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by Theodore Gill (*)

by Theodore Gill (*)

Christian villagers are rebuilding their lives and relationships more than a year after being attacked by a group of Hindu extremists in the eastern Indian state of Orissa.

Because unity is finally a gift of God, "it demands a profound sense of humility and not any prideful insistence." With this call to the "never-ending search" for unity of the church, which "is also an ever-unfolding journey", Patriarch Bartholomew I opened the 7-14 October meeting of the Faith and Order Plenary Commission, in Kolympari, Crete, Greece.

World Council of Churches (WCC) current and incoming general secretaries have highlighted honesty in dialogue as the basis of meaningful interfaith encounters.

By Juan Michel (*)

As the United Nations has made a small but significant step forward towards declaring caste-based discrimination a human rights violation, Indian Christian leaders have called on the churches to confess that the caste system is still being practised also within them.

As the United Nations hosts another round of preparatory climate change talks in Bangkok, faith leaders stress once more that religious values need to be voiced in the debate on how to address climate change.

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I will open the meeting of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission on Faith and Order, which will take place in Kolympari, Crete, Greece, from 7 to 14 October 2009.

Korean churches already experience the positive impact of hosting the 10th Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Busan in 2013.

On the eve of the 22 September United Nations Summit on Climate Change representatives of faith communities around the world called on world leaders and on "all people of Earth to accept the reality of the common danger we face, the imperative and responsibility for immediate and decisive action and the opportunity to change."

On the eve of the G20 summit in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (USA), World Council of Churches (WCC) president from North America, Rev. Dr Bernice Powell Jackson will join more than 25 Christian, Jewish and Islamic religious leaders from the United States at a 22-23 September Faith Leaders Summit to press for actions – not just words – that will help hungry and poor people lift themselves out of poverty.

A team of church representatives from Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia will pay a solidarity visit to churches, ecumenical organizations and civil society movements in India from 21 to 27 September.

By Jonathan Frerichs (*)

At the recent Central Committee meeting, three female presidents of the World Council of Churches expressed concern and disappointment over the lack of women in senior staff leadership. As of 1 October, all leadership positions at the WCC in programmes and at the senior level will be men. The WCC presidents Dr Mary Tanner , Rev. Dr Ofelia Ortega and Rev. Dr Bernice Powell Jackson  suggested the following recommendation to be added to the nominations committee report which was discussed and then approved by the Central Committee:Â

The election of a new general secretary for the organization and the selection of the venue for its next assembly were highlights of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Central Committee meeting that ended yesterday in Geneva, Switzerland.

The Central Committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC) has called on member churches to "recognize that the continued discrimination and exclusion of millions of people on the basis of caste" is a "serious challenge to the credibility of their witness to their faith in God".

Rev. Dr Solomon Zwana, new general secretary of the Zimbabwe Council of Churches, says his organization and his country need the prayers and support of the world.

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The Central Committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC) urged its member churches "to publicly condemn violence against women" in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and declare that "violence against women is a sin".