wfn.org | WCC NEWS: Ecumenical presence at WSF - an alternative voice

["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 - 19/01/2005

ECUMENICAL PRESENCE AT THE WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: SPEAKING WITH AN AUTHENTIC
ALTERNATIVE VOICE

"Affirming life in dignity: enhancing justice and rights in a globalized
world" is the overall theme for the World Council of Churches' (WCC)
participation in the 5th World Social Forum taking place 26-31 January in
Porto Alegre, Brazil.

WCC delegates will be responsible for a series of seminars that affirm the
dignity of life in a world suffering from the consequences of economic
globalization.
Amongst others, a panel on women's spirituality and dignity and their key
role in resistance, a seminar dealing with peace and reconciliation, and a
panel on ecological debt will be offered by the WCC.

The WCC representatives will be acting within the framework of a global
ecumenical coalition. Among the coalition activities there will be the
launch of a TV documentary on illegitimate debt prepared by WCC, Lutheran
World Federation (LWF) and Norwegian Church Aid, along with a seminar on
the same issue and a panel discussing the role of different religions in
current conflicts.

A 23-26 January ecumenical youth pre-event being organized by the WCC,
both the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) and Young Women's
Christian Association (YWCA), and the World Student Federation (WCSF),
will bring together about 80 young people from all over the world for
Bible studies, exposure visits and sessions introducing the World Social
Forum's main issues.

Also preceding the World Social Forum, a World Forum of Theology and
Liberation (21-25 January) organized by ecumenical partners in Latin
America will reflect on "Theology for another possible world".

"Ecumenism has much that it can bring to the World Social Forum, including
faith and cultural perspectives on the struggle for alternatives and the
building of just societies," explains Dr Rogate Mshana, head of the WCC
programme on economic justice. The ecumenical presence is "a way to show
the common witness of Christians in the world that does not claim to be
better, but to be an authentic alternative voice," he says.

The global ecumenical coalition includes the WCC, the LWF, Caritas
Internationalis, International Cooperation for Development and Solidarity
(CIDSE), YMCA, YWCA, WCSF, National Children's Alliance (NCA), Ecumenical
Forum in Brazil, the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance (EAA), the Association
of World Council of Churches-related Development Organisations in Europe
(APRODEV) and other world-wide ecumenical organizations.

More information about the WCC's presence at the World Social Forum is
available at:
http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/jpc/wsf-2005-e.html

Media contact in Porto Alegre:
Susanne Buchweitz, subuc@terra.com.br , +55 (0) 51 3342 2627; +55 (0) 51
3225 90 66

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.