Last month, our Board Member Iwona Baraniec from Diakonia Polska represented Eurodiaconia in the 25th Anniversary Celebration of our member Diaconia Latvia that took place in Riga.
The 2-day event was opened by a sermon delivered by Janis Vanags, the Church’s Presiding Bishop who spoke about emotions, crisis and the difficulties we struggle with daily, but also how hardship can be overcome by faith. Indeed, diaconal work is the fulfilment of Christ’s message of love to the vulnerable and poor. Afterwards, guests had the chance to meet each other in a garden reception where our Board Member Ms Baraniec also gave a short speech on behalf of Eurodiaconia.
The second day of the event saw various conferences and speeches on the topics of care culture in Europe, the challenges of humanitarian work and the ideas on the diaconal call today. Representatives from Germany, Estonia, Poland and the Czech Republic also had the opportunity to share their perspectives on the conference’s topic.
Eurodiaconia is grateful for having had the opportunity to participate in the Anniversary Celebration of our Latvian member, as we now have a better understanding of the nature of diaconal work in Latvia as well as having learnt insights about women’s ordination and gender justice.
To know more about our Latvian member’s work, please visit the organisation’s webpage.