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In search of life giving economies:
Is Capitalism institutionalized greed?
AGAPE Reference Group
7-10 March 2012
The AGAPE Reference Group working on the links among
poverty, wealth and ecology met in Quito, Ecuador from 7-10 March 2012, hosted
by the Latin American Council of Churches. The AGAPE reference group comprising
seventeen church representatives from Asia, Latin America, Europe and North
America, reflected on the biblical mandate on greed and power relations, heard
regional reports from regional ecumenical councils represented in the Reference
Group, participated in liturgy, and started planning for the AGAPE Global Forum
on Poverty, Wealth and Ecology, to be held in Nanjing, China on June 18-22,
2012, as a culmination of the 7-year process that started at the Porto Alegre
WCC Assembly in 2005.
A major focus of the meeting was a report from the
Working Group on the Greed Line, chaired by the Rev. Dr. Konrad Raiser, former
General Secretary of the World Council of Churches. The report from the Greed Line Working Group
defined greed as “an expression of human desire to have more than one’s fair
and legitimate share of material goods or power”. It went further, defining what is fair and
legitimate as providing the community a sustainable life, living in dignity
based on social, cultural and moral norms.
It further stated that competitive quest for power represents greed when
maximizing profit becomes an end in itself.
WCC’s Poverty, Wealth and Ecology Project continues to
deepen the AGAPE process by analyzing and establishing links between poverty,
wealth and ecology, linking economy and ecology; advocating for a new
international financial architecture; developing wealth or greed lines in
counterpart to poverty lines as a guidance for churches and Christians; advancing
the concept of ecological debt among churches and the wider ecumenical circle;
and strengthening the understanding of the intrinsic connection between
economic justice and peace.
Regional consultations on poverty, wealth and ecology
were also held in Dares Salaam in 2007 (Africa), Guatemala in 2008 (Latin
America), Chiang Mai in 2009 (Asia and Pacific), Budapest in 2012 (Eastern
Europe), and Calgary in 2011 (North America). Complementing and supplementing
the regional consultations, study groups on finance and ecological debt helped
to shape two ground-breaking statements issued by WCC Central Committee in 2009
on “just finance and an economy of life” as well as on “eco-justice and
ecological debt”.
The AGAPE Global Forum in Nanjing will harvest the richness
of church viewpoints, experiences, practices and lessons learned from the
7-year process including the 5 regional church consultations, the study groups
focusing on international finance, structural greed and ecological debt. A call to action with joint strategies and
actions by churches towards building just, caring and sustainable alternatives
will be presented and serve as an important contribution to the 2013 WCC
Assembly in Busan, South Korea.
A proposal from the WCC was made for a 7-year campaign
on economic and ecological justice, marking a continuation of the issues on
justice and peace raised at the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation in
Kingston, Jamaica in May 2011. The
eco-justice ecumenical campaign will encourage and harness actions by churches
and ecumenical partners to promote justice for the poorest of the poor and for
the earth through theological reflections in congregations and seminaries, case
studies, interfaith dialogues, awareness-building campaigns, community-based sustainable
economy projects eradicating poverty, spiritual and liturgical resources, and
advocacy at various levels for the transformation of financial institutions and
UN related agencies.
Dr. Rogate Reuben Mshana, Ms. Athena Peralta, and Ms.
Sophie Dhanjal from the World Council of Churches organized the reference group
meeting, while the Rev. Franklin Canelos, the Rev. Nilton Giese of the Consejo
Latino Americano de las Iglesias (CLAI) hosted the Meeting. CCA’s Carlos
Ocampo, Executive Secretary for Justice, International Affairs, Development and
Service represented Asia in the Meeting.
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I
have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10)
Carlos Ocampo
posted by communications on Friday, July 27, 2012 |
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