MADRID, Spain.
On December 9, declared International Day against Corruption, a prayer and reflection vigil against corruption, promoted by the Ecumenical Forum of Pentecost with various other Christian Churches, was held at the Anglican Church of Saint George in Madrid.
It was a gesture of unity and commitment against corruption. After the session a statement signed by more than 32 churches, church groups and entities was read. The list of signatories continues to increase. ECUDIR, group sponsored by the Teresian Association, participated in the celebration and has applied to join in the statement.
The first part of the event consisted of a panel composed of representatives of various Christian traditions and the Association for Interreligious Dialogue of Madrid (ADIM), with the theme: "Corruption, honesty, and hope."
Speakers: Dr. Jesús Lizcano, Professor at the Autonomous University of Madrid, ADIM member and Chair of Transparency International; Mr. Alfredo Abad, Pastor of the IE, First Secretary of the Standing Committee of IEEE, member of the Executive Committee of the Commission for Immigration in Europe, and the Conference of European Churches; Ms. Ana Abril Fernández, Director of the Department of Social Development of the Roman Catholic Church CARITAS Spain; Mr. Juan Larios, Pastor of the Community of Hope in Alcorcón, of the Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church; Mr. Mathew Phipps, member of the Church Mission Society of UK and CEO of Ecumenism of this community; and Mr. Carlos Jesús Delgado Reguera, coordinator of Pentecost Ecumenical Forum and advisor to the Diocesan Commission for Justice and Peace Madrid; the latter was the moderator.
The dialogue with the speakers dealt with the perception of the situation of corruption in Spain and in the world: its causes and challenges and the means that the different Churches are implementing to combat it. They asked: Is corruption a crisis or is it a strategy the system requires? Since corruption often appears masked in the complexity of laws, one can be corrupt and be perfectly legal. The deepest aspect of the crisis, they said, is the economy of greed that has entered perniciously into the social fabric as a normal lifestyle; this is something profoundly dangerous because it becomes a great threat to social sustainability by unfairly destroying respect for the common good.
There was no lack of signs of hope, among which is this call to prayer, which is the result of a long process of dialogue, work, reflection and prayer. In response to the call the Church of Saint George was completely filled. The coordinator of the panel said: "The fact that we are all here today: Anglican Christians, Protestant, Evangelical, Roman Catholic, Orthodox ... is a true sign of unity and hope."
Mathew Phipps and Inmaculada González guided the prayer vigil. The prayer focused on four themes inspired by texts from the Word of God: 1. God cares for the poor (Isaiah 58: 9- 11); 2. God wants businesses to be fair and ethical (Amos 5:10-15); 3. God wants governments to be fair and ethical (Daniel 6: 3-4); 4. God is concerned with the witness and work of the Churches. (Santiago 2:3-8).
At the end of the prayer, as planned, the statement "Christian call to honesty and hope against corruption" was read.
Info.IT
Information: Inmaculada González Villa
ECUDIR Group of the Teresian Association