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- When the Ocean Covers the Cemeteries
Luca Maria Negro, longtime pastor, ecumenical leader, and friend to many in the American Waldensian Society, is writing a series of articles titled “Christians in the World.” This article will describe a part of the Christian world that few people in Europe or the Americas know much about.
Luca’s series of articles is a virtual journey through Christian ecumene. “Ecumene,” from which the modern concept of ecumenism – that is, dialogue between different Christian churches – derives, has not only a theological but also (indeed, primarily) a geographical meaning, coming from the Greek expression ἡ οἰκουμένη, the inhabited world.
Luca writes: Our journey so far has touched countries (and Christians) affected or at least threatened by war: Iran, Cuba, and Greenland. Today we move to a region threatened by climate change: the Pacific islands, specifically Fiji. And we stop in Togoru, a village on the southern coast of Viti Levu, about 100 kilometers from the capital Suva, a place that symbolizes the irreversible damage caused by rising sea levels due to global warming. Here in Togoru, for several years, the ocean has been swallowing 120 to 150 centimeters (or about 4 to 5 feet) of land each year, and has already engulfed several homes, fields, and even a cemetery. And right here, on April 16, the Pacific Conference of Churches, in collaboration with the World Council of Churches and in conjunction with the Pacific Church Leaders’ Meeting, launched the Ecumenical Decade of Action for Climate Justice, an initiative that calls on churches to commit to a true “ecological conversion,” undertaking a “prophetic pilgrimage of repentance, transformation, and hope … turning away from systems of sin and ecological injustice.”
The Pacific Churches launched the Decade with a special ceremony that included prayers, hymns, symbolic gestures, and testimonies from residents of the village of Togoru, along with a “call to action and hope,” which reads: “Together, in love, we want to speak the truth and to care for creation. Together, in faith, we will walk together for transformation. Together, in action, we will build hope for the future.”
In addition to local Protestant, Anglican, and Catholic leaders as well as Fijian political and civil society figures, the ceremony was also attended by the WCC General Secretary, Pastor Jerry Pillay, who expressed appreciation for the Pacific Churches’ strong commitment to the protection of creation, a theme on which they have raised awareness throughout the world by bearing their “prophetic witness.”
Like other Pacific Island nations, Fiji is predominantly Christian, although Hindu and Muslim minorities exist. Christianity was introduced in 1835 by Methodist missionaries, which explains why the Methodist Church is the largest Christian denomination in the country, representing 35% of the country’s population of just under one million. Suva, Fiji’s capital, is home to the Pacific Conference of Churches, a regional ecumenical body created sixty years ago, which includes Protestants, Anglicans, and, since 1976, Catholics.