of the most present issues during the conversations on the economy.

Theology was also a transverse matter for debate, particularly having to do with the role theologies play or bring about in specific economic contexts.

According to Marilia Schüller, projects adviser for Koinonia “the (www.koinonia.org.br), Brazilian religious scenario today is rich in theologies that legitimate realities and non-sustainable and non-inclusive economic structures, as is the case of the Theology of Prosperity. We are gathered here to express that a counterpoint exists.

We defend and represent theologies that are alive, marked by the commitment to life, with dignity and with inclusion.”

The Fourth Ecumenical Gathering was financially supported

by CESE, Christian Aid, CREAS, FES/CNBB/Caritas Brazil, the Lutheran Diaconal Foundation of (LDF), the United Methodist Church - GBMG (USA) and the United Church of Canada.

Participants at the Fourth Ecumenical Gathering, São Paulo, Brazil

The First National Gathering of HIV/AIDS Affected Persons of Christian Faith Communities held in Cuba

By Aymara Cepeda October 5, 2010 (ALC)

The experience of the work with vulnerable groups and the so called Teams of Mutual Help (EAM), were two of the central themes in the First National Gathering of HIV/AIDS Affected Persons of Christian Faith Communities, organized by the Life and Community Health Program of the Council of Churches of Cuba (CIC). eld in the Province of Sancti Spíritus, some 360 kilometers from the capital city of Havana, the event had as its venue the Reformed-Presbyterian Church in the city of Sancti Spíritus, with the participation of pastors and leaders of the churches, as well as representatives from the Cuban Public Health services that work in the areas of HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention.

H

The territories represented at the gathering were Havana, Santa Clara, Santiago de Cuba and the host city.

On the opening day, Dr. Ana María Mayor Puerta of the Methodist Church, who works in the sub-program of Sexual Health and HIV/AIDS - which has been a part of Life and Community Health of the CIC for fifteen years explained the modifications that will be made to the Programmatic Structure of this ecumenical organism for the next five years, where it has been proposed that one of the transverse axes of the work of the Council of Churches be, precisely, that of the educational work to prevent the spread of the pandemic and the rest of the infections of sexual transmission, known as ITS. Other themes at the gathering that ended on Saturday, October 2, were those related to the serum discordance and therapeutic adherence, which were dealt with by professionals who are members of the churches committed to the double task of acting as integrators of points that are common to the work within the CIC’s program, and

those carried out by the Public Health services of the country, in the context of their national strategies.

Dr. Manuel Toledo Rodríguez, Provincial Coordinator of the subprogram of Sexual Health and HIV/AIDS of the CIC, recognized the importance of the gathering, as much for the medical and paramedic personnel of the churches involved in that project, as for the participants from the other three provinces that participate within their possibilities as socializers of their experiences.

Dr. Puerta expressed that she was pleased with the openness of the discussions, as the health of the human being was held to be central and the purpose not only related to the government structures of society, but also of the church in its vocation of restoring and fomenting the building of the kingdom, “here and now.” She called for the extending of the results of the gathering to the rest of the professionals who, throughout the whole island, participate in the work carried out by the Life and Community Health Program of the CIC.

December 13, 2010 (WCC) World Council of Churches (WCC) consultation on ecumenical accompaniment in Colombia was held in Geneva on 2-3 December. Participants affirmed the ecumenical commitment to strengthen the peace process in Colombia. The consultation decided to explore ways to initiate an international ecumenical accompaniment program in Colombia as a contribution to the Colombian peace process.

The meeting was attended by representatives from churches, ecumenical organizations and ecumenical development agencies and human rights organizations from Colombia, Europe, North America, and global ecumenical organizations such as the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), ACT Alliance and the World Student Christian Federation (WSCF).

Colombia was identified as a priority by the 50th meeting of the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs, held in Albania in October 2010. It is one focus of the WCC program on accompanying churches in conflict situation.

In his opening address, WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit stated that the “World Council of Churches, its member constituencies and other related networks in different parts of the world have a long history of accompaniment of the churches and people in Colombia in their struggle for an end to the armed conflict.”

WCC moderator Rev. Dr Walter Altman also greeted the participants at the opening session, saying that “the war and ensuing conflicts between the army and insurgent groups in Colombia have besieged the country for almost five decades”, and he showed appreciation for the role of WCC initiatives to coordinate ecumenical engagement in accompanying the Colombian churches.

Dr Lilia Solano of the Justicia y Vida movement told the consultation, “We in the civil society keep working for a negotiated end to the conflict and to the various forms of injustice and oppression. There is a need for renewed efforts to achieve a political settlement.”

Rev. Gloria Ulloa, from Red

A

Ecuménica, said that a recent meeting of a US National Council of Churches delegation with the Colombia minister of defense confirmed that government policies really haven’t changed. “Anyone who even protects a human rights worker is considered a terrorist,” Ulloa said.

Colombian representatives agreed that an ecumenical international presence is important to offer protection to churches and NGOs working in the country and to support and encourage civil society efforts towards dialogue aimed at resolution of the conflict.

“The WCC has had a long-term commitment to accompaniment in Colombia as part of its prophetic witness. Peace, reconciliation and human rights in Colombia have been the focus of various WCC engagements for several years. The WCC is committed to continue to accompany the churches and people in Colombia,” said Dr Matthews George Chunakara, director of the WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs.

“The WCC is committed to demonstrate its leadership in accompaniment of churches and people in conflict situations and to strengthen ecumenical links within the family to work together for peace in Colombia,” Dr Mathews George continued. “The WCC will work out modalities to organize an international consultation on Columbia in collaboration with the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI) and other ecumenical partners during the first quarter of next year.”

The participants agreed to explore possibilities for initiating an international ecumenical forum on Colombia as well as an international accompaniment program in Colombia. Although Colombia has the world’s third largest internally displaced population, after the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Sudan, it is a largely forgotten crisis now. In recent years, paramilitary forces and guerrillas systematically attacked civilian populations including indigenous peoples and Afro-Colombians.

Source: World Council of Churches, WCC: http://www.oikoumene.org/en/news/news-management/eng/a/article/1634/wcc-to-strengthen-ecumeni.html

World Council of Churches, WCC, consultation on ecumenical accompaniment in Colombia (WCC)

Church and Society 5

December 7, 2010 (ACT Alliance)

As well as visiting projects and partners with members of the ACT forum in Colombia, during his weeklong visit the ACT Alliance General Secretary John Nduna met with the VicePresident of the Republic of Colombia and other political figures to discuss the situation of forced displacement, human rights abuses and land tenure. eflecting on his visit Mr. compared Nduna Colombia to Sudan, which is the only country in the world with more displaced people than Colombia. The most conservative figures show there are more than three million Colombians who have been displaced forcibly by massacres, murder, torture, rape and death threats, all of which are used systematically. Mr. Nduna visited several projects for the forcibly displaced in areas such as Soacha and heard many testimonies.

Mr. Nduna said “the displaced people here cannot return to their homes and land for fear of their lives. There is no security for human rights defenders, and there is almost total impunity for human rights abusers. And, worse still, the systematic crimes that force people to displace are still being perpetrated; there seems to be no end to the suffering of people here”.

Mr. Nduna challenged the VicePresident Mr. Angelino Garzón on what the government aims to do

R

There is no future for a country that denies its First Peoples, affirms the Argentinean Federation of Evangelical Churches (FAIE) Buenos Aires, November 30, 2010 (ALC)

ACT General Secretary John Nduna and Colombian Vice-President Angelino Garzón

about existing displaced people, and to stop more displacement, but the government position was not made clear.

The existence of many illegal armed groups in Colombia, says Mr. Nduna, is comparable to the chaotic situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Many of the armed groups in both the DRC and Colombia are paramilitary groups, private armies doing the will of big private interests, often to take control of natural resources that belong to others, and often with the effective acquiescence of state bodies and state forces.

These groups are unaccountable to the public and they are responsible for widespread crimes against humanity. Nduna says that “we recognise that bringing such big interests under control cannot be an easy task at all, and I have to empathise with the government, but I am convinced that a clear government position and decisive action on paramilitary groups are essential for peace and prosperity in Colombia.”

“I have seen many conflicts around the world and I have also seen the paths that lead to peace.

They have all had to include an end

to the violence. Defence of the defenders of human rights is fundamental to the process. Impunity for criminal activity has to cease which means there need to be judicial investigations of human rights violations, including investigations of the “big fish” – those people responsible for massive and systematic crimes.”

