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[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ECUNET.ORG>]

Note #8931 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

05516
Sept. 27, 2005

Notes about people

by Jerry L. Van Marter

	The Rev. Fuad Bahnan, pastor of Fall River (MA) Presbyterian Church,
a leader in Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) ministry to Middle Eastern
immigrants, died on Sept. 19.

	Bahnan, a Palestinian, was a pastor in the West Bank town of Ramallah
when he was forced to leave Israel/Palestine for Lebanon after the 1967 war.
He worked as a pastor in Beirut for 15 years before a civil war in Lebanon
forced him to flee again in 1982. That's when he came to the United States
and the Fall River church.

	Bahnan was preceded in death by his wife, Widad. He is survived by a
son and daughter, who live in Kuwait and Dubai, respectively.

# # #

	The Rev. Boyd Stockdale will retire as executive presbyter of Seattle
Presbytery on Feb. 28, 2006. Stockdale served the presbytery for 10 years.
Before that he was associate executive of the Sierra Mission Area - a
partnership that includes the presbyteries of Sacramento, Stockton, San
Joaquin and Nevada. Earlier, he served for 11 years as pastor of Trinity
Presbyterian Church in Sacramento, CA.

# # #

	The Rev. Jay Olson, executive presbyter of Alaska Presbytery for six
years, has resigned to accept a position as associate executive for the
Sierra Mission Partnership, which includes the presbyteries of Sacramento,
Nevada and Stockton. She begins her new work on Nov. 1.

# # #

	Marge Booth, a pioneering PC(USA) missionary in Appalachia, died on
Aug. 10. A commissioned lay pastor, she hosted and supervised work-camp trips
to West Virginia from 1990 to 2004. During that time, West Virginia was
devastated by many floods and mudslides, often attributed to controversial
coal-mining methods. Between 2001 and 2004, Booth oversaw more than 174
volunteer groups, totaling nearly 2,500 people, as they worked on
disaster-affected homes, churches and playgrounds.

# # #

	The Rev. Jennifer Butler, the PC(USA)'s associate for global issues
who represents the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program at the United Nations,
has resigned to become executive director of the Faith and Public Life
Resource Center, a new organization in Washington, DC. Her last day at the
Presbyterian U.N. Office was Aug. 30.

	The Peacemaking Program also has announced that Rachel Pederson, a
young adult volunteer intern for 2004-'05 at the Presbyterian U.N. Office,
finished her term of service on Sept. 9. During her year, Pederson
coordinated the U.N. office's seminar program, which had more than 400
participants. She is now attending Princeton Theological Seminary and is a
candidate for the ministry under the care of Kendall (ID) Presbytery.

	Pederson is succeeded for the 2005-'06 term by Catherine Foster, a
2005 graduate of Davidson (NC) College.

# # #

	Ann DuBois, 65, who worked for the landmark "Gatekeeper Project" in
Philadelphia in the 1960s before joining the national women's ministries
staff of the PC(USA), died on Aug. 28 in Santa Fe, NM.

	The Gatekeeper Project linked informal networks of caregivers with
Philadelphia social-service agencies. During her 20 years on the national
staff, DuBois was instrumental in developing female leaders of the
denomination after women were first ordained to the ministry in 1956.

# # #

	The PC(USA)'s Worldwide Ministries Division has named Bob Ellis
coordinator for International Health Ministries. Ellis, who has worked in the
denomination's health ministries for many years, has served as interim
coordinator since October 2003.  

# # #

	George McMaster, the husband of longtime PC(USA) leader Belle Miller
McMaster, died on Aug. 31 because of injuries he suffered in a fall at his
home in Atlanta.
 
	Belle Miller McMaster directed the Social Justice and Peacemaking
Ministry Unit following Presbyterian reunion in 1983. She resigned in 1993 to
take a teaching position at Emory University in Atlanta.

	A memorial service for George McMaster was held at Druid Hills
Presbyterian Church in Atlanta on Sept. 8.

# # #

	Robert Walter Funk, the founder of the controversial Jesus Seminar,
died on Sept. 3 at his home in Santa Rosa, CA, after a brief illness. He was
79.

	A renowned teacher, writer and publisher in religious studies, Funk
retired from the University of Montana in 1986 to found the Jesus Seminar,
whose purpose, he said, was "to inquire simply, rigorously after the voice of
Jesus, after what he really said." The seminar's conclusions on the veracity
of words attributed to Jesus in the Bible sparked hot debate during the 1980s
and 1990s. 

# # #

	The Revs. Kimberly Long and Eunice "Junior" McGarrahan have joined
the staff of the Office of Theology and Worship in the Congregational
Ministries Division in Louisville.

	Long will serve in Atlanta for one year. She will edit the office's
quarterly journal, Call to Worship: Liturgy, Music, Preaching & the Arts,
succeeding the Rev. Paul Galbreath, now a professor of preaching and worship
at Union Theological Seminary-Presbyterian School of Christian Education in
Richmond, VA. A search is under way for a permanent associate for worship,
who will undertake a range of responsibilities in addition to editing Call to
Worship.

	McGarrahan, formerly an associate for theology in the Office of
Theology and Worship, will serve as contracted staff for six months beginning
next month. She will work on a range of theological issues, including the
Belhar Confession, the understanding of ordered ministries in the PC(USA),
the Nicene Creed and the French Confession.

# # #

	The Rev. Raul Domingo, 35, is the latest Filipino pastor and
government-reform activist to be assassinated by alleged military agents.
Domingo, a pastor in the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP),
was shot and killed in Puerto Princesa on the island of Palawan, where he led
an anti-mining campaign and had publicly demanded an end to government
corruption.
 
	Norman Bocar, a human rights lawyer, was killed on Sept. 1 in
Borongan in Eastern Samar. The Rev. Edison Lapuz, another UCCP pastor and
anti-mining activist, was killed on May 12 while attending the funeral of his
father-in-law in San Isidro on the island of Leyte. Fr. William Tadena, a
priest of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente and workers'-rights advocate,
was killed on March 13.

	In all, 33 religious and human rights workers have been murdered in
the Philippines this year. A number of religious organizations, including the
World Council of Churches, the National Council of Churches in the
Philippines and the Christian Conference of Asia, have protested the apparent
targeting of church workers in the Philippines.

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