News and stories

As peace advocates from around the world relayed heartrending stories of violence and oppression, they also expressed their ongoing hope that a movement of peace will prevail during the proceedings of the second day of the IEPC.

After losing his father, uncle and grandmother to violent and, in some cases, suspicious causes of death, Martin Luther King III still believes that that there is a higher and more noble way and that is to "dislike the evil act" but "still love the individual."

When 15-year-old Lydia* realized she was pregnant, she was forced by Jamaican law to leave her high school in Kingston. Left with no way to continue her education, she was struggling to find a way forward for herself and her baby.

The IEPC formally opened on Wednesday in Kingston, Jamaica, as theologians, faith leaders and the prime minister of Jamaica welcomed some 1,000 participants from more than 100 countries.

Jamaican national leaders welcomed a global ecumenical delegation on Monday as the week-long International Ecumenical Peace Convocation began unfolding in Kingston.

The WCC will be web streaming the plenary sessions and special events of the IEPC. The video streams will be live from the Mona campus of the University of West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica, where the convocation is being held, beginning Wednesday 18 May.

For Jamaican singer/songwriter Grub Cooper, music is not only the universal language but also the fastest way to reach people and touch their emotions.

With the voices of speakers including Martin Luther King III and German Lutheran pastor Dr Margot Kässmann, the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation will begin next week.

In an encyclical letter intended to be read in the Church of Constantinople around the world on Sunday 22 May, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I welcomes “with great joy” the initiative of the WCC in convening the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC) in Kingston, Jamaica from 17 through 25 May 2011.

The Chernobyl disaster of 25 years ago remains a human and environmental tragedy so severe the consequences will continue for centuries. Its anniversary this week is especially timely given the current emergency in Japan which echoes some of Chernobyl’s hard lessons. To learn them would honour those who suffer from the past and could save lives in the future.

Lessons behind both tragedies will figure in an extraordinary conference next month...