A World Council of Churches (WCC) delegation led by WCC general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Pillay visited New York City and Washington, DC this week, meeting with United Nations representatives, the Papal Nuncio, the National Council of Churches in North America, other church leaders, and ecumenical organizations and state officials.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) approved on 14 November the formal statement, “Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love,” a pastoral letter against racism.
Sit beside Bishop Mary Ann Swenson for five minutes, and you see that she is constantly nurturing people to learn more about each other, walk together, and become more unified, no matter their differences.
At a “Hearing on Racism, Discrimination, Afrophobia and Xenophobia” held at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva on 25 September, speakers reflected, lamented and, at times, simply sat in silence as they considered the experience of people of African descent in the USA.
Expresando su preocupación ante las medidas recientemente anunciadas por el gobierno estadounidense en relación con la admisión de refugiados y la entrada en EE. UU. de los ciudadanos de siete países de mayoría musulmana, el Consejo Mundial de Iglesias, ACT Alianza y la Federación Luterana Mundial afirman que nuestra fe nos insta a todos los cristianos, a amar y acoger al extranjero, al refugiado, al desplazado interno: al “otro”.
“We had heard that racism continues to be an issue in the United States,” said Dr Agnes Abuom, moderator of the WCC Central Committee. “But we did not expect to find it so deep, so wide and so pervasive.”
In the Washington DC region on 18 April, Jim Winkler, general secretary of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, welcomed a contingent from the WCC who, with others, will be spending 18-25 April on a WCC-sponsored racial justice listening and support visit to several US communities which have suffered violent incidents related to race.
When Dr Ulysses Burley III visited Palestine and Israel six months ago, he came away with an even stronger determination to work for social justice, wherever and however he can.
