Emphasis on Communion, Interfaith work and Migration in Europe
- The Meeting of Porvoo Churches in Dublin, October 2007

The presiding bishops of the Porvoo Churches met in Dublin Oct. 8 – 9 to discuss issues of common concern to the churches of the Porvoo Communion. These included living in communion, cooperation with people of other faiths and migration and integration in Europe.

The Porvoo Contact Group, comprising one representative from each church, continued working through the week on issues suggested by the presiding bishops, and issues from a previous Church Leaders’ Meeting in Cardiff 2006. The group agreed on five areas of work to be carried forward. The first is a theological conference on “Ethics and Communion” to be held in London in January 2008, the second an interfaith consultation to be held in Scotland in November 2008. Thirdly, Denmark has been asked to host a consultation in early 2009 on “Migration and Integration”. Work will continue on the role of the deacon within the Porvoo Communion and a study will be conducted on a process for the possible enlargement of the Communion. Each member of the Contact Group presented a country report describing developments with their churches and society.

The Porvoo Communion is a communion of churches, mostly in Northern Europe, that have signed an agreement to “share a common life in mission and service”. The churches that signed the agreement are The Evangelical-Lutheran Churches of Estonia, Lithuania, Sweden, Norway, Iceland and Finland and the Anglican churches of Wales, Ireland, Scotland and England. Two churches from South Europe also belong to the Porvoo Communion. They are the Lusitanian Church in Portugal and the Reformed Episcopal Church of Spain. The Evangelical Lutheran Churches of Denmark and Latvia have observer status.