Anglican - Lutheran International Commission Communique

May 19, 2008
Chennai, India
28 April – 5 May 2008

The Third Anglican – Lutheran International Commission (ALIC) held its third meeting at Chennai, India, between 28 April and 5 May 2008, under the co-chairmanship of the Most Reverend Fred Hiltz, Primate of Canada, and of Reverend Dr. Cameron Harder, Lutheran Theological Seminary, Saskatoon, Canada, in the absence of Bishop Thomas Nyiwé, Cameroon, who was unable to attend.

The meeting was hosted by The Lutheran World Federation, in co-operation with the United Evangelical Lutheran Church in India. Its Executive Secretary, Reverend Dr. A. G. Augustine Jeyakumar, welcomed the group at an opening dinner, and the UELCI was host for an excursion to the temple sites at Mamallapuram and dinner there. On Sunday 4 May commission members attended the Broadway Congregation of The Arcot Lutheran Church and visited Chennai sites associated with the memory of the Apostle Thomas. On Ascension Day, the commission worshipped in the chapel of the Gurukul Lutheran Theological College and Research Institute and heard about ecumenical education in this setting from members of its faculty: Reverend Dr. Ponniah Manoharan, Director and Professor in Christian Ministry, Reverend Dr. Jacob Thomas, Professor of Systematic Theology, and Reverend Dr. David Udayakumar, Professor of Mission and Ecumenism. The commission was also welcomed by Bishop V. Devasahayam, Bishop in Madras of the Church of South India, who guided the group in a tour of St. George’s Cathedral and welcomed it to a programme of dance by children from the Cathedral’s Bible schools. He also challenged the commission and its communions to take seriously the injustices caused by the persistence of caste in Indian society. the rest