Prominent world Christian leaders and peace-makers affirm the power and promise of peace
Broadcast quality video messages available, see below.
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, and the head of the Evangelical Church in Germany, Bishop Wolfgang Huber are among those supporting an International Day of Prayer for Peace called for by the World Council of Churches (WCC) within its Decade to Overcome Violence. The date set for observance is 21 September.
More than a dozen well-known Christian leaders and peace-makers from all over the world are affirming churches' and faith communities' work for peace and justice in a series of inspiring two-minute video messages that will be made available atwww.overcomingviolence.org/peace2004 on Monday 20 September (12:00 a.m. Geneva time).
This year, the WCC's Decade to Overcome Violence is focusing on the United States, under the theme "The power and promise of peace". The video messages thus also recognize and encourage the struggle of US churches to witness to peace and justice, both domestically and internationally.
Personalities joining the International Day of Prayer for Peace through video messages are:
Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa
Bartholomew I, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople
Wolfgang Huber, chairman of the council of the Evangelical Church in Germany
Aram I, catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church (See of Cilicia) and WCC Central Committee moderator
Hanan Mikhail Ashrawi, Sydney Peace Prize winner and advocate for Palestinian rights
Keith Clements, general secretary of the Conference of European Churches
Mvume Dandala, general secretary of the All Africa Conference of Churches
Karen Hamilton, general secretary of the Canadian Council of Churches
Israel Batista, general secretary of the Latin American Council of Churches
Hildegard Goss Mayr, honorary president of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation
Ahn Jae Woong, general secretary of the Christian Conference of Asia
Bernice Powell Jackson, WCC president from North America
Thomas L. Hoyt, Jr., president of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA
Within the framework of its Decade to Overcome Violence, the WCC has called on its member churches - which represent a membership estimated at about 550 million Christians world-wide - to pray for peace on 21 September or on the Sundays preceding or following that day.
This WCC initiative links to the International Day of Peace declared by the United Nations General Assembly, a world-wide effort intended as a day of global cease-fire and non-violence, and as an opportunity for education and raising public awareness.
The video messages in both webcast and broadcast quality will be available as of Monday 20 (12:00 a.m. Geneva time) at
www.overcomingviolence.org/peace2004
Liturgical resources for the International Day of Prayer for Peace are already available at the same website.
See also our press release of 31 August, 2004 at
www.wcc-coe.org > press corner > International Day of Prayer for Peace
