The economic justice and care for creation challenges addressed to member churches by the 2004 World Alliance of Reformed Churches' (WARC) assembly in Accra, Ghana, deeply stirred the conscience of the Waldensian-Methodist synod. The Accra documents were soon translated and published in Riforma for study in the churches. The Federation of Protestant Churches' commission on globalization, already active for a number of years, went straight to work to organize seminars in Northern and Southern Italy on the Accra documents. Some churches worked the Accra issues into Advent spiritual discernment programs, while February's Freedom Week in a number of churches was dedicated to examination of global economic and ecological justice. Youth particularly are being encouraged to get into the global poverty debate.

The global economic justice issue was raised by WARC in 1997 as a "processus confessionis" and subsequently was adopted by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the World Lutheran Federation. It will figure significantly in the 2006 WCC assembly at Porto Alegre, Brazil.

ASSEMBLY ACTIONS

WALDENSIAN-METHODIST SYNOD (August). Observed Riforma, "This was a forward-looking synod. Though the painful experience of having to convey the Waldensian hospitals in Piedmont to government hands was still fresh in everyone's mind, the dominant motif had to do with addressing other crises in the life of the church and discerning the way through consistent with the church's call. As adopted, the central action holds the churches to 'faithful hearing of the Word of God' and 'Spirit-led venturing in communion, sharing, consolation and hope'."

GLOBAL POVERTY: energized by the World Alliance of Reformed Churches' call (Accra Assembly, Ghana, 2004) to member churches to mobilize on pervasive global South poverty, the synod acted to distribute Assembly documents for study preparatory to 2005 synod consideration of a "confession of faith in response to economic injustice and environmental destruction". HUMAN RIGHTS: lamenting grave inadequacies as to respecting human rights for immigrant-refugee people, the synod called for new legislation both in Italy and in the European Union guaranteeing the right to asylum with safeguards against forced return. "DISCIPLESHIP TOGETHER" (essere chiesa insieme): renewing the call to solidarity with immigrant-refugee sisters and brothers ("a central and constitutive element of 'being the church'") the synod exhorted the churches to render themselves more and more welcoming of ethnically-diverse people into the decisional arenas of the church. NATIONAL INCOME TAX CHECK-OFF: receipts for 2004 noted as 4.5 M euros, committed 28% to projects abroad, 66% to projects in Italy, 6% for administration.

Also, PIEDMONT HOSPITALS: a special commission of inquiry was authorized to identify learnings in the wake of loss of the hospitals and to spell out "where our decisional, administrative and oversight systems were not up to the job", and report findings to the next synod CASA MATERNA: with the shuttering of this major social ministry in Naples, the synod urged sale of property within the complex to liquidate debts deriving from the demise of the institution. MAJOR ANNIVERSARIES: Noted with joy were the coming 150th anniversaries (2005) of the Waldensian Theological Seminary (Rome) and the Waldensian Publishing House, Claudiana (Turin), and the 50th anniversary (2004) of the Methodist conference center, Ecumene, near Rome.

And, RIFORMA: worries over how to arrest the alarming decline in subscriptions, some 25% in the last 10 years. JOINT BAPTIST-METHODIST-WALDENSIAN ASSEMBLY: action taken to reaffirm the contemplated joint session for 2006, an occasion for reviewing BMW "witness together" in ministry. NOMINATING COMMITTEE: action taken to "experiment" with a mechanism to move synod nominations along with more dispatch. LITURGIES: services (advisory, not mandatory) across the church year and for sacraments and special events were approved. CHURCH ORDERS: the synod ordained Marcello Salvaggio to the pastoral ministry and received Alessandra Trotta, newly consecrated diaconal minister, both from Sicily and in service there.

In a pre-synod meeting the college of pastors debated but took no action on a request for a wedding ceremony following the civil marriage of a gay couple abroad. The synod's last comprehensive review of MARRIAGE PRAXIS runs to the early '70s; some voiced the judgment that the time soon may be "mature" for reworking of the operative rules.

BAPTIST ASSEMBLY (October). The 38th Assembly was distinguished by electing for the first time a woman as its PRESIDENT, REV. ANNA MAFFEI, a Naples pastor and stalwart in Baptist and ecumenical life in Italy and abroad.

