PEACE CALL FOR SYRIA

As the conflict in Syria passed its seventh anniversary, the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) joined renewed urgent calls from around the world for peace.

In a statement, the WCRC said that since it called for an end to violence in Syria in May 2015, millions of people have been displaced and hundreds of thousands killed.

Najla Kassab, WCRC president and a member of the National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon (NESSL), said: “Innocent civilians are paying the price. We condemn killing on both sides and condemn all groups who are supporting both sides and are providing weapons to the area.”

The statement added: “The WCRC renews its call to all governments involved in this situation to take concrete steps to bring peace to all of Syria, to honor the ceasefire and to allow adequate aid to reach the victims.

“The WCRC calls on its member churches to continue their eff orts to advocate for peace, welcome refugees and support NESSL and other churches that are on the frontlines of providing assistance to those impacted by the war.” (WCRC)

SAFE PASSAGE

Churches in France have united to welcome refugees to the country. The ‘Humanitarian Corridors’ project follows a similar example from Italy. Its purpose is to offer protection to refugees of war, and to enable them to travel safely without having to use the often fatal services of traffickers.

This project is anchored in an Italian initiative to open safe and legal routes to refugees. It was started by the Community of Sant’Egidio, in collaboration with the Federation of Evangelical Churches and the Waldensian and Methodist Churches.

The ‘Corridoi Umanitari’ are meant to prevent refugees crossing the Mediterranean by boat, to avoid trafficking and to grant vulnerable people legal entry into Italy. Once in Italy, they are housed with the churches while undergoing the official asylum application process. The project started in Italy in February 2016.

The French version, ‘Couloirs Humanitaires’, is based on a protocol signed by the French Ministry of Interior and Foreign Aff airs on one side, and the Federation of Protestant Mutual Aid (FEP), the Protestant Federation of France, Secours Catholique, the Sant’Egidio community in Italy and the Conference of Bishops of France.

This protocol authorises the travel and entry of 500 refugees, who are currently living in Lebanon, to France, until later this year. The selected people are given travel documents and a short term visa to safely reach France, where they have to undergo the normal asylum application process. “The FEP is committed to welcome 200 people out of 500. To date, 92 people have arrived,” Patricia Rohner-Hégé, spokesperson of the Union of Protestant Churches of Alsace and Lorraine (Union des Églises protestantes d’Alsace et de Lorraine, UEPAL) says. The other people will be welcomed by the remaining partners.

The people concerned are refugees from the wars in Syria or Iraq. They are often families, sometimes also individuals, who have been selected by aid organisations working for resettlement, such as Médecins sans Frontières, Norwegian Refugee Council, Armenian Evangelical Church and various Protestant associations or by the High Commissioner for Refugees.

Before they are selected, people are interviewed by a doctor, a psychologist and an employee of Sant’Egidio, who will also present their case to the French Consulate in Lebanon.

(Lutheran World Federation)

NEW GENERAL SECRETARY

The Council of the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe (CPCE), elected Pastor Dr Mario Fischer as its first full-time General Secretary during its session in Warsaw in February.

Dr Fischer, who was born in Darmstadt in 1976, is a pastor of the Protestant Church in Hesse and Nassau. In 2010, he worked as a special assistant in the CPCE’s head office in Vienna, where he took charge of various projects such as the stewarding programme for the 2012 General Assembly in Florence. He became the manager of the CPCE’s head office in 2016.

“Mario Fischer offers three valuable assets: theological expertise, international experience in the church and a passion for organisation,” says Gottfried Locher, President of the CPCE. “The Council, and particularly the Presidium, has confidence in him. We have high expectations and will do everything in our power to support our new General Secretary in his demanding role.”

Dr Fischer will assume office following the General Assembly of the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe, which will take place in Basle, Switzerland, in September and which he is heavily involved in organising. Of the key tasks that Dr Fischer has identified for the forthcoming period of office from 2019 to 2024, he highlights intensifying both church fellowship in worship and the social responsibility of the churches. (CPCE)

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