Author: Sigtunastiftelsen

„Europe: where does it begin, where does it end?“ – Under this title, Oikosnet Europe (OE) together with the Evangelische Akademie Villigst published the presentations of its Annual Conference 2014. The 200-pages booklet, however, offers much more than just the reflections on Europe of Oikosnet members and invited guest speakers. It also offers an introduction to Oikosnet Europe and its members. I contains basic texts of OE as well as portraits of many of its members.

Whoever wants to get informed about the present state of affairs within Oikosnet and wants to participate in parts of the debate might consult the Oikosnet website or this booklet. The booklet might also be a valuable resource for those who consider to become members or just want to stay in touch.

Copies can be obtained from the Oikosnet Secretariat or the Evangelische Akademie Villigst at a rather low price.

Please mail to office@oikosnet.eu with your request.

 

After the night from the 13rd to the 14^th of November France fell in state of shock. As the Charly Hébdo shooting was aiming the free press as well as the Jewish community now the whole population has become the target of terrorism.

The remarkable wave of solidarity from all over the world which was shown toward French people was a strong encouragement for the whole population to withstand the immediate feeling of hate and revenge.

Nevertheless the events of November 13^th have a strong impact on democracy and civil society in France.   Immediately after the President François Hollande declared the state of emergency for the whole country, state which has been extended for three months. This decision was taken by a overwhelming majority in the parlement with a strong support of public opinion and the press although this meant a sensitive restriction of civil rights. Only a few cautionary voices raised the question if the restriction of civil rights for the sake of national security is justified.

The second worrying impact is the growing support for the extreme right wing party Front National of Marine Le Pen.  For the regional elections, which will take place on the 6^th and the 13^th of December, a significant victory of the Front National is predicted. In relating terrorism and migration they try to create an atmosphere of suspicion and mistrust in French society towards migrants and Muslims.

The French concept of laicity (secularism) seems to be clueless regarding the radicalisation of youth in French suburbs.

In this way the slogan Pray for Paris could be interpreted as a sign that religion is not only regarded as problem but could be as well proposing solutions for living together in a pluralistic society.

Sören Lenz

The next Board Meeting of Oikosnet Europe will take place in Prague, 16 to 18 March 2016.

Projects of two or more Oikosnet members to be reviewed by the Board for financial support (“seed money”) should be handed in to the Executive Secretary no later than two weeks prior to the meeting.

High on the agenda will also be the preparations for the Annual Conference 2016, membership issues and establishing Oikosnet Europe as an association under Swedish law.

 

Common Concern for Oikosnet Members?

Much has happened since Gerhard Robbers (available in many languages) and Wolfgang Lienemann/Hans Richard Reuter published their standard works about a decade ago on church-state relations in member states of the EU and of the Council of Europe. Their guiding question was not only the legal framework, but also the space given to religions to be present and visible in public and to contribute to the common good. Since then, there is a much bigger religious plurality in many European countries and, due to many reasons, there are serious attempts to relegate religion from the public more to the private sphere. It is probably right to say, in many circles religion is seen more as being part of the problem than being part of the solution.

No wonder, therefore, that recently many sociologists have started to re-analyse and to re-describe the role of religion in public in different European countries. The Religare Project (www.religareproject.eu), sponsored by the EU, in 2013 comes to the conclusion, that the EU should play “a more direct and active role … in developing a coherent policy framework that would strengthen the combat in Europe against discrimination on the basis of religion or belief in a way that is compatible with a democratic understanding of the functioning of pluralist democracies …”.

Inspired by the consultation and process on “The Role of Religion for Cultural Identity, Democracy and Peace”, to which the Sigtuna Foundation had invited Oikosnet to take an active part, the idea has grown to invite to a Europe-wide discussion forum, possibly leading to some consultations or a common project among Oikosnet members.

Guiding questions could be:

– What is the role of religions in the different European countries?

– How do religions accompany and influence societal developments and transition processes?

– What is the role of “Europe” in influencing national relations between state, society and religion?

If you are interested, please, contact Sabine Federmann at the Villigst Institute for Church and Society (sabine.federmann@kircheundgesellschaft.de)

 

The Orthodox Academy of Crete (OAC), is continuing the work of its Founders as well as underlining the manifold actions of HAH, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomaios I, for the ecumenical protection of nature as an indication of the respect towards the Divine Creation and human beings as image of God, installed photovoltaic (PV) panels of 8kW with the kind and substantial support of OIKOSnet.

