04 abril, 2008

Martin Luther King

Ya son 40 años desde el asesinato de Martin Luther King. “Yo tengo un sueño” fue la famosa frase en la que Luther King visualizaba su lucha a favor de los derechos humanos en su país natal, EE.UU., donde las personas de color negro eran discriminadas y excluidas. Premio Nobel de la Paz, aquella frase recorrió todo el mundo reafirmada en su personalidad y compromiso religioso en pro de los más necesitados con la metodología de no violencia. Parafraseando el Apocalipsis manifestaba su temor al silencio de los buenos más que a la indigna actitud de los malos. Martin Luther King fue pastor bautista, hijo de pastor bautista. Su referente ético y militante se centró en la Biblia.+(PE)

08/04/04 - PreNot 7266
Agencia de Noticias Prensa Ecuménica
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Montevideo. Uruguay
www.ecupres.com.ar
asicardi@ecupres.com.ar

31 março, 2008

Cristianos y musulmanes deben fortalecer su fundamento común

"Aprender a explorar juntos el amor" es un documento del Consejo Mundial de Iglesias (CMI), dado a conocer en marzo de este año, en el que se invita a "explorar junto con los hermanos musulmanes el amor de Dios y el amor al prójimo en sus respectivos contextos". Realizado por expertos cristianos en relaciones entre cristianos y musulmanes, está dirigido a las iglesias y ofrece sugerencias sobre la respuesta a la ampliamente conocida carta "Una palabra común" escrita por 138 dirigentes musulmanes en octubre de 2007. Según el pastor Samuel Kobia, Secretario General del CMI, el propósito es estimular a las iglesias a que consideren la invitación de los dirigentes musulmanes “como una nueva oportunidad para el diálogo interreligioso". El documento del CMI señala que "Es urgentemente necesario que los cristianos y los musulmanes, además de encontrar las formas de fortalecer lo que tienen en común, hallen también los modos de reconocer y respetar las diferencias entre ellos". La presentación del documento del CMI fue el 20 de marzo (“jueves santo”), el mismo día en que el Papa bautizó al vicedirector del Corriere della Sera, Magdi Allam, musulmán, en la basílica de San Pedro, que causó polémicas con sectores musulmanes por más que el Vaticano dijera que no fue "un acto hostil" hacia el Islam. Dado que Magdi Allam sostiene que "no existe un Islam moderado", Aref Ali Nayed, director del Instituto Real de Estudios Estratégicos, declaró que "no está claro si el alto perfil dado al bautismo de Allam por el mismo Benedicto XVI conlleva un apoyo papal a las tesis de Allam sobre la naturaleza del Islam, que coinciden de alguna forma con el mensaje del Papa en su lección magistral en Ratisbona en 2006". Nayed es uno de los 138 firmantes de la carta “Una palabra común” Con anterioridad se había decidido trabajar para realizar una gran reunión católico-musulmán, presidida por B XVI, en noviembre. Ahora peligra ese encuentro. No pocos de los firmantes de la carta “Una palabra en común” creen que no se hará. Nayed sostuvo que ese encuentro es más necesario que nunca y que “para el bien de la humanidad y la paz en el mundo" este episodio no debe alejarlos de la búsqueda en común.+ (PE) PreNot 7248 080331 +++Si Ud. deja de recibir PE/Ecupres sin aviso previo es por falla técnica. Comuníquenos la novedad y restableceremos el servicio.

08/03/31 - PreNot 7248
Agencia de Noticias Prensa Ecuménica
598 2 619 2518 Espinosa 1493.
Montevideo. Uruguay
www.ecupres.com.ar
asicardi@ecupres.com.ar

Conselho Mundial do Metodismo Concedeu o Prêmio da Paz à Freira Católica Helen Prejean


By United Methodist News Service - March 28, 2008

Sister Helen Prejean, the Catholic nun who has become a symbol of opposition to the death penalty, will receive the 2008 World Methodist Peace Award on April 2 in New Orleans.

The Rev. John Barrett, president of the World Methodist Council and an ordained member of the British Methodist Church, will present the award during a special ceremony.

Prejean is the author of Dead Man Walking: an Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States, which served as the basis for a 1995 movie starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn. Sarandon won an Academy Award for her portrayal of Prejean.

She was present in Trenton, N.J., on Dec. 17, 2007, when Gov. Jon Corzine signed legislation ending capital punishment in New Jersey, the first state to do so legislatively since 1976.

The Rev. George Freeman, the council’s chief executive, cited Prejean’s "commitment to abolishing the death penalty in the United States, her ministry to inmates and their families, as well as her ministry to the families of victims" as the key factors in presenting her with 2008 award.

The World Methodist Peace Award is presented annually to individuals or groups who have contributed significantly to peace, justice and reconciliation. Among the criteria for the award are courage, creativity and consistency.

Prison ministry
Prejean, 68, joined the Sisters of St. Joseph of Medaille in 1957 and served as a teacher and religious education director in New Orleans. In 1981, after dedicating her life to the poor and beginning a prison ministry, she began corresponding with Patrick Sonnier, the convicted killer of two teenagers, and became his spiritual advisor. Because Sonnier was scheduled to die in the electric chair, she became aware of the execution process in the state of Louisiana. Sonnier was executed in 1984.

Dead Man Walking, nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1993, is an account of her experiences. On The New York Times Best Seller list for 31 weeks, the book also became an international best seller and has been translated into 10 languages.

Her second book, The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions, was published in 2004. It focuses on two men, Dobie Gillis Williams and Joseph O’Dell, whom she accompanied to their executions, and examines the evidence and the death penalty system. She believed both men were innocent.

Prejean continues to educate the public about capital punishment. She founded Survive, a victims advocacy group in New Orleans, and continues to counsel inmates on death row, as well as the families of murder victims.

She is a member and former chairperson of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty and currently is the honorary chairperson of Moratorium Campaign, a group gathering signatures for a worldwide moratorium on the death penalty. In 2000, she joined Paul Hoffman, board member of Amnesty International, and Mario Marizziti, representative of The St. Egidio Community in Rome, in presenting U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan with 2.5 million signatures calling for a moratorium on the death penalty. Both the St. Egidio Community and Annan are past recipients of the peace award.

Legacy of peace
The 2007 recipient of the World Methodist Peace Award was the Rev. Harold Good, a former president of the Methodist Church in Ireland, who was honored for his role in working for stability and peace in Northern Ireland. Other past winners include former South Africa President Nelson Mandela, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Habitat for Humanity and Boris Trajkovski, the late president of Macedonia.

This year's presentation ceremony, which is open to the public, will be at 7:30 p.m. at Rayne Memorial United Methodist Church, 3900 St. Charles Ave. in New Orleans.

The World Methodist Council is a communion of 74 member churches in more than 132 countries reaching nearly 75 million people worldwide.
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Fonte: www. umc.org
News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org.