A film about the imposition of a totalitarian form of Islam on a village in Mali has won the prize of the Ecumenical Jury at the Cannes Film Festival in France. Timbuktu, directed by Abderrahmane Sissako, a filmmaker from Mauritania, tells the story of how local people resist the arrival of extremists who want to restrict women's liberty and to outlaw music and football.
The Central Committee of the World Council of Churches will meet 2 to 8 July 2014 for its first full meeting since it was elected at the WCC 10th Assembly held in Busan, Republic of Korea, 30 October to 8 November, 2013. The meeting will be held at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland.
Father Ioan Sauca of the Romanian Orthodox Church and Peter Prove, a Lutheran lawyer and international affairs expert from Australia, have been named to key staff positions in the WCC.
“As faith communities and religious leaders, we are obliged constantly to remind people about the obligation and responsibility to choose peace through dialogue,” said Bartholomew, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.
During a recent visit, members of the committee responsible for hosting the upcoming WCC assembly in Busan shared their hope for a “meaningful and successful assembly” which will bring together the worldwide fellowship of WCC member churches in the Republic of Korea for celebration, deliberations and prayer.
Work for the rights of religious minorities should be done in the spirit of universalism, said the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, in his opening address at a WCC consultation.
Pastors from Germany and Argentina reflect on what peace and justice means while a local church in Germany encourages others to do the same through a new resource.
