wfn.org | RUSSIAN RELIGIOUS LEADERS VISIT U.S. UNDER NCCCUSA AUSPICES

[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

INTERFAITH DELEGATION FROM THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VISITS NATIONAL COUNCIL OF CHURCHES AND LEADERS

 NEW YORK -- The first interfaith delegation of
religious leaders from the Russian Federation
visited the United States June 25 - July 3 at the
invitation of the National Council of the Churches
of Christ in the USA (NCC).  A Latin rite
archbishop, a rabbi, a Baptist minister, and a
Russian Orthodox priest were on the team visit to
Washington, D.C., and New York.

 Delegation members were:  Archbishop Tadeusz
Kondrusiewicz, apostolic administrator of the
Catholics of the Latin Rite in European Russia;
Pastor Peter B. Konovalchik, president of the Union
of Christian-Baptists in the Russian Federation;
Archpriest Victor Petliuchenko, deputy chair of the
Department of External Relations of the Moscow
Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church, and
Rabbi Adolph Solomonovich Shaevich, the chief rabbi
of Russia.

 The Rev. Dr. Joan Brown Campbell, general
secretary of the National Council of Churches,
welcomed the group at the Council's headquarters for
an interfaith service of  prayer for peace in the
chapel of The Interchurch Center.

 The Rev. Dr. Eileen Lindner, NCC associate
general secretary for Christian unity, said, "The
National Council of Churches was grateful for the
opportunity to meet with these leaders at this time
between the recent elections and the July run-off.
We have a long time interest in developments in
Russian society and concern for religious pluralism.
We also welcomed this occasion to share some of our
ecumenical concerns such as the burning of Black
churches."

 "Religious Pluralism in the Russian Federation"
was the theme of an open discussion at the Church
Center for the U.N., 777 United Nations Plaza.  The
discussion was sponsored by the World Conference on
Religion and Peace in cooperation with the National
Council of Churches Office of Interfaith Relations.

 The team also met with Jewish leaders at the
American Jewish Committee, and visited the Library
of Congress where they met with Dr. James
Billington, the librarian and scholar on Russia.
The delegation's itinerary included attending Senate
Committee hearings on the burning of Black churches
and visits to the State Department, the U. S.
Institute for Peace and the Harriman Institute.
They met with church leaders, government officials,
and scholars in their week-long visit.

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