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Le recteur iranien Ayatollah M. Seyyed Abolhassan Nawab et Mme Zahra Sedigh, de la mission iranienne auprès des Nations Unies, ont visité le Conseil œcuménique des Églises (COE), le 27 juillet, pour évoquer l’éducation et la formation ainsi que l’importance du renforcement du rôle de la coopération interreligieuse.

Iranian rector Ayatollah M. Seyyed Abolhassan Nawab and Ms Zahra Sedigh, from the Iranian Mission to the UN, visited the World Council of Churches (WCC) on 27 July, discussing education and formation, as well as the importance of strengthening the role of interreligious cooperation.  

Rev. Fr Dr Lawrence Iwuamadi is dean of the Ecumenical Institute, the graduate school which opened its academic year this week. Below, Iwuamadi reflects on the arrival of new students at the Ecumenical Institute during this remarkable time.

Each year students from all over the world arrive at Bossey near Geneva for a three-month language training course to pave their way for ecumenical studies that follow on straight after. “The title captures the goal of the course,” says Father Lawrence Iwuamadi, the Nigerian priest who studied at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and is academic dean of the Ecumenical Institute.

Marie Bassili Assaad, an ecumenical leader who was WCC deputy general secretary from 1980 to 1986, passed away on 30 August, at the age of 96. Her funeral took place in Egypt on 2 September.

Marie Bassili Assaad, responsable œcuménique qui fut secrétaire générale adjointe du Conseil œcuménique des Églises de 1980 à 1986, est décédée le 30 août à l’âge de 96 ans. Ses funérailles ont eu lieu en Égypte le 2 septembre.

As students gathered at the WCC Ecumenical Institute at Bossey for an interreligious summer school, they reflected on what brought them to the institute, and what knowledge and insights they will take home.

Whether as individual believers or as a community, it is our collective task to advocate for Christian unity, says Melanio L. Aoanan from the Philippines. A clear vision for religious and ecumenical theological education is needed that is relevant in the 21st century.

Que ce soit en tant qu'individus ou en tant que communauté, il est de notre devoir collectif de défendre l'unité des chrétiens, déclare Melanio L. Aoanan. L'éducateur philippin appelle à une vision claire de la formation œcuménique qui soit pertinente au XXIe siècle.

Relations between the WCC and the Centre for Interreligious Dialogue in Tehran go back more than 20 years. One recent fruit of this relationship has been the developing links between the WCC and the University of Religions and Denominations in the Iranian holy city of Qom.

Le Conseil œcuménique des Églises entretient depuis plus de 20 ans des relations avec le Centre pour le dialogue interreligieux de Téhéran. Récemment, ces relations ont conduit à la création de liens entre le COE et l’Université des religions et dénominations, située dans la ville sainte iranienne de Qom.

Church must be a safe place where sinners are welcome to learn and change, and where the wounded can share their pains and find refuge, says Maria Dous, a medical student from Egypt. In July, she participated in a seminar organized by the Pan African Women’s Ecumenical Empowerment Network at the WCC's Ecumenical Institute Bossey.

L'Église doit être un lieu sûr où les pécheurs sont encouragés à apprendre et à changer, mais aussi où les personnes meurtries peuvent partager leurs souffrances et trouver refuge, a déclaré Maria Dous, une étudiante égyptienne en médecine. En juillet dernier, elle a participé à un séminaire organisé par le Réseau œcuménique d'autonomisation de la femme panafricaine (ROAFP).

The Christian Conference of Asia (CCA), on 11-12 July, held an international consultation on “Towards Revitalising the Ecumenical Movement in Asia.” The gathering of 60 church and ecumenical leaders was organised by the CCA at its headquarters in Chiang Mai, Thailand as a prelude to its Diamond Jubilee celebration.

Reconciliation was once primarily seen as a message of the church but is now used by secular leaders trying to establish peace in communities torn by conflict and war, the WCC president for Africa, the Rev. Mary Anne Plaatjies van Huffel, has said at a major Protestant gathering in Germany.

When the Bossey Ecumenical Institute marked 70 years of formation, hundreds of current and former students, professors and friends gathered at the Château du Bossey to celebrate. Rev. Khaing Moh Moh was one of that band, but perhaps she travelled the furthest, from Myanmar, where she serves the Shan State Lisu Baptist Association about 200 kilometres north of Mandalay, the country’s second biggest city.

As the Bossey Ecumenical Institute marks 70 years of ecumenical formation, hundreds of current and former students, professors, partners and friends have gathered at the Château du Bossey for days highlighting the work of the institute and the role it has had and continues to play in the ecumenical movement.