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Applications are open for the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey’s 2024 interfaith summer course, during which students earn a Certificate of Advanced Studies in Interreligious Studies.

The annual interreligious summer course opened in the World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical Institute at Bossey on 25 July, ushering seven students from six different countries into an exploration of the theme “Health and Wholeness of Life in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.”

Women who are leading efforts in peace-building amid growing conflict across the world met online on 23 March, and their candid exchange combined personal inspiration, mutual encouragement—and a clarion call for their prophetic voices to be heard.

Traveling from Tanzania, Esther Ngulwa brought a sense of hope regarding gender equality as she spoke on 10 March, two days before the start of the 62nd Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW62) in New York City.

An exhibit entitled “Faith in Gender Justice” will open in the Scottish Parliament on 8 March in conjunction with International Women’s Day.

On 12 March, Jane Murenga, a head teacher at a local Anglican Church-sponsored primary school, was raped and murdered in Githure village, Kirinyaga County in Kenya. She was hosting her younger sister at her home. She left the main house to take a shower in the bathroom which is detached from the house. Her sister decided to check on her, only to find her on the ground lifeless with a man on top of her, raping her.

A WCC member church in Kenya has consecrated its second woman bishop, Rev. Alice Muthoni Mutuma, on 31 January in Meru. Rev. Pauline Wanjiru Njiru, East Africa regional coordinator for the WCC Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiatives and Advocacy, attended the service and brought greetings from WCC.

The Basel University honoured Ghanaian Methodist theologian Mercy Amba Oduyoye with a doctor of theology honoris causa.

“HIV and AIDS is not just a challenge for governments but for all segments of society, including churches. In many African countries churches are an authority that people listen to – it is therefore crucial that churches help eliminate the pandemic,” said Rev. Dr Luciano Chanhelela Chianeque in an interview.

Christian theology regarding all people as created in God's image can help overcome the HIV and AIDS pandemic. This and other views on the impact of HIV in Africa, its gender dynamics and the role of people living with HIV, were shared by Prof. Musa W. Dube, a former consultant of the Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiative in Africa (EHAIA) in a recent interview.

The shock expressed by members of a rural congregation when offered an opportunity for voluntary HIV testing and counselling, and other similar experiences have taught Pauline Wanjiru Njiru that it is not the Human Immunodeficiency Virus that kills people, but fear, stigma and ignorance.

Hendrew Lusey has never forgotten the words he first heard at a World Council of Churches (WCC) workshop on human sexuality in 2002. At that time, he had recently been appointed the regional coordinator for central Africa with the Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiative in Africa (EHAIA).

The HIV pandemic has been on the world stage for three decades now.  For most of that time the World Council of Churches (WCC) and its member churches have been deeply involved in making churches and theological institutions HIV-competent, especially in sub-Saharan Africa.

By Stephen Brown (*)

By Walt Wiltschek (*)

<span style="font-weight: bold; "» Where is the ecumenical movement going in the 21st century?

by Henrike Müller (*)