Kenyan Anglican elected WCC moderator: Church of England Newspaper, November 15, 2013 November 14, 2013
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Kenya, Church of England Newspaper, WCC.Tags: Agnes Aboum
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A lay woman from the Anglican Church of Kenya, Dr. Agnes Aboum, has been elected moderator of the World Council of Churches.
The 150-member Central Committee of the Christian ecumenical organization elected Dr. Abuom last week at its 10th Assembly in Busan, South Korea held from 30 October to 8 November 2013. She will be the first woman and first African to hold the post.
As moderator Dr. Abuom will lead the WCC’s highest government body. The administrative head of the WCC is its general secretary the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit of Norway.
“My open prayer is that we shall move forward together, in the next years, despite our diversities that have the potential to divide us,” Dr. Abuom said shortly after her election, “…and that the WCC will continue to remain an instrument for providing a safe space for all who can come and share their hopes, aspirations and visions, and prophetic voice.”
According to a press hand out from the WCC, Dr. Aboum said the prophetic voice is vital for “ecumenism in the 21st century and the church in our world today.”
As the first woman moderator of the worldwide body, Aboum says the model of consensus discernment “resonates very well with femine decision-making processes,” consultative and careful listening and seeking to understand the other person’s perspective.
Dr. Abuom has served on the WCC Executive Committee, representing the Anglican Church of Kenya. She is also a development consultant serving both Kenyan and international organizations coordinating social action programmes for religious and civil society across Africa.
Dr. Abuom was the Africa regional president for the WCC from 1999 to 2006. She has been associated with the All Africa Conference of Churches and WCC member churches in Africa. She is a co-president of the Religions for Peace and the National Council of Churches of Kenya.
Anglican chief on WCC shortlist: CEN 6.14.09 June 14, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Consultative Council, Church of England Newspaper, WCC.comments closed
| The Secretary General of the Anglican Consultative Council is on a shortlist of six candidates for the post of Secretary General of the World Council of Churches (WCC).
On May 28 Ecumenical News International reported that Canon Kenneth Kearon was among the six candidates vying to succeed Dr Samuel Kobia of Kenya. On June 5 the WCC stated it had not “officially released any names of candidates and does not confirm the accuracy of the ENI list.” Read it all in The Church of England Newspaper. |
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ACC Secretary is Candidate for Top WCC Post: TLC 6.03.09 June 3, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Consultative Council, Living Church, WCC.comments closed
First printed in The Living Church magazine.
The Rev. Canon Kenneth Kearon, secretary of the Anglican Consultative Council, is on the short list of candidates being considered for the position of secretary general of the World Council of Churches.
During the primates’ meeting in Alexandria, Egypt, in February, The Living Church learned that Canon Kearon had been nominated for the post, and had the endorsement of Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams to succeed the Rev. Samuel Kobia of Kenya.
The WCC’s general secretary serves as the ecumenical organization’s chief executive officer, as a spokesman for its council, and is responsible for promoting the strategic vision of the Geneva-based ecumenical organization.
The general secretary will be elected at the WCC’s Central Committee meeting Aug. 26- Sept. 2. Dr. Kobia announced last year he would not seek a second term of office.
On June 3 the Catholic Information Service of Africa reported that the five other finalists for the post included the Rev. Daryl Balia of the South African Methodist Church; the Rev. Robert Anderson of the Church of Scotland; the Rev. Fernando Enns of the Brazilian Mennonite Church; the Rev. Seon Won Park of the Korean Presbyterian Church; and the Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit of the Church of Norway. Official confirmation of the short list could not be made, however.
Euro Churches calls on Nato to give up nuclear arms: CEN 4.17.09 p 8. April 19, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Arms Control/Defense/Peace Issues, Church of England Newspaper, WCC.comments closed
| The Conference of European Churches (CEC) has joined three international church groups to call upon Nato not to enlarge its nuclear umbrella or antagonize Russia by expanding the alliance eastward.
A letter urging Nato to lay down its nuclear arms was sent to government leaders meeting April 3-4 in Strasbourg by the four church groups. Joining Archdeacon Colin Williams, the General Secretary of CEC were the General Secretary of the World Council of Churches, the Rev Samuel Kobia; the General Secretary of the US’s National Council of Churches of Christ, the Rev Michael Kinnamon; and the Rev Karen Hamilton, General Secretary of the Canadian Council of Churches. The church leaders urged NATO to undertake a “thorough reform of Nato’s Strategic Concept” and “end NATO’s reliance on nuclear weapons.” The Western alliance should “engage with nuclear weapon states and other states outside of Nato in the serious pursuit of reciprocal disarmament,” the church leaders said. Such “collective action” would “reinforce the vision of a world without nuclear weapons.” |
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Read it all in The Church of England Newspaper.
