wfn.org | WCC NEWS: Pacific churches request solidarity

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World Council of Churches - News Release
Contact: +41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.or
For immediate release - 18/02/2005

WCC PACIFIC MEMBERS REQUEST SOLIDARITY

	Free photos available, see below

Member church representatives from the World Council of Churches' (WCC)
Pacific region made a plea for ecumenical solidarity on Friday. In a
plenary session during the current meeting of the WCC central committee in
Geneva they shared their concerns on several major issues affecting their
culture and way of life.

Rev. Jabez Bryce of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa New Zealand and
Polynesia thanked the WCC for its presence in the region, which has 19 WCC
member churches; he then introduced a series of other speakers who
explored the significant issues of climate change, HIV/AIDS, and the
fallout of nuclear testing.

Selai Cati of Kiribati said that climate change is threatening these
island-nations' way of life with increasingly extreme weather, rising sea
levels, erosion, and loss of crops. "For us it is a matter of life and
death," she declared. The Pacific region was described as "the liquid
continent", consisting as it does of widely distributed small islands
sitting in millions of square kilometres of ocean.

Cati called on the United States and Australia to sign on to the Kyoto
Protocol (which officially became international law this week). She
presented a list of recommendations to the central committee, including
one that called "on our sisters and brothers in Christ throughout the
world to act in solidarity with us to reduce the causes of human-induced
climate change". The recommendation especially extended that call to the
highly industrialized nations to take responsibility and pay "for the
costs of adaptation to the impacts that can be anticipated".

Delegates later affirmed those recommendations, asking the general
secretary to implement them through appropriate WCC programmes. Rev.
Gregor Henderson, from the Uniting Church in Australia, said he "felt
humbled" by the fact that his country is one of the industrialized nations
contributing to this tragedy. He also reported that Australian member
churches have decided to continue in solidarity with those affected.

Emosi Ratini of Fiji shared a moving personal story of his experience of
being HIV-positive, saying he did so in the hope of increasing awareness
and "to humanize HIV/AIDS and give it a face". Ratini was appointed as an
intern to work on HIV/AIDS issues for the WCC Pacific office, which he
called a life-changing experience.

John Doom of the Maòhi Protestant Church detailed the sad history of
nuclear testing in the region, with 322 such tests between 1946 and 1996.
He asked the WCC to continue to make the test victims' voices heard and to
help them obtain compensation.

Pacific Conference of Churches general secretary Valamotu Palu closed the
session, saying: "We have taken you to the Pacific and presented you with
the hopes and dreams of our people. We need action, and, more importantly,
we need solidarity from our Christian brothers and sisters."

Free high resolution pictures and additional information about the WCC
central committee meeting are available at:
www.oikoumene.org > Central Committee

Additional information: Juan Michel,+41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363
media@wcc-coe.org

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The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches, now 342, in
more than 120 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 Samuel Kobia from the Methodist church in Kenya.