wfn.org | ALC News Service Noticias Nov 17 2003

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

ALC NEWS SERVICE
E-mail: director@alcnoticias.org

ALC HEADLINES:
BRAZIL: Dennis Smith was elected president of WACC - Latin America
BRAZIL: Communication is fundamental to construct democratic societies
BOLIVIA: Methodist World Peace Prize to be awarded to Bolivian
URUGUAY: Postal stamp for 200 years of Bible Socieites

BRAZIL
Dennis Smith was elected president of WACC - Latin America

SAO PAULO, November 10, 2003 (alc). The regional Latin American assembly of 
the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC-LA) elected Dennis 
Smith as president this Monday, a US missionary from the Presbyterian 
Church who has been working in Guatemala for the past 27 years.

Smith, who was elected by acclamation, is also coordinator of the Pastoral 
Communication Program in the Evangelical Pastoral Studies Center in Central 
America (CEDEPCA) and president of the Verification of Codes of Conduct 
Commission (COVERCO)  in Guatemala.

The new Regional WACC-LA Executive Committee also includes Luciano Sathler 
as vice president, Alma Montoya as secretary, Daniel Favaro, treasurer and 
Claudia Florentin.

Sathler is a social communicator, a specialist in marketing and 
administration and coordinator of the distance Education Program from the 
Methodist University of Sao Paulo.

Montoya is Colombian, a communicator and as president of the Communicate 
Group, coordinates community radio projects in the conflict zone. She is 
also director of the post-graduate program in communication from the 
University UNMINUTO Corporation in her country.

Favaro, Methodist pastor, is director of communications for the Regional 
Ecumenical Advice and Services Center (CREAS) and director of the Methodist 
paper El Estandarte Evangelico.

Florentin is a journalist and coordinator of Communication and Press for 
the Evangelical Waldensian Church of the River Plate.

Smith was born in Missouri on November 1, 1951. He is married to Maribel 
Perez and has two children, Lucas Alan (11) and Benjamin Eduardo (9). He 
graduated in communications from Wheaton College, Wheaton Illinois in 1973.

He has been a missionary for the US Presbyterian Church since 1977. From 
1984 to 1988 he was assigned to the Latin American Evangelical Center of 
Pastoral Studies (CELEP) and in 1999 assumed the coordination of CEDEPCAs 
publications and communications.

 From 1993 to 1996 he was general coordinator of CELEP. From 1977 to 1984 
he was a communications counselor from the Presbyterian Church synod of 
Guatemala and taught communication in the Presbyterian seminary in this 
country.

He 1999 he was elected a member of the WACC-LA regional Executive 
Committee. In Guatemala he was one of the creators of COVERCO, which he 
currently presides.

He is the author of several books about religious communication, about the 
impact of neoliberalism and about Pentecostalism in Central America and 
Brazil.

BRAZIL
Communication is fundamental to construct democratic societies

SAO PAULO, November 10, 2003 (alc). Communication is fundamental to 
construct citizenship and to forge a new relationship between the State and 
society, according to participants at the World Association for Christian 
Communication (WACC-LA)s Latin American regional assembly.

In a closing statement after the assembly held November 9-10 in the 
Methodist University of Sao Paulo in San Bernardo do Campo, WACC-LA stated 
it feels identified with the challenge of Latin American societies, their 
conflicts, struggles and hopes.

The assembly, which brought together more than 50 Christian communicators 
from Latin America and leaders from the WACC world headquarters in London, 
underlined that this meeting was held in Brazil where society currently 
faces the challenge of constructing a society that seeks to strengthen its 
democracy and decrease the existing historic inequalities.

The Latin American reality, it stated, presents the need to strengthen 
democracy and spaces for participation, strengthening social actors that 
struggle for its rights and dignity.

It also challenges us to question the dominant economic policies and to 
seek changes to overcome the economic poverty and the profound social gaps 
that divide our societies as well as the restriction and discrimination in 
access to the media and information and communication technologies, said 
participants.

We see, added participants, the need to denounce situations of violence 
marked by permanent human rights violations, the repression of the 
grassroots mobilization, the criminalization of social protests and the 
militarization of our global society.

These situations are expressions of domination that seek to consolidate a 
uni-polar vision and the hegemony of single thought, frequently justified 
with religious arguments.

After recognizing the importance of new social actors, such as women, young 
people and indigenous communities, they emphasized the fundamental role of 
community media that disseminate new options for freedom and justice that 
are emerging in our continent.

