WCC NEWS: 31 Days of Prayer begins for incarcerated women and girls around the world

In the month of March, the World Council of Churches is encouraging its fellowship and partners to join the Lott Carey “31 Days of Prayer for Women’s Empowerment,” which is also the 9th Anniversary Global Women’s Prayer Guide. The guide features 31 days of prayer for incarcerated women and girls around the world. Photo: Lott Carey Herald, 2021 04 March 2021 In an introduction to the guide, Rev. Emmett L. Dunn, publisher and editor of the Lott Carey Herald, writes: “The prayers will help us focus on the plight faced by so many housed in jails and prisons, and who are subjected to treatment that dehumanizes, devalues and demeans their existence.” Lott Carey, based in the USA, has a goal of extending Christian witness around the world to create a global Christian missional community. In a prayer for incarcerated women in Bangladesh, Dr Liza Chowdhury, co-founder of Reimagining Justice in Passaic, New Jersey, writes: “I hope the world hears your silent cries to save you from the abuse of a patriarchal society that preys on your womanhood. You are divine sisters with divine insight.” Dr Magali do Nascimento Cunha, of the Methodist Church in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, writes: “Dear God, behind prison walls in Brazil are more than 45,000 women. We cry when we learn that the number of prisoners grew four times in the past two decades.” Another prayer, written by Rev. Wilma Janzen, manager of Spiritual Services for the Northeast Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Priestville, Nova Scotia, Canada, reads: “We lift before you this day, the women, young and old, who are incarcerated in prisons and jails in every province and territory of this land.”   Click here to download the Lott Carey Prayer booklet 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 350 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 550 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC acting general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca, from the Orthodox Church in Romania. 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