The World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission on World Mission and Evangelism, in partnership with the Portuguese Council of Churches, hosted a seminar in Lisbon, Portugal, on 5-9 June entitled “Making the last FIRST,” relating this theme to decolonization.
Strengthening the link between Christian perspectives and practical action for human rights, a symposium on human dignity and rights took place in the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey on 25-26 April.
When the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, 2022, churches had already been responding to humanitarian need in the country for eight years, since the annexation of Crimea in 2014. The work being undertaken by churches in meeting the needs of those displaced by the war is not new, but the scale is staggering as 14 million people have been displaced in the six months since the invasion began.
On 20 May 2022, a group of us, 14 pilgrims from different parts of the world (Kenya, Brussels, Germany, Hong Kong, Philippines, Poland, Rome, Korea, Canada, Fiji, Australia, London, Scotland, and Geneva—a very diverse group) gathered in Palermo, Italy for a Pilgrim Team Visit on the theme of migration.
From 31 May to 3 June, representatives from the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace Reference Group, Working Group on Climate Change, and the Young People in the Ecumenical Movement of the World Council of Churches formed a Pilgrim Team Visit to indigenous Sami communities in the south of Norway.
The Central Mediterranean route is the overseas crossing from North Africa to Italy. Those migrating on this route generally aim to reach Italian shores but leave from a variety of North African countries bordering the Mediterranean. Though in past years most migrants have departed from Libya, which is a destination for migrants as well as a transit country, there is also a proportionally small but growing number of departures from Tunisia, Egypt, and Algeria.
At the end of a 9 February press conference — which followed a long day of videoconference meetings — Dr Agnes Abuom and Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauce fielded a surprise question: what first got them involved in the ecumenical movement?