The volunteers, coordinated by Rabbis for Human Rights, braved freezing temperatures on 14 January and again on 21 January, traveling by buses and private cars from Jerusalem and Tel Aviv to the villages of Awarta and Burin to plant olive trees.
While the first day of planting was completed peacefully, on the second day of planting, 21 January, volunteers were attacked just before Shabbat as they were in the village of Burin.
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Photo: WCC
“As we follow the news of the mad progression towards war, we plead for a different logic than one based on geopolitical competition – a logic that considers the death and suffering that any armed conflict would inevitably visit on the children, women and men of Ukraine,’ said Sauca.
“We pray for a change of hearts and minds, for de-escalation, and for dialogue instead of threats.”
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Photo: Unsplash
The attack took place near Burin village, east of Nablus in the West Bank. Eight persons from Rabbis for Human Rights, who were engaged in planting olive trees, were injured in the incident. Reports in Israeli media indicate that the assailants used clubs, stones, and gas against the victims, as well as setting one car on fire and destroying another one.
In a video distributed by Rabbis for Human Rights, one of the victims can be heard saying: “They can kill us!” The Rabbis for Human Rights team was taken from the scene by Palestinian ambulance, and eventually transferred to Beilinson Hospital near Tel Aviv where they were treated for injuries.
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Photo: Rabbis for Human Rights.
The study visit opened on 20 January with students attending the release of “Ecumenism in a Time of Pandemic: From Crisis to Opportunity,” a working paper of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
WCC acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca, in his remarks on 20 January, shared with students that the heart of the WCC fellowship remains ecumenical spirituality, as the pandemic has revealed or reinforced our shared vulnerability. “The learning from this pandemic has been of our shared vulnerability—and shared fate—as one humanity,” he said.
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Chapel of the Ecumenical Institute, Bossey.Photo: Ivars Kupcis/WCC
Speakers will offer insights on how communities of faith must be at the forefront if we are to see a sustainable future. They will discuss decisive steps in restoring and protecting marine and freshwater ecosystems, and reducing pollution that contaminates those systems. The participant will hear and contribute about innovative approaches and ways to adapt food preferences and lifestyles to uphold creation as a gift.
The year 2022 has been declared by the UN as the International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture.
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Photo: Marion Unger/WCC
The volume was presented by Prof. Alberto Melloni, the director of the project, and Dr Luca Ferracci, the editor of the history, of the Foundation for Religious Studies in Bologna, at the webinar organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC) during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, observed 18-25 January.
This first volume traces the long-term roots of ecumenism from the 19th century and into the heart of the 20th.
In an opening greeting at the 19 January webinar, WCC acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca shared how much he appreciated and welcomed the project.
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“In the two years since the pandemic started, the World Council of Churches has, while mostly working remotely, reoriented its work to equip the world’s churches to address the healthcare and pastoral challenges posed by the pandemic and to minister in the presence of illness, death, and enormous disruption,” he said. “Since churches and the WCC are historically heavily identified with health and healing, a Ministry Support Team was assembled to field the many pastoral questions and concerns that have arisen in local and regional settings.”
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Photo: Albin Hillert/WCC
Speakers will explore the urgent need to transform our world, exposing and redressing the systemic injustices of racism, colonialism and slavery that continue to pervade all aspects of society – local, national and international.
For Dr Ryan Smith, World Council of Churches programme executive for the Ecumenical Office to the United Nations in New York, this year’s Symposium will be “a great opportunity to bring the voices of the faith community, governments and the United Nations (UN) system together to highlight work that has been done and work that needs to continue to eradicate systemic racism and reshape the future.”
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Photo: Marcelo Schneider/WCC
Photo: GCIS
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is mourning the death of Dr John Taylor, who with an initial job title of WCC programme secretary for Christian Muslim relations, later became head of the WCC interreligious office from 1980-83.
He also served as a consultant for the WCC for more than a decade.
He then went on to be secretary general of Religions for Peace and, in the 1990s, was involved in peacekeeping initiatives in the Balkans with his work for the Conference of European Churches.
He also attended and helped support the 9th WCC Assembly in Porto Alegre in 2006.
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Dr John Taylor with Stanley Samartha at a meeting with a muslim delegation from Saudi Arabia, Ecumenical Centre, Geneva, 31 October 1974, Photo: Wendy Goldsworthy / WCC Archive
Up to 80,000 people could be affected, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
Tsunami waves following the eruption also wreaked significant damage.
“Amid the chaos and the uncertainty, we pray for you and we stand in solidarity with you amid a terrifying disaster,” said Sauca. “We pray for God’s mercy on you and on the rescue workers and first responders at the scene. We pray that God might guide the churches responding to the needs of the people as those needs change in the coming days.
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https://www.oikoumene.org/news/wcc-extends-prayers-for-tonga-in-wake-of-volcanic-eruption
Photo: Unsplash
