wfn.org | WCC visit to Brazil

["WCC Media" <Media@wcc-coe.org>]

World Council of Churches
Press Release PR-03-17
For Immediate Use
9 May 2003

WCC general secretary to visit Brazil and meet 'Lula' 
Preparations for next WCC assembly begin

Rev. Dr Konrad Raiser will visit Brazil to launch local preparations for the next, ninth assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC), to take place there in February 2006. At the beginning of his visit, Raiser will meet the country's new president.

 From 11-17 May 2003, the WCC general secretary will visit Brasilia and Porto Alegre - the city in which the Council's ninth assembly will be held.

Raiser will meet President Luiz Inacio "Lula" da Silva in Brasilia on Monday 12 May. He will be accompanied by leaders of national churches and the board of directors of the National Council of Christian Churches in Brazil (CONIC).

 From Tuesday 13 to Saturday 17 May, Raiser will hold discussions in Porto Alegre with a committee responsible for the local organisation of the assembly. The committee is made up of representatives of WCC member churches, ecumenical organisations and other churches in Brazil.

The WCC general secretary will also visit the campus of the Catholic
Pontifical University of Porto Alegre - the site chosen for the assembly -
and meet with the university dean.

The WCC's ninth assembly will be the first to take place in Latin America.
Provisional dates are 14 to 23 February, 2006. The WCC central committee is
to take a final decision concerning dates and theme when it meets in August
this year.

WCC assemblies take place every seven years, and are attended by about 3500
people. Gathering Christians from all over the world and from virtually every
Christian tradition, they are major events in the life of the Council. 

During his visit to Porto Alegre, Raiser is likely to meet with local
government representatives.

WCC member churches in Brazil are: the Evangelical Church of Lutheran
Confession in Brazil, the Christian Reformed Church of Brazil,	the Episcopal
Anglican Church of Brazil,  the Methodist Church in Brazil and the United
Presbyterian Church of Brazil. Representatives from the following churches
and organisations have been invited to join the committee, along with the
member churches: the National Council of Christian Churches in Brazil
(CONIC), which includes the Roman Catholic Church; the Ecumenical Forum of
Brazil; the Brazilian region of the Latin American Council of Churches
(CLAI); and the Ecumenical Service Association. The Independent Presbyterian
Church has also been invited to take part in the committee. It is hoped that
other Protestant and Evangelical churches  from Brazil will take part in this
endeavour. 

For further information, please contact the Media Relations Office, 
tel: +41 (0)22 791 64 21 /61 53

**********

The World Council of Churches (WCC) 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, The Netherlands. Its staff is headed by general secretary
Konrad Raiser from the Evangelical Church in Germany.

World Council of Churches
Media Relations Office
Tel: (41 22) 791 6153 / 791 6421
Fax: (41 22) 798 1346
E-mail: media@wcc-coe.org 
Web: www.wcc-coe.org 

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