wfn.org | Seven world ecumenical leaders Offer to meet with Kofi Annan

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

Seven world ecumenical leaders Offer to meet with Kofi Annan

New York, September 27, 2005 -- The staff heads of seven international 
ecumenical councils have sent a letter of "pastoral concern" to United 
Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, proposing a meeting and commenting on 
the U.N.'s Millennium Development Goals and other challenges facing the 
world body.

The ecumenical general secretaries expressed their "empathy for the people 
of the United States who are suffering so much" as a result of Hurricanes 
Katrina and Rita, and commented on other issues, including the war in Iraq, 
"the dire and devastating situation" in Darfur and the U.N.'s own 
organizational reform efforts.

The letter was signed by the general secretaries of the All Africa Council 
of Churches, the Conference of European Churches, the Caribbean Conference 
of Churches, the Latin American Council of Churches, the Middle East 
Council of Churches, the Canadian Council of Churches and the National 
Council of Churches USA. The general secretaries met in Washington and New 
York September 21-26.

The ecumenical leaders, noting the importance Annan has placed on talking 
with communities of faith, offered to meet with him "to discuss the matters 
raised in this letter or any other matters that lie deeply on your mind, 
heart and spirit."

The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) -- which range from cutting 
worldwide poverty in half to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing 
universal primary education, all by 2015 -- have attracted the attention of 
U.N. member nations and leading development institutions.
"We wish to encourage you to continue this vital work and we pledge 
ourselves to work with you to try to hold the countries of the world 
accountable to those goals which are so vitally important to so many of our 
people in so many places," the ecumenical leaders wrote.
The general secretaries called for an international peace keeping force in 
Iraq and urged Annan to call an international meeting "to discuss such a 
possibility."

The leaders thanked Annan for keeping the situation in Darfur-characterized 
by the U.S. State Department as a "genocide"-before the eyes of the world. 
"We respectfully request the opportunity to work with you to ensure that 
the suffering and the necessity for action in Darfur are kept before the 
world community in such a way as to inspire and compel active response," 
the letter said.
The Secretary General's efforts to "implement a wide variety of reforms" to 
the world body was praised by the ecumenical leaders. "We wish to express 
... our solidarity and support for all you have been endeavoring to do to 
enable the United Nations to better serve the peoples of this globe in 
justice and equality," the letter said.

The full text of the letter follows:

September 26, 2005

Mr. Kofi Annan
Secretary General
United Nations
New York

Dear Mr. Annan,

As the representatives of the Christian ecumenical bodies of eight 
continents and regions of the world-Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe, 
Latin America, the Middle East, North America, the Pacific and of the World 
Council of Churches-we write to you this day from the city of New York. It 
is our practice to meet on a yearly basis to listen to each other, to talk 
to each other about the challenges and joys of being Church in our various 
regions and to move forward in the witness to which we believe Jesus Christ 
is calling us.

We are meeting this year in the wake of the deadly devastation of 
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and have expressed in prayer and in a public 
press conference held in Washington on Friday our solidarity with and our 
empathy for the people of the United States who are suffering so much at 
this time. We also remember at this time the many countries and the many 
people who suffered and continue to suffer in the wake of this year's 
horrific tsunami and they are daily in our prayers.

The timing of our meeting means that we are also gathering in the wake of 
the recent United Nations meeting to discuss and implement a wide variety 
of reforms to that international body whose presence is significant in all 
of our regions. We wish to express to you at this particular time, 
therefore, our solidarity and our support for all that you have been 
endeavouring to do to enable the United Nations to better serve the peoples 
of this globe in justice and equality. As we stated in our September 4, 
2004 letter to you, written on the occasion of our meeting together in 
Nairobi, "we believe that the unique status of the UN in the eyes of all 
its member states must be restored, accompanied by a renewed respect for 
international law and the desire to solve conflicts by a truly multilateral 
approach." We continue, as we did in that letter of September 4, 2004, to 
commit ourselves to promoting this view of the UN in our respective church 
and regional constituencies.

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank you for your 
leadership in terms of the Millennium Development Goals. We wish to 
encourage you to continue this vital work and we pledge ourselves to work 
with you to try and hold the countries of the world accountable to those 
goals which are so vitally important to so many of our people in so many 
places. As faith leaders, as church leaders we are committed to our mandate 
to ensure the care of the most vulnerable of God's children and we see 
these goals as a way forward in this mandate, a way forward that ensures 
respect and dignity for all.

We thank you too, Secretary General, for your consistent profiling of the 
situation in Darfur, for all the ways in which you have kept that dire and 
devastating situation before the world community. We respectfully request 
the opportunity to work with you to ensure that the suffering and the 
necessity for action in Darfur are kept before the world community in such 
a way as to inspire and compel active response.
As you know from our meeting with you in May of 2004, we the leaders of the 
churches of the regions of the world are deeply concerned about the war in 
Iraq. We continue in our belief that the most effective opportunity in that 
deeply difficult and complex situation is an international force. We would 
be extremely supportive of you bringing together an international meeting 
to discuss such a possibility.

Your Excellency, as we close this letter of pastoral concern for you and 
the enormous complexities of your role and office we remind you of the 
importance you placed on taking the opportunity to talk to the faith 
communities. We would be most willing to meet with you again, at your 
convenience to discuss the matters raised in this letter or any other 
matters that lie deeply on your mind, heart and spirit.
We look forward to hearing from you and we continue to keep you in our
prayers.

On behalf of our respective independent regional ecumenical organizations 
and the World Council of Churches,

This letter is facilitated through the offices the National Council of 
Churches USA.

Rev. Dr. H. Mvume Dandala
General Secretary
All Africa Conference of Churches

Rev. Keith Clements
General Secretary
Conference of European Churches

Mr. Gerard A.J. Granado
General Secretary
Caribbean Conference of Churches

Rev. Israel Batista
General Secretary
Latin American Council of Churches

Mr. Guirguis I. Saleh
General Secretary
Middle East Council of Churches

Rev. Dr. Karen Hamilton
General Secretary
Canadian Council of Churches

Rev. Dr. Bob Edgar
General Secretary
National Council of Churches

Philip E. Jenks
Interim Director, News and Media Relations
National Council of Churches USA
475 Riverside Drive
New York, NY 10115
212-870-2252
www.ncccusa.org