Guaranteeing the right to information and communication as a fundamental 
human right in this context is a vital and priority commitment said the 
statement.

  In order to achieve this objective we are committed to the CRIS campaign 
(for the Right to Communication in and Information Society) as a process to 
articulate and join the efforts of institutions and movements around the 
world.

This process includes participation in the World Information Society Summit 
to be held in Geneva next September that will be a key space to lobby for 
the democratization of communications and the new communication and 
information technologies

The road to Tznez (second phase of the World Information Society Summit) 
challenges us to greater public impact and to share this problematic that 
should not be left in the hands of a few, affirmed the WACC-LA declaration.

WACC-LA also declared that Churches and Christian communities on the 
continent are called to accompany the process and join the effort for a 
more just and solidarity society and communication, in a bid to ensure 
peace, the rights of peoples and the dignity of men and women.

As Christian communicators we reaffirm our commitment, conviction and hope, 
committing ourselves to the initiatives that are taking place in other 
parts of the region for a fuller and more democratic life, concluded the 
declaration.

BOLIVIA
Methodist World Peace Prize to be awarded to Bolivian

LA PAZ, November 12, 2003 (alc). A Bolivian domestic worker, Casimira 
Rodrmguez Romero, will receive the 2003 Methodist World Peace Prize from 
Sunday Mbang, president of the World Methodist Council in the La Reforma 
Church in La Paz.

  This award is delivered annually, in the name of 39 million Methodists 
around the world, to a person or group who has made a significant 
contribution to peace and reconciliation.

Casimira Rodriquez was born in Mizque, close to the city of Cochabamba. The 
only child of a very poor family she began to work as a domestic worker 
when she was 13. She was the victim of physical, mental and sexual abuse 
and worked for two years without pay, as is common in many parts of Latin 
America. There were times when she felt worthless, she said.

When she met Christ her life became filled with hope and faith because she 
understood that the Lord was on the side of the poor and sick and in favor 
of justice. She became a member of the Emmanuel Methodist Church in 
Cochabamba.

On Sunday she received teaching and sewing classes. This group later became 
the Organization of Domestic Workers and Casimira stood out as a leader. 
She has been elected general secretary of the National Federation of 
Domestic Worker twice.

Last year, the Bolivian Congress approved a Domestic Workers Law that was 
on the agenda for more than 10 years. Casimira Rodriquez intervened in the 
debate.

She is a faithful Christian and her faith has guided her in moments of 
great adversity. Her life dedicated to a search for peace and justice is a 
model for everyone, said George H. Freeman, general secretary of the 
Methodist World Council.

Her name was put forward by the bishop of the Methodist Church of Bolivia, 
Carlos Intipampa, in recognition of her perseverance in the struggle for 
peace, reconciliation and justice, in face of centuries of oppression.

The Methodist World Council, that groups together 76 Churches from 132 
countries, instituted the Methodist World Peace Prize in 1971. It is 
awarded annual to individuals or organizations that stand out for their 
courage, determination and creativity in the struggle for peace, 
reconciliation and justice.

Individuals such as Boris Trajkovsky, president of Macedonia; Nelson 
Mandela, former president of South Africa and Kofi Annan, secretary general 
of the United Nations and organizations such as the San Egidio community 
that impelled peace in Mozambique and the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo 
of Argentina, among others.

URUGUAY
Postal stamp for 200 years of Bible Socieites

MONTEVIDEO, November 14, 2003 (alc). The 200th anniversary of the founding 
of the Bible Societies in the United Kingdom will be marked in Uruguay with 
the official launch of a commemorative postal stamp, said the Uruguayan 
Bible Society.

The stamp will be launched November 24 in the Municipality in Montevideo. 
Mariano Arana, mayor of the capital city will speak along with Pastor Jose 
Beltrami, secretary general of the Uruguayan Bible Society and Marcel 
Legarra, president of the Bible Society and postal authorities.

The musical Make me an Instrument will also be presented, inspired by the 
story of Maria Jones, a poor Welsh woman whose interest in obtaining a 
Bible mobilized a group of Christians to form the British and Foreign Bible 
Society, aimed at making Bibles available.

Entities dedicated to disseminating and translating the Bible around the 
world, under the coordination of the United Bible Societies, are preparing 
diverse commemorative activities that will culminate with the United Bible 
Societies Assembly in Wales.

The Uruguayan Bible Society said that there is also a plan to take the Word 
of God to many Uruguayans, including street children and men, women and 
children who eat in soup kitchens run by the government, non government 
organizations and many churches and Christian institutions.

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