Category: Uncategorised

The Arab-European Citizens’ Dialogue continues. The 5^th Consultation, under the title “Societies in Transition: Active Citizenship – Where can it make a difference?” is scheduled to take place in the Orthodox Academy of Crete, Kolympari (near the city of Chania) from Wednesday to Saturday, 9- 12 March 2016.

The 5^th Dialogue Conference is organized jointly by the Coptic Evangelical Organization for Social Services (CEOSS), Oikosnet Europe, the Sigtuna Foundation and the Orthodox Academy of Crete. After the last Dialogue Conference in Brussels (November 2014), the Arab-European Citizens’ Dialogue has gone through a period of reflection and restructuring. Recent events, both in Europe and in the Arab world, vividly illustrate the need to continue this dialogue.

It is now Oikosnet Europe, the Ecumenical Association of Academies and Laity Training Centres in Europe, which has become the European partner for CEOSS. A concept note for the Dialogue has been drafted and is still under discussion. In addition, a new International Steering Committee has been established.

A pre-invitation will be distributed shortly to all those who have been part of, or expressed interest in, this dialogue. For more information about this project in general, contact Rüdiger Noll (rudiger@rudigernoll.eu) or Alf Linderman (alf.linderman@sigtunastiftelsen.se). For more information about the Crete event in March next year, contact Katerina Karkala Zormpas (kkarkala@yahoo.com).

Possibility for Oikosnet members to become a part of the World Exhibition

Preparations for the 500th Reformation Anniversary in 2017 are in full swing. The Anniversary 2017 relates to the publication of Luthers’ 95 thesis in Wittenberg in 1517. However, the Protestant Church(es) in Germany is/are quite aware that the Reformation in the 16^th century was a development with a European, if not global dimension, with, for instance, antecendents in the Hussite or Waldensian Church.
As Friedrich Kramer, the Director of the Protestant Academy in Wittenberg/Germany , explained at the last Annual Conference of Oikosnet Europe, in 2017, from March to September/October, the Academy in Wittenberg will become part of the World Exhibition at the occasion of the Reformation Anniversary. This will open possibilities for the German Academies as well as for Oikosnet Europe members to participate in the programme, to contribute to the programme and to jointly present themselves. Oikosnet members, who are interested in participating are invited to get in touch with the Protestant Academy in Wittenberg  info@evangelische-akademie-wittenberg.de  or with the Oikosnet Executive Secretary.

Cultural identity, democracy and peace was the main theme of the confence in Sigtuna , arranged by the Sigtuna Foundation in cooperation with Oikosnet Europe, Riseci, The Swedish Christian Council and the Swedish Muslim Council. The program started out with a dialogue between Anas Altikriti, Founder and president of the Cordoba Foundation in the UK, Ute Steyer, Rabbi of the Jewish Community in Stockholm, Josep-Maria Carbonell, Dean at the Blanquerna School of Communications and International Relations at Ramon Llull University in Barcelona,  Mia Lövheim, Professor in the Sociology of religion at Uppsala University and Mona Sahlin, National Coordinator against violent extremism and previous leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party. Coming from different religous backgrounds and different cultural contexts the speeches given really shed some light on the challenge of having an open dialogue – not only with the ones with whom you share your values.

In the following part of the conference, several members of Oikosnet Europe shared their experiences by giving speeches and presentations. Björn Wallén from the Academy of Lärkkulla gave a presentation about community based learning, Sören Lenz from Liebfrauenberg gave a speech on Laicité – the french way of living together, Angela Berger from Evangelische Akademie in Berlin gave a presentation on Pegida, the the new right wing populism in Germany, Erin Wilson, Director, Centre for Religion, Conflict and the Public Domain at Rijksuniversiteit in Groningen, gave her perspectives on religion in the public sphere, followed up by a speech on the relationship between state and religion in Germany by Sabine Federman from the Academy of Villigst.  On the second day of the conference Aleksei Bodorov from St Andrew´s Biblical Theological Institue in Moscow shared his perspective on religion, cultural identity and democracy in Russia, followed up by Roman Juriga from Pravoslavná akademie Vilémov presenting  the project “Night of Open Churces” and finally Gernot Meier from Evangelische Akademie Baden shared his experices of a religious dialogue project named In the mirror of the other.

All contributions were very valuable in their own right, giving inspiration, concrete examples and good ideas for the future. In the concluding discussion it was very clear that the members of Oikosnet Europe do have a lot in common when it comes to the challenge on how to create a fruitful  dialogue on religion and democracy, based on the freedom of and speech as well as respect for one anothers differencies. That could be a real “Vision for the Future”.

