wfn.org | MFSA directors join statehouse rally

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Feb. 3, 1999	Contact: Linda Bloom*(212) 870-3803*New York    10-71B{066}

 
By United Methodist News Service

Directors of the Methodist Federation for Social Action (MFSA) joined
several hundred people in a rally against mountaintop removal mining during
a Jan. 28-31 meeting in Charleston, W. Va.

Besides participating in the statehouse rally, MFSA also supported an action
on the issue taken by the West Virginia United Methodist Annual (regional)
Conference last June. That action "implores the governor and legislature of
West Virginia to immediately require that mountaintop removal mining be
stopped and that it not be resumed until scientific study of its long-term
effect on human life and natural environment has been accomplished."

The board of the unofficial organization also decided upon several major
priorities for the coming months, according to Kathryn Johnson, executive
director. Among them is considering the ramifications of the report of the
Connectional Process Team to the 2000 General Conference, particularly
regarding the denomination's social justice witness.

MFSA also plans to address issues of racism within its own organization,
within the denomination and in society at large. Johnson said the federation
will "support and endorse the efforts of others within the denomination
working against racism and to initiate action where appropriate."

The Federation will continue its witness for full inclusion for gays and
lesbians within the church, including support for the Rev. Greg Dell,
against whom charges have been filed in the Northern Illinois Annual
Conference. Dell performed a "holy union" service for two men in his
congregation last September.

In other business, MFSA directors:

*	Confirmed the election of new co-presidents, the Rev. Sheila
McCurdy, Baltimore-Washington Conference, and Thomas Mohan, a lay person
from the Iowa Conference.
*	Presented the Lee and Mae Ball Award for outstanding social action
to the Ohio Valley Ecumenical Coalition, the Rev. Homer Davis, a retired
West Virginia clergyman and Betty Gordon, also of West Virginia.
*	Joined the U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines and became a member of the
Health Care Without Harm initiative.
*	Endorsed U.S. payment of dues to the United Nations.
*	Chartered a new MFSA chapter in the South Carolina Conference,
bringing the number of annual conferences with chapters to 36.

# # #

______________
United Methodist News Service
http://www.umc.org/umns/
newsdesk@umcom.umc.org
(615)742-5472