Wishing you a blessed Christmas!

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1 Wishing you a blessed Christmas! BEYOND BOUNDARIES is a periodic newsletter of the Ecumenical Institute at Château de Bossey. Editorial Team Marina Behera, Dagmar Heller Odair Pedroso Mateus, Anu Talvivaara Printed at the Ecumenical Institute December 2015 The Ecumenical Institute shall not be under any liability to any person in respect of any damage, however caused, which may be incurred or which arises directly or indirectly from reliance on information in this publication. December 2015

2 Editorial Dear Bossey alumni, friends and partners, 2015 is coming to an end very soon. It has been a year full of challenges, questioning, difficulties and tragedies. Yet, for Bossey it has been a year crowned with good results. Despite the overall financial situation and decrease in the hotel business in Switzerland, for the first time the Bossey guest house has made the much-desired and anticipated breakeven. That is a wonderful achievement to celebrate and all our thanks and gratitude goes to our Bossey hotel staff colleagues who worked hard and with commitment. Yet, the challenge remains to make sure that the Bossey Scholarship Fund which helps students from the global south study ecumenical formation in Bossey stays at least stable. And for that we need the ongoing help, assistance and contribution of our faithful partners and donors. The work at the Ecumenical Institute has continued with the same academic rigour, enthusiasm, dynamism and commitment. We keep receiving signs of achievement from different parts of the world as our former students, returning home, are entrusted with key leadership positions in their churches and countries. But the activities of Ecumenical Institute are also being strengthened in other ways. In addition to the usual academic programmes, we are in the process of accrediting the summer course Building an Interfaith Community with the University of Geneva. In the past year, the number of church groups that have visited us has increased and among those I would like to mention the visit of the young ordinands from the UK and Sweden who came and spent some time with our students for a short term experience and training in ecumenical issues. The former Bossey seminars are now organised under the umbrella of Ecumenical Continuing Formation and are organised by the WCC staff colleagues from different programmes, together with Bossey faculty as well as with external partners from all over the world. Some of those seminars were organised in Bossey while others took place in diverse regions across the world. You will find in this issue more details some of the reports on the activities done at the institute during the past year. We hope that this encouraging trend will continue and we thank you with all our heart for your support in manifold ways. With best wishes for a blessed Christmas! Prof. Fr. Dr. Ioan Sauca Director of the Institute To note in the agenda: The Ecumenical Institute at Bossey celebrates 70 years! 1./2. October 2016 Contents Editorial 2 Stories of a Unique Master of Ecumenical Studies Programme 3 Masters research at the Ecumenical Institute 4 Ecumenical training for ordination candidates from UK and Sweden 5 Wealth and Poverty in Judaism, Christianity 6 and Islam Seminars for Continuing Formation 6 Graduate School 2015/16 7 Congratulations to Fr. Ioan Sauca 8 Ecumenical Continuing Formation Seminars 8 2

3 Stories of a Unique Master of Ecumenical Studies Programme MAS students of the Academic Year 2014/15 (left to right ): Liza Beaulieu (Canada), Alexander Stavnichuk (Germany/Ukraine), Wataru Arizumi (Japan), Robert Balogh (Hungary), Kofi Demanya Akoussah (Togo), Lucian Bot (Romania), Eunha Kim (Korea) (Seth Ollennu, missing) The inner dynamics associated with a worldwide organization. The image of God as a biblical basis of human rights in the ecumenical movement. The importance of researching a subject from more than one angle. The commitment of the churches. These are some of the most important learnings that the students earning their Master of Advanced Studies (MAS) in Ecumenical Studies identified during their research. Demanya Akoussah came to the Ecumenical Institute from the Presbyterian Evangelical Church of Togo. He researched the sociopolitical context of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the involvement of the WCC in searching for a solution to the ongoing crisis and the commitment of the churches in DRC in the public space. At the Ecumenical Centre he spent a month in the Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation team of the Peace Building programme based in the Public Witness & Diakonia area. His supervisor was programme executive Semegnish Grosjean-Asfaw. Through his research, Akoussah deeply comprehended that the DRC and Togo actually have a very similar context and history. Former presidents influenced each other as friends and developed a similar way to govern and shape a political system. After them, the problems inherited are similar in both countries. He was impressed by the determination of the WCC to overcome violence in the DRC. It was a concrete example of what the current pilgrimage of justice and peace can