Burundi plea on arms shipments: CEN 7.14.08 July 15, 2008
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Burundi, Arms Control/Defense/Peace Issues, Church of England Newspaper, WCC.comments closed
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The Archbishop of Burundi led a delegation from the World Council of Churches (WCC) last week to Berlin, to press the German government to curtail its shipments of weapons to the developing world. “Does Germany have to be the EU arms sales champion?” Archbishop Bernard Ntahoturi asked State Secretary Christian Schmidt at the Defence Ministry in Berlin on July 1. Read it all in The Church of England Newspaper. |
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Canadian’s WCC Post: CEN 11.30.07 p 7. December 2, 2007
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Canada, Church of England Newspaper, WCC.comments closed
A Canadian Anglican has been appointed to head up the World Council of Church’s (WCC) Faith and Order Commission.The Rev Canon John Gibaut, a professor of Anglican Studies at St. Paul University—a Roman Catholic college in Ottawa—begins work Jan 1. from the Anglican Church of Canada, will head the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission on Faith and Order as of January 2008. A member of the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Ecumenical Relations, Dr. Gibaut has also served on national and international ecumenical dialogue commissions.
As it continues to “call the divided churches to healing and reconciliation,” the work of Faith and Order Commission is “as exciting and demanding today for the ecumenical movement as it was in the 1920s and beyond,” Dr. Gibaut said. “The ongoing challenge is to broaden the circles and conversations around Faith and Order issues,” he adds.
The Commission on Faith and Order is mandated to study questions of faith, church order and worship which bear on the unity of the church, and also to examine social, cultural, political, racial and other factors which affect that unity.
World Christian Leaders Commit to Cooperation: CEN 11.16.07 p 5. November 15, 2007
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Ecumenical, WCC.comments closed
Church leaders from across the Christian spectrum gathered in Kenya last week for the Global Christian Forum (GCF), and issued a call for closer cooperation among Christians.
The Nov 6-9 meeting brought together approximately 250 representatives with the aim of broadening the parameters of ecumenical dialogue. First proposed by former World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Dr. Konrad Raiser, the GCF sought to bring into the ecumenical movement Pentecostals, Evangelicals and other Christian churches outside the WCC’s structures.
The four day meeting, gathered under the theme of “Our Journey with Jesus Christ, the Reconciler”, participants discussed Christian unity and a common witness to the world.
Represented at the meeting were churches of the: African Independent, Anglican, Baptist, Evangelical, Disciples of Christ, Friends, Holiness, Lutheran, Mennonite, Methodist, Moravian, Old Catholic, Eastern and Oriental Orthodox, Pentecostal, Reformed, Roman Catholic Salvation Army, Seventh-Day Adventist, United and Uniting Church traditions, along with representatives from para-church groups such as the YMCA and YWCA,
United Bible Societies, World Vision International, the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelisation and the WCC.
The final communiqué from the conference called upon the Churches to create an “open space” for dialogue. “Recognising that unity is first and foremost God’s gift through the work of the Holy Spirit, our intent is to go forward together promoting greater understanding and cooperation among Christians, while respecting and upholding the diversity of our identities, traditions and individual gifts,” they said.
Fr. Naim Ateek, ناعم عتيق October 17, 2007
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Album (Photos), Episcopal Church in Jerusalem & the Middle East, WCC.comments closed
The Rev Dr. Naim Ateek, director of the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem.
An Anglican priest and former canon of St. George’s Cathedral in Jerusalam, Fr. Ateek led a number of workshops and classes at the WCC on the Palestine question.
These two photos were taken in Porto Alegre, Brazil on Feb 15 & 17, 2006.
Митрополит Кирилл October 17, 2007
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Album (Photos), Russian Orthodox, WCC.comments closed
Metropolitan Kyrill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, Chairman of the External Church Relations Department of the Moscow Patriarchate. These photos were taken at a press conference in Porto Alegre, Brazil on Feb 16, 2006. His answers consisted of “Da’s” and “Nyet’s”. He is the Russian Church’s director of foreign relations.
Bishop Brian Farrell October 16, 2007
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Album (Photos), Roman Catholic Church, WCC.comments closed
Brian Farrell L.C., Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and Titular Bishop of the titular see of Abitinae, speaking to the press at the World Council of Churches meeting on Feb 15, 2006. He is one of the point men on the Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC)
Cardinal Walter Kasper October 16, 2007
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Album (Photos), Roman Catholic Church, WCC.comments closed
These series of shots narrate the facial reactions of Cardinal Walter Kasper, the President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, as he hears and then responds to a question from a Brazilian journalist at a Feb 15, 2006 press conference. The journalist asked the Cardinal a rather rude question about the Roman Catholic Church’s stance on homosexuality.