Striking was action to convey a "Letter to Baptist sisters and brothers in the US" on concerns about US POLICY ON IRAQ: "…The armies of our two nations are involved in a war…that is costly, bloody, devastating and illegitimate…But it is not enough just to raise indignation and condemnation of the war. However few and weak we are, we feel the need to stand with the many, Christians and non-Christians alike, in Europe, the US and Middle East, who strive for peace and alternatives to war…We therefore propose ecumenical initiatives for reflection on alternatives to war, involving people of diverse religious and cultural backgrounds, with a view towards the opening of dialogue among adversaries with the guidance of the UN…God bless your efforts for peace. Shalom. Salaam. Peace."

Further, the Assembly cited RIFORMA as "one of the most mature fruits of Baptist-Methodist-Waldensian collaboration", spoke out strongly against Italy's MASS DEPORTATIONS OF REFUGEES, reaffirmed the policy of putting the WELCOMING OF ASFYLUM SEEKERS and defense of their civil and human rights "at the center of our common vocation", and renewed its commitment to "DISCIPLESHIP TOGETHER" with immigrant-refugee people, "God's gift".

Internally, as to DEFICIT MATTERS, Rev. Maffei hit the nail on the head: "The truly painful problems are beyond our walls. Our deficit, which pales in importance, could be liquidated if every member were to put up 25 euros, a telephone bill!"

LOCAL CHURCH MINISTRY

"Since the earthquake (1980) we have seen people scatter in all directions. We have seen politicians' lethargy and corruption, the stranglehold of criminal organizations, the resignation and even idolatry of people. But today we have something truly new to celebrate: the hand of God, and hope springing up believers' hearts…" So spoke the preacher, Rev. Massimo Aprile (Naples), at the dedicatory service in September of the rebuilt Baptist Church of SAN GREGORIO MAGNO (Salerno). The community was founded in 1920, thanks to the inspiration of a resident who had emigrated the US in search of work, who had connected with the Baptists there, and who upon returning to his village would organize a Baptist community. (In Italy's deep South: an oft-repeated story, that of emigrant evangelists!) For years after the earthquake the community met in a make-do container, until the "time was fulfilled" with funds generated to permit rebuilding of the church.

Another sign of new hope: in a pilot project involving the Union of Baptist Churches (UCEBI) and the FEDERATION OF PENTECOSTAL CHURCHES, the San Gregorio church and area Pentecostal communities will collaborate in ministry. Speaking in the name of UCEBI, Rev. Anna Maffei (Naples), then vice-president, told the dedicatory gathering, "If we call upon the Spirit, if we pray without ceasing, knowing that the Spirit will fill the voids in our faith, if we love the Word, believing that it cannot be chained, ever, we will have nothing to fear, since God's face of tenderness and mercy will shine upon us."

In June 2004 20 youth with adult colleagues from a Presbyterian church in Florida worked with youth and adults from the SALERNO-ALBANELLA Methodist Church in conducting a vacation Bible school for 100 kids, not far from Naples.

In furtherance of a partnership involving the MOTTOLA (Puglia) Baptist Church and Baptist chuches in Virginia, three young American women visited Mottola in August.

The Baptist church of GENOA is supporting a prison ministry in the city.

The Methodist community of VERBANIA-INTRA (Piedmont) has converted a church annex to a temporary home for immigrant-refugee people (currently six family units from Albania, Morocco, Ivory Coast and Rwanda), pending their housing and employment normalization in the area.

Casa Cavagnis, The Waldensian center in VENICE, well connected to area universities, Catholic cultural centers and public schools, is a frequent co-sponsor of seminars and conferences in the public interest. In October the center with other cultural institutions, co-sponsored conferences in a community college and at the center itself on "Francis of Assisi and Valdesius of Lyons: alternatives to the crusades." The events advanced the center's interest in peace education. A featured speaker was Paolo Ricca, professor emeritus of the Waldensian Theological Seminary, who outlined the subversive witness of the two protagonists, who taught that life with Christ did not require visiting violence upon non-believers in the Holy Land.

In November, a national anti-mafia caravan, upon reaching NAPLES, a notorious center of mafia activity, was joined by local churches in demonstrating against the "culture of death". The procession marched right through the Forcella ward, a mafia stronghold. Massimo Aprile, pastor of the Via Foria Baptist Church in Naples, in addressing the procession, echoed the prophet Jeremiah, saying, "We of Naples, surrounded by blood-letting on all sides, are exiles in our own city. But as Christians we take to the city squares to assert that the word of God is still the lamp that orients our lives, no matter how pervasive the darkness."