The aim of this endeavour is to protect the natural environment and prove also that the production of the building’s necessary energy can be reached by taking advantage of sustainable technologies, stressing the respect for the natural resources. It is the first important step for the OAC to significant reduce its carbon dioxide emissions and become eventually a net zero energy facility, as a good practice example for the local society and a paradigm for achieving an environmental friendly future.

The official announcement the OAC’s PV project was made at the Scientific Conference organized by OAC’s Institute of Theology and Ecology on November 14^th and 15^th concerning energy autonomous islands and communities, which use up to 100% renewable energy sources (RES) with distinguished speakers from all over Europe.

Both the PV development and the RES Conference are scheduled in order to convince with real life examples the community of Crete and Greece in general that the production of energy should be done with respect to the future generations and to strengthen the idea that more citizens should get involved in this vision.

This is the reason why OAC is also making methodical efforts to establish the first Co-operative energy association of Crete. This initiative of the OAC is an invitation to all the citizens of Crete as well as all the faithful of the Church of Crete, to embrace the key point of Crete as a place well supplied with energy, for the RES constitute the chance for a collective development of Crete, for the common interest of all the people, as OAC’s duty for the next generations.

 

 

Business meetings sometimes have a smell of formality, of required tasks to fulfil. For some parts of any business meeting, also ours, this is true: minutes, quorum, elections. However, for most of our business meeting in Corrymeela this wasn’t the case at all. We had a committed groups of members present. And we had a discussion about the Annual Report with immediate consequence for the work ahead. This was partly caused by a new format of the report: in giving the report proposals were made how to proceed with the subjects at stake. It worked well and it created a productive atmosphere where critical remarks were made as guiding principles for our way forward.

Important was also to honour the past of our Association: Three outstanding members of Oikosnet had to leave their place in our organisation. First it dealt with Kati Zoltani, who has served us as a board member for 6 year, also representing Home of Hope in Brasov, Romania. During 4 years she was our active vice-president, looking for improvements in the way we set up meetings and conferences, both regarding the processes as well as the relations between people. Secondly it dealt with Walter Lüssi, until last year the treasurer, also representing Boldern in Switzerland. He was appointed in a new job, stepped down last year but wasn’t able to greet all of us since he had a car-accident at that time. We thanked him for his dedication and careful support during difficult processes. And he announced that probably some new Swiss members are knocking at our door. Last of all, the retirement of Paul Krieg from Casa Cares in Italy was noticed. He has served Oikosnet Europe in very different capacities for almost 3 decades, like Board member (by that time called Executive Committee), organiser of a Course for Lay Leaders trainers (CLLT) in Cyprus, June 2002, member of the Nominations Committee and member of the Committee of internal auditors. We mentioned their names, we remembered their work and we are grateful for their efforts and contributions over the long years.

To continue on this personal level: we elected Nicola Murray (Corrymeela) as our new treasurer, Nils Ivar Agoy (Norwegian Church Academies) and Günter Renz (Ev. Akademie Bad Boll, Germany) as our new auditors and we were glad to appoint Kristin Gunleiksrud Raaum (Norwegian Church Academies) and Friedrich Kramer (Ev. Akademie Wittenberg, Germany) in the Nominations Committee where they cooperate with Alexei Bodrov from St. Andrew’s, Moscow.

The business ahead for us deals with the improved way to cooperate in common projects – see the annual report – with the new working structure with our secretariat in Sigtuna and with the active participation of as many members as possible. Formal aspects are discussed; the tendency is to agree with the proposal to start a new legal entity of Oikosnet Europe in Sweden and at the same time dissolving the structure in Germany. Decisions have to be made at our next Annual Conference. Since these are major steps, we already now announce the dates for our next Annual Conference, taking place in Prague: Wednesday 7 September till Sunday 11 September 2016. Please fix these dates in your calendar now!

The business meeting finished by sharing the experiences of last year, the plans for the next year and the invitations for cooperation in the coming years through all members which were present in Corrymeela. Impossible to reduce to some lines in a report. Important for the way ahead. With warm thanks to all the staff and volunteers of Corrymeela. One critical remark about their expectation management can be made: the weather was far better all week than announced and expected. We were thankful for that!

Jaap van der Sar