“While we expect to be contributing to the response to the massive flooding here, we recognise that there are deeper and long-term problems in the country that cause terrible suffering to millions of Colombians. ACT is committed to justice and peace in Colombia and, along with others in the international community, we offer our support to these processes.”

ACT members in Colombia are carefully monitoring evidence of human rights abuse in the country and along with churches around the world are currently planning a programme of accompaniment, bringing in people from churches around the world to accompany people and communities who are receiving death threats.

In an official statement released yesterday, the Argentinean Federation of Evangelical Churches (FAIE) has clearly stated that there is no future for a country that denies its first peoples, while expressing its pain and concern over the use of violence to solve a conflict situation, such as that occurring in “La Primavera,” Province of Formosa, against the Qom people.

Our country, open and welcoming for so many men and women that have come to its land looking for peace and a new life, cannot be such at the cost of marginalizing its first peoples, and making of them victims of spoil, discrimination and exploitation,” underlines the statement.

A week ago, along Route 86 in Formosa, two persons died in a confrontation between the police and the “La Primavera” Qom community, one a member of the Qom community and the other a policeman. The accusations brought against the detained native people

“

as a result of what happened, are that of “double homicide” and “attack on the authorities, serious and minor injuries,” according to District Attorney Gloria Rejala.

FAIE urges the provincial and judicial authorities to truly act in accordance with justice and that the rights of the detained natives and those of any other indigenous persons that may be involved in the coming days, be guaranteed. “We expect such an attitude on the part of those who govern and the officials that, honestly and correctly, even with the errors and limitations of the system in which we live, direct their actions with such a vocation of service.”

The declaration, signed by the President of FAIE, Pastor Karin Krug, reaffirms the commitment to follow these events closely, “to collaborate in all that is within our reach so that the historical restoration and dignifying of the peoples who first lived in these lands by the grace of God, be affirmed.” FAIE calls on all sisters and brothers in the temples, places of prayer, in the homes and on the streets, to pray confidently - and persistently to the Lord, so that in love the Lord may bless all people of good will that work for justice, peace and solidarity, procuring the well-being of all, especially of the poorest and unprotected.

Source: ACT Alliance: http://www.actalliance.org/stories/colombia-likesudan-and-congo

Churches seek to create opportunities for youth at risk in Guatemala

By Mayra Rodríguez Guatemala City, October 21, 2010 (ALC) oncerned over the lack of opportunities that youth face in Guatemala, the Ecumenical Christian Council of Guatemala inaugurated last weekend an occupational course-workshop in computer skills for some 30 young people, which will be held every Saturday during the next three months in the Episcopal Church of San Pedro and San Pablo, located in the First of July neighborhood of

C

Children, Youth and Violence (GNRC)

Guatemala City, considered to be a high risk marginal urban area.

Seventy percent of Guatemala’s population is under 30 years of age, amounting to some ten million persons, the greater part of which suffer the most serious situations of social exclusion, without access to education and employment, as a result of the historic conditions of inequality, circumstances that make of the youth easy prey for organized crime and drug traffic, involving them in acts of delinquency and juvenile gangs, besides constantly increasing the number of boys, girls and youth implicated in murders, robberies, illegal carrying of weapons, and drugs, all of which is to be repudiated.

“We believe that this situation of the youth is related to the lack of opportunities and of a real State policy that provides education and insertion into dignified work,” said the Reverend Vitalino Similox, General Secretary of the Ecumenical

Christian Council of Guatemala, adding that “it is necessary that all the sectors be concerned with the building of harmonious development spaces for the children and youth.”

“We have to review our role as churches and family, because along with the responsibility of the governments, all must contribute to re-knit our human and social values, so that the youth have parameters and references, and we also hope to contribute in this sense,” explained Similox.

“The occupational course-workshop is a pilot project that seeks to be an opportunity for the youth at risk in the First of July neighborhood, so that they acquire new knowledge, not only technical, as it is about learning how to use and repair computers, but also to consider and highlight ethical, Christian and human values,” said the President of the Ecumenical Christian Council.

Toba Qom Leader Félix Díaz, Formosa, Argentina (Movida Ambiental)

LATIN AMERICAN ECUMENICAL NEWS • SEPTEMBER – DECEMBER 2010

ACT Alliance General Secretary John Nduna: ACT must strengthen its global advocacy against human rights abuses in Colombia

LATIN AMERICAN ECUMENICAL NEWS • SEPTEMBER – DECEMBER 2010

6 Church and Society

Peace Church Conference approves final document from meeting in Dominican Republic

By Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford Santo Domingo, December 6, 2010 (Church of the Brethren News Service)

By Rafael Menjívar Saavedra San Salvador, November 25, 2010 (ALC)

A final document was approved at the close of the Historic Peace Church conference in Latin America, held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Nov. 27 - Dec. 2. The conference gathered 77 Mennonites, Church of the Brethren, and Friends (Quakers) from 17 countries. he document represents a “sense of the meeting,” with an approval process.conducted in the consensus tradition of the Friends. It was formulated by a committee that had the job of reducing several days of presentations, testimonies, reports, and stories into a document of common understandings. The committee included César Moya, Delia Mamani, and Alexandre Gonçalves.

Written in 13 sections, the document gives an overview of the conference and shared theological understandings on peace; expresses special concern for victims of violence in vulnerable populations such as women, children and youth, and migrants; expresses concern about particular national situations including the ongoing war in Colombia and the relationship between Dominicans and Haitians, and natural disasters in Chile and Haiti; lists areas for intensified effort including the environment; pledges to participate in building public policy; commits the peace churches to continue to work together and get to know each other better, and to plant seeds of peace in homes and nations; and invites all churches of Latin America and the world to come together in a movement to overcome violence.

Before the document was approved, participants had an opportunity to suggest changes or corrections, or to raise concerns.

After responses were received, the writing committee retired to another room to make final changes to the document and the rest of the conference supported their work in prayer through moments of silent worship.

The final morning of the conference opened with silent worship in the tradition of the unprogrammed Friends, followed by separate meetings for the three denominational groups. Each group reported to the whole a summary of their conversations.

The Brethren focused their conversation and concern on a difficult situation of conflict within Iglesia de los Hermanos (the Church of the Brethren in the Dominican Republic). Brethren also expressed a desire for their world movement to become one of equals - in terms of national groups - in which the US church is not regarded as the one

Latin American and Caribbean Lutheran churches gathered in El Salvador work on sustainability of mission he IV Residential Gathering of Reference Persons of the Sustainability Program of the Department of Mission and Development for Latin America and the Caribbean, of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), took place in El Salvador with the theme, “Trust in the future: defining horizons for a sustainable projection of the Lutheran Churches, Members of the Lutheran World Federation.”

Reference persons from 15 countries discussed the importance of the sustainability processes in the work of the churches, in the new political, economic and social contexts of the region.

One of the main objectives of the gathering was to deepen and broaden the biblical, theological and spiritual base for planning and sustainability at all of the levels of the churches; the generating of inputs for participatory strategic planning; the identifying and mobilizing of talents and resources; and the strengthening of the experiences of women and youth.

Bishop Medardo Gómez of El Salvador and host of the gathering said in a communiqué that the sustainability project should have as its foundation peace, social justice, and the integrity of creation.

He stressed that, “God has provided everything so that his creation

T

T

Suely Inhauser of the Brazilian Brethren washing the feet of a pastor of the host Dominican Republic and Haitian congregation (Church of the Brethren)

leader.

The Quaker delegation listed several action points, including development of a special report about the conference for use by Friends, a new respect for their diversity and the understanding that differences between Quaker groups are an advantage rather than a disadvantage, seeking continued interaction with other peace churches, and working to address drug use in their homes, churches, and communities.

Several presentations during the conference had linked the violence in a number of countries to drug use and trafficking, and related gang activity.

The Mennonites listed priorities of maintaining lines of communication by means such as the Internet and shared resources, and maximizing dialogue and discernment on a number of points including sustainability, understandings of peace, and deeper study of social and political realities. They also named commitments as well as challenges and obstacles, among them a commitment to work at a concrete proposal to the World Council of Churches.

The closing worship service of the conference that evening was at Mendoza New Anointing Church of the Brethren, a Haitian-Dominican congregation. Liturgical dance and two choirs enriched the standingroom-only service, attended by a crowd of hundreds that spilled out into the street.

