March 12, 2013
- At a time of widespread scandals over clergy sex abuse, the WCC and the World Student Christian Federation have called for professional standards of clergy accountability at an international forum on violence against women.
- The 10th Assembly of the Pacific Conference of Churches, meeting from 3 to 10 March in Honiara, the Solomon Islands, adopted a series of resolutions on public issues ranging from climate change and resettlement, through seabed mining and nuclear weaponry, to the self-determination of West Papua and Maohi Nui (or Tahiti).
- In a letter to Pakistani churches, the WCC general secretary has condemned the attacks on Christians in Badami Bagh, Lahore, on Saturday, 10 March. More than a hundred houses were burned down following allegations of blasphemy.
- Church representatives at a recent Oikotree Global Forum in Johannesburg, South Africa stressed the need to support peoples’ movements promoting justice in the economy and ecology, a concern, they say, that lies at the heart of the faith.
March 8, 2013
- “Women with disabilities are often excluded from the society, and are no longer seen as recipients of the gift of God,” said the Rev. Micheline K. Kamba at a recent WCC conference. It is important, she said, to pray for action amidst the alarming situation of violence against women with disabilities.
- Reflecting on the theme of the upcoming WCC 10th Assembly in Busan, “God of life, lead us to justice and peace”, an ecumenical conference in Johannesburg addressed violence against women and children with disabilities.
March 7, 2013
- In an unprecedented show of global public concern that included strong religious voices, 500 civil society representatives and 132 governments met from 2 to 5 March in Oslo, Norway, to address the humanitarian effects of nuclear weapons.
- In a WCC governance meeting, The Church: Towards a Common Vision, a convergence text of the Commission on Faith and Order, was officially presented by the WCC general secretary, Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit.
March 6, 2013
- The general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, has congratulated Abune Mathias, on his enthronement as the 6th patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, a founding member of the WCC from sub-Saharan Africa.
- In Africa, trade, aid and investments from the European Union, the United States and China have not fully addressed the roots of poverty, inequality and ecological degradation. Churches, therefore, need to engage in a “development dialogue” to support alternative economic agendas, which can help eradicate poverty, while safeguarding Africa’s natural riches.