wfn.org | News Alert: NCC's Role in Elian's Father's Visit

[CAROL.FOUKE@ecunet.org]

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA
Email: news@ncccusa.org  Web: www.ncccusa.org

Contact:	NCC News, 212-870-2227
		See "FAQ: NCC Elian Project" at www.ncccusa.org

37NCC4/12/00

WILL ALL INVOLVED IN ELIAN-RELATED REPORTING PLEASE NOTE!!!
Important Clarification of the National Council of Churches' Role

	April 12, 2000, NEW YORK CITY - Please note that the National Council of Churches is NOT involved in any of the logistics of Juan Miguel Gonzalez's visit to the United States, as some media are reporting.  We are NOT bearing any of the costs, whether for any travel or for the services of Attorney Gregory Craig, who is representing Elian's father.

	Paying for Mr. Craig's services is the General Board of Church and Society of the United Methodist Church.  That major Methodist program agency, with headquarters in Washington, D.C., is raising the money through a humanitarian fund established by the board's executive committee.  Contact: The Rev. Dr. Thom White Wolf Fassett, General Secretary, UMC GBCS, 202-488-5623.

	FORMER National Council of Churches General Secretary (Rev. Dr.) Joan Brown Campbell, who retired December 31, 1999, following nine years of service in that post and a career in local, national and global ecumenical work, is working closely with the United Methodist Church General Board of Church and Society to raise funds to pay for Mr. Craig's services.  Contact: The Rev. Dr. Joan Brown Campbell, Director of Religion, The Chautauqua Institution, 716-357-6274.

	BACKGROUND: Dr. Campbell was NCC General Secretary when the Cuban Council of Churches, early last December, asked the NCC to help with a plan to ease Elian's return home to his father.  A plan for a "U.S. government to NCC to CCC to Juan Miguel Gonzalez hand-off" was received with interest by both the U.S. and Cuban governments but was never realized.

	When the Cuban Council of Churches asked the NCC to send a delegation to meet with Elian's family in Cardenas, Cuba, in early January, the NCC's incoming General Secretary, the Rev. Dr. Robert W. Edgar, asked Dr. Campbell to represent him given his "brand newness" with the NCC and her relationship with Cuba's churches over many decades.  He also asked Dr. Campbell to help host Elian's grandmothers when they visited the United States in mid-January.  

Since then she has NOT acted on behalf of the NCC in relation to Elian and his family but rather as a private citizen who has become close to the family and therefore has continued to play an important role personally supportive of their efforts to realize Elian's return home.

Dr. Edgar and the National Council of Churches CONTINUE to call for Elian's swift return to his father.
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