World Council of Churches (WCC) moderator Bishop Dr Heinrich Bedford-Strohm is participating in an international peace meeting hosted by the St Egidio community and Archdiocese of Paris from 22-24 September.
The theme of the gathering is “Let us not resign ourselves to war and imagine peace together.”
Religion, cultural, and institutional leaders are gathering for dialogue at a time struck by serious global crisis. They will hear testimonies from war zones, and speakers and participants will pay particular attention to peace and disarmament, the environmental crisis and migrants, democracy, and solidarity.
Bedford-Strohm will be part of a forum on 24 September on “Religions and Resistance to Evil.”
“The St Egidio movement has been a force of peace, justice and reconciliation for decades,” he said. “I am grateful for the Paris meeting because it leads together religious leaders from all over the world to search for ways to peace and reconciliation in a divided world.”
Never has the contribution of religions been more important than now, Bedford-Strohm added. “We need to show why faith in God can never be a source of violence but must always be a source of love, justice, and reconciliation!”
Former WCC general secretary Most Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, presiding bishop of the Church of Norway, is also participating in a forum on “Lay and Believers: Towards a Humanism of the Future” at the meeting.
