Note #9168 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:
06130 Feb. 23, 2006
Delegates elect WCC governing body
Contentiousness trumps consensus as youth complain of poor representation
by Jerry L. Van Marter Ecumenical News International
PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil - The ninth Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC) on Feb. 22 elected its 150-member Central Committee, its main governing body.
The vote came after three days of contentiousness over the scarcity of youth delegates (aged 18 to 30) on the slate of nominees.
The Assembly also elected its eight presidents, who represent each of six regions of the world plus the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches, with dissent registered only against the candidate from Africa.
The Central Committee and the presidents will serve until the next Assembly in about seven years.
The newly elected committee includes 87 men (58 percent) and 63 women (42 percent); 97 ordained members (65 percent) and 53 lay persons (35 percent); 22 youth (15 percent); six indigenous persons (4 percent); and one person with a recognizable disability.
The committee fell short in every category of mandated representation, but it was the paucity of young people that prompted the loudest outcry.
Stewards, composed of young participants, were upset that the number of youth nominees fell far short of the mandated 25 percent. They demanded that the Assembly stop referring to itself as "the youth Assembly."
The Rev. Bernice Powell Jackson, moderator of the nominations committee, said, "We did the best we could with the names that were submitted to us."
The eight new regional presidents are:
Africa - the Rev. Simon Dossou, Methodist Church in Benin
Asia - the Rev. Soritua Nababan, Protestant Christian Batak Church (Indonesia)
Caribbean/Latin America - the Rev. Ofelia Ortega, Presbyterian-Reformed Church in Cuba
Europe - Mary Tanner, Church of England
North America - the Rev. Bernice Powell Jackson, United Church of Christ (United States)
Pacific - John Taroanui Doom, Maohi Protestant Church (French Polynesia)
Eastern Orthodox - Archbishop Anastasios, Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania
Oriental Orthodox - Patriarch Abune Paulos, Ethiopian Orthodox Church
The Assembly rejected a charge from delegate Edward Ofori of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana that Dossou's nomination was "the result of manipulation and not democracy." It also rebuffed objections that the presidential candidates were too old.
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