[Episcopal News Service]
Lutheran Bishop Margot Kaessmann of Germany, one of the most prominent women in the World Council of Churches (WCC), has resigned from the Central Committee in protest over recent changes intended to address objections by Orthodox members of the ecumenical organization. The proposals will change the policies for decision-making and for worship.
Kaessmann said that 'it is a question of my own credibility with regards to how my church understands ministry and the church, including the ordination of women.' Under the new proposals adopted by the Central Committee at its recent meeting in Geneva, 'it would no longer be possible to celebrate ecumenical worship' at WCC meetings and events, she pointed out. She said that she wants to see 'a strong WCC' but that its effectiveness was being affected by tensions between Protestant and Orthodox member churches. If it is not possible to bridge these differences, she said that it might make sense to have separate world organizations.
In dropping the term 'ecumenical worship' entirely, the WCC will now distinguish between 'confessional common prayer,' according to the rites of a particular tradition, and 'interconfessional common prayer' that would avoid 'giving the impression of being the worship of a church.'
'For me personally over the last 20 years ecumenical worship services have been at the heart of the WCC,' Kaessmann said in her statement. 'If it is not even possible to celebrate a common worship service without the Eucharist, when even the mutual recognition of baptism is being called into question, I do not see how we can cope with the controversial issues that divide us,' she added. She leads the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hanover, with three million members one of the largest Lutheran churches in the world. She is the first female bishop to sit on the Central Committee and has also been a member of the WCC Executive Committee.
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