Search results

The World Council of Churches (WCC) has strongly appealed to the government of Sri Lanka and the rebel organization Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) "to return to the obligations" of a February 2002 ceasefire agreement that both have violated, and to "seek durable solutions to end the fighting that is affecting the lives of so many people".

Visitors to the World Council of Churches website will now find a brand-new feature on the homepage: the possibility of accessing the intercessory prayers prepared for each week of the year in what is called the Ecumenical Prayer Cycle .

He even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak (Mk 7:37) - the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in 2007 calls Christians to express their growing unity both by "breaking the silence" and by joining together in responding to human suffering.

Amidst the quiet vineyards overlooking Lake Geneva is a place that can seem an unlikely setting for the preparation of future church leaders. And yet the WCC's Ecumenical Institute at Bossey has been a unique international centre for Christian dialogue and learning for six decades, since its creation in 1946.

The coordinator of the stewards programme at central committee says he is in that position because he himself was inspired by being part of a similar programme seven years ago.

The main points of focus for the 2007 Decade to Overcome Violence focus on Europe will be migration and working on a theology of a just peace.

High-resolution photos available - see below

"An honourable and devoted servant of the Gospel and of the cause of Christian unity" and "a pioneer of the ecumenical movement" is how World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia describes Johannes Cardinal Willebrands, who died on 2 August 2006, in a tribute issued today.