| Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
CCA Executive Staff Recruitment
CCA invites applications for two executive positions: - Associate General Secretary for Finance and Relationship
- Joint Executive Secretary for Ecumenical Formation, Gender Justice and Youth Empowerment - Youth Concerns
For details, see www.cca.org.hk
Applications can be submitted online to ccagensec@cca.org.hk
Last day of submission is
10 August 2010. | Appeal for Nuclear Peace Day
August first and second weeks are dedicated to the Cause of Nuclear Peace. Hiroshima and Nagasaki cities in Japan continue to remind us of the horrors of the nuclear holocaust. Hiroshima is the first city in the world to suffer nuclear attack. The nuclear bombs dropped on August 6, 1945, directly and indirectly victimized around 140,000 people.
Churches and people’s organisations are encouraged to observe Nuclear Peace Day in their localities in one of these days. Let as say NO to nuclear bombs and nuclear installations, and ensure a safe environment for the present generation and those yet to be born.
Let us be reminded that peace is a legacy of all humankind and the whole world. Let us then pray and work for a nuclear-free world.
Ecumenical Lectures at PERSETIA
Dr. Hope Antone, CCA Joint Executive Secretary for Faith, Mission and Unity (FMU), was one of the resource persons for the Ecumenical Lectures of the PERSETIA Summer Program for Graduate Students on 19-23 July 2010 at the Universitas Kristen in Tomohon (UKIT), in Tomohon, Indonesia.
Almost 80 graduate students participated in this summer program, an annual intensive course for graduate students coming from various seminaries and universities of Indonesia. From outside Indonesia, the resource persons included a former president of the Pacific School of Religion (Dr. William McKinney), an Old Testament scholar from Philadelphia (Dr. Robert Robinson). A number of Indonesian faculty were also invited as resource persons, including a Catholic priest. Facilitating the program was the Rev. Dr. Tabita Kartika Christiani, project officer of PERSETIA, Rev. Dr. Daniel Nuhamara, chair of PERSETIA and Mr. Andreas Christanto, director of PERSETIA.
Hope Antone’s presentations included (a) a framework for wider ecumenism, its historical and biblical foundations, and its implications on mission, evangelism and conversion; and (b) a framework for Asian feminist theologizing, with a practical application of the spiral of feminist theologizing in the participants’ own contexts.
CCA-FMU got involved in this annual program of PERSETIA because of the Ecumenical Theological Education which is now lodged with CCA-FMU. Since not all the universities and seminaries in Indonesia teach Ecumenism and Asian Feminist Theologizing, including these topics in the summer program has enriched the courses that students take in their respective seminaries.
Following the summer program, PERSETIA held its General Assembly in Jayapura Papua where they were to elect their new set of officers and together envision the direction of theological education in Indonesia.
While in Tomohon, Dr Antone was invited to lead two Bible Studies on eco-feminism at the pre-women’s meeting of the World Student Christian Federation Asia-Pacific Region held in Manado, and one Bible study on men and women partnership at its Regional Committee Meeting in Tomohon.
She also visited the new Synod office of GMIM (Christian Evangelical Church in Minahasa). She was able to meet their new office bearers who were having a meeting; shared lunch with them and gave a set of materials from the CCA General Assembly. Dr Antone also thanked them for their warm hospitality of the 2000 CCA General Assembly, which many people still warmly talk about not only in Asia but throughout the world.
Greening the churches
The Ecological Commission of the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church (MJSOC) will be inaugurated on Friday, August 6, 2010, at Piravom, Ernakulam, Kerala, India. H. B. Catholicose Dr Baselios Thomas I will be presiding. The Kerala Minister of Agriculture, Mr Mullakkara Rathnakaran will do the honour of inaugurating the Ecological Commission. Metropolitans of the MJSOC will also be present. (http://www.shlomo.in/)
In a related news, churches in India have been urged to promote ‘earth citizenship’ by Vandana Shiva, an Indian environmentalist honoured for placing women and ecology at the heart of development discourse. "We have to protect the earth to uphold our right to food and to ensure our own survival. Then only, can we exercise our fundamental rights and democracy," said Shiva, delivering a lecture in Bangalore in honour of M. A. Thomas, the founder of the city's Ecumenical Christian Centre. (Ecumenical News International)
CCA congratulates the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church for her commendable efforts in taking ‘earth citizenship’ very seriously. These times ‘greening’ the churches is not an option but a faith mandate. We pray that Asian churches will be inspired to start and/or sustain their work for ecological justice.
IFI 108th Anniversary
Almost a thousand people attended the Eucharistic Celebration marking the 108th founding anniversary of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI), founded by Father Gregorio Aglipay on May 8, 1902.
The IFI traces its beginnings from the struggle of the Filipino clergy against racial discrimination and monastic dominance over the country. This struggle blended with the nationalistic aspirations of the Filipino people during the Philippine revolutionary struggles against Spanish colonialism. The establishment of IFI on August 3, 1902 concretized the Filipino clergy's demand to secularize and Filipinize the Church in the Philippines.
Father Gregorio Aglipay was the church's first Prime Bishop or Obispo Maximo, who served from 1902 to 1940, followed by a string of ten bishops with the Most Reverend Godofredo David as its current head.
The celebrations also included the launching of the IFI Hymnal, which incorporated contemporary as well as best loved hymns, including some taken from CCA's Sound the Bamboo.
Charlie Ocampo, CCA's Executive Secretary for Justice, International Affairs, Development and Service joined the Rev. Fr. Rex Reyes, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) and Bishop Constante Claro, who represented Bishop Reuel Norman Marigza, General Secretary of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) in addressing and greeting the parishioners and guests at the centennial celebration.
New WSCF/AP leadership
Mr. Jahartap Yustin Pasaribu, a Senior Friend of Indonesia Student Christian Movement or SCM (GMKI) was recently elected chair of the World Student Christian Federation – Asia Pacific (WSCF/AP), at its Regional Committee Meeting in Tomohon, Indonesia on July 22-27, 2010. Yustin succeeded Ms Yin Yin Maw of SCM Myanmar.
CCA congratulates and offers prayer and support to Yustin for this new and challenging post. Let us pray that WSCF/AP and its ministry will thrive in faith and increase in membership.
Prawate Khid-arn
General Secretary |
Christian Conference of Asia
