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World Council of Churches - News Release
Contact: +41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org
For immediate release - 12/10/2005

WCC MODERATOR AND GENERAL SECRETARY TO ADDRESS ECUMENICAL CHALLENGES AT US
SYMPOSIUM

Free photo available - see below

"Challenges facing the ecumenical movement in the 21st Century" is the
theme of a symposium to be held on 22 October at the Interchurch Center in
New York.

Planned in honour of Catholicos Aram I, head of the Armenian Apostolic
Church (See of Cilicia) and moderator of the World Council of Churches'
(WCC) central committee, who will be visiting the United States in late
October, the symposium will feature WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel
Kobia as keynote speaker; Aram I will offer closing reflections.

Other symposium speakers will include Rev. Dr Wesley Granberg-Michaelson,
general secretary of the Reformed Church of America; Rev. Dr Diane
Kessler, executive director of the Massachusetts Council of Churches;
Bishop Thomas Hoyt, president of the National Council of the Churches of
Christ in the USA; Rev. Dr Robert Edgar, general secretary of the National
Council of Churches, Dr Anthony Kireopoulos, deputy general secretary of
the National Council of Churches, Fr. Leonid Kishkovsky, moderator of the
US Conference for the WCC and ecumenical officer, Orthodox Church in
America, Rev. Deborah DeWinter, programme executive for the United States
office of the WCC; and a representative from the United States Conference
of Catholic Bishops. Archbishop Oshagan, prelate for the Eastern United
States of America of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America, will
deliver the welcome speech.

The symposium is being jointly sponsored by the Armenian Apostolic Church
of America, the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, and
the WCC.

On Sunday, 23 October a pontifical divine liturgy will be celebrated by
Aram I at St Bartholomew's Church at 13:30 p.m, to be followed by a
banquet at the Pierre Hotel commemorating the 75th anniversary of the
Armenian Apostolic seminary in Antelias, Lebanon.

Aram I was one of the founding members of the Middle East Council of
Churches in 1974. He attended the WCC assemblies in Nairobi, Vancouver,
Canberra, and Harare as a delegate; in 1975, he was elected to the WCC's
Faith and Order Commission, and soon after as a member of the central
committee. At the 1991 Assembly in Canberra, he was elected moderator of
the WCC.

Media contacts:
- Caroline Hennessy 212-870-2192 917-407-6172 (mob.)
- Armenian Apostolic Church of America 212-689-7810

Interchurch Center address: 475 Riverside Drive, New York , NY 10115,
USA.

A free high resolution photo of Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia with HH Aram I is
available on the WCC website at:
http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/photo-galleries/portraits/aram-kobia.html

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.