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Note #8065 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

Worship service marks WCC's focus on violence
04013
January 12, 2004

Worship service marks WCC's focus on violence in the U.S.

Calendar of events to be announced

by Jocelyne Bakkemo
and Juan Michel
World Council of Churches

NEW YORK CITY - "The power and promise of peace" is the theme for activities
to be carried out this year within the framework of the World Council of
Churches' (WCC) Decade to Overcome Violence (DOV) 2004 focus on the USA.

	Today a worship service will mark the opening of a year dedicated to
strengthening and resourcing churches and movements working for peace in this
country. The midday service at the Interchurch Center here will lift up the
legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. as an inspiration to U.S. churches to work
for peace and justice.

	Scheduled as guest preacher is the Rev. Otis Moss Jr, who was a
friend and associate of King, and serves on the national board of the Martin
Luther King Jr Center for Non-Violent Social Change. The service will also
honor a special guest, the former chief of staff to Dr King, Rev. Dr Wyatt
Tee Walker, for his lifetime commitment to seeking reconciliation and peace.

	A calendar of events for 2004 is to be drawn up by the U.S. DOV
committee, comprised of U.S. denominational representatives, at a Jan. 12-13
meeting here, where an international DOV advisory group will also be looking
at the mid-term and future of the Decade in general.

	The Decade to Overcome Violence was established by the WCC Central
Committee in the winter of 2001. Each year a particular country or region in
the world is chosen as the focus of that year's activities. In 2003, the
focus was on Sudan while in 2002, it was on Israel and Palestine.

	The choice of the U.S. focus was made by the WCC Central Committee in
August 2003 on the basis of the opposition of U.S. churches to war in Iraq,
and their efforts to alleviate suffering at home and abroad. The committee
also highlighted work by U.S. churches on domestic violence, gun control and
restorative justice.

	At the same time, it evoked what it saw as the unchallenged power of
the U.S. "The U.S. administration" seems to believe that "it can afford to
disregard the international order ... and ignore the concerns of the world's
populations," the committee said, also noting problems of "poverty, violence,
racism in all its diverse forms, inter-faith relations, migration and
inequality in education and employment."

	For more information about the WCC's Decade to Overcome Violence,
visit the website: www2.wcc-coe.org/dov.nsf.

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