WCC NEWS: International Ecumenical Peace Convocation launched in Jamaica

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

International Ecumenical Peace Convocation launched in Jamaica

For immediate release: 16 March 2011
 


From the sound of a new song written specifically for the
upcoming International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC), to a
proclamation that Jamaica is the proper place for this peace
event, the IEPC was officially launched at a ceremony in
Kingston, Jamaica on 15 March organized by the Jamaican Council
of Churches and the Caribbean Council of Churches, hosts of the
IEPC. 



The launch, which was attended by Jamaican church leaders and
media, was meant to call attention to the IEPC which will be held
on the Mona campus of the University of West Indies in Kingston,
Jamaica from 17 to 25 May this year. 



In brief remarks to the group, Archbishop Donald Reece of the
Roman Catholic Church, president of the Caribbean Conference of
Churches, said he believes that “Jamaica is the proper place to
have this convocation.” 



“We do have a setting where we can analyze the march from
violence to that march toward peace,” he said, referring to a
history of violence in Jamaica and the region that includes the
sins of slavery and indentured servitude. “We are not called to
experience war and hatred, but we are called to experience
oneness and peace,” he said. 



In delivering the official launching address, Dr Mathews George
Chunakara, director of the public witness programme of the World
Council of Churches (WCC) and its Commission of the Churches in
International Affairs, gave an overview of the WCC’s peace work
over the decades and how the IEPC is rooted in the context of the
Decade to Overcome Violence (DOV) which ended last year. 



“So now we have reached the culmination of the DOV era,” he
said, noting that delegates at the 9th Assembly of the WCC in
Porto Alegre, Brazil in 2006 called for an international
ecumenical peace convocation as the climax to the DOV to
recognize the success and failures of the Decade. 



While the IEPC will recognize the work done during the decade to
overcome violence, it is also going to be an occasion for
churches to “renew their commitment to nonviolence, peace and
just peace,” he said. 



In a videotaped message to the group, WCC general secretary Rev.
Dr Olav Fykse Tveit described the IEPC as a collaborative effort
of the Jamaica Council of Churches and the Caribbean Conference
of Churches as well as local churches and community groups. 



He mentioned a variety of events taking place as part of the
convocation, including the planting of peace trees, a peace
Sunday and a peace concert in Kingston. 



Chunakara added that not only churches in Jamaica would be
celebrating 22 May, as Peace Sunday (
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?id=2267&rid=f_15592&mid=2932&aC=c416b25e&jumpurl=1
), but churches around the world also would join participants of
the IEPC in prayers, special events and worship services
including the use of a Caribbean prayer for peace (
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?id=2267&rid=f_15592&mid=2932&aC=c416b25e&jumpurl=2
) which has been translated into more than 20 languages. 



A highlight of the launch was the presentation of an IEPC theme
song titled “Glory to God, Peace on Earth,” written by
Jamaican musician Grub Cooper. 



Speakers at the IEPC include Martin Luther King III. Jamaican
government officials, including the governor general of Jamaica
and the prime minister, are expected to attend the opening of the
IEPC on the afternoon of Wednesday 18 May. 



More than 1,000 people from around the world are expected to
attend the week-long event. 



Website of the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation:
www.overcomingviolence.org (
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?id=2267&rid=f_15592&mid=2932&aC=c416b25e&jumpurl=3
) 



More information on World Sunday for Peace:
www.overcomingviolence.org/sunday (
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?id=2267&rid=f_15592&mid=2932&aC=c416b25e&jumpurl=1
)

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith,
witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical
fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings
together 349 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches
representing more than 560 million Christians in over 110
countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic
Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit,
from the [Lutheran] Church of Norway. Headquarters: Geneva,
Switzerland.