mean. Akoussah hopes that he will help his own country and has begun to take small steps of influence. Excerpt from EI prospectus: Master of Advanced Studies (MAS) in Ecumenical Studies/La Maîtrise universitaire d études avancées en études œcuménique is a degree pro-gramme of one residential academic year. It is for students who have earned a university masters degree certificate, preferably in Christian theology or in a closely-related discipline. A successful student earns 60 ECTS (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System). Wataru Arizumi from the United Church of Christ in Japan found it fascinating how, in the United Nations Human Rights Committee, in the time allowed for an oral intervention 1 minute and 20 seconds one manages to say so much. He was privileged to observe this action at the 113th session, where a myriad of burning issues were addressed. This highlight of his research fellowship exposure period was possible thanks to the WCC s consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council as a non-governmental organization. Wataru studied the history of the human rights in the ecumenical movement based on the image of God. He learned about the recent discussions and the role of the Christian church in concrete ecumenical action under the supervision of Peter Prove, director of Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA), which advices the WCC s Peace Building programme. Arizumi discovered the important role of the CCIA in the drafting process of the Universal Declaration of the Human Rights back in 1940s, which is the basis to respect, to protect and to fulfill human rights under the international law. He now perceives more profoundly that the human rights apply to communities as well as individuals. This insight was particularly important for his research, which focused on Japanese Burakumin, a minority of socially discriminated people, who face many challenges deriving from generally lower economic status. After his studies, Wataru participated in an ecumenical conference on the minority issues in Japan in November, an opportunity the research fellowship brought to his horizon. Liza Beaulieu, a Presbyterian from Canada, researched eco-sprituality. She was based in the Economic and Ecological Justice team of the Public Witness & Diakonia programme area and supervised by coordinator Guillermo Kerber. Her research task was to seek seeds of eco-spiritual 3

4 terminology in the Rio Conventions: the Convention on Biological Diversity, the UN Convention to Combat Desertification and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which has the international agreement Kyoto Protocol linked to it. The highlight of Beaulieu s exposure period was an opportunity to attend as observer on behalf of the WCC in the session on human rights and climate change of the UN Human Rights Commission. The meeting took place in the famous Human Rights and Alliance of Civilizations Room of the UN Office at Geneva. It is decorated by renowned Spanish artist Miquel Barcelò and Beaulieu confessed she did take a few photos of the amazing roof in between taking notes for her report! She developed a greater awareness on how climate change is a growing topic at international levels, and found out more about the key players and how crucial it is becoming for the WCC to increase its involvement. Human beings are in need of a new mindset as well as a new paradigm to work with. Liza is now more committed to this cause than before. Excerpt from MAS study plan and calendar: The research fellowship at the WCC or in an ecumenical organisation or a partner institution related to the students research areas, is designed to offer insight into the practical work of an ecumenical organisation or a specialised institution related to ecumenism. The fellowship requires regular participation over the entire period and the submission of an essay on the experiences gained. In spring 2015 this study module is composed of three elements: five days of two preparatory seminars and an exposure period of one month. Lucian Bot, an Orthodox from Romania, was supervised one month by acting director Rev. Dr Odair Pedroso Mateus in the Unity/Faith and Order team of Unity, Mission and Ecumenical relations programme area. He had a chance to see how the theological work for unity is made in practice. Lucian Bot found the methodology of a group of theologians writing on the same subject from their different perspectives and taking diverse pre-suppositions in order to arrive to the same convergence while maintaining the continuity of thought a very interesting and, for him, a novel way of work. His research on Orthodox Churches and their attitude towards WCC was without doubt enriched by this insight on the importance of researching a subject from more than one angle and having an interdisciplinary approach. Participation in the staff meetings was a highlight of the exposure. Lucian learnt to appreciate how much work there is when a meeting such as of the Faith and Order Commission is organized. He witnessed many logistics and practical challenges. He followed detailed preparation of each plenary session and the meticulous documentation. He understood the challenges when communicating with very different