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Date: Sept. 11, 2002
Contact: Walt Wiltschek
V: 847/742-5100 F: 847/742-6103
E-MAIL: CoBNews@AOL.Com

SPECIAL EDITION

 1) Virginia pastor/firefighter looks back on a difficult year.
 2) Brethren professor studies, shares ways to help children cope.
 3) Memories remain vivid for Disaster Child Care worker. 
 4) Brethren bits: Brief highlights of observances planned around
the denomination and elsewhere.

****************************************************************

 1) Tom Williams wears many hats, and this past year hasn't been
easy under any one of them.

In addition to pastoring the Knight's Chapel Fellowship Church of
the Brethren in Barboursville, Va., Williams is also director of
Emergency Services for Culpeper County, Va., serves as the
equivalent of fire chief, and is on a Virginia state task force for
critical incident stress management. When a hijacked jet struck the
Pentagon on September 11, 2001, many of those roles came into play.

His department was asked to go to the Pentagon, located about an
hour away in Arlington, Va., to provide assistance on the day of
the attack. The state task force then asked him to return later
that week as a member of the clergy to assist with
"defusing"--dealing with the immediate impact of the events--and
"debriefing"--which occurs 72 hours after an incident.

Williams paired with a psychiatrist or psychologist and met
one-on-one with firefighters, police officers, and others who had
been involved at the scene as they finished their shifts. The
workers could address "any issue they need to talk about,"
according to Williams, but "we spent a lot of time talking about
spiritual issues."

Williams said his 23 years as a firefighter helped him relate well,
but it was still hard. None of his previous work in counseling and
stress management could compare. Stories of firefighters sifting
through the rubble and finding wedding rings among the ash were
hard to bear. 

"With the things they'd seen, there were difficult things they had
to deal with," Williams said. "It was certainly a magnitude we'd
never seen before, and we heard things we'd never heard before. You
could not leave there without feeling a sense of hopelessness, and
believe that there must be a divine authority as you'd try to make
sense of it all."

He was also involved in a "very touching" session with the families
of the workers, when spouses and children could talk about what
they had felt that day. An invitation to come to Ground Zero in New
York came as well, but Williams couldn't make the two-week
commitment to leave his local responsibilities and serve there.

Even now, a year later, Williams said wounds remain raw. The
firefighters have been treated as heroes in his area and invited to
numerous ceremonies, but talking about their experiences at each
event makes the memories of that day resurface. He was invited to
speak at three places today, but declined so he could conduct a
funeral at his church.

"It's been a very tough, tough time," Williams said of the past
year. Dealing with it all, he said, has taken "a great deal of
prayer." 

 2) Lafayette (Ind.) Church of the Brethren member Judy Myers-Walls
has been interested in her current research since the late 1980s.
A year ago, the rest of the world became interested, too.
 
Myers-Walls, on the faculty of Purdue University, specializes in
child development and family studies. In the '80s she began
collecting data on how parents communicate with their
children--particularly, how they communicate peace issues and
beliefs.

Others found her research "cute," she says, but "nobody did much
with the research until last year, and then all of a sudden it was
exactly what everyone was looking for."

When she saw the planes hit the World Trade Center last September,
Myers-Walls said she quickly realized that children would be seeing
this, and parents would need resources to help them talk about it.
She had prepared a peace on "Talking with Kids" after the Columbine
shootings and quickly send that out via e-mail over several list
servers.

Staff at the university also swiftly created a website where this
resource, and soon several more specific to September 11, were
posted. The site, at www.ces.purdue.edu/terrorism/children, drew
7,000 visitors the first day and 31,000 in its first two weeks. It
remains active, with materials such as "Talking to Children About
Terrorism and Armed Conflict" and "Helping Children Cope with
Stress" posted there for easy access.

Myers-Walls, meanwhile, received interview requests from literally
all over the world, speaking with radio stations, magazines, and
other media about children's reactions to wars and disasters and
ways parents can help them cope. "For a couple of weeks (after
September 11), that's all I did," she says. "There clearly is a
hunger for some guidance with all of these topics."

