Member Church News: Inter-church dialogue, Migration and Solidarity

A month after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, Seminario Evangélio de Puerto Rico has reopened. Classes will be held at Inter-American University for the next month. The seminary wants to keep its commitment to give the best and most relevant theological education to current and future pastors. By completing the semester, they have the opportunity to reflect pastorally and theologically on the impact of these catastrophic events on their faith and organization for service.

“We have touched the bottom,” a testimony from the Mediterranean. On the day that Rome signed the new protocol for humanitarian corridors, doubling and representing more and more a finger for safe and dignified migration, the Mediterranean returns the stories of those at risk of death at sea to escape their countries. On Monday afternoon, Sea-Watch 3 was involved in an episode that helps understand the hazards in the Mediterranean waters despite the efforts. The sea continues to be a death trap.

A group of Christian Reformed Church in North America (CRCNA) leaders attended a luncheon in Ramallah on the West Bank in Palestine on Second November marking the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration. “The delegation of people walked from the United Kingdom to Palestine to apologize for the tragic consequences of the Balfour Declaration on the Palestinian people,” said Shannon Jammal-Hollemans, racial justice team leader for the CRCNA. More than 60 people took part in the walk.

The Moderator of the Church of Scotland meet Pope Francis. The two men met for the first time at the Vatican in Rome yesterday. Dr Browning presented His Holiness with a Church of Scotland Guild tartan scarf, a basket of Scottish produce and a special edition of a book about the history of St Columba and Iona Abbey. Addressing the Moderator, Pope Francis said: “Let us thank the Lord for the great gift of being able to live this year in true fraternity, no longer as adversaries, after long centuries of estrangement and conflict.

Closing Cult of the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation. The cult is also the highlight of the Swiss Protestant Youth Festival, which brings together more than 4500 young people in Geneva over 3 days. It is celebrated by Pastors Vanessa Trüb, Blaise Menu and Gottfried Locher, President of the Federation of Protestant Churches of Switzerland. A celebration not to be missed on the theme of the legacy that the Reformation leaves us today, with the participation of many musicians and singers. Vincent Thévenaz is at the organ.

Re-envisioning a church without borders; This Biblical conference which bore witness to her very own Church of South Indian biblical scholars both faculty and research students was held at the CSI Synod centre on the 25th and 26th of October 2017.

The dark clearings of the Road to peace; a paper presented at the Inter-church dialogue for peace in Colombia.

The national leaders of the Uniting Church in Australia and the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress (UAICC) have lamented the Federal Government’s failure to embrace greater national representation for First Peoples. “The Government had a historic opportunity to recognise and honour the sovereignty of First Peoples through the proposal coming from the Uluru Statement from the Heart,” said Rev. Dennis Corowa, the UAICC National Chairperson.