wfn.org | NATIONAL TELECONFERENCE SEPT. 24 TO COMBAT BIAS AGAINST IMMIGRANTS

[CAROL_FOUKE.parti@ecunet.org]

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.
Contact:  Betty A. Thompson, NCC, 212-870-2048
Internet: carol_fouke.parti@ecunet.org

NCC7/8/96                        FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEW YORK -- A national town meeting focused on
"Building Hospitable Community" for immigrants and
on combatting racism will take place September 24.
The interactive satellite teleconference will be
aired from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. (Eastern time) and is
sponsored by the National Council of the Churches of
Christ in the U.S.A. (NCC).

 Local groups from Hawaii to Florida will gather
at more than 50 satellite sites to share action
stories as they address community tensions created
by anti-immigrant bias and racism.  Local site links
include churches, universities, libraries, and
businesses.  Financed with a grant from the
Rockefeller Foundation, the teleconference will
focus on creative ways to build communities of
mutual hospitality.

 "We hope to strengthen and deepen the capacity
of communities throughout the United States to
welcome the gifts and skills of new immigrants.
Live call-in questions and sharing of stories will
come from religious and community leaders,
educators, school board members, and health care
workers," said Dr. Kathleen S. Hurty, executive producer.

 "The teleconference seeks to involve all who
want to do something about the growing anti-
immigrant bias, which builds on xenophobia (fear of
strangers)," Dr. Hurty said.  "The religious
community, in coalition with others, is finding
effective ways to challenge hateful and short-
sighted public policy decisions that prevent
churches and synagogues, schools and hospitals, from
fulfilling their mission of welcoming and serving
all people.

 "Global migration is today's reality. Yet basic
undercurrents of racism impede community building,
even in this land of immigrants.  Exploration of the
links between racism and xenophobia in the U.S.
today will be examined in the teleconference," said
Dr. Hurty, who heads the ecumenical networks
department of the National Council of Churches.

 Ethical and biblical images of mutuality along
with practical strategies for deepening
understanding of diversity and for making policy
decisions that help communities move from hostility
to hospitality will be shared.  Following each of
several segments of the telecast, opportunity will
be given to downlink site participants to interact
with panelists in the Nashville studio (the site of
the United Methodist Teleconference Connection from
which the event originates).

 Additional sites are welcome to join the
teleconference.  To participate, organizers locate a
site (with C-Band downlink capacity), invite others
to join and serve as host.  To register, send the
title and address of the site and the name, address
and phone number(s) of a coordinator to:  Bryan
Hooper, United Methodist Teleconference Connection,
475 Riverside Drive, Room 1948, New York, NY 10115;
phone 212-870-3802; fax 212-870-2171.  Ecunet
address: BRYAN HOOPER (Internet:
bryan_hooper.parti@ecunet.org). On Ecunet the
meeting BUILDING HOSPITABLE COMMUNITY lists current
downlink sites and is up-dated regularly.

 Moderator for the two-hour program will be
Bonnie Boswell, Los Angeles, host of the Lawson Live
show aired on the Faith and Values network.  Video
participants will include the Council’s president,
Bishop Melvin G. Talbert, Sacramento, and three
Christian ethicists who have participated in
preliminary conferences on the topic.

 The ethicists are: Dr. Rosetta Ross,
Interdenominational Theological Center, Atlanta,
Ga.; Dr. Rosemary Radford Reuther, Garrett
Evangelical Seminary, Evanston, Ill.; and Professor
William S. C. Spohn, University of Santa Clara,
Calif.

  Dr. Elizabeth G. Ferris, director of the
Immigration and Refugee Program of Church World
Service, National Council of Churches, and an expert
on global refugee problems, is one of the
participants. The Rev. Minerva C. Carcano, Southwest
Albuquerque Cooperative Ministry, and Dr. Ernest H.
Jones of the Council of Churches of Greater
Bridgeport, Conn., will bring local perspectives to
the issue of xenophobia -- fear of the stranger.

 Dr. Martha McCoy, Pomfert, Conn., director of
the Study Circles Resource Center of the Topfield
Foundation, will participate.  The Stanley
Foundation is also a co-sponsor.

 Producer of the teleconference is Shirley
Whipple Struchen, director of the United Methodist
Teleconference Connection, 475 Riverside Drive,
Suite 1948, New York, N.Y.

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