By Deborah Gyapong
Canadian Catholic News

OTTAWA -- The Canadian Council of Churches (CCC) marked its 65th anniversary May 14 with an ecumenical prayer service for Afghanistan at Notre Dame Cathedral Basilica.

That day CCC president James Christie stepped down after a three-year term to make way for Bruce Adema, who is director of Canadian ministries for the Christian Reformed Church of North America and the first CCC president from that denomination.

The CCC's Governing Council also has three new vice presidents: Major Gillian Brown of the Salvation Army; Fr. John Jillions, dean of Ottawa's Orthodox Cathedral and a professor at the Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies at Saint Paul University; and Saint-Jerome Bishop Emeritus Gilles Cazabon. Bishop Cazabon was formerly head of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate in Rome and president of the Quebec Assembly of Catholic Bishops until his retirement last summer.

London Bishop Ronald Fabbro presided at the service which gathered members from a range of denominations and heard prayers in eight languages. Assisting him was Archbishop Yurij Kalistchuk of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Notre Dame Rector Msgr. Pat Powers brought greetings on behalf of Ottawa Archbishop Terrence Prendergast.

Christie, who represented the United Church of Canada, just completed 15 years on the CCC's governing council in one capacity or another.

In an interview May 18, Christie said he told the prayer gathering that "the weariness of those who seek peace is not an option."

He recalled Zoe, who lived in a hut upcountry from the truck stop community in southern Uganda that was identified as the place where the HIV epidemic first emerged in that country. He told the 100 or so members from different faiths that he and a friend visited her humble compound where she served as a local midwife. She had several buildings in the compound and eight low mounds that served as the graves of her four sons and daughters-in-law. By herself, Zoe was raising their 19 children who ranged in age from two to 19 years.

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Zoe's prayer requests were that her grandchildren might grow up to be good citizens; that she might live long enough to see that happen; and finally that those suffering in northern Uganda from the forays of the Lord's Resistance Army might know peace.

He used her example to tie into the prayers for Afghanistan and ask what stood in the way of prayers we might all offer for peace.

He also recalled a visit to the University of Winnipeg, where Christie serves as principle Dean of Theology, of Martin Luther King Jr.'s chief speechwriter, Vincent Harding of the Iliff seminary in Denver, Colorado.

Harding had said that King was not assassinated because of his famous "I have a dream" speech, but for his "It's time to break the silence" speech, Christie said.

Christie said King "named the three demons" of racism, materialism and militarism in that speech. Christie said Canada is not exempt.

Christie spoke of the racism evident in Canada in post 9/11 racial profiling and the "deafening" silence concerning the disappearance of 17 Aboriginal women off the streets of Winnipeg. He criticized the materialism that has not interest in sustainability, economically, ecologically or ethically. "It transforms citizens into consumers and renders human beings commodities," he said, noting that 700,000 human beings are trafficked a year and Canada faces a big upswing with the upcoming 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

On militarism, he stressed he was not criticizing the military whose role is to serve and protect. Christie said that whether in Afghanistan or Africa, it will take some time to establish a civil authority that will operate without assistance, requiring a commitment of decades, even generations.

He urged Canadian troops in Afghanistan to be deployed to help transform agriculture because so much of the arable land was damaged or destroyed by the Soviet Union and ensuing wars. That has led to the growth of opium poppies which provide the only revenue. It's not simply a question of roads, hospitals and schools, he said, but the establishment of an agriculture not based on opium. That will require a strong military presence, he said, but it will help relieve the terrible poverty that breeds violence.

-- Courtesy of Canadian Catholic News. Please do not reprint without permission.

May 28/2009