In brief

WCC: symposium on Islam in GenevaIslam-Christian dialogue initiatives in response to “A common word”, the letter that 138 Muslim leaders and thinkers addressed to all Christian Churches a year ago, are under way throughout Europe. A Symposium attended by some fifty Christian and Muslim dignitaries will be held October 18-20 in Cahavannes-de-Bogis, near Geneva. The World Council of Churches (WCC) in cooperation with the World Evangelical Alliance and the Catholic Church promotes the event. Christian Scholars in Islamic studies from the WCC will equally attend the meeting along with Anglicans, Lutherans, Reformed Christians, Methodists and Catholics. “The purpose of the meeting is to set up a platform of encounter for the representatives of the different Christian communities where to share the theological resources and initiatives put forth in the dialogue with Islam”, states a note by the WCC. Participants are thus called to “identify the core issues pertaining to Christian theology in the area of Islam-Christian dialogue”. In order to achieve this objective, special emphasis is placed on the contribution and the experiences of Churches across the world, especially those in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Middle East. Catholicos Aram I, leader of the Armenian Apostolic Church, will deliver the keynote speech. Russia: Card. Vingt-Trois pays a visit to MoscowA visit to the Patriarch of Moscow Alexis II. This is the purpose of the journey to Moscow of Cardinal André Vingt.Trois October 26-30. His Eminence chairs a delegation that includes the bishops of Montpellier and Pontoise, as stated in a communiqué issued in Paris. The statement recalls the visit to Paris of Patriarch Alexis II in October 2007. “That was the first time that a Patriarch of Moscow paid an official visit abroad on the invitation of the local Catholic Church”, the archbishopric pointed out. The visit will begin in the seat of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church with Patriarch Alexis. The Cardinal will then pay visit to the Foreign Relations Department of Moscow’s patriarchate. The purpose of the trip is also “to pay homage to the martyrs of the Russian Orthodox Church”. The French delegation will also pay a respectful visit to Solovski, in memory of the bishops, priests, monks and faithful of the Russian Orthodox Church that were killed in its concentration Camp. Meetings with the nuncio Antonio Mennini and the archbishop of Moscow Msgr. Paolo Pezzi are also scheduled. CEC: a fusion with the Commission for the Migrants The Churches’ Commission for Migrants in Europe – CCME – will become a Commission of the Conference of European Churches, CEC. The XVII General Assembly established the unification of the two previously separated organisms during its meeting in Cyprus on October 8-11. The Central Committee of Kekveva had agreed on this decision during its 2007 meeting. CCME is an ecumenical agency in charge of migration and integration, asylum and refugees, anti-racism and anti-discrimination in Europe. The fusion with CEC will grant the Commission the mandate to “serve Churches in their commitment for foreigners…in order to promote inclusiveness for migrants, refugees and minority groups at European and national level”, is written in the agreement signed by the two parties. CEC President, Rev. Jean-Arnold De Clermont, underlined the importance of the fusion, which “doesn’t only consist in a structural change aimed at better efficiency. Rather, it represents the political and theological will of our Churches in Europe to uphold the rights of migrants and asylum-seekers that are regarded dearly by the mission”. Synod: the address of the Greek-Orthodox delegate Archimandrite Ignazio Sotiradis, delegate of the Greek Orthodox Church in Brussels, spoke at the Bishops’ Synod in Rome on October 11. “His Holiness”, he said, “our society is tired and sick. It seeks but does not find! It drinks but its thirst is not quenched. Our society demands of us Christians – Catholics, Orthodox, Protestants, Anglicans – a common witness, a unified voice!”. “Here lies our responsibility as Pastors of the Churches in the 21st century”. “Here”, he continued, “is the Primary mission of the First Bishop of Christianity, of him who presides in charity, and, above all, of a Pope who is Magister Theologiae: to be the visible and paternal sign of unity and to lead under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and according to Sacred Tradition with wisdom, humility and dynamism together will all the bishops of the world, fellow successors of the apostles, all humanity to Christ the redeemer”.