BY GRETCHEN KEISER

Staff Writer

ATLANTA--Bishops and clergy representing Christian denominations in Atlanta are joining in preparation for the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000.

Many denominational leaders, including Atlanta Archbishop John F. Donoghue, as well as individual pastors, are signing a covenant linking Jubilee celebrations of the birth of Jesus Christ with a renewed commitment to work in this region toward greater Christian unity and common service.

Drafted by the Advisory Council of the Christian Council of Metropolitan Atlanta, the covenant will be formally signed Dec. 8 in a ceremony at the Second Ponce de Leon Baptist Church on Peachtree Road. Some bishops are signing the covenant in advance and sending delegates to the ceremony.

Father Richard Kieran, chairman of the CCMA Advisory Council, has been working to promote the local initiative for ecumenical endeavors and Christian witness in the years 1997 through 2000.

"The Christian Council realized that all Christians would be observing the anniversary of their salvation in Jesus Christ in some way in the year 2000. The council took the initiative in calling on churches to do this in unison and there has been a wonderful show of support," Father Kieran said.

The covenant begins with Christ's prayer for unity in John's Gospel, in which He asks "that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that you sent me."

Those signing state their desire that the celebration of the Great Jubilee "be the occasion for new and significant progress towards unity among our individual churches" and "hasten the day when all churches will be in full communion with one another, while maintaining the rich diversity of their various traditions."

The covenant also calls for the Jubilee to be observed in local clusters of churches. Some of the efforts proposed include: invigorating existing ecumenical clusters and forming new ones; engaging in substantive dialogue within the clusters on issues which unite and divide Christians; providing an annual pulpit exchange within the clusters; proclaiming the Good News in neighborhoods as a cluster; acting as clusters to serve the needy in the area and bring about justice.

Among bishops expected to sign the covenant are Bishop Iacovos of the Greek Orthodox Diocese of Atlanta, Assistant Bishop Onell Soto of the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta, Bishop Lindsey Davis of the United Methodist Church, Bishop Otahl Lakey of the CME Church and Bishop Ronald Warren of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Clergy from the Atlanta Baptist Association, United Church of Christ, Mennonite Church, Atlanta Presbytery and Atlanta Friends Meeting are also signing the covenant.

The preparation by the Christian Council of Metropolitan Atlanta echoes a theme chosen by Pope John Paul II as one of his predominant concerns in preparation for the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000. The pope has called all Catholics to renewed prayer and action in the area of Christian ecumenism since unity strengthens the common witness to Christ and disunity weakens it. The pope has also called for self-examination by the Catholic Church of those eras and events in the past which require repentance and forgiveness because of sins of intolerance and violence against non-Catholics.