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Faith and Order Commissioners in Bossey, January 2017 ©WCC

Faith and Order Commissioners in Bossey, January 2017 ©WCC

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The World Council of Churches Commission on Faith and Order will begin an 8-day meeting this week in Pretoria, South Africa, dedicating an opening ceremony to youth, reflecting on their struggles with past injustices and noting their key role in opening gateways to the future.

The Commission officially opens its meeting on Youth Day, celebrated on 16 June in South Africa as a public holiday that commemorates the Soweto uprising of 1976. The colloquium will take place at the University of Pretoria, 16 June, 2 pm.

The Commission on Faith and Order - comprised of 49 commissioners, four consultants, and one minute taker - serves an ecumenical purpose via theological studies: “as churches call one another to visible unity in one faith and in one eucharistic fellowship.”

Among topics for discussion are the pilgrimage of justice and peace as the foundation of WCC’s work, new and emerging ecclesiology, and Faith and Order’s convergence text, “The Church: Towards a Common Vision.” Churches continue to discuss the text as a tool for a journey toward revealing the unity of the church and how it is inextricably bound to the pilgrimage of justice and peace.

While meeting this week and next, the commission`s daily prayers will be led by diverse faith traditions and study groups. A visit to the Apartheid Museum in Pretoria is also on the agenda.

The commission - regarded as a “think tank” constituted by official representatives of churches belonging to the main historical streams of Christianity, including the Roman Catholic Church - is a multilateral, global forum of ecumenical theology.

WCC Commission on Faith and Order