wfn.org | Partner churches send consoling letters to PC(USA)

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ecunet.org>]

Note #6835 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

12-September-2001
01318

Partner churches send consoling letters to PC(USA) 

Taiwanese Presbyterians pledge $3,000 as "expression of solidarity"
 
by Evan Silverstein

LOUISVILLE - Expressions of sympathy and support from partner churches and
ecumenical agencies around the world have begun pouring in to Presbyterian
Church (USA) headquarters in the wake of Tuesday's unprecedented terrorist
attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

About 20 email messages expressing grief and shock had been received by noon
Wednesday from officials of denominations including the United Church of
Christ in Japan, the Reformed Church in France, and the Presbyterian Church
in Sudan.

"We pray that God would console the families of those lost, and to give to
the world a human heart in place of a heart of stone," the Rev. Tshimungu
Mayela, president of the Presbyterian Church of Kinshasa, Zaire, said in an
email.

An official of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches said in its message:
"We pray for the government and all those in decision-making, that they will
be governed by wisdom from above in responding to this great tragedy." The
message was signed by Setri Nyomi, of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, and
the group's general secretary. WARC is a world fellowship of Presbyterian,
Congregational, Reformed and United churches.

The PC(USA) also received expressions of sympathy from the United Reformed
Church of the United Kingdom, the Reformed Christian Church of Yugoslavia,
the Church of Scotland, the Independent Presbyterian Church of Brazil, the
Association of Christian Churches in Switzerland, and a group of four Irish
churches.

As an expression of its "sympathy, compassion and solidarity," the
Presbyterian Church in Taiwan pledged $3,000 to each of its U.S. partners:
the PC(USA), the Reformed Church in America (RCA), and the United Church of
Christ/Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

Wrote the Rev. William J.K. Lo, of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan: "We
convey our deep sorrow and express our sympathy to the victims, their
families, to your people, the leaders of your government, your
congregations, and not forgetting the least among you, the children of your
land."

At least four ecumenical agencies, including WARC, also sent condolence
messages to representatives of the PC(USA). Some church staff members also
received personal email from overseas ecumenical contacts expressing sorrow
over the tragedy.

Thousands of people in New York City and the nation's capital were feared
dead Wednesday, as rescue teams sifted through the rubble at the former site
of the World Trade Center, which was leveled when two hijacked airplanes
smashed into its famous twin towers Tuesday morning.

At the Pentagon, where another hijacked passenger jet plowed into a section
of the nation's military headquarters, officials estimated the number of
dead and missing at 200. Authorities originally thought the toll might go as
high as 800. While searches are under way for survivors of the crashes and
criminal suspects, the nation was struggling to return to some semblance of
normalcy. The nation's airports were still under an unprecedented
"ground-stop" order after Tuesday's attacks, but officials said they might
reopen on a staggered basis some time on Thursday.

Those responsible for the death and destruction must "pay according to our
democratic values and laws," a spokesman for the Evangelical Presbyterian
Church of Portugal said in a message to the Rev. Duncan Hanson, the
PC(USA)'s coordinator for Europe. Meanwhile, however, Christians must pray
for the perpetrators, "because like Jesus, we want to say, 'Father forgive
them because they don't know' ... Forgiveness is one side of the coin. The
other side is justice."

An ecumenical organization promoting better relations between Christians and
Muslims, the Project for Christian-Muslim Relations in Africa, said in an
email that it "prays that God will enable the souls of the faithfully
departed to rest in peace, bring healing to the wounded and traumatized, and
comfort those who have lost family and loved ones in particular, and the
American people in general."

Other ecumenical organizations or institutions that have sent messages of
consolation to PC(USA) leaders include the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation
Theology Center in Jerusalem and the World Association For Christian
Communication.
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