wfn.org | WCC Tasmania Statement 30 April 1996

[George Conklin <gconklin@igc.apc.org>]

"Title: Tasmania"
                   WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES
        Office of Communication - Press and Information

              150 Route de Ferney, P.O. Box 2100
                  1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland

Telephone: (022) 791 61 52/51        Telefax: (022) 798 13 46
                   E-mail:  JWN@WCC-COE.ORG

PRESS RELEASE		   FOR IMMEDIATE USE		30 April 1996

                       TASMANIA TRAGEDY

Dr Konrad Raiser, General Secretary of the World Council of
Churches, has sent the following letter to Rev David Gill,
General Secretary of the National Council of Churches in
Australia:

"Dear David,
The World Council of Churches joins with the people of Tasmania
and of all Australia in prayer to remember those killed in the
terrible tragedy of Port Arthur.  Please convey to the families
of the victims and to all those who grieve now in your country
our deepest sympathy and condolences.  May the love of Christ and
the promise of the resurrection provide solace in this hour of
pain and loss.

Yet again, our collective failure to control access to weapons
such as those employed by the author of this horrendous crime
weighs upon us.  As human beings, we can neither easily predict
nor control the behaviour of deranged individuals.  We can and
must, however, rid our societies of arms designed expressly for
mass killing.

May God grant the government of Tasmania and those of all the
other states of Australia the wisdom and the civic courage to
take steps now to ban such weapons without delay."
                             ENDS

Contact: John Newbury  WCC Press & Information Officer
         (+41.22) 791.61.52 (Office); 369.37.26 (Home)

                                                                     

The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches, now
330, in more than 100 countries in all continents from virtually
all Christian traditions.  The Roman Catholic Church is not a
member church but works cooperatively with the WCC.  The highest
governing body is the Assembly, which meets approximately every
seven years.  The WCC was formally inaugurated in 1948 in
Amsterdam, Netherlands.  Its staff is headed by general secretary
Konrad Raiser from the Evangelical Church in Germany.