The World Council of Churches will not join in an "unholy competition" with other Church bodies to mark the new millennium, the WCC's General Secretary, Konrad Raiser, said at a press conference in September.

Dr Raiser was responding to questions after a meeting of the WCC's Central Committee was told that the celebration of the year 2000 could be a "counter-witness to Christian unity" if Churches found themselves "intentionally or otherwise, in competition with each other for maximum visibility and impact".

The warning came in a paper drawn up after a meeting convened earlier this year in Geneva by the WCC of representatives of Christian World Communions - including the Roman Catholic Church. The meeting followed criticism by some Churches of the elaborate preparations for the year 2000 announced by the Vatican.

Dr Raiser told the press conference that he was "relatively confident" that all present at the meeting, including the Roman Catholic Church, recognised the need to avoid a situation of "unholy competition".

The WCC, he said, will not "join the race, it will not become a co-competitor". Instead, the WCC would continue to offer its services to mediate between those who were planning for, or interested in, celebrations to mark the new millennium, and to do so "in ways that strengthen our ecumenical cooperation".

On a proposal that the world's main Christian traditions should organise a "truly ecumenical" celebration in Jerusalem to mark the new millennium, Dr Raiser said that conversations with local Churches had already begun.