WCC NEWS: WCC general secretary talks development and peace with H.H. Abune Paulos and president of

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World Council of Churches - News

WCC GENERAL SECRETARY TALKS DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE WITH H.H. ABUNE 
PAULOS
AND PRESIDENT OF ETHIOPIA, AND ADDRESSES CHRISTIANS CELEBRATING THE 
FEAST
OF THE HOLY CROSS

For immediate release: 28 September 2010

By Fredrick Nzwili (*)

Addis Ababa, 24 September ( WCC) –  The World Council of Churches’
general secretary, the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, met in separate 
meetings
with H.H. Abune Paulos, partriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo
Church and with Ethiopia’s president, Girma Woldegiorgis, to discuss
development and regional peace.

Dr Tveit also addressed an audience of hundreds of thousands as they
celebrated the Ethiopian Orthodox feast of the Holy Cross, a major 
event
in the nation. The general secretary told the large crowd, “The cross 
is
a sign of peace, and it calls us to humble ourselves in our relations 
with
all, including our relationship with people of other faiths.”

The visit to Ethiopia was the second stop on Tveit’s first visit to
Africa as WCC general secretary, 23-27 September.  The trip also 
included
a visit to Kenya.
The Ethiopian church was one of the founding members of the WCC at its
first assembly in 1948.

During Tveits’s meetings with Abune Paulos, who is one of seven WCC
presidents, the two explored the success of the development wing of 
the
Ethiopian church, the Development and Inter-Church Aid Commission 
(DICAC),
founded in 1972.

“I think what you are doing here in Ethiopia is a good example of how
development can work within the ACT Alliance,” Tveit said.  The ACT
Alliance, newly formed in 2010 from ACT International and ACT 
Development,
has become one of the largest church-related organizations in the 
world
working on humanitarian aid and development.  It represents 100 
churches
worldwide, many of whom are WCC member churches.

The Ethiopian church is currently not a member of the ACT Alliance.

“I hope you can continue to develop your model here and also share it 
in
different ways and bring it as an example to the ACT Alliance board 
and
the network we represent,” Tveit said.

The DICAC operates throughout Ethiopia by means of a network of 
churches
and other partners working on poverty reduction. Their programmes 
include
emergency relief, food security, rehabilitation, development, support 
of
refugees and returnees, prevention and activities aimed at controlling
HIV/AIDS.

At the meeting Tveit also described the changing mandate of the WCC, 
moving
from a funding or operation partner to a strategic partner of the
ecumenical movement.

“The WCC is called to convene ecumenical partners with member 
churches to
reflect on how, why, who and what we should do together,” he said. “I
think, for example, it is the WCC’s role to call together the churches
and act as a partner within the framework of the new ACT 
Alliance….this
is in my mind a genuine expression of the calling of the church. We 
must
be sure that ‘ACT’ really comes to mean what it is intended to be:
Action by the Churches Together.”

Tveit cited the recent example of Haiti, where the work of the ACT 
Alliance
in coordinating and delivering emergency relief in Haiti was 
impressive
during the first month after the earthquake.

“But when we called a meeting with ACT Alliance partners and the 
church
leaders in Haiti, we realized that they don’t meet. Few of the 
churches
in Haiti were partners of the ACT Alliance, and local churches were 
not
involved with the ACT Alliance’s day-to-day deliberations on the 
future
of Haiti,” he said.

“I think it is important that the ACT Alliance work directly with
churches, not only as operation partners, where it is possible as here
(Ethiopia), but also as partners discussing strategies, the vision and
also the values of this work in a local context and regional 
contexts.”

Tveit said that the Ethiopian churches and their related 
organizations are
major WCC partners who enable the formulation of a vision and a 
strategy
that show how the WCC, member churches and partners may best work
together.

“I have to say thank you for your gracious presence here,” said 
Paulos.
“The plans, attempts and efforts toward Christian unity that have been
made in our country, evident in this visit, have never ceased since 
the
inception of the WCC in 1948.”

The patriarch had invited Tviet to visit Ethiopia to attend the Demera
celebration of Maskal, an annual religious holiday commemorating the
discovery of the True Cross.

His visit also included meeting with other church leaders and visiting
development sites.

The president of Ethiopia, Girma Woldegiorgis, told Tveit that 
Ethiopia was
backing peace efforts in both the Somalia and Sudan conflicts. He also
spoke of willingness to find a peaceful solution in Ethiopian-Eritrean
affairs, stressing that determined efforts are being directed to 
solving
the long-running conflict in Somalia.

“Ethiopia has significantly contributed to maintaining peace in Africa
and across the world,” he said in the meeting with Tveit which also 
was
attended by Agnes Abuom, a member of the WCC executive committee, and
Nigussu Legesse, programme executive for the WCC’s Africa Desk.

Tveit praised Ethiopia's efforts at maintaining peace in neighbouring
countries. He later told journalists that the discussions with the
Ethiopian president had centred on religious tolerance and the 
nation’s
Christian heritage as a contribution to establishing just peace.

(*) Fredrick Nzwili is a freelance journalist from Kenya. He is a
correspondent for Ecumenical News International (ENI) based in the
country's capital, Nairobi.


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.



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