"Quite often, it is not the relationship between the Muslim majority and the Christian minority that was, and is, at stake but justice, political participation, human rights and national dignity," said Dr Tarek Mitri. He added that "community-specific anxiety could not overshadow the common worries of Christians and Muslims" in the Middle East.

Mitri, senior fellow at the American University of Beirut, is a former Lebanese cabinet minister and a former staff member of the World Council of Churches (WCC) responsible for the inter-religious dialogue and cooperation programme. He was addressing a public hearing on "Christians and changes in the Arab world" on 31 August during the WCC Central Committee meeting which is currently underway in Kolympari, Greece.

Reflecting on the situation of Christians, he called the political situations in Arab countries a complex one. There, he said, churches have and should play a role in bringing Christians and Muslims together for the common good and in the common struggle for peace.

"The church institutions were defined not only in terms of their functions of preservation but by the gospel-rooted imperative of witness and service to the neighbour. Churches never perceived Christians and Muslims as two monolithic blocks facing each other, nor did they oppose rights of the minority to the aspirations of the majority," Mitri pointed out.

Rather than focusing on the majority-minority dynamics, he stressed the significance of a reinvented "pact of citizenship" which "binds Christians and Muslims together" through political participation.

He went on to say that "the pact of citizenship that was a determining factor in various independence movements is to be re-claimed and enacted in the present longing of Arab peoples for freedom, dignity and democracy."

Mitri also asked Christians and Muslims to be "motivated by the sense of common good and recognition of the wealth of religious and cultural plurality that could spare the Arab world the sad face of uniformity."

It might seem like a trivial task to help with the logistical arrangements of a major meeting. However, for the "stewards" of the World Council of Churches (WCC), this task means more than merely helping out.

"Yes, we do get to help with documentation and logistical arrangements of the meeting. However, this is accompanied by learning about different ways of living the Christian faith and experiencing a multi-cultural environment," said David Rubén Romero-Mazzini, working with the Evangelical Youth Network in Peru.

The stewards programme is designed for young adults aged between 18 to 30, who get the opportunity to participate in ecumenical events under the auspices of the WCC. At the Central Committee meeting, where one of stewards' tasks is to contribute to the "running of the show", they also engage in dialogue and get introduced to the council's work.

Given the tradition of stewards' programmes in the past, this initiative is considered a platform of ecumenical formation for young people. It is also said to be an opportunity where "ecumenical leaders are in the making". However, Nam Ki-Pyung, a 28-year-old student of theology from the Korean Methodist Church, has a different understanding about the role of youth in the churches.

"Young people are always considered the 'future of the ecumenical movement'. However, I find something cliché about it. I think we are not the future, but the present of the ecumenical movement," said Ki-Pyung. For him young people in the churches have a great potential now. If they are given a chance, says Ki-Pyung, they can contribute fresh perspectives on issues of ecumenical concern.

Yet, for Jean Nenda-Nyeche, the meeting means "widening of horizons". "The reason why I applied for the stewards programme was to extend my perspectives on ecumenism. While we get to help in running the meeting, it is also an opportunity for us to listen to the ecumenical and church leaders," noted Nenda-Nyeche, 25, a steward from St. Paul Anglican Church of Athens, Greece.

The annual Bali Meditators Festival has attracted the world's attention, and this year, registered participants attending are from the United States, France, Brazil, the Netherlands, Japan, Australia, Germany, and Malaysia, while from within Indonesia, confirmed participants are from Jakarta, Bandung, Surabaya, Yogyakarta, Semarang, Lampung, and Kalimantan. Last year's event was attended by around 1,000 people, and this year, organizers expect the numbers to increase significantly.

International speakers from a number of spiritual organizations in the world will share their knowledge and experience, and teach meditation and yoga techniques during the festival.

"IBMF 2012 shall be the place where people meditate and celebrate in love and togetherness. While meditation builds and strengthens human beings' inner cores, celebration is the way to share the overwhelming joy. Together, participants are going to re-learn the forgotten language of love, and create a path towards a peaceful world and a united mankind."

The Festival features music and dance performances, apart from formal sessions such as panel discussions and workshops. Special events will include various programs such as yoga for kids, yoga for youth, and many more. There is also a bazaar area with a beautiful view on Ubud's green landscape.

"This shows that Bali has the potential to become a meaningful spiritual tourism destination, and most importantly, spiritual tourism can contribute to providing deeper meaning to Bali's tourism development." Today, travel agents actively offer tour spiritual tour packages to their clients, and the response has been positive since a growing number of people in the world seem to be looking for inner peace and happiness through self-healing amidst problems and turmoils in their lives. IBMF was initiated by Anand Krishna, a world spiritual leader and founder of the Anan Ashram foundation. While the aim of the Festival is to spread awareness, wisdom, and care towards other human beings and the environment in order to create communities that are bright and healthy holistically.

The price of maize and wheat rose by 25% from June to July, and soybeans rose by 17%, according to the Washington-based organization. Overall, the World Bank's Food Price Index, which tracks the price of traded food commodities, was 6% higher than July of last year.

The sharp price jumps are attributed to the Midwest drought, which has destroyed more than half of the country's corn crop. The drought, the worst in decades, has pushed the price of corn to record prices. Corn futures have jumped about 60% since the drought started in late June. They are now trading above $8 a bushel. The U.S. is the world's largest exporter of corn and soybeans.

