Sunday, June 14, 2009

Anglican chief on WCC shortlist


From Religious Intelligence

The Secretary General of the Anglican Consultative Council is on a shortlist of six candidates for the post of Secretary General of the World Council of Churches (WCC).

On May 28 Ecumenical News International reported that Canon Kenneth Kearon was among the six candidates vying to succeed Dr Samuel Kobia of Kenya. On June 5 the WCC stated it had not “officially released any names of candidates and does not confirm the accuracy of the ENI list.”

The moderator of the WCC’s Central Committee Dr Walter Altmann stated the search process was being conducted in a spirit of “Christian fellowship and ecumenical commitment and in confidentiality; thus, we deeply regret that these names were made public."

The WCC confirmed that the short list of candidates would be interviewed this month. The new general secretary will be elected at the WCC’s Central Committee meeting held Aug 26- Sep 2 in Geneva to replace D Kobia who last year announced he would not seek a second term of office.

During the February Primates’ meeting in Alexandria, Religious Intelligence learned that Canon Kearon had been nominated for the post, and had received the backing of Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams.

The WCC’s general secretary serves as the ecumenical organization’s chief executive officer as a spokesman for its council, responsible for promoting the strategic vision of the Geneva-based WCC.

The five other finalists for the post included South African Methodist the Rev Daryl Balia, the Church of Scotland’s the Rev Robert Anderson, Brazilian Mennonite the Rev Fernando Enns, Korean Presbyterian the Rev Seon Won Park, and the Church of Norway’s the Rev Olav Fykse Tveit.

More here-

http://www.religiousintelligence.co.uk/news/?NewsID=4563

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