During an ecumenical morning prayer held 15 May, the World Council of Churches (WCC) staff and partners observed the UN International Day of Living Together in Peace, holding in prayer many nations across the world facing challenges to living together in harmony.
The World Council of Churches (WCC), in letters to Colombian president Gustavo Petro and to Colombian peace commissioner Danilo Rueda, expressed the WCC’s support and solidarity for peace-building in Colombia—and confirmed the WCC’s representation in the dialogue process between the Colombian government and the National Liberation Army (ELN) in response to an earlier invitation.
Bishop Izani Bruch, from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Chile, serves as the Evangelical chaplain of the Government House at the Palacio de La Moneda, in Santiago since April 2022. Below, she shares insights about the current situation of the country from the perspective of Christian responsibility.
In a letter to Colombian president Gustavo Petro Urrego, and to the high commissioner for peace Danilo Rueda Rodriguéz, the World Council of Churches, World Communion of Reformed Churches, and ACT Alliance congratulated the government of Colombia for the appointment of four women to the negotiation team for a peace agreement with the National Liberation Army.
World Council of Churches acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca shared greetings with the Evangelical Church of the River Plate in Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay; as well as the Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confession in Brazil. Both churches had gatherings during which they elected leaders and prayed together.
As Brazilian artist Janine Marja Schneider pieces together the “Waterfall of Solidarity and Resistance” tapestry, she brings mixed emotions to her endeavors. On one hand, she’s inspired to bring the stories of women from around the world to life on the colorful blocks that cascade downward like liquid. On the other hand, with every stitch, she more deeply absorbs what brings these women together: it’s what they’ve survived.
As a group of three laureates of the “National Human Rights Award in Colombia” engaged in meetings with diplomats and United Nations representatives in Geneva, a tray lunch event was organized on 8 June at the Ecumenical Centre by the World Council of Churches and ACT Alliance to offer the delegation the opportunity to share about the deterioration of the peace process in the country and the importance of international solidarity.
On the International Day of Living Together in Peace declared by the United Nations, members of the World Council of Churches (WCC) fellowship from countries troubled by war and conflict gathered to pray for sustainable peace in the world.
In a recent visit to the United States, a group of four laureates of the “National Human Rights Award in Colombia” engaged in meetings in Washington and New York City with government officials, diplomats, and United Nations (UN) representatives. They spoke of the deterioration of the peace process in the country and the importance of international solidarity.
“In the midst of death and trauma caused by this terrible event, let us bring our intercessions together, praying that the God of Life will comfort the ones who lost their loved ones and give strength to those involved in the actions of solidarity with the victims,” said Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca, acting general secretary of the World Council of Churches, as a torrential rainfall took the lives of over 100 people in Petrópolis, Brazil.
Prof. Dr h.c. Humberto Martin Shikiya, vice president of the Regional Ecumenical Advisory and Service Center (CREAS) In Argentina, reflects on how “Serving a Wounded World in Interreligious Solidarity: A Christian Call to Reflection and Action During COVID-19 and Beyond” is being received as a hopeful call to collaborate ecumenically and interreligiously. The World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue jointly published “Serving a Wounded World” to encourage churches and Christian organizations to reflect on the importance of interreligious solidarity in a world wounded by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a 13 July letter to the United Nations Security Council, the Diálogo Intereclesial por la Paz en Colombia (DiPaz), an interchurch platform for dialogue for peace in Colombia, called on the international community to urge the Colombian government to resume the full implementation of the peace agreement and strengthen channels of dialogue to resolve societal issues.
The same week Brazil reached half a million deaths by COVID-19, my parents got the first dose of the vaccine. On my way to work, I pass through a vaccination post full of people, and through a cemetery full of grief. The past year and few months were a mix of fear, indignation and anger for me. But also a time where I saw generosity and hope bloom.
476 million indigenous people live around the world, of which 11.5% live in our Latin American region. In these years that we are going from the COVID 19 pandemic in our territories (indigenous or tribal at the Latin American level), the presence of many extractive companies, mainly uranium and lithium, has increased, land traffickers and among other monoculture companies with fires for the cultivation of oil palm, logging, putting vulnerable peoples at greater risk than what is already experienced.
The Uruguayan Council of Christian Churches (CICU, by its Spanish acronym), the only ecumenical organization in the country, hosted an online gathering during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. It took place last 26 May at 7:30pm (local time) via Zoom. I had the immense joy of participating as a Catholic communicator, currently serving as correspondent for SIGNIS ALC (Latin-American and Caribbean Association of Catholic Communication) and as vice president of SIGNIS Uruguay (the Uruguayan Association of Catholic Communicators).
Rev. Gloria Ulloa, World Council of Churches president for Latin America and the Caribbean, is in Cali, Colombia, with a delegation of DiPaz, the country’s main ecumenical peacebuilding platform. The group is having direct grassroots contact with the conflicts currently taking place. Ulloa and others hope to bring to light testimonies of peoples and communities usually forgotten by the big media.
Below is Ulloa's latest description on the ground.
The World Council of Churches, ACT Alliance, Lutheran World Federation, World Communion of Reformed Churches, Anglican Communion, World Methodist Council, Latin American Episcopal Council and World Association for Christian Communication, in a letter sent 18 May, urged Colombian president Iván Duque Marquéz to stop the spiral of violence that is doing terrible harm to the civilian population.
In a 17 May letter to the Ecumenical Forum of the Churches in El Salvador, World Council of Churches acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca and ACT Alliance general secretary Rudelmar Bueno de Faria wrote that they are following the political developments in El Salvador with great concern.
In the midst of one of the worst public health crises in the world, Christians in Brazil are upholding their tradition of celebrating the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in the lead up to Pentecost. For the second year, they will be gathering in prayer without physical gatherings though.