Presentations  from the conferences will be published at the website of Oikosnet Europe later on.

Sofia af Geijerstam, The Sigtuna Foundation

Europe-wide Survey: Challenges in the transnational cooperation for organisations in the sector of formal and informal education

The transnational cooperation of organisations and institutions within the sector of formal and non-formal education (educational institution and youth organisations) is getting more and more important in a converging Europe. Is your organisation ready for the transnational cooperation? Is it ready for Europe?
Regarding this crucial question Oikosnet Europe sends you a survey. We would appreciate if you could spend 20 minutes of your time to click on the link http://statistics.emcra.eu/index.php/633216/lang-en and if you could answer to the questions anonymously. Thanks a lot for forwarding this survey to your partners as well. Among English there will be five more languages to choose from.
Through the completion of the survey you will be able to learn which challenges your organisation is facing in the context of transnational cooperation. Your answers will help to develop an Online-Self-Assessment-Tool. This tool will assist organisations to check their ability and to optimise to work cross-border in a European context. From mid of 2016 the tool will be available free of charge on the website of the EU-Fundraising Association http://eu-fundraising.eu/ .
For further information about the project see: http://www.emcra.eu/en/projects/europeanisation/
As a gesture of appreciation for your contribution the lead partner emcra (Berlin) offers you to participate at one of their Online Seminars in one particular area of European fundraising. You can choose one seminar in German or English language.
Enjoy the survey!

Rüdiger Noll

Can you imagine working for a society whose priorities are justice, mutual respect, the participation of all, concern for the vulnerable and the stranger, stewardship of resources, and care for Creation?

Can you imagine living in one community with people from Northern Ireland, Kenya, the States, the Republic of Ireland, Colombia, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, Pakistan, and El Salvador?

Can you imagine offering hospitality to thousands of people by cleaning, cooking, leading activities and listening to stories?

If you are interested in becoming a volunteer at our 50-year-old peace and reconciliation centre in Northern Ireland, please visit our website  www.corrymeela.org or contact Aileen aileenfarrell@corrymeela.org and Emily emilygraber@corrymeela.org  for further details.

Making a World of Difference –  the Gathering

We would like to get in touch with everyone who has contributed their time and energy to sustain Corrymeela over the last fifty years. If you have been a Corrymeela volunteer of any kind (long term, short term, kitchen, summer, work camp, housekeeping, reception, etc), please fill out this form and let us know where you are, what you’re up to and whether you’d like information about our celebration and gathering of former Corrymeela volunteers, 3^rd -7^th April 2015.

The event will be full of endless cups of tea and coffee, walks down memory lane and around the site, reflections on where life has taken you and Corrymeela, and an Easter service led by Pádraig ÓTuama, new Community Leader. We’d like as many people as possible to attend who represent a wide range of years and tasks. In light of this, it will be a ‘pay as you please’ event, meaning that donations will be warmly welcomed but not mandatory.

If you aren’t able to come, don’t worry! There will be opportunities to participate from afar. 2015 is the year we will build the Corrymeela diaspora into a vibrant community.

If you are planning a conference or a project on an ethical issue and you want to get input and insights from various parts of the world, if you are looking for partners and experts from different regions of the world, or if you even want to join research projects or thematic networks, then the Globethics Network  www.globethics.net could be the right resource and network to connect with. Globethics.net is a global network of persons and institutions interested in various fields of applied ethics. It offers access to a large number of resources on ethics, especially through its leading global digital ethics library and facilitates collaborative web-based research, conferences, online publishing and information sharing.

The center piece of Globethics.net, founded in 2008 by Christoph Stückelberger in Switzerland, is its research library which includes by now 1.497,964 full articles, books and journals reflecting on ethical issues. The library can be searched under various categories and key words. In addition, Globethics offers access to research consortia and networks on a number of issues.

And it also works the other way round: registered participants could also post their articles and reflections and facilitate the establishment of a network. Registration is free of charge!

Under its motto “Dialogue, Reflection and Action for a Responsible Leadership” the very international Board and staff of Globalethics want to promote especially equal access to ethical discourses for interested people and researchers in Africa, Asia and Latin America. But Europeans, for instance, do profit by the same token.

The Globethics headquarters based in the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva facilitates a huge network on ethical issues from all over the world. At present, it centers its own activities around issues such as business and economic issues, interreligious ethics, responsible leadership. Registered participants profit to a high degree from its services and networks.