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Wednesday October 31, 2007

Bishop Adriel de Souza Maia, president of CONIC.
Bishop Adriel de Souza Maia, president of CONIC.

Church launches Fraternity Campaign and announces creation of Peace

Edelberto Behs, BRASILIA, Brasil, February 10, 2005

The President of the National Council of Christian Churches of Brazil (CONIC), Methodist Bishop Adriel Taxi Heathrow Airport de Souza Maia inaugurated the 2005 Ecumenical Fraternity Campaign and announced the creation of a Peace Ombudsman.

This Ombudsman will coordinate, with Churches and civil society, activities against violence and discrimination, will receive denouncements about these events and will promote solidarity action. "We also want to become more active participants in the federal governments Disarmament Campaign," said Souza Maia.

This is the 41st edition of the Fraternity Campaign and the second that is ecumenical, promoted by Churches that make up CONIC. The first Ecumenical Fraternity Campaign took place in 2000 and demanded "a new millennium without exclusions."

The theme of the 2005 Campaign is "Solidarity and Peace," under the slogan "Blessed are the peacemakers." Given the existing violence in society the aim is to extend the action to Christian Churches to reach all those who want peace in Brazil, said the General Secretary of the National Bishops Conference (CNBB), Odilo Pedro Scherer.

"As followers of Christ we have the mission to promote and defend peace. We believe in a God of Peace and in Jesus Christ, the prince of peace," he affirmed.

At the inauguration of the 2005 Fraternity Campaign, the president of the CNBB, Msgr. Geraldo Majella Agnelo, read a letter sent by Pope John Paul II, granting his blessing.

The CONIC is made up of the Catholic Churches, the Siraca Orthodox Church of Brazil, the Christian Reform Church, the Anglican Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confession, the Methodist Church and the United Presbyterian Church.