Those who attended ICCJ conferences in recent years, know Pastor Armin Ihle, the flamboyant and inspiring ambassador of the Confraternidad Judeo-Cristiana del Uruguay. Our friend Armin is part of a great team here in Montevideo, among whom CJCU President Deacon Mercedes Miguez, CJCU secretary Ana Wilenski and our longstanding friend Sonia Kirchheimer certainly have to be mentioned.
After a Friday lunch with these CJCU board members, Revd Dick Pruiksma was toured around Montevideo, visiting the Holocaust memorial on the coast of the Rio de la Plata, the memorial for those who disappeared during the dark days when the country suffered under the military Junta and an ecumenical social project in one of the vast, extremely poor Montevideo districts. If you want to meet the inspired and therefore inspiring young people of the “Obra Ecumenica” in Barrio Borro, meet them at www.obraecumenica.wordpress.com.
After attending the Erev Sabbath service in the Bait Hadash synagogue of the Nueva Congregacion Israelita, a moving Kabbalat Sabbath meeting took place at Armin and Sonia Ihle’s house. We met with some twenty members of the CJCU and other guests, sharing our concerns about and hopes for the Jewish-Christian dialogue we all are involved in.
A fully packed program is still ahead with - among many other visits and meetings: a Kidush in the Sukah and the Sunday morning service at the Anglican Church of Montevideo. More news re the 2014 Buenos Aires conference will follow soon.