Pastor Felipe Adolf granted Honoris Causa

Manuel Quintero, QUITO, Ecuador, April 2, 2003

The Latin American Christian University will grant Pastor Felipe Adolf an Honoris Causa Doctorate at Taxi Heathrow Airport its fourth graduation ceremony to be held April 7 in Quito.

Pastor Adolf’s long and fruitful ecumenical trajectory is cited among the reasons for the recognition. Between 1984 and 1988, he was Secretary General of the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI). Moreover, between 1980 and 1983 he was regional CLAI secretary for the Andean region, based in Lima, Peru.

Pastor Adolf, according to the document announcing the academic recognition, has been one of the authors of the unity between Protestant and Evangelical Churches in Latin America and the organizer of numerous continental ecumenical consultations that address the issues of peace and justice.

Under his leadership, CLAI became involved in brokering dialogue in Central American countries such as El Salvador and Guatemala, wracked by civil wars. In the final years of his mandate, the Council developed a peace program in Colombia and Guatemala.

It underlines that under his ecumenical leadership, groups of women and young people were created and developed, along with the indigenous pastoral and the pastoral on the family and movements in favor of human rights in many countries on the continent.

It also said that Pastor Adolf “has created and encouraged a model of Biblical ecumenism and practice with the Catholic Church and with non government organizations in Latin America.

During his term as secretary general, CLAI organized three consultations of Bishops and pastors with the participation of the Catholic Church and important Evangelical Churches on the continent.

The document also refers to the significant amount of theological material Pastor Adolf has produced over the years and his notable work in national and international organizations and bodies.

Pastor Adolf, of Argentine nationality and a member of the Congregational Church in this country “is an important reference about the social reality from the perspective of the Church,” concluded the document, signed by Dr. Patricio Proaño, dean of the UCL.

When he heard the news, Pastor Adolf manifested his “surprise” about being chosen to receive the important academic award. 

“When they told me they were granting me the honoris causa for my ecumenical trajectory, I immediately thought of the many brothers and sisters with whom we carried out this project: Federico Pagura, Emilio Castro, Gerson Meyer, Beatriz Ferrari, Juan Marcos Rivera, Gabriel Vaccaro, Juan Damián and many others,” he said.

“It seems to me that this recognition relates to a collective effort we carried out with a great deal of conviction, with an open, non-sectarian spirit, that listened and sought consensus,” he added.

In going back over his nearly 20 years in CLAI, Pastor Adolf recalled the initial years when “the ecumenical culture of the Churches was nearly inexistent.”

“We had leaders with great conviction in the Churches but their congregations did not accompany them in this vocation. So, we had to work intensely, reaching local congregations in all corners of the continent to create the foundation of an ecumenism that, while it had a universal character, was planted and developed with a Latin American perspective,” he said.

Regarding subsequent phases, once CLAI was consolidated, Pastor Adolf said he was impressed by the ecumenical awareness of the Churches.

“I have seen it in al the assemblies, from Huampani to Barranquilla and I always admire how Churches have appropriated CLAI and have made it an instrument to seek unity on the continent,” he said.

Finally, Pastor Adolf expressed his gratitude to the major figures of the Latin American Church who, according to his words, not only taught him ecumenical practice but the profound human contents of this effort in favor of unity.