| Continental Movements for Pastoral Care and Counselling |
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Dear Colleagues and Friends from AAPSC! The Executive Board of the International Council on Pastoral Care and
Counselling met today by telephone conference and wants to extend their
greetings, blessings and good wishes for the African Congress on Pastoral
Care in Abuja! We thought about you as far as from Australia (Dr. Bruce
Rumbold) to the USA (Dr. Steven Voytovich) and Germany (Klaus Temme,
Dr. Ursula Riedel-Pfäfflin, president) and wished we could join you
in your discussion, lectures, worhips and plannings. We know that you
are addressing important issues for the rest of the world and would
like to invite you to send any papers you want to publish or any messages
to the International Care Coummunity to Klaus Temme or Steven Voytovich
in order to be put on our web-site (www.icpcc.net) We also are aware
of the difficult situation African trainers, teachers and counselors
are facing with the many problems that colonization, exploitation and
introduction of Western life style and globalization have caused for
the diverse African people, women, men and children. We also wish that
our countries and churches would take more responsibility for sharing
what has been achieved and adressing the problems that arise globally.
Health problems are visible everywhere with new pressures on people
but even more in those countries which are facing so many levels of
tradition and change, of hunger and violence, of war and conflict. ICPCC
has experienced the two past world congresses as very important events
that have changed our awareness for the social and economic perspectives
of Pastoral Care and Counselling. This is reflected in our revised constitution
and mission statement. We want to enable practinioners of pcc to be
resources for one another and to learn from each other´s cultures, traditions
and practices, to support and advocate for the unique and essential
dimension of spirituality and support counselling centres, organizations,
meetings, conferences throughout the world. The African Congress in
Ghana in August of 1999 was one of the best congresses we ever had in
that the impotance of economics in peoples lives was adressed clearly
and the richness of African traditions and development became visible.
We still thank Dr. Wilhelmina Kalu, and so many others together with
Dr. Emmanuel Lartey for the good preparation and fund raising for this
congress - this has enabled ICPCC to go ahead, especially with the leadership
of Dr. Emmanuel Lartey as our president. This was followed by another
great congres in India, Bangalore, prepared for by Dr. Nalini Arles
which took up the theme of global development in economics and pcc.
Today we are preparing for the next World Congress in Eastern Europe,
Poland, in cooperation with other countries in Europe. We invite all
interested in participation to look up the website and send their questions
or proposals to Klaus Temme or Helmut Weiss, the convenor. Also, we
invite all representatives of African Associations or centres to attend
the Pre-congress in Dresden which will be a special meeting for all
board members, coordinating committee and council members to strengthen
the future work of ICPCC. In the Love of Christ, |
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