In a related development, Baptist, Methodist and Waldensian pastors and diaconal ministers in SICILY issued a January appeal, recalling the prophet Ezekiel, asserting that "speaking up in condemnation of the mafia is the watchtower vocation laid upon us."

The Advent season in the Waldensian-Methodist congregations, as signaled by the synod, served to launch a TIME OF DISCERNMENT of what the Spirit is saying to the churches. Motifs taken up: Sense of vocation. Personal and communal prayer. Hearing the Word. The vision of "God's new things". "The courage to look with hope beyond the dispiriting times that have come upon us." At least one congregation, Florence Waldensian, deciding that the task at hand should be entered into ecumenically, invited an Apostolic congregation to share in the inquiry. Observed one Riforma writer, "We need to learn to talk with the world around us, and soon, lest we lose still more people weary of Great Awakening spirituality and 'certified Waldensian' life." Added another, "In the debate underway I see little recognition of the profound cultural and social sunami about us."

With two voices from Colombia on hand, the Baptist church in SIRACUSA (Sicily) hosted in December a solidarity conference on the trials of the churches in Colombia for nonviolent resistance to the conflict there.

For three years the Methodist Church in BOLOGNA has offered courses in Italian to immigrant-refugee people in the city.

ECUMENICAL AND INTERFAITH WORK

In September the BAPTIST UNION-PENTECOSTAL FEDERATION dialog officially was launched at the Via Foria Baptist Church in Naples, a companion action to the Waldensian-Methodist dialog with Pentecostal forces, underway since the 1990s.

The 2005 edition of the January ''DAYS OF MEMORY" brought to Pinerolo (Piedmont) the raising of a monument to the VICTIMS OF VIOLENCE AND INTOLRANCE, a joint project of the Pinerolo Catholic Diocese and the First District of the Waldensian and Methodist churches, thought to be the first project of its kind in Italy. Programming on the theme of "Religion, Violence, Nonviolence" took place in local Catholic and Waldensian venues and concluded with an ecumenical service at the Catholic cathedral.

Proposed by the Italian Federation of Protestant Churches for attention in the churches during Freedom Week in February 2005: BIOETHICS.

A PEACE RALLY involving youth across the country, including an ecumenical service at the Waldensian church, took place in Florence in January.

Underway now for some years has been an avid interaction (Bible studies, agape meals, joint services) between the Baptist and Catholic congregations on Borgo Ognissanti, Florence. The several churches call it "ECUMENISM IN THE WARD".

EDITORIAL COMMENT

"In our newspaper I intend to safeguard free and open examination of ethical issues. No taboos here. Literal readings of scripture sadden me, because they would put life's issues in a cage. Of all people, we (Waldensians) should not demonize and burn at the stake those whose sexuality is deemed non-evangelical, as though truth were in our pocket." (Rev. Giuseppe Platone, editor, Riforma, in a November response to 'letters to the editor' condemnatory of HOMOSEXUALITY)

"It is myopic for churches, with tooth and nail, to defend the imposition of sacred symbols in public places. It is the business of the church to preach the gospel, not to plant symbols across the land. You don't append God's grace on walls; you live, you preach it." (Prof. Fulvio Ferrario, Waldensian Theological Seminary, on the contentious issue of CRUCIFIXES IN PUBLIC BUILDINGS, in a November Riforma editorial [In February representatives from the Italian Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Federation of Protestant Churches and the Orthodox Archdiocese opened a discussion on the issue in Rome.])

"With few exceptions, our specialized ministry forces are centered upon maintaining institutions we have inherited, so that we have little energy for addressing challenges arising from new forms of social distress. We really do need to rethink the whole business of DIACONAL MINISTRY, which cannot be severed from and delegated away from the local communities, the baseline in the Christian church. Can we re-imagine diaconal ministry as witness of local churches in dialog with society?" (Marco Jourdan, president, synod commission on diaconal [specialized] ministry, in a November lead article on rethinking social ministry)

Q: "How do we get past living to consume, trapped in the driving logic of market forces ('In the midst of plenty, groping as though we were dead', as Isaiah 59 has it)? Our wealth produces POVERTY AMONG HUMANKIND that is just shocking. How do we get out of this?" (Sara Platone, a young adult, in an open inquiry to a regular column by Prof. Paolo Ricca, in the first Riforma issue of the new year)

A: "…A most unsettling question. I really don't have the answer. Better, the answer is hidden in God. I do, though, have this counsel: cling to scripture and never let go of it. And one day you will see that Word transformed into Presence."

fgg
04/2005