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Linette Vassel has been associated with the struggle for women’s rights in the Caribbean since the 1970s. She was the first coordinator of the Committee of Women for Progress, an activist organisation formed in 1976 which was among the pioneering organisations for the struggle for maternity leave with pay for women.

As a Global Consultation on the Decade of the Churches in Solidarity with Women opened on 2 October, World Council of Churches (WCC) leaders offered words of encouragement and determination for the future.

Thirty years ago, the founders of the Ecumenical Decade of Churches in Solidarity with Women were searching for ways to not only help women across the globe seek justice but also highlight their contributions to churches and the world.

In 1984 a pastor from Uruguay became the first Latin American to be elected as general secretary of the WCC. The late Emilio Castro (1927 - 2013) left an unmatched legacy of passionate ecumenism behind him. His book “Pasion y compromise con el Reino de Dios”, first published in 2007, has now been translated into English and released in an edited version.

What have we achieved in building a just community of women and men? What must we still do? How can we strengthen ecumenical collaboration in reading the signs of our times in order to map the future direction of our work?

As tens of thousands of people watched from offices, shops, and the sides of the road, the Thursdays in Black “street walk” made it way through Abuja, Nigeria, on the afternoon of 23 August.

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.

World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit expressed warm greetings to members of the Jewish community on the festival of Rosh Hashanah.

Speaking in Lviv, Ukraine on 30 August, World Council of Churches (WCC) deputy general secretary Prof. Dr Isabel Apawo Phiri presented a paper on ”Women and Ecumenical Engagement for Peace in South Sudan,” reflecting on the experiences of a Pilgrim Team visit by the WCC in May 2018.

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, as head of a delegation visiting the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), offered a sermon on 19 August encouraging peacemakers during an ecumenical service in the Protestant Cathedral in Kinshasa.

A World Council of Churches (WCC) “Pilgrim Team” will visit Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, from 18-23 August. Under the theme “African Women of Faith and Gender Justice,” the group aims to acknowledge and build women’s roles in church and society. By focusing on gender justice, and on peace with no violence against women, the Pilgrim Team will raise awareness, and call churches and ecumenical partners to action together for justice and peace.

I have experienced many good stories with the WCC, but unfortunately disappointing ones as well, says Rev. Dr Margot Käßmann, Lutheran theologian and former chairperson of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany. She was a member of the WCC Central and Executive Committees for many years, until her resignation in 2002. The story she contributed for the WCC 70th anniversary commemoration looks back to the 1998 WCC Assembly in Harare, which marked the end of the Ecumenical Decade of Churches in Solidarity with Women.

Rev. Dr Katie Geneva Cannon, the first African-American woman ordained in the Presbyterian Church (USA), died on 8 August at age 68.

At the 71st Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland, held 1-11 August, the Ecumenical Jury awarded its prize to the film “Sibel,” directed by Guillaume Giovanetti and Çağla Zencirci.

Christian, Jewish and Muslim students who attended the World Council of Churches (WCC) 2018 Interreligious Summer School at the Ecumenical Institute in Bossey said that learning to break down prejudices about the other was a lasting impression from the six-week course.

An international consultation will commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Decade of the Churches in Solidarity with Women (1988-98), 1-6 October in Kingston, Jamaica.

Escalating violence in Cameroon, including graphic violence against women and children, has drawn condemnation from the World Council of Churches.

On 26 July at the International AIDS Conference in Amsterdam, there was a marked change in colour at the Interfaith Networking Zone. It was Thursday, and from morning prayers to the evening informal networking, the theme was “black”.

An independent expert panel has been appointed to review current UNAIDS policies and processes for addressing and preventing harassment. Among the members is Dr Fulata Moyo, former World Council of Churches programme executive for a Just Community of Women and Men.