Rev. Dr Jose Pepito Manansala Cunanan, who served as secretary of the Urban Rural Mission Programme at the World Council of Churches (WCC) from 1986-1989 and executive director of the Commission on Development and Social Concerns at the National Council of Churches in the Philippines from 1990-93, passed away on 12 October.
As the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to journalists Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov, World Council of Churches (WCC) acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca congratulated them and expressed solidarity with their ongoing fight for justice and peace.
World Council of Churches (WCC) director of the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs Peter Prove presented, via video message, an intervention at an “International Ecumenical Solidarity Gathering for Human Rights and Peace in the Philippines” held 7 October.
World Council of Churches acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca sent a video greeting to the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea (PROK) for its upcoming 106th General Assembly, scheduled for 28-29 September.
In a 1 September letter to President Joe Biden, World Council of Churches acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca appealed for reconsideration on sanctions against North Korea.
Participants in a meeting of members and partners of the Ecumenical Forum for Peace, Reunification & Cooperation on the Korean Peninsula (EFK), held online on 25 August, emphasized the need to continue to work together for peace on the Korean Peninsula even amid COVID-19 and challenging political circumstances.
The Church of South India, through a campaign on climate-resilient schools, has been inspiring and educating students and teachers through a series of one-hour sessions which began in May this year and will run until the United Nations climate talks in November.
The World Council of Churches invites its member churches and all people of good will to observe the annual Sunday of Prayer for the Peaceful Reunification of the Korean Peninsulaon 15 August. Prepared by Christians from South Korea, the prayer will be held on the day celebrated as Liberation Day in both North and South Korea, marking the date in 1945 when Korea won independence from Japanese colonial oppression—yet ironically it also was the day when the peninsula was divided into two countries.
At a 28 July ecumenical briefing on INVESTIGATE PH’s “Second Report of the Independent International Commission of Investigation Into Human Rights Violations in the Philippines,” religious leaders discussed their renewed commitment to act in solidarity with people in the Philippines whose human rights are increasingly in peril.
They came from every part of Indonesia for the online consultation of member churches of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Indonesia, with COVID-19 weighing heavily on those representing 27 traditions from a nation with more than 3.3 million cases reported.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) expressed concern and extended prayers for those who continue to be affected by severe monsoon-related flooding and landslides in India. More than 150 people have perished in western India, and there is extensive damage.
The Tokyo Olympic Games have begun one year late in one of the world's biggest cities. There are no spectators—and little of the usual spiritual support from churches and no official Olympic Village prayer room.
His Holiness, Moran Mor Baselios Marthoma Paulose II, Catholicos of the East and primate of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, passed away in the early hours of 12 July. His Holiness was the 91st Catholicos of the East, and at 74 years of age, had been undergoing treatment for cancer over the past two years.
The World Council of Churches Commission of the Churches on International Affairs delivered two statements to the 47th session of United Nations Human Rights Council, being held 21 June-21 July.
The 7th Korea-US Church Consultation was held 24 June online, bringing together Korean and US church leaders to reflect on their mission journey, to share their respective challenges, and to explore joint action plans especially vis-a-vis the new US Administration.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is mourning the death of Most Rev. Fereimi Cama, bishop of Polynesia and primate of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Cama was also a trustee of the Pacific Conference of Churches.
Through an ecumenical worship service held at the Kyungdong Presbyterian Church on 30 June, the National Council of Churches in Korea and the Christian Academy jointly marked the creation of a new “Korean Accompaniment Group for the WCC 11th Assembly.”
Amid the suffering caused by COVID-19 in India, a theological seminary in Nagaland, in northeast India, recorded “Words of Encouragement to Pastors and Church Leaders.”