APFC to Take Ecumenical Movement To Grass-Roots
Hyderabad (CBCI News): The General Body meeting of the Andhra Pradesh Federation of Churches (APFC), which is a registered state-level ecumenical organization of the Bishops and Heads of the Christian Denominations, was held on March 06, at St. John’s Regional Seminary, Hyderabad.
The opening Ecumenical Prayer Service was taken from the resources for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity for 2013. Inaugural address was delivered by Bishop G. Dyvasirvadam, Deputy Moderator of CSI and Co-President of APFC. He urged the Churches to respond to the socio-political situation effectively and emphasized the need to take the ecumenical movement to the local level. He also felicitated Archbishop Thumma Bala of Hyderabad and President of APFC, and Archbishop M. Prakash, of Vishakhapatnam and Vice-President of APFC.
Mr B. Danam IAS (Retd), the Executive Secretary of APFC, presented the minutes of the previous meeting while Rev. Fr Dr Anthoniraj Thumma, another Executive Secretary of APFC, presented the Annual Report of the activities of APFC. Rev. Fr AXJ Bosco SJ, Secretary of Commission for SC BC, briefed about the Supreme Court cases on the SC status for the Dalit Christians and invited all to join the One Million Post Card Campaign which was to be formally launched in A.P. during the Press Conference that would be held the next day.
Bishop Most Rev. Dr. Gali Bali, General Secretary of APFC, initiated a discussion on the Ecumenical Document: “Christian Witness in a Multi-Religious World: Recommendations for Conduct,” which was promulgated jointly by the World Council of Churches (WCC), Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue (PCID) and World Evangelical Alliance (WEA). He stressed that some of the attacks on pastors could be avoided if religious fundamentalism is given up by all, including the Christians. It was resolved to publish the Document in Telugu and diffuse it to the independent pastors and evangelists in order to promote ecumenical and inter-religious harmony at the grass-roots.
The meeting also discussed the concerns of Church-run educational institutions and Advisory Council meeting of the Andhra Pradesh State Christian Minority Finance Corporation (APSCMFC), a government agency for the implementation of Government schemes for the Christian Minority in the State.