Marcos and Suely Inhauser of Igreja da Irmandade (the Church of

the Brethren in Brazil) gave the message standing together at the pulpit.

They preached on the story of the resurrected Christ appearing to his disciples while they were in hiding from the authorities, relating the text to the experiences of Haitians who suffer oppression and discrimination in the DR. In a sermon that did not minimize the risks of peacemaking, and that openly stated hesitations and questions listeners might have about their own wellbeing and safety, they challenged the congregation to confront violence and oppression head on.

“I really love this Jesus of ours because he was so courageous,” the Inhausers preached, pointing out that after the resurrection Jesus returned to the same city in which he had suffered torture and death.

Nothing can be done about violence and oppression if we run away, they said, “We have to face it with a witnessing presence.” They called believers to move out of shelter and hiding and into the world as disciples of Christ. “I need you to get out and spread the peace.”

A service of footwashing, held with a small group of representatives from the congregation and peace church traditions, and a lively time of passing the peace ended the service. Singing, music, and dancing continued, however, and was still going on as the conference participants left the sanctuary.

Source: Adventist Press Service, APD, Basel, Switzerland: http://www.stanet.ch/apd/news/en.html

be sustainable and we, as stewards, are called to administer it well. We should base ourselves on the theological virtues of faith, of love and hope, so that they help us to build a society where justice, peace, and truth are affirmed.”

Gustavo Driau, of Argentina, a member of the coordinating team, said that the theme of sustainability is one of the most important for the LWF, because it deepens the need for coherence between the ecclesiastical project and the tangible reality of the churches.

During the three days of activity, the host church prepared a series of meetings with community leaders, with political, social and cultural reference persons, to socialize the work of the church in a context of violence, poverty, and vulnerability.

Lutheran World Federation, Logo

Second meeting of Global Christian Forum (GCF) in Latin American Region

By Robert Gribben San José, December 15, 2010 (GCF) round 40 Latin American and Caribbean representatives from Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Evangelical and Pentecostal churches, groups and councils, from 21 nations, met in San José, Costa Rica from 23rd to 25th November 2010 under the theme ‘United in Jesus Christ so that Latin America may believe’.

Building on an earlier meeting in Santiago, Chile, in 2007, the three-day program included time for sharing personal faith journeys, but also of community journeys in the face of social problems and justice issues. Each day began with a scriptural meditation and singing.

Participants followed a ‘consensus method’ for recording the conclusions from group discussion, and plenary sessions heard these reports each day. Questions for discussion included ‘What are the main factors or variables which can encourage ecumenical dialogue in

A

the region?’, ‘What are the realities of current ecumenical dialogue or cooperation in Latin America and the Caribbean?’, ‘What lessons have we learned from the past?, ‘What can we commit ourselves to for the future?

A major review by a Chilean scholar in sociology, Oscar Corvalan V., Pentecostalism, Ecumenism and Christianity in the first half of the XXI Century, was provided as background material. ‘Secularization’ is less significant in Latin America than in Europe, he said. The growing Pentecostal churches offer certainty of salvation, and are heard by the poor and the less-educated. They give dignity to those who have none.

Many Pentecostals may not wish to participate in ecumenical encounter, but many others may not know how to.

Harold Segura, a Baptist pastor who coordinates World Vision (Costa Rica) gave a paper on Ecumenism in Latin America Today (or the art of imagining the future of the Continue on page 9

Church and Society 7

Havana, November 30, 2010 (ENS)

The Rt. Rev. Griselda Delgado Del Carpio was installed as bishop of the Episcopal Church of Cuba during a Nov. 28 ceremony at Holy Trinity Cathedral in Havana.

Among those attending the ceremony were Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and Archbishop Fred Hiltz of the Anglican Church of Canada.

Delgado, 55, was consecrated as bishop coadjutor of the Episcopal Church of Cuba on Feb. 7 and has since worked with Bishop Miguel Tamayo of the Anglican Church of Uruguay as he completed his sixyear tenure as Cuba’s interim bishop. With Tamayo’s retirement, Delgado becomes Cuba’s diocesan bishop and the first woman to serve in that role.

Bolivia-born Delgado, who was formerly rector of Santa Maria Virgen in Itabo, Cuba, was appointed as bishop coadjutor in January by the Metropolitan Council of Cuba, which governs the Cuban church in

matters of faith and order. The council, which is chaired by Hiltz and includes Jefferts Schori as a member, has overseen the church in Cuba since it separated from the U.S.based Episcopal Church in 1967.

Earlier this year, Jefferts Schori said that the council was “deeply impressed” with Delgado’s responses to questions it had asked a number of candidates about their understanding of episcopal ministry, the challenges and opportunities facing the church in Cuba, and how they

would embrace them through their leadership.

In September 2009, the Cuban church, for the second time, failed to elect a bishop coadjutor. After 13 inconclusive ballots were cast, the choice of a coadjutor fell to the council.

The Cuban church includes about 40 congregations and some 10,000 Episcopalians.

Source: Episcopal News Service, ENS: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_125939_ENG_HTM.htm

Cuban Council of Churches delegates spoke at a congressional briefing hosted

by Rep. Jeff Flake, center right, and Rep. Jim McGovern (Carlos Malave CWS)

Ecumenical Bethany Gathering in Cuba analyzes the church and social commitment Bayamo, November 28, 2010 (ALC) aving as its thematic axis for 2010, “How to be Church in Cuba today? Toward an Inclusive and Participatory Pastoral Ministry,” the Bethany Gathering in Cuba on the church and social commitment ended on November 20, after holding various activities in different parts of the country.

Convened by the Reflection and Socio-Theological and Pastoral Formation Program of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Center (CMLK) of Havana, the event, which has been held since 2006, was open to all persons and ecclesial communities that, in one way or another, work for the fomenting of an ecumenical platform.

H

The Rt. Rev. Griselda Delgado Del Carpio, Diocesan Bishop, Episcopal Church of Cuba (ELO)

This year’s gathering was marked by activities which took place in the cities of San Nicolás de Bari, Camajuaní and Bayamo, in the province of Granma. The themes presented in these activities centered on ecumenism, gender and power, just relationships, and the social commitment of the church.

The Bethany Gathering is a home for all, a place of peace and balance. Local communities had the opportunity to share experiences and values, beginning with a common vision in accordance with the Cuban context, in a country that is projected to assume new challenges in the economic and social fields, those in which faith can be a stabilizing ingredient among the uncertainties that transformations can sometimes create.

Peacemakers face intimidation during Colombia visit: PCUSA support for Colombian Presbyterians is crucial, they say

By Bethany Furkin November 12, 2010 (Presbyterian News Service)

This summer, the Rev. Shannan Vance-Ocampo, director of Colombia Programs for the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, saw firsthand some of the effects of U.S.operated military bases in Colombia. s part of a delegation organized by Witness for Peace and the Fellowship of Reconciliation, Vance-Ocampo traveled to Colombia with other nonviolent peace activists to visit some of the proposed to-be-leased U.S. military bases. The group also met and talked with Colombians who live near the bases, members of Colombia’s Congress, staff at the U.S. Embassy in Colombia and other advocacy groups and academics.

The trip, July 24-Aug. 2, came on the heels of the 219th General Assembly (GA) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), which approved an overture calling for several actions toward negotiating peace in Colombia: –direct the stated clerk to seek the permanent suspension of U.S. military use of the seven bases; –direct the stated clerk to

A

request a U.S. negotiation of a peace accord to end the country’s violent internal conflict; –strengthen prayer and action

by PC(USA) bodies and members toward peace in Colombia; –encourage Presbyterian churches to visit Colombia and –monitor the bases; and direct the General Assembly Mission Council to work with ecumenical partners to monitor and post updates on the impact of the bases.

Vance-Ocampo presented the overture to the U.S. Embassy in Bogota and was the first Presbyterian to visit Colombia in an official capacity after GA. And although she has been traveling to Colombia for

Presbyterian Church of Colombia, Logo (IPCOL)

11 years and is married to a Colombian, she said this trip introduced her to some new realities and dangers.

The delegation visited two bases: Palanquero, an Army and Air Force base in central Colombia, and Bahia Malaga, a Navy base in western Colombia.

At Palanquero —the largest base— the 11-person delegation got within four blocks of the base before being surrounded by four young guards carrying Uzi machine guns.

