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When he was asked last year to take over as vicar in the parish of Ilulissat, on Greenland’s west coast, Loqqi Fleischer was a bit anxious about how the transition from his smaller hometown Uummannaq, further north along the coastline, would work out. Nevertheless, he took on the challenge and was warmly welcomed right away in the new environment.

Conversations at the World Council of Churches (WCC) exhibition booth at the Kirchentag showed there is a growing interest in ecumenical movement among German churches. The topics of a particularly high interest were the Thursdays in Black campaign and studies at the Ecumenical institute in Bossey.

It is midnight and the sun just about hides for a little while beneath the horizon. The calm sea is scattered with icebergs in all kinds of shapes and sizes. Some are like five-story buildings, with vertical sharp-edged walls rising high above the surface. Others are more like snow-capped hilltops, slowly ploughing through the blank water.

It is confirmation season in Greenland. In churches across the country, bench rows are decorated with flowers and candles along the aisle. Joy is in the air and it is time for a vast majority of 14-year-olds to have their Christian baptism confirmed.

C’est la saison des confirmations au Groenland. Dans les églises du pays, les rangs de bancs sont décorés de fleurs et de bougies le long de l’allée centrale. Il y a de la joie dans l’air et il est temps, pour une grande majorité des jeunes de 14 ans de voir leur baptême chrétien confirmé.

L’Église protestante en Allemagne et le maire de Palerme (Italie) Leoluca Orlando ont publié une déclaration commune appelant à un mécanisme européen de répartition des réfugiés arrivés en bateau.

L’Union européenne n’a actuellement aucun mécanisme de répartition à l’échelle européenne pour prendre en charge les réfugiés sauvés en Méditerranée. La déclaration appelle à une solution politique d’urgence pour cet été, et exhorte un groupe d’États membres de l’Union européenne à constituer une «coalition d’alliés» et à développer une politique soutenable en matière de migration.

L’Association mondiale pour la communication chrétienne (WACC) était présente au Forum mondial des médias de la Deutsche Welle, qui s’est tenu les 27 et 28 mai à Bonn, en Allemagne.
Plus de 2 000 professionnels des médias, décideurs politiques et personnalités influentes de la politique et de la société civile, de la culture et de l’éducation, du business et de la science – représentant 140 pays – ont participé à la conférence.

The World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) was featured in the DW Global Media Forum held 27-28 May in Bonn, Germany. More than 2,000 media professionals, policymakers, and movers from politics and civil society, culture and education, business and science – representing 140 countries – attended the conference.

In Greenland, travel by either air or boat is the conventional – and only – way of getting from place to place. The distances between populated areas scattered along the rugged coastline of the world’s largest island are long and there are no roads connecting cities and settlements. Neither railways nor inland waterways exist and some rural areas can only be reached by helicopter. In winter, dog-sled is an alternative, particularly in the north and east.

Mme Agnes Abuom, présidente du Comité central du Conseil œcuménique des Églises (COE), a fait quelques remarques introductives lors de l’ouverture de la réunion du Comité exécutif du COE qui se tient du 22 au 28 mai à l’Institut œcuménique de Bossey.
«Nous arrivons avec beaucoup d’attentes et le désir de faire part des expériences de nos Églises, nos communautés et nos pays», a déclaré A. Abuom. «J’ai espoir que celles-ci se réalisent formellement et informellement durant ce temps passé ensemble ici à Bossey.»

The headline for a newspaper letter extolling a man who lived what he espoused, engaging with shunned people often unable to effectively communicate verbally, said, "Jean Vanier was a living saint".

Nowadays, any cause can be effectively promoted in a blink of an eye, with a click on a button. At virtually no cost, messages travel fast around the globe through social media and other digital platforms. For good and bad, but mostly for good. Because without it, grassroots movements, such as the Arab Spring, which started in Tunisia in 2010 and ended up toppling several governments, would have had a much harder time rallying support and getting their message across to key audiences.

An adage that some people ignore these days is that mobility has shaped each human society, and a recent meeting of the Maison Internationale des Associations in Geneva focused on this.

Many colours and flavours of humanity assembled on 7 April for a lively day of discussions and exchanges about human mobility where most views were celebrating the social phenomenon at an event titled “Tout d’ailleurs, tous d’ici” (All from elsewhere, all from here).

Après qu’un incendie s’est déclaré le 15 avril en la cathédrale Notre-Dame, le secrétaire général du Conseil œcuménique des Églises (COE), le pasteur Olav Fykse Tveit, se dit choqué des dégâts subis par l’un des monuments les plus connus de Paris et le siège de l’archevêché de Paris.

They came from governments, the United Nations, civil society, churches and other faith-based organizations to discuss the impact of Cyclone Idai that has wreaked death, havoc and destruction on Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe in recent weeks.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is inviting the public, media, and all people of goodwill to join in a Midday Prayer on 20 March. Prayers will focus on grieving family, friends and colleagues who lost loved ones from UN agencies, the WCC and other organizations who perished in the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crash on 10 March.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is inviting the public, media, and all people of goodwill to join in a Midday Prayer on 20 March. Prayers will focus on grieving family, friends and colleagues who lost loved ones from UN agencies, the WCC and other organizations who perished in the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crash on 10 March.

Behind Bali’s luxury hotels, sandy beaches and lush landscapes pampering tourists from all around the world, one finds a heartbreaking poverty, and its most vulnerable victims are children.

Derrière les hôtels de luxe de Bali, les plages de sable et les paysages luxuriants où se font dorloter des touristes du monde entier, on rencontre une pauvreté bouleversante, et ses victimes les plus vulnérables sont les enfants.

In a country now counting 100 million inhabitants, and where 2.5 percent are added annually, it is increasingly hard for the government to keep pace with the needs of its people. “In this challenging environment, the work of non-governmental organisations is critical in order to ease the burden on public service institutions”, explains Dr Maged Moussa Yanny, general director of EpiscoCare.