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Date: Sept. 1, 2005
Contact: Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford
V: 847/742-5100 F:  847/742-6103
E-MAIL: _CoBNews@AOL.Com_ (mailto:CoBNews@AOL.Com) 
 

CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN NEWSLINE
September 1, 2005
 
Brethren attend anniversary commemorations in Hiroshima
 
Sept. 1, 2005 (Elgin, IL) --  Garlands of folded paper cranes were  
everywhere at the Peace Park in Hiroshima, Japan, as people from around the 
world 
converged there for the ceremony commemorating the 60th anniversary of the 
atomic 
bombing on Aug. 6, 1945.
 
There were also cranes for another event in Hiroshima--a 40th anniversary  
celebration of the World Friendship Center (WFC). The decorations for that
event 
 included more than 1,200 cranes folded a month earlier by children and 
adults	attending the Church of the Brethren Annual Conference in Peoria,
Ill. 
 
The Brethren have been connected to the WFC through a steady supply of	
volunteer directors serving through Brethren Volunteer Service (BVS).
Brethren  
also have been heavily involved in the American Committee of the WFC,
currently  
chaired by Mary Ann Albert of Warsaw, Ind.
 
"The World Friendship Center has survived 40 years," said WFC board member  
Michiko Yamane, who emceed the welcome gathering on Aug. 5. "It's a miracle. 

Maybe it is God's plan."
Greetings from the Church of the Brethren were	brought by BVS director Dan 
McFadden, who presented a resolution from the  General Board: "On the
occasion 
of the fortieth anniversary of the World  Friendship Center in Hiroshima, the

Church of the Brethren General Board  commends the center for its tireless 
efforts to work for peace, share stories  about the personal suffering caused
by 
nuclear weapons, and build friendships	across borders. We in the Church of 
the Brethren recall our many years of  partnership with the center,
particularly 
through Brethren Volunteer Service. We	celebrate the profound, interfaith 
witness of the center that has been born from  the ashes of Hiroshima. We
honor 
the past and express hope for the future by  reaffirming, with you, our 
commitment to creating a world free from both nuclear  weapons and war."
 
McFadden also presented a gift from the General Board, a new wall map to  
replace a fading one that is used to identify the homes of the many  
international visitors who pass through the center. As a companion gift, the 
American 
Committee contributed funds for mounting and framing the map. 
 
Guests at the several-day event included a number of former WFC directors:  
Mary Ann Albert, Joel and Bev Eikenberry, David and Evie Bertsche, Liz Bauer,
 
and Ed Dougherty and Beth Bentley. Current directors are Don and Pauline Hess

of  Massanutten, Va., who began a two-year BVS term in May. While many 
directors  have served through BVS, staff also have come from the Mennonite
and 
Quaker	traditions.
 
Those participating in the WFC anniversary attended the city's 60th  
anniversary commemoration and traditional lantern-floating on the river,
heard  the 
stories of survivors of the bomb, visited the Peace Museum, and toured sites 

significant to the history of the center.
 
The World Friendship Center was founded in 1964 by Barbara Reynolds, a	
Quaker woman from the US, and Tomin Harada, a physician in Hiroshima.
 
The Church of the Brethren is a Christian denomination committed to  
continuing the work of Jesus peacefully and simply, and to living out its
faith  in 
community. The denomination is based in the Anabaptist and Pietist faith  
traditions and is one of the three Historic Peace Churches. It celebrates its
 300th 
anniversary in 2008. It counts about 130,000 members across the United	
States and Puerto Rico, and has missions and sister churches in Brazil, the  
Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Nigeria.
 
# # #
 
For more information contact:
 
Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford
Director of News Services
Church of the  Brethren General Board
1451 Dundee Ave.
Elgin, IL 60120
847-742-5100  ext. 260
_cbrumbaugh-cayford_gb@brethren.org_ 
(mailto:cbrumbaugh-cayford_gb@brethren.org) 
 
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The  Church of the Brethren Newsline is produced by Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford,

 director of news services for the Church of the Brethren General Board. 
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