Feature stories

It was the theme of an address by the most senior dignitary of the Anglican Communion to the most representative body of Christians in the world. It is the subject of conversations in the corridors of power around the globe, where politicians have learned to talk of a clash of civilizations. With the publication of a few cartoons in a Danish newspaper, it has provided the context for an anguished debate in Europe and violent demonstrations throughout the world.

Philip Potter has a unique place in the modern ecumenical story. Not only was he general secretary of the WCC for 12 years (1972-84) but he also has the rare distinction of having attended all nine WCC Assemblies to date, beginning with the inaugural one in Amsterdam in 1948. Now in his 85th year, he can still recall vividly his early childhood on the Caribbean island of Dominica, his activity in the SCM in the West Indies ? and that first WCC Assembly that he attended as a youth delegate.

According to participants at a press conference on HIV and AIDS at the World Council of Churches Assembly, meeting in Porto Alegre, Brazil, churches are best placed to tackle HIV and AIDS.

People come to ecumenism in different ways. Some grow up immersed in it. Some encounter it via a particular, momentous experience. Others come to an understanding of it gradually.

A series of ecumenical conversations has been organized at the 9th Assembly of the World Council of Churches at Porto Alegre, Brazil, to provide a space for delegates to share their experiences in addressing key concerns for the future of the churches and their common witness and action.

Marilyn Stahl has noticed recently that people have a growing interest in her church. "People hear I'm Mennonite, and they say, 'I wish our church was a peace church'," said Stahl, who has come to the 9th Assembly of the WCC from the School of Theology and Ministry at Seattle University in the United States.

"It is now or never," remarked Dr Christoph Benn during an ecumenical conversation on the theme of HIV/AIDS at the 9th Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Porto Alegre, Brazil. A resource person from Germany with broad international experience in public health, Benn was giving an overview of the crisis and its impact worldwide.

The WCC Assembly's Mutirao Bate-papo on Wednesday was a lively discussion, with a young, lay Protestant woman telling a 70-year-old Catholic bishop that the future of Christianity lay in starting at the grassroots and addressing grassroots problems.

Assemblies of the World Council of Churches see Christians from all over the world come together, and many church-related groups take advantage of the display window this event provides. More than 100 groups are represented in dozens of booths in the assembly's exhibit hall adjacent to the main plenary space on the campus of the Pontifical Catholic University in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Colourful displays cover a variety of issues and topics representing all geographical areas of the world.

To a casual thinker, if someone is blind, or has lost a limb, or has cerebral palsy, it's only humane to want to fix it, and if it can't be fixed it is a matter for regret.