The graduation ceremony for students of the Lumad Bakwit School - a school set up for the evacuated indigenous Lumad people of Mindanao in the Philippines, Photo: Sean Hawkey/Life on Earth Pictures On International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, being observed 9 August with a UN virtual commemoration, the World Council of Churches (WCC) reiterated its commitment to partnering with Indigenous Peoples to renew creation. The theme for 2022 is “The Role of Indigenous Women in the Preservation and Transmission of Traditional Knowledge.” The WCC is bringing both commitment and passion in the lead-up to the Indigenous Peoples Pre-Assembly, to be held 28-30 August, Karlsruhe, Germany. The pre-assembly will serve as an invitation to a worldwide partnership of Indigenous Peoples and church-related networks of peoples dedicated to the self-determination of Indigenous Peoples and to the renewal of creation in dreaming together a continuing vision of a new heaven and a new earth. It is also a call to join the WCC in committing anew to act with compassion, to practice inclusive and relational justice, and to affirm our unity in Christ whose love moves us to restoring wholeness in all of creation. The theme of the Indigenous Peoples Pre-Assembly is “Reconciliation: Restoring Wholeness in Creation.” The gathering will explore how reconciliation has often been experienced as a process seeking too easily the restoration of harmonious relationships without fully addressing or engaging the sources and actions of oppression in the past and the present. The destructive effect of human sin manifested through varying forms of colonialism, imperialism and capitalism, has destroyed Indigenous cultures, communities and the interconnected, interrelated, interdependent web of creation. The pre-assembly will also offer engagement with the Indigenous Peoples in Europe; reflection and testimonies on the learnings from the various Pilgrim Team Visits and orient Assembly delegates on the particular issues and concerns that affect Indigenous Peoples globally. Rev. Dr Seforosa Carroll, programme executive for Mission and Mission from the Margins, states: “An important and integral aspect of the WCC Indigenous pre-assembly is making and creating spaces for relational conversation and networking that embodies active solidarity and is expressed in a spirituality that seeks the well-being of all creation. This is what we hope we are able to achieve and offer the global ecumenical family.” On World Indigenous Day, WCC report highlights the importance of raising Indigenous Peoples' voices in working against climate change (WCC news release, 9 August 2022) SOURCE>https://www.oikoumene.org/news/on-international-day-of-the-worlds-indigenous-peoples-wcc-reiterates-commitment-to-renewal-of-creation |