WCC Media media@wcc-coe.org> 26/11/2007 10:59 AM >> ( mailto: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 - 26/11/2007 09:30:00 AM
CANADIAN THEOLOGIAN GIBAUT TO LEAD FAITH AND ORDER
Rev. Canon Dr John Saint Helier Gibaut, from the Anglican Church of Canada, will head the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission on Faith and Order as of January 2008.
A scholar specialized in liturgical and historical theology, Gibaut has extensive ecumenical experience, particularly in the area of national and international bilateral church dialogues. He currently teaches at the faculty of theology of Saint Paul University, Ottawa, Canada.
As it continues to "call the divided churches to healing and reconciliation ," the work of Faith and Order is "as exciting and demanding today for the ecumenical movement as it was in the 1920s and beyond," says Gibaut about his future field of action. "The ongoing challenge is to broaden the circles and conversations around Faith and Order issues," he adds.
Gibaut will replace the Rev. Dr Thomas F. Best, who retires at the end of November 2007. Best, a pastor of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the USA, has been with the Council for 23 years, acting as director of Faith and Order since 2004.
Faith and Order is a historic, founding movement of the WCC. The Commission on Faith and Order is mandated to study questions of faith, church order and worship which bear on the unity of the church, and also to examine social, cultural, political, racial and other factors which affect that unity.
The 120-member commission, which includes representatives of WCC member churches and also non-member churches such as the Roman Catholic Church, has been called the most representative church-based theological forum in the world.
More information on the WCC commission on Faith and Order: http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=3606
Additional information:Juan Michel,+41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363media@wcc -coe.org
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 347 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 Samuel Kobia, from the Methodist Church in Kenya. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.
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