Darlene Keju’s speech at WCC
A significant link between the World Council of Churches and the Marshall Islands is the historic speech given by Ebeye’s Darlene Keju Johnson at the Pacific Plenary of the World Council of Churches* Assembly at Vancouver, Canada, in 1983 (see video below).
According to an article on Wikipedia, Darlene was a pioneering critic of the US government’s response to the tragic impacts of the nuclear testing in RMI. Following her outstanding portrayal of the results of the nuclear tests, Netherlands-based Madeleen Herlmar, who has worked for a long time on Pacific issues, said: “Her impressive speech tore up the curtain of silence around the nuclear legacy in the Pacific and caused a wave that went as far as Europe where it landed on the fertile ground of the anti-nuclear movement.” The Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Pacific correspondent Sean Dorney called the speech an “extremely moving address.”
The World Council of Churches held a pilgrimage to the Marshall Islands in November 2023. The delegation is being led by Reverend Dr. Karen Georgia A. Thompson (pictured left).
Read more about the book Don’t Ever Whisper by Marshall Islands Journal editor Giff Johnson about his wife, Darlene, see this link on this site: Books: Don’t Ever Whisper • Marshall Islands Guide (infomarshallislands.com)
- The World Council of Churches is, according to its website, “a fellowship of 352 churches from more than 120 countries, representing over 580 million Christians worldwide.” Their website is www.oikoumene.org