churches. In addition, there was the ever-changing context. Lucian thinks that this experience will help him greatly in his future work. He is now aware of the international and interconfessional trends and the necessity of cooperating with different international bodies as well as with secular institutions in order to promote common action and the Christian faith. When back home, he hopes to create local projects, especially more open spaces where ecumenical dialogue on topics relevant to people in any particular parish or diocese can take place. Excerpt from observations of the Academic Affairs Manager: During the MAS research fellowship, the students became proficient users of the regional public transport system both in Nyon and Geneva as they commuted daily from the Ecumenical Institute located in Bogis-Bossey, Canton of Vaud, to the Ecumenical Centre in Grand- Saconnex, Canton of Geneva. In addition they gained profound knowledge and practical skills on where to find the least expensive light meal in the middle of the day within the walking distance of the WCC offices. Masters research at the Ecumenical Institute In June 2015 a group of eight master students defended their theses successfully and were granted a masters degree by the University of Geneva. Their works cover a wide range of themes related to the research areas of the Institute. Rev. Demanya Kofi Akoussah focussed on the role of his own church in Togo in the prevention of violence with a paper in French on L Eglise dans l espace public: Cas de l Eglise Evangélique Presbytérienne du Togo et son rôle dans la prévention de la violence (supervisors: Martin Robra, Amélé Ekué/Bossey & Ghislain Waterlot/UniGe). At the Masters graduation ceremony: Fr. Dr Ioan Sauca, director of the Institute; Prof. Dr Hans-Christoph Askani from the University of Geneva; Rev. Dr Dagmar Heller, Academic Dean at Bossey. 4 Wataru Arizumi made a contribution to liberation theology from the perspective of marginalised people in his home

5 country Japan with a thesis on The Resurrected Jesus and the Marginalized People: From a Buraku Liberation Perspective (supervisors: Marina Behera, Odair Pedroso Mateus/Bossey & Enrico Norelli/UniGe). A group of students from the United Kingdom with Canon Roger Spiller and some Bossey students. Robert Balogh, the first Roma ordained in the Hungarian Reformed Church researched on Strangers and Hospitality in the Old Testament - Towards a Contribution to the Roma Mission (supervisors: Lawrence Iwuamadi, Martin Robra/ Bossey & Jean-Daniel Macchi/UniGe). Liza Beaulieu from Canada deepened her interest in eco-theology by writing a thesis on Creation and Creativity: New Mindsets for New Paradigms as Part of an Eco-Spiritual Discourse (Supervisors: Lawrence Iwuamadi, Dagmar Heller/ Bossey & Michel Grandjean/UniGe). Lucian Zenoviu Bot from the Romanian Orthodox Church chose a central ecumenical theological theme with his work on Koinonia in Bilateral and Multilateral Dialogues: Historical and Theological Perspectives (Supervisors: Odair Pedroso Mateus, Dagmar Heller & Christophe Chalamet/UniGe). Rev. Eunha Kim from Korea got interested in the problem of ecumenical worship and worked on Praying Together: An Ecumenical Approach to the Problem (Supervisors: Dagmar Heller, Ioan Sauca/Bossey & Ghislain Waterlot/ UniGe). Seth Ashikwei Kuma Ollennu explored Eco-Justice and the Presbyterian Church of Ghana: A Call to Safeguard Creation (Supervisors: Martin Robra, Marina Behera/Bossey & François Dermange/UniGe). Alexander Stavnichuk, a Ukrainian who is a Pentecostal pastor in Germany worked on The Scope of Creation: A Pentecostal/Charismatic and Eastern Orthodox Point of View (Supervisors: Ioan Sauca, Lawrence Iwuamadi/Bossey & Christophe Chalamet/UniGe). Ecumenical training for ordination candidates from UK and Sweden Groups of theology students from different countries and churches come to Bossey for short-term training. In the past, Swiss Protestant students from the universities of Basel and Bern and groups of students from the Irish School of Ecumenics in Dublin joined the graduate school at Bossey for a week. But a new feature has appeared: There is a growing interest from churches and those who are responsible for the training of ministers in bringing their candidates for ordination to the Ecumenical Institute for an intensive ecumenical experience. In autumn a group of 16 Anglican ordinands from the United Kingdom and a group of 14 Lutheran students from the Church of Sweden joined the Bossey students for several days. The visitors joined the Bossey students for morning prayer and for the core course lectures as well as for the Bible studies. The group from Great Britain also had a few special sessions for encounter with Bossey students scheduled with exchange and discussions on specific issues such as What are the ecumenical challenges today? or Christianity in context. Both groups also had their own workshops or seminars with Bossey professors on topics such as the mission statement of the WCC (Together Towards Life) or the latest Faith & Order convergence document (The Church: Towards a Common Vision) and they also had also a chance to visit the Ecumenical Center in Geneva. The Anglican group, under the leadership of Canon Roger Spiller himself a Bossey alumnus found this an amazing and eye-opening experience. Rev. Kristin Molander, who brought the Swedish group, tells that the meetings with the Bossey students and the teachers gave the group a new sense of belonging to the universal church, a feeling for the common task of missio dei in our world and an insight of our differences as challenging but a true blessing at the same time. 5

