wfn.org | WCC NEWS: WCC staff appointed member of Lebanon's new cabinet

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

World Council of Churches - News Release
Contact: +41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org
For immediate release - 19/04/2005

WCC STAFF MEMBER APPOINTED MINISTER IN LEBANESE TRANSITION GOVERNMENT

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia
today congratulated WCC staff member Dr Tarek Mitri on his appointment as
minister of environment and administrative development in Lebanon's
transitional government.

Highlighting that the appointment "is an honour, first and foremost to
him, but also to the World Council of Churches," Kobia said: "We are happy
for Dr Mitri that he can serve his country in this noble way at a critical
time in Lebanon's history."

As programme executive for inter-religious relations and dialogue, Mitri
has been responsible for Christian-Muslim relations in the WCC since 1991.
A Lebanese member of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and all
the East, Mitri holds a doctorate in social sciences from the University
of Paris X-Nanterre.

He has researched, lectured and published in Arabic, French and English in
the areas of Christian-Muslim relations, modern history and the sociology
of Christians in the Muslim world, and ecumenical relations.

In his latest book, Au Nom de la Bible, au nom de l'Amérique (In the
name of the Bible, in the name of America), published by Labor et Fides in
2004, Mitri analyzes how American society has reacted to Islam and Muslims
since the dramatic events of 11 September 2001 and why the war against
Iraq has divided Christians.

Mitri will be on leave of absence from his post in the WCC until after
Lebanon's general elections, scheduled to take place in approximately
three months' time.

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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 347, 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.