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Article: Ecumenical council gathers in shadow of bleeding Mother Africa.(World Council of Churches Eighth Assembly)(Abstract)
- Article from:
- National Catholic Reporter
- Article date:
- December 25, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 National Catholic Reporter. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The world church turned its attention to Africa this month, visiting a continent where the Body of Christ is growing faster than anywhere else on earth. It also saw that body mortally wounded, impoverished and diseased.
War, communal and domestic violence, a towering debt burden, corruption, human rights violations and the growing specter of HIV-AIDS were never far from the deliberations of the nearly 5,000 persons who attended the World Council of Churches Eighth Assembly here Dec. 3-14.
Participants arrived from 339 Protestant and Orthodox churches in some 100 lands, speaking and praying in scores of languages. Many expressed joy at hearing the gospel ...