WCC News: WCC extends condolences, expresses solidarity in wake of mass shooting in Florida

World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Prof Dr Jerry Pillay extended condolences and expressed solidarity with the victims of a mass shooting in Jacksonville, Florida (USA). Photo: Albin Hillert/WCC 30 August 2023 Pillay joined the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA in condemning the act of hatred that took the lives of three innocent people on 26 August. The shooting took place the same day thousands of people gathered in Washington, DC, for a March on Washington to continue to pursue the justice and equality Rev. Dr Martin Luther King called for in his famous “I have a dream” speech.  “Racism is not just an issue for Black and Brown people,” said National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA president and general secretary Bishop Vashti McKenzie, who also spoke at the March on Washington. “We need to enact and enforce legislation that targets systemic racism.” Pillay expressed both grief and determination for action in solidarity with the victims, their families, and the churches in the USA. He expressed that it is both alarming and unacceptable that lives continue to be injured and lost because of racially invoked hate speeches and tendencies.  “As we walk with the Jacksonville community and churches in their pain and sorrow, we also stand with those who are demanding an end to complacency, an end to violence, and an end to racially motivated hate,” Pillay wrote. “We will pray and we will act to end the scourge of racism and extremism that affects not only those in the USA but across the world.” "National Council of Churches Condemns the Jacksonville Mass Murder" - NCC USA news release 28 August 2023 March on Washington: “We must reset the moral compass of the nations” - WCC news release 28 August 2023 See more

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 352 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 580 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay from the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa. Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press Our visiting address is: World Council of Churches 150 route de Ferney Geneve 2 1211 Switzerland