|PIC1|A symposium jointly sponsored by the Armenian Apostolic Church of America, the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, and the World Council of Churches (WCC), will be held on 22 October at the Interchurch Centre in New York with the theme, “Challenges facing the ecumenical movement in the 21st Century.”

The symposium has been planned in honour of Catholicos Aram I, head of the Armenian Apostolic Church (See of Cilicia) and moderator of the WCC central committee, who will be visiting the United States in late October.

WCC general secretary Rev Dr Samuel Kobia will be featured as keynote speaker and Amam I will be offering closing reflections.

A pontifical divine liturgy will be celebrated by Aram I at St Bartholomew’s Church on Sunday 23 October at 13:30pm. A banquet will follow at the Pierre Hotel to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Armenian Apostolic seminary in Antelias, Lebanon.

Aram I was one of the founding members of the Middle East Council of Churches in 1974. He attended the WCC assemblies in Nairobi, Vancouver, Canberra, and Harare as a delegate and was elected to the WCC’s Faith and Order Commission in 1975.

Soon after, he was elected as a member of the central committee. Then at the 1991 Assembly in Canberra, he was elected moderator of the WCC. |TOP|

Other speakers will include Rev. Dr Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, general secretary of the Reformed Church of America; Rev. Dr Diane Kessler, executive director of the Massachusetts Council of Churches; Bishop Thomas Hoyt, president of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA; Rev. Dr Robert Edgar, general secretary of the National Council of Churches, Dr Anthony Kireopoulos, deputy general secretary of the National Council of Churches, Fr. Leonid Kishkovsky, moderator of the US Conference for the WCC and ecumenical officer, Orthodox Church in America, Rev. Deborah DeWinter, programme executive for the United States office of the WCC; and a representative from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Archbishop Oshagan, prelate for the Eastern United States of America of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America, will deliver the welcome speech.