The guards had paperwork and were able to identify the Colombians in the group. Although the delegation’s organizers had reached out to the bases months before the trip to request visits, they were rebuffed by the Colombian guards at the bases.

The group was blocked from moving forward on a public street and ended up being followed out of Puerto Salgar, the town surrounding the base, by armed Colombian military police.

“We were clearly not wanted near these bases,” Vance-Ocampo said. “To actually get on the bases is a near impossibility.”

She had never experienced that level of harassment or intimidation in Colombia before, she said. And although the group had been trained to act in non-provocative, nonviolent ways, the young ages of the guards concerned her — she wondered if they’d been trained well

enough with their weapons in such situations.

The experience made VanceOcampo appreciate the GA overture even more. As U.S. citizens, the delegation members could act, while many Colombians don’t even have the opportunity to understand the forces against them.

“It just highlights to me how important our General Assembly actions are to the Colombians,” she said.

The group tried to talk with local residents to hear their thoughts on the dangers, noise pollution and environmental impact of the bases, but the guards also made it clear that the Colombians shouldn’t talk to U.S. citizens, Vance-Ocampo said.

They did meet with the mayor of Puerto Salgar, who supported the base because he believed it would bring new jobs to town. The bases often offer “carrots” like jobs or new hospitals to keep local dissent down, Vance-Ocampo said. But they do nothing to combat negative things like crime, prostitution and environmental damage.

“It was eye-opening and heartbreaking to see the bind that these communities are put in,” she said, adding that she felt powerless at seeing big forces squash people’s ways of living.

The Presbyterian Church of Colombia (IPC) has also stated its objection to the bases. Increased

militarization hasn’t ever brought peace to Colombia, and the IPC opposes having foreign troops on Colombian soil. The GA overture about Colombia included the IPC General Assembly’s statement.

“We are concerned therefore that the democratic security promoted by the current government, the increased military cost, and the growth of the army have not shown us the prospect of peace even though they have reduced the actions of the illegal armed groups,” the declaration reads. “Furthermore, there are tensions with Colombia’s neighbors — Ecuador, Venezuela, and throughout the region — because of the announcement of the US Army’s use of Colombian military bases.

But in Colombia, VanceOcampo said, it’s not easy for a church — or any group — to speak out against human rights violations.

In the past, IPC leaders who have done so have had their lives threatened and have been forced to flee to the United States.

“At the end of the day, we’re the ones who have the most opportunity to do at least a little bit of advocacy to our government,” she said. “Our advocacy does not go unnoticed. We have a definite impact.”

Source: Presbyterian News Service: http://www.pcusa.org/news/2010/11/11/peacemakers-face-intimidation-during-colombia-visi/

LATIN AMERICAN ECUMENICAL NEWS • SEPTEMBER – DECEMBER 2010

Bolivia-Born Griselda Delgado Del Carpio installed as first woman Diocesan Bishop of the Episcopal Church of Cuba

LATIN AMERICAN ECUMENICAL NEWS • SEPTEMBER – DECEMBER 2010

8 Church and Society

Ecumenical Cuban church leaders press for end to religious travel restrictions in Washington, D.C. In a Nov. 15-16 visit, a delegation of Cuban Protestant church leaders from the Cuban Council of Churches pressed their concerns about the inhibiting effects of the travel restrictions and financial transfers in meetings with officials of the U.S. Department of State and the National Security Council. They also spoke at a briefing for members of Congress and their staff aides, hosted by Representatives Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and Jim McGovern (DMA).

November 19, 2010 (CWS) eligious leaders in the United States and Cuba are hopeful that U.S.imposed restrictions on religious travel and financial transfers soon will be eased by the Obama administration.

One objective of the Nov. 15-16 meetings was to convince the Obama administration to remove severe U.S. restrictions on religious and other “people-to-people” travel to Cuba.

The tightened restrictions, in place since 2005, are an outgrowth of the Bush administration’s new interpretation and application of the U.S. Code which governs travel.

The Rev. Raúl Suarez Ramos, director of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Center in Havana, said that the long-standing historical relationship “was seriously impaired by the former administration

R

because U.S. churches were given very limited ability to travel to Cuba and many Cuban religious leaders were not given visas to come to the United States.”

Under the tightened restrictions, national religious organizations like the National Council of Churches and Church World Service, and their member denominations, saw their eligibility for travel to Cuba reduced to no more than once per quarter each year, along with other limitations.

According to Rev. Suarez, the situation has improved for Cuban church leaders to receive visas from the U.S. State Department to come to the United States, but “there are still many limitations.”

Those limitations pose a significant problem, says the Rev. John L. McCullough, executive director and CEO of New York-headquartered Church World Service.

“We have little to no flexibility in terms of responding to situations in a timely and appropriate manner by sending the right individuals at the right time to help nurture and develop our relationship with the people and the churches in Cuba,” McCullough said from his office in New York.

Advocates for lifting the travel ban believe there may be reason for optimism.

Following a Nov. 1 White House meeting in which U.S. American religious leaders discussed a number of issues, including Cuba, with President Obama, McCullough noted that the President, “indicated an appreciation for the historic relationship” between the churches of Cuba and the United States and “seemed very receptive to deepening the dialogue” around the issue of religious travel to Cuba.

Despite the completion of an inter-agency review of Cuba policy and talk in the Beltway earlier this fall of an impending softening of the administration’s position on travel, there has not been any announcement of a change. The administration is able to remove the restrictions on religious and other “people-topeople” travel without congressional approval. In April 2009, President Obama removed time restrictions on Cuban-Americans traveling to the

country to visit family members.

The delegation also expressed concern that U.S. restrictions on financial transfers are preventing U.S. churches from providing some retired Cuban clergy the pension support owed to them for service during the years when Cuban churches were mission churches of U.S. denominations. This unfortunate situation is causing great distress among many elderly clergy.

The delegation noted that the travel and financial restrictions were two of many harmful aspects of the almost five-decade-old U.S. embargo against Cuba. They urged an end to the embargo and restoration of normal diplomatic relations to allow full engagement between the people of the United States and the people of Cuba.

“Our criticism of the embargo is not for ideological or political reasons,” Rev. Suarez said at the Congressional briefing, “but for spiritual reasons. The embargo causes suffering for the Cuban people.”

The Rev. Pablo Oden Marichal Rodriguez, Executive Secretary of the Cuban Council of Churches and Vice-President of the Evangelical Theological Seminary of Matanzas, Cuba, also emphasized that the embargo “has slowed down the development of the churches in Cuba. It has prevented U.S. churches

from participation in the mission of the churches in Cuba.”

The delegation was invited to Washington, D.C. by The Presbyterian Church (USA) Office of Public Witness, which co-hosted them along with Church World Service, the Latin America Working Group, and the Washington Office on Latin America, all long-time partners in the faith community’s robust advocacy effort around Cuba travel and embargo issues.

“We are grateful for the solidarity of U.S. churches with us,” said the Rev. Rafael Columbe Cobas, president of the Pentecostal Christian Church in Cuba.

Members of the delegation from Cuba also included Rev. Marcial Miguel Hernández Salazar, president of the Cuban Council of Churches and president of the Free Evangelical Church in Cuba; Rev. Dr. Reineiro Arce Valentín, moderator of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in Cuba and President of the Evangelical Theological Seminary of Matanzas; Rt. Rev. Griselda Delgado del Carpio, coadjutor Bishop of the Episcopal Church in Cuba; and Rev. Humberto Fuentes, vice-president of the Cuban Council of Churches and pastor of the Methodist Church in Cuba.

Source: Church World Service, CWS: http://www.churchworldservice.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=103 72&news_iv_ctrl=1361

Haiti: Living in fear of sickness and death Hurricane Tomas was merciful as it swept past Haiti.

The country was spared a direct hit, but torrential rain has caused widespread flooding and a heightened risk of the spread of disease among the already pressed population.

By Arne Grieg Riisnæs November 16, 2010 (ACT Alliance) The water is knee-deep inside our houses, and we have nothing. What kind of life is this?” ask residents of Cité Soleil, one of the largest slum areas of the country’s capital Port au Prince.

“Last night I slept with water right up to the edge of my mattress.

Nobody deserves to live in such conditions. This is no life,” says Rosemene Princiville from the entrance to her house: a tattered tent, inside which float clothes and a few other belongings in the stinking, metre-deep floodwater that has engulfed the surrounding area. In the middle of the tent, a single bed stands like an island in the brown filth.

