Patriarchy has been the dominant influence in shaping men and oppressing women, a workshop sponsored by the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) and the World Council of Churches (WCC) has concluded.

In the comfort of a simple Swedish meeting room, 25 Christian and Muslim women met to talk about how religion, which is often blamed to cause violence, can move people toward peace. When Rev. Marika Palmdahl welcomed the participants in the meeting "Moving towards a peace through religion" which was held 4-7 September and co-organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and Teheran's Institute for Interreligious Dialogue (IID), her...

"New paradigms and models of ecumenical work and engagement" are necessary to counter "a malaise in the ecumenical movement" in Asia, a group of ecumenists from the region stated.

As hundreds of thousands of people from the US Gulf Coast have evacuated their homes, fleeing from Hurricane Gustav as they did from Katrina three years ago, US churches keep praying and providing relief. They also denounce underlying social and economic conditions that make for the vulnerability of the region.

The spiritual and moral dimensions of climate change are best shown by how it affects the poorest and most vulnerable, says the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in a message marking 1 September as a day of prayer for God's creation.

During a youth interfaith seminar outside Geneva last month some participants realized the religious differences are usually smaller than imagined and cultural differences are often more significant than expected.

Representatives of ecumenical organizations meeting in advance of the 17th International AIDS Conference in Mexico City vowed to launch a global campaign to help churches become competent in dealing with the HIV and AIDS pandemic.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) will welcome five young people (aged 18-30 years) to serve as interns in its Geneva offices from February 2009 to January 2010. Interns bring valuable experiences to the WCC at the same time as they undertake several modules of ecumenical learning.

Ideas for "bringing unity down to earth", "communicative action" and a "theology of the wilderness" were among the winning entries submitted for an essay contest on Prospects for Ecumenism in the 21st Century. The winners, two women and four men, come from Africa, Asia, Europe and North America.

Over the last decade, Orthodox women reached significant milestones regarding their participation in church life, but many of their concerns have not yet been fully addressed, an international gathering of Orthodox women stated.