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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.”

“It was with sadness that we received the news of the passing of Prof. Dr Julio Hector de Santa Ana, a reference of ecumenical theology in a liberating perspective,” said Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC). De Santa Ana passed away in Geneva, Switzerland, on 17 April.

In 1895, student leaders from ten North American and European countries met at Vadstena Castle in Sweden to form the World Student Christian Federation (WSCF). Among its founders were John R. Mott (US), Karl Fries (Sweden), Martin Eckhoff (Norway), Luther D. Wishard (US), Johannes Siemsen (Germany), and J. Rutter Williamson (UK). The WSCF was the first international student organization and together with YMCA and YWCA, it is one of the oldest youth movements still in existence. 

Rev. Dr Santanu Kumar Patro, registrar of the Senate of Serampore College (University), passed away on 5 May in Calcutta. The news of his death was met with outpourings of grief and gratefulness from students, faculty and friends of seminaries and institutions responsible for theological education in South Asia and beyond.

Fünf argentinische Kirchen haben gemeinsam mit der Nationalen pädagogischen Universität in Buenos Aires eine Absichtserklärung unterzeichnet, die ein erster Schritt darstellt hin zu einer möglichen Wiedereröffnung der theologischen Bibliothek, die die größte protestantische Dokumentensammlung Lateinamerikas auf Universitätsebene umfasst.

Five churches in Argentina have signed a letter of intent with the National Pedagogical University in Buenos Aires, marking the first step toward potentially reopening a theological library that includes the largest university-level Protestant documentary collection in Latin America.

During his long career, Weber, who passed away on 18 October, made the Bible come alive for thousands of people through Bible studies that he coordinated with groups from many different cultures, contexts and situations.

With great sadness, the World Council of Churches (WCC) received news of the demise of Prof. Vuyani Vellem on 4 December. A member of the WCC’s Commission on Ecumenical Education and Formation, Vellem was director of the Centre for Public Theology and associate professor at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. He also served as deputy secretary of the South Africa Council of Churches.

Any prospective student who intends to study at the WCC Ecumenical Institute at Château de Bossey, in its picturesque setting near Geneva, soon learns it is an exceptional place.