wfn.org | Bossey Graduate School

[Sheila MESA <smm@wcc-coe.org>]

World Council of Churches
Press Release
For Immediate Use
28 August 1998

RECIPE FOR ECUMENICAL LEADERS

Ingredients:
51 young theologians and pastors from 37 countries.
A chateau at the foot of the Jura mountains in Switzerland.

Method:
Put together in community life.  Add 3 months of intensive study.  Mix
together.

Result:
Insight, learning, leadership qualities.

Serves:
God, the Church and the world.

This is the recipe for tomorrow's ecumenical leaders used by the
Graduate School of Ecumenical Studies organised by the Ecumenical
Institute at Bossey, near Geneva.  The 1998 session begins on 1
September.

Bossey  (as the institute is commonly known) is part of the World Council
of Churches (WCC) and has been described as "a laboratory for
ecumenical life".  The theme for the Graduate School's 47th session is
"The Year of the Lord's Favour", and it has been chosen to reflect the
WCC's 50th anniversary as well as the biblical motif of jubilee which has
been central in the planning for the WCC Eighth Assembly due to be held
in December in Harare, Zimbabwe.

Students will draw on preparatory documents for Harare to explore the
Assembly theme, "Turn to God - Rejoice in Hope", in the light of how the
concept of jubilee has been understood, adapted and developed in
Jewish and Christian traditions.

The Graduate School will also study the history of the ecumenical
movement and the WCC .

Dr Heidi Hadsell-do-Nascimento from the Presbyterian Church, USA, took
up her post as Director of the Ecumenical Institute last August.  She
points out that despite current tensions between the Orthodox churches
and the WCC, this year's student intake includes a good number of
Orthodox students.  She is also excited by the appointment of Father
Ioan Sauca as a new professor at Bossey.  Fr Sauca is an Orthodox
priest from Romania whose speciality is mission.  He was previously on
the WCC staff as 

Executive Secretary for Orthodox Studies and Relationships in Mission. 
Other teaching staff at Bossey come from Germany, Uganda and
Uruguay.

Of the experience her new students can expect, Dr
Hadsell-do-Nascimento says, "The kind of ecumenical and international
educational experience students have at Bossey prepares them
remarkably well for church leadership in a world that is experiencing
constant and rapid change and growing diversity  in communities and
congregations.  Former Bossey students consistently describe their
experience as having been 'transformative', and they often point to this
experience of transformation as the element which has best prepared
them for leadership in contemporary churches and communities.

"At Bossey education takes place around the clock.  It happens not only
in the lecture hall but also at meals or on the volley-ball court.  Students
learn as much from each other as from the faculty, and their education,
which is intense and demanding, reaches and forms the whole person. 
As much as is possible, everyone who comes to Bossey is on an equal
footing and thus everyone experiences at Bossey elements of
dislocation and question-asking which can lead not only to significant
learning, but also to significant personal change.

"At Bossey students learn how to live with diversity rather than in spite
of it.  In so doing they learn valuable lessons about working in and
through conflict, as well as across cultures, learning and teaching
styles.  Church leadership needs this kind of knowledge and experience
which develops an appreciation for diverse cultures and religious
traditions."

Heidi Hadsell-do-Nascimento is available for interview.  She speaks
English, French, Portuguese and Spanish.

For further information on Bossey please contact the WCC Press and
Information Office or visit our web site at
<http://www.wcc-coe.org/bossey>   See also, "A Laboratory for
Ecumenical Life - The Story of Bossey", 1946-1996 (WCC Publications
1996). 

Stop Press: Details of next year's Graduate School programme just
published.  Theme: "Christians in a Religiously Plural World: Challenge and
Opportunity".  Deadline for student  applications 28 February 1999.

**********
The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches, now 332, 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.

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