First Seicho-No-Ie Special Conference for World Peace in Europe
To Be held in Germany in July of Next Year
Time and site of the 2011 Seicho-No-Ie Special Conference for World Peace, held overseas every other year under the guidance of Rev. Masanobu Taniguchi, President of Seicho-No-Ie, and Mrs. Junko Taniguchi, have recently been decided.
The time is July 30 (Saturday) to 31 (Sunday), 2011 and the site is Frankfurt, Germany. Eligible to attend are Ordained Ministers and Assistant Ministers stationed in Europe, North and South America, Regional Lecturers, Enlightenment Leaders and officers approved by those in charge of propagation in each country/region (Bishop, etc.).
The Seicho-No-Ie Special Conference for World Peace has been held six times: first in the U.S.A. in 2003, then in Brazil and the U.S.A. in 2004, in Brazil in 2006, in the U.S.A. in 2007, and in Brazil in 2009. It will be Europe’s first Special Conference.
The reason for choosing Europe as the Conference site is to energize the Movement in Europe, which is an important propagation base for the Seicho-No-Ie Movement, and further promote the “Movement that Grows with Nature” as an international movement.
In Europe, England currently has the greatest number of Regional Lecturers and Holy Mission Fellowship members. In Frankfurt, Germany, there is the office of Seicho-No-Ie Freundeskreis in Deutschland e.V., a Seicho-No-Ie organization for propagation activities. Rev. Yuji Otsuka, Ordained Minister, is stationed there to provide guidance in all of Europe. There are more than 10 leaders, including Regional Lecturers and officers of the corporation in Frankfurt.
Damage from acid rain in the Schwarzawald (Black Forest) in the mid-1970’s led Germany to change its priority from economic growth to environment. In 1994, legislation was introduced into the Constitution: “the nation has the responsibility to protect the environment and pass down a healthy environment to the future generations.” In Germany the awareness about environmental protection is very high.
The Special Conference is expected to have 150-170 attendees in view of the Carbon Zero Movement and the capacity of the facility.