We are in Rue Germain, one of the countless tented camps of Cité Soleil just outside the centre of Port au Prince. This is one of the poorest areas of the city, where over 400,000 people live in extreme poverty.

Here there are no sewers, no

“

electricity, no healthcare, no schools and no shops. Until three years ago, the area was run by violent gangs who terrorised, stole and murdered while the police, too afraid to intervene, looked on. Now, thanks to the armed presence of UN peacekeeping soldiers, local authorities have managed to regain some degree of control over the area.

The poverty however remains the same, and the earthquake that struck the island in January did nothing to improve the situation.

Neither, needless to say, do the great quantities of water that have now flooded the area.

“When we heard a hurricane was on its way, we didn’t know what to do. All we have is this shack, and we have nowhere else to go,” says Junior Fortune, assisting his heavily pregnant wife Micheline Merilus through the yellow-brown water.

“Just look around. I’m worried that Micheline will fall ill with cholera or malaria. We’re expecting our first child soon, but what kind of future can we offer in conditions like this?”

Very few organisations choose

to work in Cité Soleil, which, according to the UN, numbers among the most violent and dangerous areas in the western world.

ACT Alliance member Norwegian Church Aid has, through local partner organisations, been able to help many thousands of the most vulnerable here through the provision of clean drinking water, latrines and showers.

“Given the looming threat of cholera in these conditions, we are doing what we can to spread information as widely as possible about ways in which each individual can help prevent themselves from becoming infected,” says Randi Jahnsen, a member of Norwegian Church Aid’s rapid response team.

An experienced water engineer, Jahnsen is relieved that the hurricane caused less damage than was initially feared. Nonetheless, she is very concerned for those that are still living in tents, protected from the elements by little more than a thin layer of plastic sheeting or cardboard. Almost a year since the earthquake struck, 1.3 million people still have no better alternative.

“Torrential rain has caused flooding in several of the camps where we are working. Even if we manage to keep cholera at bay, the standing water provides a perfect breeding ground for malaria. The threat of disease and the appalling

living conditions are sources of great frustration to the population here. Many people have already been stretched to the limit of what they can bear. A large proportion of those we meet have little or no hope for the future,” says Randi Jahnsen.

“We just want to get away from here, but there’s nowhere we can go.

The children have it the worst,” says Enide Terrinble, her ten-month old grandchild Jessi in her arms.

“What will become of this little one?”

Mother-of-four Velia Dorcé stirs the contents of her charred pot with care. She has built a little ring of stones around her fire to keep the water out. A few paces away stands a tall wall several metres high. On the

other side of the wall, the water level is even higher. The landowner has announced that he is going to drill a hole in the wall to drain the water off his land and attract new tenants to this landscape of mud and water.

The topsoil is already saturated, and as the rain pours down, conditions continue to deteriorate.

“Last night, many of the men had nowhere to sleep because there was nowhere to lie down. They stood up all night long. If they let water in from the other side of the wall, we’ll drown. There’s nowhere we can go,” says Velia Dorcé, smiling stoically through the tears in her eyes.

Source: ACT Alliance: http://www.actalliance.org/stories/haiti-living-infear-of-sickness-and-death

Enid Terrinble with her daughter, stands outside her tent flooded by Hurricane Tomas (Arne Grieg-Riisnaes NCA ACT)

latin american News 9

Mexico City, October 5, 2010 (ALC)

A survey entitled “Youth Without a Church in Mexico City,” concludes that 62 percent of that sector of the capital’s population affirms not to practice Catholicism or some other religion, even though they believe in God and not in the hierarchies of the churches. he investigation, carried out by the Catholic analysis agency Adoremuslabs, was based on surveys carried out in the almost 900 parishes located in the capital city, although it is said that only a third have youth groups, with an average attendance of about 15, including boys and girls.

T

The basic findings of the research indicate that the Catholic churches are being left without young people, especially in this archdiocese, where one third of the population is between the ages of 18 to 35, amounting to approximately three million people in the Federal District, which itself has a population of more than 14 million people.

Thirty percent of the young people that do not practice Catholicism come from Catholic schools or universities; 60% attended mass, but, on average, when they were around 22 years old stopped attending church.

Only10% of those that do not practice a faith consider Catholicism to be the Universal Church.

For its study, Adoremuslabs used a population of one thousand and 84 youth between the ages of 18 to 29 that do not attend any group or religious community. Forty three per-

cent affirmed that they have a certain kind of spirituality and another 31% said that they were as much spiritual as religious, even though they did not attend any parish on a regular basis.

The survey also shows that 40% of the young people interviewed do not identify themselves with the Catholic religion, with 16% saying that they belong to some club or organization that brings them the same benefits as attending a congregation, and 9% consider themselves to be atheist, humanist or realistic, according to the answers given.

Finally, it is said that nevertheless 4 of every 5 youth interviewed consider that a superior being exists, and 3 of every 4 proclaim the existence of God present in their daily human lives, as a result of personal experiences.

Source: El Economista newspaper, Mexico

Legislative Palace, seat of Congress, Lima, Peru (Wikipedia)

Peruvian Congress gives green light to polemical law of religious equality

By Víctor Liza Jaramillo Lima, December 7, 2010 (ALC) ith 62 votes in favor and a single abstention, the Peruvian Congress agreed to approve the much debated Law of Religious Equality, which sets out that all religious confessions stand equal before the Peruvian State, with none having more privileges than the others.

Nonetheless, the same plenary session of the Congress rejected a proposal by Evangelical Congresswoman Alda Mirtha Lazo de Hornung, now part of the National Solidarity Party, who had requested a separate vote on the transitory disposition that ratifies the Concordat between Peru and

W

the Vatican. 43 parliamentarians were against, 14 in favor, with 3 abstentions.

On the other hand, the Law of Religious Equality states that certain theological educational institutions, such as the Evangelical Seminary of Lima (SEL) and the Biblical Seminary have the ability to award their respective academic titles.

The new law means that all religious confessions are entitled to receive donations and be exempted from paying taxes, privileges that before this new law were only had by the Catholic Church. In addition, all educational and other institutions with employees now have the obligation to respect the beliefs and festive days of their students and employees.

Second meeting of Global …

From page 6

Kingdom). He encouraged ‘informal ecumenism’, not to exclude more formal dialogue, but to move away from institutional forms and to cross borders of communication. From such informal meetings (like the Forum) much can grow. ‘Spiritual ecumenism’ is also important: we learn from other Christians. We need to begin to listen to others, not in a spirit of rivalry and suspicion, but to discover what is common. We need to be honest with each other as Latin American Christians together.

A final panel allowed Hubert van Beek (GCF Secretary) to give an upto-date account of the work of the Forum. A number of participants were already familiar with the

Forum; in fact, this may mean more work is needed in this region to involve those who are yet uncertain of their welcome or remain critical of ecumenism in all its forms.

This was the first GCF meeting that was entirely prepared by a team from the region. They will provide a report for the wider Forum family which will become available in February 2011. Significant leadership was given by facilitators who are part of Viva Network Latin America based in Costa Rica, a Christian NGO working with those who care for the children of the region, in the face of poverty, child labor, sexual exploitation, violence in the family, drugs, migration etc.

Source: Global Christian Forum, GFC: www.globalchristianforum.org

1,250,000 signatures for the re-founding of Honduras

By Adrienne Pine Tegucigalpa, September 18, 2010 (ALC)

The National People’s Resistance Front (FNRP) has exceeded its goal of one million 250 thousand signatures on the Sovereign Declaration for the Popular and Participatory Constituent Assembly, and for the return of President Manuel Zelaya Rosales, Father Andrés Tamayo and the rest of those Hondurans who have been expatriated and are in political exile. n September 12, the Front reached one million 269 thousand 142 signatures, earlier than the deadline for their collection, September 15th, the day on which the 189th anniversary of Honduran independence from the kingdom of Spain is celebrated.

The coordinators of the process of collecting the signatures, Professor Eulogio Chávez and lawyer Rasel Tome, informed the Honduran people that the goal was exceeded in a count carried out in the headquarters of the Union of Workers of Beverage and Related Industries, STIBYS. The sub-coordinator of the Front, Juan Barahona, celebrated having reached the goal, which he called “a triumph of the resistance on a national level, something that should be celebrated by everyone who worked to achieve this” in neighborhoods, towns and villages throughout the country.