6 Wealth and Poverty in Judaism, Christianity and Islam The Story of Building an Interfaith Community 2015 I talked until three in the morning with a Muslim a thing I never thought of doing one day in my life said one of the Jewish participants of the seminar Building an Interfaith Community in an interview with a Swiss Journalist. The Bossey annual interfaith summer course Building an Interfaith Community a (BIC) provides young men and women who are Jewish, Christian and Muslim both the opportunity to engage with each other across religious lines, and helps them to understand why it is vitally important to do so. With particular focus on the theme: Wealth and Poverty in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the young women and men from eight countries in Africa, Asia, Caribbean, Europe, Middle East and North America learned about, and learned from each of the three Abrahamic religions, through formal taught courses, panels, workshops, study visits and living together in the same environment from 27 July to 14 August 2015 at the Ecumenical Institute. The programme, coordinated by Fr Dr Lawrence Iwuamadi, chair of biblical studies at the Ecumenical Institute, Dr Clare Amos, programme executive for interreligious dialogue and cooperation of the WCC, and Anu Talvivaara, academic affairs manager of the Ecumenical Institute was, as in the past years, the fruit of collaboration between the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey, the Fondation pour l entreconnaissance Genève and the Fondation Racines et Sources Genève who are the respective Muslim and Jewish partners. In the choice of participants, careful attention is usually given to selecting a learning community that is representative, not only of the three religions in equal numbers, but also a community that is diverse in geographical and cultural backgrounds; that includes women and men; and that gathers participants from the various streams/families within each of the religions represented, i.e. Orthodox, Catholic, Anglican and Protestant Christians; Sunni and Shia Muslim; and Orthodox, Conservative and Reformed Jews. One of the special highlights of the three-week course is the Scriptural Reasoning exercise where selected texts related to the theme of the course from the Sacred Scriptures of the faith communities are studied in turn. At the end of the 2015 programme, the students worked together to produce a message titled Reducing the gap: Interfaith riches addressed to religious and world leaders on the theme of wealth and poverty. As we have explored the topic of wealth and poverty during our three weeks together, we have come to realise more acutely the need for all people of faith to work together for a more equitable world, and that interfaith engagement itself constitutes a means to enable us to do so. Encouraged by the success of the interfaith course through the years, the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey is working to see the Building an Interfaith Community course accredited by the University of Geneva by This will allow participants to go back with some ECTS credits. The BIC 2016 will run from 25 July - 12 August 2016 with the theme: People and Faith on the Move: Migration in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Application forms will be available soon on Seminars for Continuing Formation Since the latest restructuring of the World Council of Churches, a new programme, Ecumenical Continuing Formation, under the leadership of Rev Dr Martin Robra is organising shortterm seminars on various topics in collaboration with Bossey. Following are short summaries of this year s seminars: Mission from the Margins: Theology and indigenous Spirituality took place at the Ecumenical Institute, from July, Twenty-one participants from Asia, North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa and the Pacific reflected together on the question of how indigenous spiritualities, which are struggling for affirmation in reclaiming their identity, challenge and enrich the key ecumenical notion of mission from the margins and also influence other areas of ecumenical work such as the pilgrimage for justice and peace, care for creation, and the common understanding of the church. The discussions centred around the question of how indigenous spiritualities and cosmologies, which are not anthropocentric and andro-centric, but more cosmic centred and rooted, as well as inter-related to all humans and creations, can offer an 6

