PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: cathcil@cathcil.org
Web:
PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon
WCC EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE TO MEET FOR FIRST TIME IN KOREA
WCC – Geneva – The vitality of the churches and the ecumenical movement in
Korea and the region will be at the centre of attention during a 24-27
August 2004 World Council of Churches (WCC) executive committee meeting in
Seoul. The meeting will be preceded by a special programme for WCC executive
committee members from 21-23 August 2004.
Peace and reconciliation in the divided peninsula has received particular
attention from the churches and the WCC for decades; it will be the focus of
a statement by the executive committee on Korea. . The committee will
address other situations of international concern, including events in
Sudan, Zimbabwe, and Somalia.
Preparations for the WCC’s 9th assembly, to be held in Brazil in February
2006, will also receive priority attention. In addition, the committee will
review applications for membership from several churches, and a series of
proposed amendments to membership rules.
Also on the agenda are a review of the WCC’s Pacific office, a progress
report on relations with partner organizations, a detailed programme report
for the first half of 2004, and an update on the council’s finances.
For the first time, the executive committee will be using a consensus method
of decision-making as a new methodology of work to be applied at major WCC
meetings. This approach to decision-making was proposed by the Special
Commission on Orthodox Participation in the WCC, and is seen as a more
inclusive and conciliar way of working.
A special programme (21-23 August) for the members of the executive
committee will include a visit to the demilitarized zone that divides North
and South Korea.
The programme also includes worship in local church communities, as well as
a reception hosted by the National Council of Churches in Korea (NCCK) and
the Korean ministry of culture. An audience with the president of the
Republic of Korea, H.E. Roh Moo-hyun, is also foreseen.
On 23 August, the NCCK will organize a seminar on the future of ecumenism
which will be addressed by WCC leadership.
The executive committee meeting is being hosted by the NCCK and the four WCC
member churches in the country: the Anglican Church of Korea, the Korean
Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea, and the
Presbyterian Church of Korea.
The 25-member executive committee is the highest governing body between
meetings of the WCC central committee, and it usually meets twice-yearly.
Its moderator is Catholicos Aram I, head of the Armenian Apostolic Church
(Cilicia).
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The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the Ecumenical
activities of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of
the Catholicosate, The Cilician Catholicosate, the
administrative center of the church is located in Antelias, Lebanon.