Similarly, Rasel Tomé, one of the coordinators of the process of collection, stated that the fact that the Front exceeded the goal is a reflection of the will at a national

O

FNRP demonstrators carrying Honduran flag to the National Congress building (AP FNRP)

level, to fight for a more just and equitable society.

It is a triumph that brings us closer to the National Constituent Assembly, said Barahona on the Resistance program directed by journalist Felix Antonio Molina.

Barahona stated that having exceeded the goal represents a commitment to social change in the country, because the collection of signatures was carried out despite repression and the campaign against the collection of signatures on the part of the media.

Barahona announced that the signatures will not be delivered to the executive nor to the legislature, nor to any state institution; the leader affirmed that “we will decide with the people” what to do with the signatures in order to get to the constituent.

Tome added that each of the signatures is a clear mandate for the safe return of Manuel Zelaya Rosales and the more than 200 other political exiles, and for a new constitution.

On July 19, 2010, the Executive Committee of the FNRP, in its first

work meeting, determined that the 56 delegates of the 18 departments of the country and social organizations that make up the Coordinating Committee should concentrate their actions on the collection of signatures of the sovereign declarations for a Constituent Assembly.

On April 20, 2010, at 297 days of resistance, at a march that took place at the exit for the southern region of Honduras, thousands of members of the FNRP began to collect the first signatures, right in the middle of the street.

What is the sovereign declaration?

Each citizen declare and sign their demand that “we call upon ourselves to convene a National Constituent Assembly,” to be made up of a “popular majority” to write up and approve a “new constitution” that “guarantees” the fundamental individual and collective rights “in an effective and democratic manner.”

Source: National Front of Popular Resistance, FNRP: http://www.resistenciahonduras.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id =1096:1250000-signatures-for-the-refounding-ofhonduras&catid=101:news&Itemid=349

LATIN AMERICAN ECUMENICAL NEWS • SEPTEMBER – DECEMBER 2010

Youth in Mexico City affirm that they believe in God but not in the church’s hierarchies

LATIN AMERICAN ECUMENICAL NEWS • SEPTEMBER – DECEMBER 2010

10 latin american News

Cases of slave work increase in the richest regions of Brazil Brasilia, September 9, 2010 (ALC)

In all the states of the richest regions in Brazil - the Southeast and South - the number of cases of slave work increased, from 13 in the first semester of 2009, to 16 in the same period during 2010. The partial data was disclosed last week by the Pastoral Commission for Land (CPT). he organism, linked to the Catholic National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (CNBB), verified an increase in conflicts over water and land in the Northeast during the first semester of the year, where 54% of the Brazilian cases have been recorded.

The number of conflicts over land in the Northeast increased from 158 in 2009, to 194 in 2010.

The number of land occupations also grew during the period, from 57 to 65, but the number of settlements dropped from six to only three.

In the other regions of Brazil the conflicts over land, occupa-

T

The building of hydroelectric plants is causing conflicts over water in Brazil (ALC)

tions and settlements dropped during the first semester of 2010, in comparison to the same period of the previous year. There were 365 cases of conflicts in 2010, involving 33.4 thousand families, as against 547 cases in 2009, involving 47.7 thousand families.

But the number of evictions increased in the Central – West region, from four cases in 2009 to five in 2010, representing an increase of 25%, a figure that increases to 33% in the Southeast and more than 120% in the

South, where the increase in the number of cases rose from five in 2009 to 11 in 2010.

From January through July 2010, 29 conflicts over water were recorded, involving 25.2 thousand families, 32% more in comparison to the same period in 2009, when 22 conflicts were recorded, with 20.4 thousand families affected. Of the 29 conflicts, 38% are related to the building of dams in 14 states of the federation.

Argentina and Uruguay to jointly monitor controversial UPM (formerly Botnia) pulping plant Montevideo, September 6, 2010 (Latinamerica Press)

Argentina and Uruguay sealed an environmental control agreement for the impacts of the controversial Botnia pulping mill that sits on a river that divides the two nations. nder the pact, which was signed Aug. 30 by Uruguayan Foreign Minister Luis Almagro and his Argentine counterpart, Héctor Timerman, in Montevideo, both countries will

U

form a committee that will start working in early September to monitor the Uruguay River, where the Finnish-owned UPM plant, formerly Botnia, is located.

The four specialists on the committee will have five months to begin their monitoring programs, according to the Uruguayan Foreign Ministry.

Framework for the agreement was reached by the presidents of each country in July, but the signed pact puts an end to the diplomatic crisis that erupted over the factory four years ago.

In April, the International Court of Justice, responding to a

UPM (formerly Botnia) pulping plant on the Río Uruguay (Uruguay al Día)

claim against the plant brought by Argentina, which argued it would cause environmental damage on both sides of the border, ruled that Uruguay had violated a bilateral treaty when it allowed the plant to be built on the Uruguay River. The ruling, however, did not call for the plant to be torn down.

At some US$1.8 billion, the plant is the largest single investment in Uruguay.

Argentines across the border have repeatedly complained about pollution coming from the pulping plant, which has began producing at maximum capacity, or 1.1 million tons of eucalyptus paper pulp a year.

In late August, members of the Gualeguaychú Environmental Assembly announced that they would again block the bridge that connects the two countries.

Protesters had blocked the bridge from November 2006 until earlier this year demanding that the plant be closed.

Gualeguaychú borders the Fray Bentos region in Uruguay, where the plant is located, and residents there are demanding the plant be shut.

Source: Latinamerica Press: http://www.lapress.org/articles.asp?art=6198

In Dominican Republic,…

From page 11

Delgado Del Carpio of the Episcopal Church of Cuba.

Delgado, formerly the rector of Santa Maria Virgen, shared the story of her parish’s garden during a presentation here Dec. 7, the first day of the inaugural Episcopal Climate Justice Gathering.

More than 30 people - mostly Anglicans and Episcopalians and a few ecumenical seminarians from Cuba, the United States, Ecuador, Panama, Colombia, Haiti, Mexico, Brazil, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic met Dec. 7-10 at the Bishop Kellogg Center here for the gathering, convened by Bishop Marc Andrus of the Episcopal Diocese of California, and Bishop Naudal Gomes, Diocese of Curitiba, Brazil.

Three important things began to happen as the garden grew, Delgado explained to ENS through a translator following the day’s formal discussion: the people discovered they could make money by cultivating and preserving food; people learned how to work as a team and discovered they had previously undiscovered talents and the potential to create a new life; and, most importantly, the people grew spiritually, found faith and discovered God in life, she said.

Delgado was one of four presenters, including the Rev. Christopher Morck, environmental program officer for the Latin America Council of Churches; the Rev. Pedro Ivo Batista of the Episcopal Anglican Province of Brazil; and the Rev. Diego Fernando Sabogal, of Colombia, who each spoke during the session aimed at framing the gathering’s conversation on climate justice.

The purpose of the meeting is to explore the intersection between poverty and climate change, and perhaps begin to change the conversation in the church from one of “climate change” to “climate justice.”

The gathering convened as world leaders met for a second week of climate talks in Cancún, Mexico, to attempt to hammer out the details of an agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions that would replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

At the 2009 U.N. Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, negotiators failed to reach a binding deal to replace the protocol. Developing nations are pushing for a second phase of Kyoto, including deeper emissions cuts.

The Episcopal gathering’s presence “signifies the desire to envision together what justice means in the face of climate-induced suffering and continued environmental destruction,” Morck said during his presentation, which focused on the general themes of the climate justice movement.

Climate justice needs to be considered in context of broader

questions, he said, including how people relate to each other and the earth and what Christian witness and practice mean in an “unprecedented crisis caused by specific human groups, ideologies and actions.”

“The intimate connection between wealth and economic growth to poverty and environmental crisis is both our past and our present, and many of the ‘solutions’ to the climate crisis threaten to repeat once more the way the overdeveloped have impoverished others as their enslaved labor pool, their amoral superstore of raw materials, their waste dump, their theater of war,” said Morck.

Early on in the gathering, particular themes began to emerge, including the consensus that now is the time for the church to reclaim and fortify its prophetic voice.

Solidarity is the thing that makes the prophetic voice strong, said Andrus during the discussion.

“In our [church] language, we think of the prophetic voice as one,” he said. “People need to speak in solidarity with one another.”

Andrus used the example of abolishing apartheid in South Africa. It wasn’t until South Africa’s problem became the world’s problem, he said, that the country was able to rid itself of its racial-social ideology of separation.

