World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay sent a pastoral letter to Haitian brothers and sisters whose lives are lived in a land with hatred, violence, and suffering. “Although we might be physically distant, we are close to you in heart, in the spiritual sense,” wrote Pillay. “We all are children of God. We belong to one family, as Jesus Christ himself said.”
In the Caribbean, there is an increased sense that persons with disabilities have rights and the church is strengthening the view that all are created in the image of God, said a Jamaican cleric and academic who campaigns for disability rights.
Como parte del Barbados Gospelfest, el coordinador caribeño de la Red Ecuménica de Defensa de las Personas con Discapacidad del Consejo Mundial de Iglesias, Rev. Dr. Gordon Cowans, pronunció una conferencia pública el 22 de mayo que analiza el tema “Influir en la vida de las personas con discapacidad: Liberadas para simplemente ser”.
As part of the Barbados Gospelfest, Caribbean co-coordinator of the World Council of Churches Ecumenical Disability Advocates Network Rev. Dr Gordon Cowans offered a public lecture on 22 May, exploring the theme “Touching Lives of Persons With Disability: Freed to Simply Be.”
The upcoming Barbados Gospelfest, set for 21-28 May, will express churches’ affirmation and celebration of persons with disabilities in musical and other creative ways.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) publication highlights the lessons learnt from the project Strategic Engagement of Civil Society Networks and Faith Actors in the HIV Response in India, Dominican Republic, Indonesia, and Jamaica.
A World Council of Churches (WCC) consultation in Jamaica sparked an open discussion between faith leaders delegated by the Jamaican Council of Churches, people living with HIV, UNAIDS, and local health ministers, all of whom agreed to strengthen their commitment to a fair an just response to HIV and AIDS.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is beginning a project with local partners in four countries—India, Dominican Republic, Indonesia, and Jamaica—to bring back HIV and AIDS response to the national agendas, this time with a focus on sustainability.
World Council of Churches acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca expressed great concern in the wake of a 7.3-magnitude earthquake that struck the northern part of Luzon Island in the Philippines on 27 July.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is mourning the death of Sarah Newland Martin, known for her lifetime of advocacy for persons with disabilities, for her leadership with the YMCA and Jamaica Baptist Union, and her ecumenical bridge-building.
As many communities worldwide battle to get food to the table, a World Council of Churches (WCC) webinar titled ‘Racism, Land and Food' highlighted the intersections of food, land, and racial injustices on food sovereignty over generations of dispossessed groups.
A group of intern ministers from the Presbyterian Church of Trinidad and Tobago (PCTT)—including Cynara Dube-Sookoo, Bjorn Warde, and Robert Dinnoo—worked with PCTT synod moderator Rt. Rev. Joy E. Abdul-Mohan to produce a video about how young people and churches can lead the way toward climate justice.
En una carta enviada el 15 de octubre al presidente de Estados Unidos, Joe Biden, los líderes del Consejo Mundial de Iglesias, ACT Alianza, el Consejo de Iglesias de Cuba y otros grupos religiosos instaron a poner fin a los casi 60 años de embargo contra el pueblo cubano, que se enfrenta a una situación humanitaria atroz.
In a 15 October letter to US president Joe Biden, leaders from the World Council of Churches, ACT Alliance, Council of Churches in Cuba, and other faith-based groups urged an end to nearly 60 years of embargo against the Cuban people, who are facing an appalling humanitarian situation.
As reports of casualties and loss grow in Haiti in the wake of a 7.2-magnitude earthquake on 14 August, a tropical depression was threatening the same area two days later.
A webinar held 22 October gave space for persons with disabilities to share their reflections. Entitled “From Lamentation to Transformation,” the event, first in a series of webinars on COVID-19 perspectives, highlighted hope through stories, practical support, and social change as experienced by persons with disabilities.
God’s creation groans in the Amazon forest, a sacred space for 34 million people suffering from the growth of inequality, land invasion, extractivism, relaxation of environmental laws, criminalization and murder of its defenders, and arson orchestrated by agribusiness—all of it made worse by proselytizing.
La Creación de Dios gime en la selva amazónica, un lugar sagrado donde treinta y cuatro millones de personas sufren a causa de la desigualdad creciente, la invasión de las tierras, el extractivismo, la relajación de las leyes medioambientales, la criminalización y asesinato de los activistas medioambientales y los incendios orquestados por las industrias agrícolas. Todo ello, agravado por el proselitismo.
In a letter sent to Caribbean churches, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit expressed gratitude that the disaster did not cause severe damage or fatalities.
As Bishop Theophilus Rolle, living in the Bahamas, shared initial assessments with the World Council of Churches (WCC) in the wake of Hurricane Dorian, the WCC in turn called for prayers and solidarity across the world for the people suffering greatly during the storm.