Now she, along with her sister Karen Myers Bowman at Kansas State
University, are conducting further research on war and peace,
interviewing children and their parents about September 11. More
than anything, Myers-Walls says, children are not afraid but
"confused." They don't understand all the complex terms or why
there is a war or who is fighting.

Children in pacifist traditions like the Church of the Brethren,
she says, are particularly vulnerable since their pacificism is
challenged in a time of war and patriotism. Their friendships and
social connections can be strained when they try to stand up for
their beliefs.

"I think it's still hard for pacifist kids," Myers-Walls says. "How
do they deal with it? I'm not sure we've done a good job as a
denomination of preparing kids for that kind of context, to deal
with talking with people who don't agree with us, especially on the
peace issue. Adults are caught off-guard, too."

Children often feel better, she says, when they see the people they
care about trying to do something to make a difference in the
situation because "it makes them feel hopeful." Keeping the lines
of communication open is critical, as well.

"I really emphasize the fact that parents need to talk to their
kids," Myers-Walls says, "see what they're thinking and
understanding."

 3) At a special service at her church Sunday evening, Jean Myers
spoke about her experience as a Church of the Brethren Disaster
Child Care project manager a year ago in New York. Describing it,
she says, was exactly what she needed.

"It was good for me to be asked to do it," said Myers, a member of
the Little Swatara congregation in Rehrersburg, Pa. "It was good
for me to talk about it. It's a lot coming back."

Myers--who has volunteered with the General Board's Disaster Child
Care program since being trained in 1986--said she tried to paint
a picture of her time in Manhattan, caring for children and helping
them through their emotions as their parents sorted out all the
aftermath of the World Trade Center disaster.

She described being on the pier where the family care center was
located, the blitz of media, feeling like "sitting ducks," the
checkpoints, the stench in the air, the impromptu memorials, and
seeing the children of all shapes and sizes and colors, "each with
a story to tell." 

As coordinator for the volunteer team, she met regularly with the
Red Cross over the three weeks that she and the others were there,
working long days amid the chaos. She returned to New York on Nov.
12, when another American Airlines plane crashed in Brooklyn, and
went to Ground Zero to overlook the 16 acres of devastation.

All those experiences have left her convinced that people need to
do something to stop the terrorism and conflict in the world,
whether it's prayer, getting involved in a peace movement, or
whatever else conscience dictates. "We're a peace church," she
says, "but we can't do nothing."

Myers said she might go today to a community service being held at
the Reading First Church of the Brethren in Wyomissing Hills, and
was scheduled to be part of an evening service of remembrance
coordinated by the United Way. Everyone from the area who
volunteered in the relief efforts was invited to be part of the
service and be honored.

"It's one experience that's going to stay with me," Myers said of
her days in New York. "It's still very real, and I think it will be
for a long time." 
 

 4) Brethren bits: Some other brief notes of observances and
resources around the denomination and elsewhere.
 *Bethany Thelogical Seminary and Earlham School of Religion in
Richmond, Ind., joinly sponsored a worship service at 11:20 a.m.
today in Bethany's Nicarry Chapel. Faculty and students from both
schools were to provide leadership for the service, open to the
public.

 *The regular Wednesday morning chapel service at the Church of the
Brethren General Offices in Elgin, Ill., was extended by 15 minutes
to observe the September 11 anniversary. Faith Church of the
Brethren (Batavia, Ill.) pastor Erin Matteson led the time of
worship and reflection. At the Brethren Service Center, in New
Windsor, Md., a morning worship time of remembrance and peace was
planned.

 *Former US Sen. George Mitchell will speak on peacemaking Sept. 18
at Elizabethtown (Pa.) College. The 7:30 p.m. event will be free
and open to the public. Mitchell helped to broker peace talks in
Northern Ireland and has been involved with other diplomatic
efforts. The event is being co-sponsored by the college and the
borough of Elizabethtown, which is marking its 175th anniversary
with a series of special programs. The college has also installed
a piece of art by Ken Webb based on the September 11 writings of
more than 300 students at the school, and another art exhibit will
be displayed in Leffler Chapel. Los Angeles Times foreign
correspondent Robin Wright was scheduled to give a guest lecture
today.