During his talk about social movements and climate change, Batista, who has for more than 20 years been involved in social justice movements, talked about the threat of disappearance now affecting island nations and other vulnerable populations.

“People who live on the river banks, coasts, mountains are already being affected by climate change and all governments of the world know that this is happening,” said Batista, as translated from Portuguese. “There has never been so much talk about climate change as there has been in the last 20 years … Why are they speaking so much about it and still some haven’t signed on to Kyoto? … Not because of lack of technology or science or spiritual contentions, it’s because of a lack of political will.”

In addition to the church finding its prophetic voice once again, other themes that began to emerge from the gathering included the need to translate theology into action, developing a catechism of redemption based on peoples’ relationship to nature, engaging children and youth and creating community awareness.

In regard to the latter, Delgado said, Santa Maria Virgen’s garden said it all.

“Once they started doing the work, we didn’t have to tell anybody — people caught on to what was happening, the university came, the media came, the minister of agriculture came because it was something that was happening and people could see it,” she said.

Environment 11

As Anglicans and Episcopalians met last week in the Dominican Republic to share their stories and organize around issues of climate justice, in Panama heavy rains and floods killed at least 10 people, displaced 4,700 more, and forced the first-ever weather-related closure of the Panama Canal.

By Lynette Wilson December 13, 2010 (Episcopal News Service)

While we are here for the conference on climate justice, in Panama people are being evacuated out of areas that are being flooded,” said Bishop Julio Murray of the Episcopal Church of Panama Dec. 9, in an interview with ENS. “The groups that are mostly affected are the indigenous groups that live in the area of Alto Bayano ... it is the first time in my lifetime that the Panama Canal has had to suspend traffic … this is an example of what happens when water levels rise in rapid ways.”

More than 30 people - mostly Anglicans and Episcopalians and a few ecumenical seminarians from Cuba, the United States, Ecuador, Panama, Colombia, Haiti, Mexico, Brazil, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic met Dec. 7-10 at the Bishop Kellogg Center in San Pedro de Macorís, east of the capital Santo Domingo, to explore the intersection between poverty and climate change and frame the conversation in terms of “climate justice.” The meeting was convened by Bishop Marc Andrus of the Episcopal Diocese of California, and Bishop Naudal Gomes, Diocese of Curitiba, Brazil.

“It was just our two dioceses, California and Curitiba, coming together to work on climate justice during this time and it was like a magnet - all these dioceses, I think 10, two provinces in addition to the Episcopal Church have gathered together here to tell their stories,” said Andrus in a Dec. 10 interview with ENS. “We’ve written a statement that expresses where we came from and what we hope,” he said. “We are creating the beginning of a network … we are committed to each other and welcoming more partners to this network for climate justice.”´ Throughout the four-day gathering, attendees shared personal accounts of their witness to climate injustice and creative responses by dioceses, communities and individuals. At the close of the gathering, building on the week’s presentations, discussions and a fourhour brainstorming session aimed at creating action points, attending bishops wrote a draft statement recognizing the urgency of climate change and the need to act. By

“

vote, attendees winnowed down more than 50 action points, committing to five as a basis for collaboration and action.

The draft statement begins, “We are a group of Anglican Episcopals from Latin America, the Caribbean, and the United States who feel the urgency of addressing climate justice at this time in the world we serve.”

It ends with the commitments: to develop an energy fund for carbon reduction; to teach climate justice at all ages and levels of the church; to stay connected as a consortium for climate justice; to support outside initiatives aimed at emissions reduction, to provide support for people directly affected by deforestation and people living in forested areas, and to promote food sovereignty; and support for training missionaries from the global south to share stories of how climate change is directly affecting life in the developing world to people in the United States, who may not understand its direct effects.

Michael Schut, economic and environmental affairs officer for the Episcopal Church, addressed the last point in an interview with ENS Dec. 10, when he said the level of climate change-related suffering in the developing world doesn’t resonate with most people in the United States.

“Meeting people from around the world with a very different perspective helps me at least understand a little bit more about what it’s like to live in a different context,” he said.

The Episcopal-Anglican gathering coincided with the second week of the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Cancun, Mexico, during which delegates from 193 countries developed a new global framework to help developing nations curb their carbon output and cope with climate change. The Cancun talks stopped short of coming up with an agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. The protocol commits 37 industrialized nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent (below 1990 levels) by 2020 and 80 percent by 2050.

Although there were many environmental action groups on the ground in Cancun, the Episcopal-Anglican gathering was the only known religious gathering of its kind taking place at the same time, and was remarkable in that it brought churches from the global

Morning Prayer at the Episcopal Anglican Climate Justice Gathering (David Barr)

south and the north together.

This gathering has been a chance for all the churches from all parts of America -northern, southern, central- and the Caribbean to get together to discuss climate justice issues and to share ideas “about the things that we can do together, things that cannot be accomplished alone,” Gomes told ENS, speaking in Portuguese through a translator.

Bishop Griselda Delgado Del Carpio of the Episcopal Church of Cuba shared how a 2,000 squarefoot garden started by La Iglesia Santa Maria Virgen in Itabo, Cuba, grew into a community-wide project. A representative from Oxfam talked specifically about the connection between the Dominican Republic’s changing climate and deforestation.

The Rev. Luiz Carlos Gabas, of Brazil, described how Brazil’s “landless people’s movement,” which started in the early 1960s, became one of the world’s largest grassroots movements. Gabas, who has been active in the movement, told how its original aim of access to land and agrarian reform has changed over the years from fighting large landowners to multinational agribusiness biotechnology companies.

“There was a time when the struggle was easier. We could see the enemy, the landowner, but that has changed,” said Gabas, as translated from Portuguese. “Now it has changed, the landlords are international and transnational agribusiness companies that influence what happens in the country … price controls in the consumer market … they want to control seed production.”

The agribusiness companies have introduced monoculture and their own production methods. The remaining large private landowners have partnered with agribusiness, creating an uneven struggle, he said.

The grassroots movement now

works to train people to be part of the struggle by educating them about social and Brazilian history, training agriculture students and teachers to work in rural areas. As a result, Brazilian farmers are rediscovering and saving native seeds and the government supports establishing a seed bank, Gabas added.

On Dec. 8, Bishop Armando Guerra of the Episcopal Church of Guatemala said that in his country’s native language, “Guatemala means land of the trees,” yet many of his country’s climate-related problems are exacerbated by deforestation; Guatemala loses 73,000 hectares of forest a year, he said.

Guatemala’s 14 million people emit 1 ton of carbon dioxide per person per year, in contrast to the 310 million Americans who emit 20.5 tons of carbon dioxide per person. Still, he explained, Guatemalans are contributing to climate change.

“Although Guatemala doesn’t affect that much, the people can do things to stop the continuation of climate change,” Guerra said, as translated from Spanish. “They can’t use that it’s a global problem as an excuse. They can’t just stand by and not do anything.”

Climate change is affecting all levels of society, Guerra said. He called the church to respond.

In the last 10 years, Guerra explained, hurricanes and tropical storms have increased in frequency and severity, and are beginning to take a psychological toll on the people most affected. Climate change has directly affected Guatemala’s development and people’s ability to find work, feed themselves and pay for life’s necessities. As a result young people are leaving school early, turning to prostitution and other illicit business, and there has been a mass migration - a situation that is only going to get worse, he said.

The church, Guerra said, just like average people, thinks that

“someone else” is responsible for climate change.

“This situation brings a problem to Christian churches that have to decide what to do … the churches also have that same thought, that someone else is causing the problem … and the church always blames the political, social and economic areas of life and doesn’t take responsibility for it … but if the churches are part of the problem, they also have to be part of the solution,” he said.

In addition to the Anglicans and Episcopalians attending the gathering, a small group of students taking Professor Willis Jenkins’s environmental theology class at Yale Divinity School, were in attendance.

“As part of that class, I emphasize that what environmental theologies should do to become effective is to figure out how to make difficult problems significant with the lived experience of faith communities,” Jenkins said.

The Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies offers a joint degree program with Berkeley Divinity School - an Episcopal Church-affiliate seminary that has been in collaboration with Yale Divinity School since 1971 - that allows students to explore the “role of environment through an environmental lens.”

The Yale program is unusual, Jenkins said, but is catching on at other universities and seminaries.

