Press Release
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WCC meeting to analyze consequences of September 11
cf. WCC Press Release, PR-01-37, of 5 October 2001
The global implications of the attacks of September 11 and the military campaign in Afghanistan are the focus of a World Council of Churches (WCC) meeting in Geneva, Switzerland.
The 29 November - 1 December meeting brings some 20 representatives of churches in various regions to reflect with WCC staff on the possible consequences of the September 11 attacks and subsequent military retaliation. Their collective analysis will be shared with a broad church constituency and the wider international community.
The meeting will look at what these events could mean
"While most of the world's attention is on the military action and the humanitarian emergency, the issues raised by the current crisis are much more far-reaching, and are too important to leave just to the political leaders. The churches have an important role to play in the policy debates in their own countries and at the global level," explains Rev. Dwain Epps, coordinator of International Relations for the WCC.
The Geneva meeting is part of a broader WCC response that includes a visit by an international ecumenical delegation to the US churches earlier this month, and a 16-22 December inter-faith meeting in Cairo.
List of Participants
Dr Agnes Abuom, Anglican Church of Kenya
Executive director, Research & Development Consultants - TAABCO
WCC Africa president
Mr Wim Dierckxsens, Departamento Ecuménico de Investigaciones / DEI , Costa Rica
Prof. Rudolf El Kareh, Relations with Europe, Middle East and the Arab World
International Consultant, Lebanon/France
Dr Alison Janet Elliot, Church of Scotland
Member of the WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs
Rev. Eberhard Hitzler, Development Policy Desk
Protestant Church in Germany - EKD
Mr Victor Hsu, senior advisor, Church World Service and Witness
National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA
Dr John Langmore, director, Division for Social Policy and Development/DESA/UN
United Nations - New York
Member of the WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (WCC/CCIA)
Dr Patricia Lewis, director, United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR)
Mr Senituli Lopeti, director, Tonga Human Rights and Democracy Movement
Member of WCC/CCIA
Ms Aida Jean N. Manipon, coordinator, Asia Regional Exchange for New Alternatives - ARENA
Hong Kong
Dr Soritua Nababan, Indonesia
Former WCC president
Rev. Dr Bernice Powell-Jackson, executive minister, Justice & Witness Ministries,
United Church of Christ, USA
WCC Central Committee member
Rev. Dr Mitri Raheb, general director, International Centre of Bethlehem, Palestine
Dr Bertrand Ramcharan, deputy high commissioner for Human Rights
UN Office Geneva-OHCHR
Dr Pablo Richard, director, Departamento Ecumenico de Investigaciones / DEI
Costa Rica
Bishop Manower Rumalshah, general secretary, USPG
Pakistan/United Kingdom
Rt Rev. Michael Kehinde Stephen, bishop of the Methodist Church Nigeria
WCC Central Committee member
Rev. Peggy Orr Thomas, coordinator for Interfaith Relations, Presbyterian Church (USA)
Mr Stein Villumstadt, associate general secretary, Norwegian Church Aid
Mr Peter Weiderud, director general for International Affairs, Church of Sweden Mission/Aid
Ms Glenda Wildschut, director, Desmond Tutu Leadership Academy, South Africa
Member of WCC/CCIA
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The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches, now 342, in more than 100 countries in all continents from virtually all Christian traditions. The Roman Catholic Church is not a member church but works cooperatively with the WCC. The highest governing body is the assembly, which meets approximately every seven years. The WCC was formally inaugurated in 1948 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Its staff is headed by general secretary Konrad Raiser from the Evangelical Church in Germany.