And that rise in grain prices was starkly higher in Africa, the organization reported. In Mozambique, maize rose 113%. In South Sudan sorghum rose 220% and 180% in Sudan.

"We cannot allow these historic price hikes to turn into a lifetime of perils as families take their children out of school and eat less nutritious food to compensate for the high prices," said World Bank President Jim Yong Kim. "Countries must strengthen their targeted programs to ease the pressure on the most vulnerable population and implement the right policies."

Consumers have been slow to cut up their credit cards and turn on their mobile wallets. But this week, Google Wallet announced a string of features that - to make the proposition more enticing-let mobile wallets do things plastic credit cards don't.

Google Wallet product managers say they will provide I.D. verification so people can check in for a flight, download virtual boarding passes, and even keep their driver's license on their mobile phone. Google declined to say when these features would become available or how many people have downloaded the app thus far.)

Through its location-based GPS technology, it already sends shoppers coupons and real-time offers from nearby stores. Experts say these features should finally drive demand for the app. "It offers compelling convenience for consumers and retailers," says Ben Woolsey, spokesman for credit-card comparison site CreditCards.com.

Just like the Apple's forthcoming Passbook app, which is due for release with the iPhone 5 next month, Google Wallet will allow consumers to download loyalty cards, money-off coupons and movie and concert e-tickets directly to the phone. Currently, the app supports MasterCard, Visa and Discover debit and credit cards and works in 200,000 locations nationwide.

"We want you to be able to leave your leather wallet at home," Robin Dua, Google Wallet's head of product management, told a Web conference this week.

Even when it comes to just making purchases, experts say Google Wallet has key advantages over most traditional plastic credit cards. For a start, Google Wallet can carry multiple credit, debit and store cards from different issuers, says Michelle Barnhart, assistant professor of marketing at Oregon State University College of Business. And because it's a smartphone app, it also has the potential to be a virtual guide for customers in stores, directing them to the best bargains based on their previous purchases.

But not everyone agrees with that assessment. It's simply a case of technology trumping security, says independent retail analyst Jeff Green. "Those using this technology, the bulk of whom are under 40 years of age, care less about who knows their whereabouts or their buying habits," he says. Woolsey of CreditCards.com says that most people are also prepared to trade privacy for convenience. "In the digital age, privacy is becoming a quaint and fleeting notion," he says, "unless we all go back to cash and pay phones."

Father Phalan spoke with ZENIT about Vatican II and Marian devotion in these post-conciliar years.

ZENIT: Perhaps there was a time of "silence" about Mary after Vatican II. How has Marian devotion developed in this post-conciliar period?

Father Phalan: Speaking about the "developed" world, there was a marked decline in Marian devotion, and this still is the case. Marian devotion is not at all what it was 60 years ago in the Catholic Church in the United States, Canada and Europe. But we can see the signs of new growth. There is lots of rebirth in interest in the rosary. There's lots of desire to understand who Mary is. There are a lot of new movements within the Church that are rediscovering the importance of the Blessed Virgin Mary, prayer of the rosary, and her place in family prayer especially.

There is still a long ways to go. A part of it is that there is not a whole lot of preaching about Mary that people hear in their local parishes. There needs to be a deepening of Mariological reflection embraced by the whole Church, and particularly by the clergy. In many seminaries, the clergy hasn't studied much about the Blessed Virgin Mary. Hopefully an event like this -- this international Mariological congress, and through other events -- there will be a lot of promotion of Marian devotion through the Year of Faith. Hopefully those will be moments that will help people again to rediscover who Mary is in the Church.

Paul VI declared Mary "Mother of the Church" at the end of the Vatican Council. Mary is the one who is waiting for us now, as we want to help people rediscover their faith. Through this Year of Faith, in the new evangelization of the Church, Mary is the mother who is also the leader of evangelization. This is a time that we can hopefully rediscover this more, and help these new shoots of devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary to keep blossoming forth.

ZENIT: What is the role of the rosary in bringing about this renewal, especially among young people?

Father Phalan: It is really interesting to see how there is this natural attraction to the rosary; it shows that there is something really compelling about the rosary. It's a sign of our Christian identity. The more we understand it theologically, and the more our clergy and Church leadership really embrace what is really the theology of the Church about the Blessed Virgin Mary as taught in Vatican II, then we understand what the rosary is. It's a powerful tool of evangelization.

The rosary is so easy to learn, and the Rosary is a way of prayer - a tried-and-true way of prayer for families. There is a power that people discover in it; they may not even need to be able to explain it. What the Popes have really been urging us to understand, repeatedly through centuries, and especially since Vatican II, is that the rosary is a beautiful way for us to come to know Christ. John Paul II said that the rosary is a school of prayer. It is the school of Mary, through which the rosary can be the way in which we contemplate the face of Christ, with Mary. The rosary is about the meditation on the life of Christ. The Mysteries of the Rosary which many people often just kind of pass over - they are missing the meat! It's like going to a big banquet and eating just the bread on the table and thinking that's the whole meal. The substance of the rosary is really how Mary teaches about Jesus. Mary brings us to Jesus. Mary helps us to love Jesus the way she loves Jesus and to know Jesus the way she knows Jesus.