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Religious diversity is an unavoidable reality today – and an opportunity, according to the participants of an interfaith seminar held in July at the World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical Institute at Bossey outside Geneva, Switzerland.

A recent international consultation in Bucharest, Romania, saw representatives from 12 Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches debate on the teaching and practice of Orthodox ethics on peace.

By Sara Speicher (*)

The work of late Fr Prof. Ion Bria, who acquired worldwide renown as a theologian and ecumenist, is inspiring the works of a theological conference being held 14-16 May in Sibiu, Romania.

Patriarchs, primates and representatives of Eastern Orthodox churches recommitted themselves to overcome intra-Orthodox conflicts as well as to continue theological dialogues with Christians from other confessions at a 10-12 October meeting in Istanbul, Turkey.

In the context of rapid social and political changes in Eastern and Central Europe, some 37 leading representatives of theological and ecumenical institutions throughout the region gathered in Romania recently to seek more mutual cooperation and ecumenical commitment to ecumenical theological education.

A pastoral delegation sent by the World Council of Churches (WCC) to Georgia and Russia has not been able to visit South Ossetia from the Georgian side of the ceasefire line. Unable to make the half-hour drive to Tskhinvali from within Georgia, they are now traveling thousands of kilometers to reach the enclave from the Russian side instead.

As the internet has developed into a social network where individuals as well as institutions exchange ideas via text, sound and pictures, churches face new opportunities and challenges. At the 13th European Christian Internet Conference in Lyon, France, 13-17 June, participants came from as far away as Iceland and Romania to share their views on how the churches should be "following Jesus into virtual space", as one of the keynote lecturers put it.