June 2005
<span style="font-weight: bold; "» Critical moment interreligious conference
<span style="font-weight: bold; "» WCC general secretary meets Pope Benedict XVI
<span style="font-weight: bold; "» Samuel Kobia visits Russian Orthodox Church
<span style="font-weight: bold; "» Joint Consultative Group of the WCC and Pentecostal churches
<span style="font-weight: bold; "» Indigenous Peoples on interreligious dialogue and globalization
<span style="font-weight: bold; "» Critical moment interreligious conference
<span style="font-weight: bold; "» 7-9 June, Geneva, Switzerland
The WCC's "Critical moment in interreligious dialogue" conference will bring together religious scholars, human rights activists, humanitarian workers, journalists and people experienced in working across religious traditions. They will review experiences of interreligious collaboration and dialogue over recent decades and together envisage the future.
Among more than 100 participants of diverse faiths will be such prominent voices in interfaith dialogue as Swami Agnivesh, a Brahmin Hindu leader and activist, Tariq Ramadan, who is reflecting on a new kind of European Islam that bridges Islamic values and Western culture, Dr Wande Abimbola, a chief of African religion from Nigeria, and Naamah Kelman, the first woman to be ordained as a rabbi in Israel.
www.oikoumene.org/interreligious.html
<span style="font-weight: bold; "» WCC general secretary meets Pope Benedict XVI
<span style="font-weight: bold; "» 13-16 June, Rome, Italy
On 16 June Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia will have an audience with Pope Benedict XVI. This will be Kobia's first meeting with the head of the Roman Catholic Church since he became WCC general secretary in 2004. Earlier plans had to be postponed, and in April, Kobia came to Rome for the funeral of Pope John Paul II.
Before visiting the Vatican the general secretary will meet in Rome with WCC member churches, including the Evangelical Baptist Union, the Evangelical Methodist Church of Italy and the Waldensian Church, and with the Federation of Protestant Churches in Italy.
www2.wcc-coe.org/pressreleasesen.nsf/index/pr-05-14.html
<span style="font-weight: bold; "» Samuel Kobia visits Russian Orthodox Church
<span style="font-weight: bold; "» 18-24 June, Moscow, Russia
WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia will visit the Russian Orthodox Church for the first time since taking up his post at the head of the Council. Meetings with church leaders and laity are scheduled, as well as with representatives of the Russian parliament and the government. Kobia's programme includes a visit to St Tikhon's Orthodox University to meet with staff and students, and a visit to an orphanage.
<span style="font-weight: bold; "» Joint Consultative Group of the WCC and Pentecostal churches
<span style="font-weight: bold; "» 20-27 June, Cairo, Egypt
The Joint Consultative Group of the WCC and Pentecostal churches, that has met annually since 2000, is a forum "to discuss mutual challenges with the hope of moving beyond them". Pentecostal representatives raise concerns about the WCC such as its emphasis on a social agenda at the apparent expense of evangelism. For their part, WCC representatives seek to understand the theme of unity in light of the dramatic growth of Pentecostalism, sometimes at the expense of more traditional churches.
The meeting in Cairo, hosted by the Coptic Orthodox Church, will work on recommendations for the 9th WCC Assembly in February 2006. Pentecostal members of the group come from churches in the USA as well as the Czech Republic, Zambia, South Africa, India and Japan.
www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/ecumenical/index-e.html
<span style="font-weight: bold; "» Indigenous Peoples on interreligious dialogue and globalization
<span style="font-weight: bold; "» 26-29 June, Guatemala City, Guatemala
How can different communities of faith relate to each other? And how can the role of spiritual values be strengthened in public and development processes? About 30 indigenous leaders from Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Ecuador, Bolivia - representing such Mesoamerican religion expressions as the Garifunas, the Quichuas and Aymaras from the Andes - will meet for an exchange on "Indigenous people and interreligious dialogue within the globalization processes".
Organised by WCC the meeting will allow participants to share and reflect on the role of their spiritual expressions and religions in globalization processes in their regions.
www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/jpc/indig.html
<span style="font-weight: bold; "» Major WCC events coming up:
International Day of Prayer for Peace
21 September, worldwide
Conference on "Living the interreligious experience together"
12-14 November, Geneva, Switzerland
WCC 9th Assembly (2006)
14-23 February 2006, Porto Alegre, Brazil
For further information, visit the WCC media calendar at:
www2.wcc-coe.org/wcccalendar.nsf
