World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay shared joyful congratulations with Archbishop Hosam Naoum, who was installed as new primate of Anglican Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East.
“Tax justice is a matter of faith,” said Suzanne Matale. “By faith, [all] are entitled to abundant life. Ordinary people have a right to know and to participate in decision-making tables that affect our own God-given dignity.”
In a pastoral letter to churches and ecumenical partners in Sudan, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay extended prayers for peace for the suffering of the people.
“We have received with sadness and alarm recent reports of the escalating impacts of the current conflict and insecurity on the churches and religious communities of the country,” Pillay wrote.
Marking 75 years since Al-Nakba—the Arabic term for the events of 1948, when many Palestinians were displaced from their homeland by the creation of the new state of Israel—religious leaders reflected on what Al-Nakba means today.
During the 75th commemoration of what Palestinians refer to as the nakba, or “catastrophe”—when hundreds of thousands of people were uprooted during Israel's creation in 1948—World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay expressed solidarity with member churches in the Holy Land.
During an ecumenical morning prayer held 15 May, the World Council of Churches (WCC) staff and partners observed the UN International Day of Living Together in Peace, holding in prayer many nations across the world facing challenges to living together in harmony.
A reflection originally shared at the "Working Together" meeting between the World Council of Churches and specialized ministries, convened 3-4 May in Bossey, Switzerland.
H.H. Patriarch Moran Mor Ignatius Aphrem II made a historic visit to Jerusalem on 4 May—the first visit by the Syriac Orthodox Church's Patriarch, the Patriarch of Antioch, since the visit of the Thrice Blessed Yacoub III that took place in June 1966.
A global call for prayers and support for the Democratic Republic of Congo has amplified as floods and landslides left hundreds of people dead in South Kivu, a province in the east of the country.
In a pastoral letter to the churches of South Sudan and to Norwegian Church Aid, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay expressed shock and sadness about the news of an attack on Norwegian Church Aid vehicles in Imehejek, Lopa Lafon, in the Eastern Equatoria region of South Sudan.
The National Jewish-Christian Dialogue, co-sponsored by the National Council of Churches (USA) and the National Council of Synagogues, met 19-20 April in New York City. The dialogue continued its in-depth discussion of reparations and national healing, following previous remote sessions on the broad topic of reparations and specific efforts to consider reparations by the cities of Evanston, Illinois, and Providence, Rhode Island.
“They came to our house. We refused to open the door so they broke in though the window.”
That’s how Damaris Blessing Tiswan, a finance student at Kaduna Polytechnic, began describing her ordeal of being kidnapped with her four siblings at midnight.
World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay expressed grave concern about the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in Sudan, and urged an end to hostilities.
Amidst amplified calls for peace in Sudan, a glimmer of hope has spread in the northeastern African country, after fighting forces announced a 72-hour ceasefire.
Marking 10 years since the kidnapping of archbishops of Aleppo Paul Yazigi and John Ibrahim, the Middle East Council of Churches held an “Ecumenical Day for the Abducted and the Forcibly Absented” on 24 April.
"The soldiers went away because you were watching.”
“I am able to herd my sheep near the military base because I feel safe in the presence of ecumenical accompaniers, and settler harassment is much less when you are around.”
“We feel safe when the ecumenical accompaniers are present.”
The World Council of Churches (WCC) released a fact sheet on demolitions in East Jerusalem that serves as a source of credible information for WCC member churches, ecumenical accompaniers, and the media.