While I do not any fluency in German or Portuguese, I think in the last photo he may have been saying “We have ways of dealing with homosexuality in German”.
WCC Calls on Israel to End Occupation: CEN 6.29.07 p 5. June 29, 2007
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Episcopal Church in Jerusalem & the Middle East, Israel, WCC.comments closed
Delegates to a World Council of Churches conference in Amman Jordan have called for Israel to end its “illegal occupation” of East Jerusalem and other territories occupied by Israel after the Six-Day War.
In a June 21 statement church leaders called for peace in the region and “to end these decades of injustice, humiliation and insecurity, to end the decades of living as refugees and under occupation”.
There could be “no military solution” to the Middle East conflict they argued and resolved that “violence in all its forms cannot be justified, whether perpetrated by Israelis or Palestinians,” they stated
The meeting also saw the launch of the Palestine Israel Ecumenical Forum. In his closing remarks to the conference WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia said the forum will be a “participatory group of churches and organizations meeting, interacting and cooperating in order to further a common cause”.
“We expect churches worldwide to speak out with a clear voice and to stand by us in active solidarity in face of a tragic conflict that keeps Palestinians suffering and Israelis living with fear and that can only be solved with a just peace,” Lutheran Bishop Munib Younan said.
In a June 24 statement given to The Church of England Newspaper, the Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem, Riah Abu al-Assal lamented the collapse of Israeli-Palestinian dialogue as well as the Palestinian civil war in Gaza.
“As peace in Palestine and specifically in Gaza, lies at its death bed with tens of coffins raised on shoulders, the world is once again called upon to become a living instrument for peace,” he said.
Bishop Riah called upon Anglicans to pay for the peace of Israel and Palestine and for justice for the oppressed. “One can no more mistake oppression for peace, occupation for independence; walls of separation for security; just as much as one cannot mistake darkness for light, humiliation for dignity, and death for life,” he said.
WCC 9th Assembly: Archbishop Rowan Williams 2.17.06 June 9, 2007
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Album (Photos), Archbishop of Canterbury, Church of England Newspaper, WCC.comments closed
The Most Rev. Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury at the World Council of Churches in Porte Alegre, Brazil on Feb 17, 2006. This photo was first published in The Church of England Newspaper.
WCC 9th Assembly: Archbishop Fidele Dirokpa of the Congo 2.16.06 June 9, 2007
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Album (Photos), Anglican Church of the Congo, Church of England Newspaper, WCC.comments closed
The Most Rev. Fidele Dirokpa, Bishop of Kinshasa and Archbishop of the Congo at the 9th Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Porto Alegre, Brazil, Feb 16, 2006. First published by The Church of England Newspaper.
WCC 9th Assembly: Bishop Riah of Jerusalem 2.16.06 June 9, 2007
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Album (Photos), Church of England Newspaper, Episcopal Church in Jerusalem & the Middle East, WCC.comments closed
The Rt. Rev. Riah Abu al-Assal, Bishop in Jerusalem at the WCC 9th Assembly in Porto Alegre, Brazil, Feb 16, 2006. This photo was first published in The Church of England Newspaper.
WCC 9th Assembly: Desmond Tutu Feb 20, 2006 June 8, 2007
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Album (Photos), Anglican Church of Southern Africa, Touchstone, WCC.comments closed
Archbishop Desmond Tutu at the Feb 20, 2006 press conference on church unity at the 9th Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Porto Alegre, Brazil. This photo appeared in Touchstone.
WCC 9th Assembly – Archbishop de Oliveira: ACNS 2.17.06 June 7, 2007
Posted by geoconger in ACNS, Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil, WCC.comments closed
Brazilian Primate, Archbishop Orlando de Oliveira and the church’s provincial secretary the Rev. Francisco da Silva celebrating the Eucharist for Anglican participants at the 9th Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Porto Alegre, Brazil on Feb 16, 2006.
First published by ACNS.
Bottom of the Ninth Assembly: Touchstone May 2006 May 1, 2006
Posted by geoconger in Ecumenical, Touchstone, WCC.comments closed
The Recent World Council of Churches Assembly & the End of the Ecumenical Movement
The decision has been a generation in the making, and no single vote, speech, motion, paper, legislative minute, consciousness-raising session, litany of repentance, people’s drama, or interpretive dance arising from the World Council of Churches’ 9th Assembly, held February 14-23, 2006, in Porto Alegre, Brazil, can be accounted as the definitive end of its Christian life. The thirty-year battle for the soul of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the institutional ecumenical movement has ended.
Founded in 1948 to foster the reunification of Christian Churches, the WCC has effectively shed its religious calling, and in its place has chosen social activism in the pursuit of “relevance.”
Here is the article at Touchstone
Conger 