The church has to figure out how to “make issues of climate change as a way to act and pursue the mission of God,” Jenkins said.

The Episcopal Church, through its General Convention, has adopted various resolutions related to the environment, including memorializing the Genesis Covenant, “a multi-faith effort to engage national faith communities in a single and significant course of action to reduce the damaging effects of climate change.”

LATIN AMERICAN ECUMENICAL NEWS • SEPTEMBER – DECEMBER 2010

Anglicans, Episcopalians issue statement on climate justice, form commitments

LATIN AMERICAN ECUMENICAL NEWS • SEPTEMBER – DECEMBER 2010

12 Ecumenism and Cross-Border Relationships

Ecumenical leaders from the United States…

From page 1

leaders of the National Board of CLAI-Colombia and the Ecumenical Network of Colombia where the leaders of the churches shared their perspectives about the violence in Colombia. The representatives of NCCC(USA) and CWS also shared their interest in strengthening relations with Latin America and their support for overcoming the humanitarian crisis in Colombia.

The delegation, along with leaders of the churches in Colombia, was received by Dr. Rodrigo Rivera, the Colombian Minister of Defense. The Minister shared the government’s perspective in relation to the armed conflict that continues in Colombia and confirmed that they have open arms to dialogue for peace that should be preceded by the cessation of armed actions and terrorist activities and the laying down of all arms by the guerrilla groups. The delegation of leaders from the United States shared their worries about the amount and destination of United States military assistance to Colombia and their desire that a majority of the assistance be humanitarian aid for those affected by the conflict.

The same message was presented to the officers of the US Embassy in Bogotá. There the delegation was received by the Chargé de Affairs, Mr. S. Ken Yamashita; the Political Counselor, Mr. Mark A. Wells; and the Adviser for Human Rights, Ms. Amanda Porter. Mr. Yamashita spoke about the search for peace in Colombia, signalling that the principle objective should be the repairing of the social fabric that has been significantly weakened by the long protracted conflict. Mr. Wells added that peace talks should happen in many different sectors, including the social, economic, religious, and political sectors.

Dr. Kinnamon, the General Secretary of the NCCC(USA) responded by saying that the churches in the United States joined in one voice for the search for peace for Colombia and the region in which all these sectors are present.

The delegation also met with representatives of the following groups, Colombia-Europe-United States Coordination Group for Human Rights, with the organization of Mingas, and with the InterEcclesial Commission for Justice and Peace. The delegation heard the testimonies of displaced persons from the region of Cacarica. They also visited the Roman Catholic Bishop’s Conference. The group also met with leaders of the organization Colombians for Peace and Senator Piedad Córdoba of the Liberal Party.

The Senator gave a report on the recently discovered mass graves in the region of La Macarena and also requested assistance from the delegation in visiting Colombian paramilitaries incarcerated in the United States who fear for the lives of their families in Colombia.

On the way to Venezuela the delegation met with representatives of ecumenical organizations and leaders of churches in Medellín who

Bishop Johncy Itty officiating in Christ the Liberator Episcopal church in Quito, Ecuador

informed them about the situation in that populous city. They told of their possible work together for the defense of the displaced peoples inside the city and with refugees in the border areas with Venezuela and Ecuador, as well as the support of churches and civil society in moving forward the process for peace in Colombia.

In Caracas, Venezuela the delegation met with leaders of churches in Venezuela to strengthen ecumenical relations and to understand the reality of the country. The delegation had the opportunity to meet with the Vice Chancellor and Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Temir Porras Ponceleón, who shared information about the main issues on the Venezuelan government´s agenda in relation to its neighboring countries and with regard to the relations between Venezuela and the United States.

At one point in the conversation, the Vice Minister stressed that the ideals of the Bolivarian government of Venezuela are in line with the principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and showed an openness to the participation of Protestant and Evangelical churches in the construction of a new society in which they are engaged in the Bolivarian government of the country.

The delegation was also received by the Vice Minister for Women’s Development and President of the Women’s Bank, Dr. Nora Castañeda who offered a comprehensive and detailed perspective on the opportunities that the Bolivarian government offered women for their intellectual, economic, and social development. At one point in the conversation the Vice Minister affirmed that the principles used in her programs for working with women are the same that are present in the Word of God. From here the delegation left for the Fabricio Ojeda Endogenous

The ecumenical delegation at the monument of Simon Bolivar on the Central Park in Caracas. (José Luis Casal)

Center, where they were given a detailed look at the different plans for community development that the Center offers. The leaders of the Center stressed that self-sustainability and self-development are central concepts to the work of the development centers like theirs that exist throughout the country.

The National Assembly of People’s Power was the setting for a meeting with ECUVIVE, a Venezuelan ecumenical organization that takes cares of the needs of refugees, principally Colombian, that are present in the country. The delegation received detailed information about the conditions of refugees and displaced persons in Venezuela. The next day, the Director of International Relations of the National Assembly of People’s Power guided the group on a tour of the Capitolio, the birthplace of Simón Bolívar, and other places of interest in historical Caracas. A meeting with the group Colombians for Peace in Venezuela closed the circle of meetings and visits in this

country.

In Quito, Ecuador the delegation participated in a workshop analyzing the situation of Colombian refugees in Ecuador organized by CLAI, which included ecumenical leaders in Quito, representatives of non-governmental organizations that work in human rights and with migrants, as well as representatives of the government who work in the area of refugees and migrants.

At that meeting, Dr. Kinnamon, Executive Secretary of the NCCC (USA), outlined a plan of six points that opened a line of work between this organization and CLAI. Between the points outlined, Dr. Kinnamon stressed the desire to inform and orient the churches of the United States about the reality of the problems of displacement and internal Colombian refugees in the area and the need to advocate to the United States government for an increase in humanitarian aid instead of the disproportionately high military aid.

The Rev. Nilton Giese, General Secretary of CLAI, responded to his counterpart suggesting a meeting at the border in order to make bilateral decisions regarding new forms of cooperation to resolve the grave problems that originate from the displaced persons and refugees in the area. Giese explained to the visitors that the long-term solution to the conflicts in this region would not be solved by military presence: “what the region needs is economic investment, the presence of governmental services that favor the development of communities and the creation of better means of access for trade to make possible a reevaluation of the traditional agricultural products so that they may be an alternative to growing coca.”

As an excellent close to the meetings to these three countries, the delegation, together with Ecuadorian leaders and leaders of CLAI, were invited by the Chancellor and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ecuador, Dr. Ricardo Patiño, to a luncheon at the headquarters of the Foreign Ministry.

In that conversation the Chancellor spoke about relations between Ecuador, Venezuela, and Colombia as well as relations with Cuba and, of course, with the United States. The Chancellor had positive words to say about the new Colombian government in the search for a regional peace and he asked the delegation to join the efforts to achieve a genuine and last-

ing peace in Colombia. He questioned the need for a North American military presence through the seven bases that are being used in Colombia, to which Dr. Kinnamon responded that “the National Council of Churches of Christ does not support the construction of military bases in Colombia.

On the contrary we will take our voices to the different levels of the administration in which we have a presence, asking that the majority of the economic aid from our country to Latin America may go to projects of humanitarian aid, the environment, and social welfare.”

As an end to the visit, a joint statement is in process which calls for a “shared global security” in which the investment in arms gives way to an investment in resources for development.

It calls for US foreign aid to focus on humanitarian aid, with an emphasis in the problems that exist because of the violation of human rights in Latin America, especially in Colombia, Mexico and Honduras. It calls for a normalization of the relations with Cuba, the elimination of the economic embargo and a review of the case of five Cubans imprisoned in US jails. It also emphasizes the need for continued humanitarian aid for the reconstruction of Haiti.

The document establishes the need for Immigration Reform in the United States and also in Latin American countries such as Mexico, Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic, holding up the ideal of “universal citizenship.” It invites a change in focus in the war on drugs where the problem is analyzed in an integral, comprehensive way including the issue of consumption.

The document also warns of world climate change, calling for respect and care of creation, underlining the responsibility of churches within the process.

The document ends with an invitation to continue these interchanges in the future for the benefit of both regions and for the churches in Latin America and in the United States of America.

Rev. Milton Mejia Observatory of Church and Society Reformed University of Colombia, Barranquilla Rev. Jose Luis Casal National Council of Churches of Christ, USA

The delegation with Venezuela’s Vice-Minister for Women's Development, Dr. Nora Castañeda. (José Luis Casal)