 *The current edition of the Manchester College (North Manchester,
Ind.) Bulletin of the Peace Studies Institute bears a collection of
September 11-themed writings by alumni, faculty, and friends.
Article authors include Manchester professor Ken Brown, Graydon and
Lois Snyder, Matt Guynn, Tom Wagner, Carissa Fralin, Jessica Eller,
Barbara Date', and Myrna Frantz.

 *The Long Green Valley Church of the Brethren (Glen Arm, Md.)
planned a September 11 evening service, with the theme "In His
Hands." Pastor Pete Haynes developed a service of hymns,
confession, prayer, a meditation, and time for quiet reflection. 

 *The York Center Church of the Brethren (Lombard, Ill.) this past
Sunday hosted Nathan Musselman, who was imprisoned by Israel for
his peace efforts in Palestine earlier this year and now is
involved with Iraq advocacy work. The congregation will also host
a "No More Victims" national speaking tour on Sept. 13 in
conjuction with area Mennonite and Friends groups. The tour
includes victims of terrorism and war from several nations and
family members of September 11 victims.

 *The Lititz (Pa.) Church of the Brethren is inviting community
members to its chapel today for a time of prayer and meditation
throughout the morning and afternoon. A brief devotional service
will conclude the day of prayer. The congregation is also
suggesting people fast for a meal today and bring or send the money
they would have spent on that meal as an offering, to be sent to
the Church of the Brethren Emergency Disaster Fund. The Beacon
Heights Church of the Brethren (Fort Wayne, Ind.) planned a similar
day of prayer.

 *Brethren Press and On Earth Peace have collaborated to create a
collection of resources related to the September 11 anniversary,
helping the church "witness with a clear voice to Christ's way of
peace." The Way of Peace resources are at
www.brethren.org/genbd/BP/WoP/anniversary.htm. Among them are
pieces from several Brethren, excerpts from Brethren Press books,
and "A Litany of Remembrance, Penitence and Hope" created by the US
National Council of Churches. Another set of resources is available
from FaithandValues.com, at
www.faithandvalues.com/channels/9-11.asp.

 *Church World Service continues its Interfaith Trauma Response
Program a year after the September 11 attacks, helping to equip
religious leaders, caregivers, and others with ways to address the
psychological and theological impact of large-scale trauma. A
series of training events has been offered, and CWS says the
programs will continue into 2003. CWS also provided a network of
professional teams to do critical incident stress debriefing and
other emotional and spiritual care in the weeks and months after
the attacks, and that resource will remain available.

 *A new poll commissioned by the Barnabas Institute--a
nondenominational religious organization based in San Rafael,
Calif.--and reported by Religion News Service finds that tens of
millions of Americans are thinking more about religion and taking
action to be more religious in their daily lives. According to the
survey findings, 40 percent of Americans said they are thinking
more about the religious/spiritual side of their lives since
September 11. Two-thirds of those who say they're thinking more
about the religious/spiritual side of their lives also said they
are taking action to be more religious or spiritual by doing one or
more of the following: Trying harder to live as their faith
requires (93.4 percent); reading the Bible, Koran, or other
spiritually oriented books (77.7); talking to others about God
(74.9); attending religious services more (66.2); and making other
changes (58.2).

 *The National Sermon Project is inviting leaders of all faiths to
submit sermons, prayers, poems, songs, visual art, or orders of
worship dealing with faith after September 11 for a collection of
resources. Permission to reproduce the material must be included.
Resources should be sent to The National Sermon Project, Suite
5400, 535 Pierce St., Albany, CA 94706. Dr. David James Randolph is
directing the project.

 *Information on the worldwide Decade to Overcome Violence is
available from the World Council of Churches' US Conference, at
www.ecumenismnow.org/overcome_violence.html. Details on Church of
the Brethren involvement in the effort are at
www.brethren.org/dov/.

Newsline is produced by Walt Wiltschek, manager of news services
for the Church of the Brethren General Board, on the first, third
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