CLAI participates in the public presentation of the Christian Ecumenical Council of Guatemala

Guatemala, October 15, 2007

On September 28, in the historic Oslo Room of the House of Reconciliation, and with Taxi Heathrow Airport a resounding “Yes” to the question, “Will the prophetic voice of God and God’s people be heard against social injustice?” the Reverend Eduardo Chinchilla, Regional Secretary of the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI in Spanish) installed the first Board of Directors and Pastoral Commissions of the Christian Ecumenical Council of Guatemala (formerly known as the Ecumenical Forum for Peace and Reconciliation), on the occasion of the public presentation of the Council.

The President of the recently appointed Council is Bishop Armando Guerra of the Episcopal Church of Guatemala, and the Vice-President is Monsignor Rodolfo Valenzuela Núñez, President of the Comisión for Ecumenism of the Roman Catholic Bishops Conference of Guatemala.

In his address, the General Secretary of the Christian Ecumenical Council of Guatemala, the Reverend Vitalino Similox Salazar, explained that the change in name is because ecumenism has become institutionalized in Guatemala as a result of this Council, which has legal status and is a Council with a capital C due to its being a colegiate body made up of different churches and religious expressions that have a common denominador: belief in Jesús Christ and a seeking for the witnessing to the unity of the churches being a living reality of the divine commission that “all be one.”

The Reverend José Pilar Alvarez Cabrera, a pastor of the Guatemalan Lutheran Church, was introduced as Treasurer of the Ecumenical Council, and as members, Monsignor Rodolfo Cardenal Quezada Toruño, Metropolitan Archbishop; the Reverend Iván Haroldo Paz Andrade, Permanent Secretary of the National Presbyterian Evangelical Church; the Reverend Marcelino García of the Conference of Religious Orders of Guatemala (CONFREGUA in Spanish), and the Reverend Héctor Castañeda of the St. John Apostle Evangelical Church.

Four Pastoral Commissions were introduced at the symbolic presentation presided over by the Reverend Eduardo Chincilla: HIV/Aids Pastoral Accompaniment, represented by the Reverend Roberto Armas of the Episcopal Church of Guatemala; Youth at Risk, represented by seminarian Ramón Ovalle of the Episcopal Church of Guatemala; Women, represented by Mercedes Saavedra of the Episcopal Church of Guatemala and Zoyla Esperanza Paz, and; Ecumenism, presided over by the Reverend Francisco Trabanino of the Episcopal Church of Guatemala and the Reverend Elmer Son Maxía of the Missionary Fraternity of Mary. The members of the Board of Directors and those responsible for each commission were vested with different colored stoles.

“May you all feel yourselves to be a part of this Christian Ecumenical Council of Guatemala and accompany its leaders who have been presented to you here today, so that the witness to the unity of the church of Christ be visible in Guatemala,” said the Regional Secretary of CLAI, when inviting the nearly 100 participants representing the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Presbyterian, Lutheran and Mennonite Churches, to raise their hands and ask the Creator’s blessing over the new Board of Directors and Pastoral Commissions.

The Reverend Similox said that the Christian Ecumenical Council of Guatemala proposes to continue working on behalf of ecumenism in Guatemala, and that because of that ecumenism the churches are committed to being the voice that announces and denounces the situations of injustice and social inequality made manifest in Guatemala. He said that the Council will be watchful of the public actions of the new government, whoever wins the second elections for President and Vice-President of Guatemala on November 4.