Participants of the Emerging Peacemakers Forum being held at the World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical Institute at Bossey, Switzerland from 5-14 July, visited Palais des Nations and learned about the United Nations work in Geneva.
A webinar on 1 March will give speakers and participants the opportunity to express solidarity with communities discriminated on work and descent globally.
Preceding the first session of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent (Permanent Forum), the World Council of Churches (WCC) hosted, on 29 November, a webinar entitled “The New UN Forum on People of African descent: realising the promises of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action?”
Preceding the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent, the World Council of Churches is hosting, on 29 November, a webinar entitled “The New UN Forum on People of African descent: realising the promises of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action?”
Preceding the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent, the World Council of Churches is hosting, on 29 November, a webinar entitled “The New UN Forum on People of African descent: realising the promises of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action?”
A 27 September webinar, part of the ongoing “Remembering Past Massacres” series, focused on Latin America, with speakers reflecting on the atrocities committed against indigenous populations in the name of Christianisation, the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the ruthless military dictatorships in South America during the 1960s-80s, and the 1937 massacre of Haitians in the Dominican Republic.
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.
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.
Democracy at risk, increasing cases of violence against women and the threats to children's futures. A regional meeting with church representatives from Latin America during the World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee 2021 showed that pre-pandemic problems now hit harder the vulnerable communities.
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.
A World Council of Churches (WCC) online consultation held on 27 May brought together different perceptions on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic from the perspective of several strategic areas of the current context in Latin America.
“We all miss community. But young people miss community a bit more. Our vibrant social lives before the pandemic were replaced by a reality of countless days alone at home.”
Maria Sonnleithner was reflecting on young people whose mental health has been at risk amid COVID-19, even as the strain on the caring adults and churches in their lives has grown exponentially as well.
Rev. Romi Bencke, general secretary of the National Council of Christian Churches of Brazil, believes that being an ecumenical leader means having the courage to ask the most difficult questions even in a polarized society.
In the month of March, the World Council of Churches is encouraging its fellowship and partners to join the Lott Carey “31 Days of Prayer for Women’s Empowerment,” which is also the 9th Anniversary Global Women’s Prayer Guide. The guide features 31 days of prayer for incarcerated women and girls around the world.
The fourth of a series of five webinars promoted by the World Council of Churches (WCC) Pan-African Women’s Ecumenical Empowerment Network (PAWEEN) was held on 18 February, providing reflections on inclusion of both African culture and tradition into theological reflection.
As the Ecumenical Fraternity Campaign begins in Brazil, World Council of Churches interim general secretary Rev. Dr Ioan Sauca shared his hope that the campaign will bring a unique opportunity to express concrete solidarity and support to the work of churches engaged in expressing Christian unity.
The brutal killing of Joao Alberto Silveira Freitas, 40, a black man, at the hands of two white security guards outside a supermarket in Porto Alegre, Brazil, on 19 November, the eve of National Black Consciousness Day, has sparked outrage across the country. World Council of Churches (WCC) member churches raised their voices to condemn the killing and to express deep concern regarding systemic racial injustice in Brazil.
Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), received former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio "Lula" da Silva, at the Ecumenical Centre on 6 March, in Geneva, Switzerland.
