Churches of Central and Eastern Europe to serve the needy

An international ecumenical conference “The Church in the Service of the Needy: Possibilities of Cooperation with Secular Organizations” is being held from November 16 to 19, 2011, at the Johannes Rau International Educational Center in Minsk, Belarus. The conference is attended by representatives of the Roman Catholic Church, Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Orthodox Churches, the Evangelical Lutheran Church, and representatives of the UN, the Belarusian government, and social and humanitarian organizations that are devoted to serving the needy. The participants of the conference were welcomed by heads of the leading Christian denominations Belarus: Metropolitan Filaret (Belarusian Orthodox Church), Metropolitan Tadeusz Kondrusievicz (Roman Catholic Church), Archimandrite Sergei Hayek (Belarusian Greek Catholic Church); and by bishops of Lutheran and Baptist churches. Afterwards, reports were given on the followings topics: “Social Service in Belarus,” “Church and Business: Ways of Cooperation,” “Social Responsibility of Churches,” “Partnership State, Business and Church.” Participants also shared their personal experiences of social services in Poland, Ukraine and Germany. The chairman of the Institute for Religious Freedom, Kyiv, Mr. Oleksandr Zayets, reported on the Ukrainian realities of the denominations’ work in the social sphere. With the blessing of His Beatitude Sviatoslav (Shevchuk), Fr. Ihor Shaban, head of the Commission for Promoting Christian Unity, represents the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church at this international ecumenical conference. The conference is organized by the international team Reconciliation – The Task of Churches in Ukraine, Belarus, Poland and Germany.  

Source: www.ecumenism.com.ua/news/766/

  Background: The international ecumenical working group Reconciliation was established over 10 years ago. It brings together official representatives of the Orthodox, Lutheran, Roman Catholic and Greek Catholic churches in Central and Eastern Europe. Several times a year, members of this group (delegates of churches) meet to discuss the modern ecumenical affairs. The main purpose of the group is to achieve reconciliation between the peoples and churches.