7 alternative framework for theologies of mission from the margins. The seminar was organised by Marina Behera, professor of Ecumenical Missiology at the Ecumenical Institute; Odair Mateus Pedrosa, WCC director of Faith and Order and professor of Ecumenical Theology at the Ecumenical Institute; Jooseop Keum, director of the Commission World Mission and Evangelism (CWME), WCC; and Frans Dokman, director, Nijmegen Institute for Mission Studies, Radbound University, the Netherlands. As part of the Continuing Formation programme, a seminar on Indigenous The participants of the seminar at Bangkok. Ecological Spiritualities and Christian Faith took place at Duta Wacana Christian University (UKDW) in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, from August, The seminar was organized by Marina Behera, professor of Ecumenical Missiology at the Ecumenical Institute; Guillermo Kerber, WCC programme executive for Care for Creation and Climate Justice; and Frans Dokman, director of the Nijmegen Institute of Mission Studies, Radbound University, the Netherlands; and the UKDW faculty of theology. Thirty people from different parts of Indonesia, the Philippines, and India attended the seminar and discussed the significance of indigenous ecological spiritualities in resisting exploitation and the degradation of the human world. The seminar Mission in Changing Ecclesial and Global landscapes based on the WCC mission statement Together towards life: Mission and evangelism in changing landscapes, was organised as part of the Continuing Formation programme at Bangkok from September, 2015 and was hosted by the Church of Christ of Thailand (CCT). It was organised by Marina Behera, professor of Ecumenical Missiology at the Ecumenical Institute; Jooseop Keum, Director of CWME, and Philip Woods, programme secretary for the Council of World Mission. Twentyseven participants and other local participants from the CCT reflected together on the challenges that Christian churches are facing globally and specifically in Asia and how these challenges can be met in our understanding and practice of mission and evangelism in our own local contexts. Graduate School 2015/16 On 11 September 2015, the Ecumenical Institute Bossey welcomed a new group of 27 students. They come from Sierra Leone, Indonesia Madagascar, Uganda, China, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Thailand, Hungary, Sri Lanka, India, Korea, Romania, Mexico, Serbia, Ukraine, Georgia, Latvia and Germany. Their confessional backgrounds are Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, Reformed, United, non-denominational, Pentecostal. The new students are trying to make Petit Bossey more colourful. Here Tijana Petrovic from Serbia. Six of them will complete the Master of Advanced Studies (MAS) in Ecumenical Studies and thus will stay in Bossey until June Eleven are participating in the program for a Complementary Certificate (CC) in Ecumenical Studies and ten are earning a Certificate of Advanced Studies (CAS) in Ecumenical Studies. We wish all of them successful studies and an exciting time at Bossey! 7

8 Congratulations to Fr. Ioan Sauca On 3 November 2015 Fr. Ioan Sauca received the title of an Dr. honoris causa from the Orthodox Faculty of the University of Cluj-Napoca (Romania). We congratulate him for this event! Right: Fr. Ioan Sauca during the celebrations of the award of an honoray doctor s degree, together with Bossey alumni Cristian-Sebastian Sonea (Romania) and George Samji (India) Ecumenical Continuing Formation Seminars Learning together in Bossey 1. Pastoral challenges to sharing the faith in a multi-cultural and multi-faith world August in Bossey A course for priests and pastors, church leaders, and persons interested in ecumenism. For more information: Martin.Robra@wcc-coe.org Transformative witness and the PJP in Mission and Diakonia 2. Mission and transformative discipleship 2nd half of April in Argentina A course for missionaries and staff of mission organisations. For more information: Marina.Behera@wcc-coe.org 3. Mission in secularized contexts February 2016, venue tbd Participants of different regions and Christian traditions will analyse together the challenges to mission in secularized contexts. For more information: Marina.Behera@wcc-coe.org 4. Group training workshops for capacity building in diakonia and Development Date and venue in the Middle East tbd For more information: Dong_Sung.Kim@wcc-coe.org Youth in a multi-cultural and multi-religious world 5. Youth in Asia Training (YATRA), Inter-religious summer school in Asia May 30-June 12, 2016, venue tbd A course for max. 32 young (between 20 and 35 years) Christians from Asian churches. For more information: Peniel.Rajkumar@wcc-coe.org 6. Continuing formation on youth engagement in religion and violence issues Date tbd in Cairo, Egypt The seminar is an interfaith initiative jointly organised by Al Azhar and the WCC. For more information: Carla.Khijoyan@wcc-coe.org 7. Continuing formation on Church engagement in social justice in Latin America for young people Date and venue tbd For more information: Carla.Khijoyan@wcc-coe.org Support the work of the Ecumenical Institute! Online giving institute-of-bossey Bank transfer Banque Cantonale Vaudoise (BCV) Case postale 300, CH-1001 Lausanne, Switzerland Account holder: The Ecumenical Institute of Bossey IBAN: CH U Swift code: BCVLCH2LXXX Postal account (in Switzerland only) Account holder: The Ecumenical Institute of Bossey CCP: Thank You for Your Gifts! Ecumenical Institute Château de Bossey P.O.Box Crans-près Céligny Switzerland Tel: Fax: bossey@wcc-coe.org 8