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07231 April 20, 2007
Additional Virginia Tech resources released
National Korean Presbyterian Council sends condolences
by Jerry Van Marter
LOUISVILLE - A number of new resources have been added to the Web page created earlier this week to assist Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) congregations in addressing issues surrounding the murder of 33 students and faculty at Virginia Tech on April 23.
And, noting that the shooter, Seung-Hui Cho, was Korean, the PC(USA)'s National Korean Presbyterian Council (NKPC) has sent a letter of condolence to Virginia Tech President Charles Steger and has issued a statement calling the killings "a wake-up call for the whole Korean community."
The Web page - the Presbyterian Peacemaking Programs response to Virginia Tech tragedy - has gathered worship, study, counseling, theological and news stories from a variety of offices at the Presbyterian Center here and provided easy links to them.
In addition, The Thoughtful Christian - an online collection of resources produced by the Presbyterian Publishing Corporation - has also identified existing education/discussion resources it believes may be helpful to congregations as they seek to grapple with the Virginia Tech tragedy.
Those resources include "Where Is God When Disaster Strikes?" by Wendy Farley (1 session); "Forgiveness" by Janet Ramsey (2 sessions); "Gun Control: Is There a Christian Response?" by Jason Byassee (1 session); and excerpt from the book Letters to a Young Doubter by William Sloane Coffin.
In the NKPC statement, the Rev. Myong Bae Choi, the group's moderator, said: "On behalf of the Korean American community, a National Korean Presbyterian Council extends their most heartfelt sympathies to the victims of the Virginia Tech tragedy. It is the hope of the council that the Blacksburg community will be brought together in this time of healing."
Choi said the council has asked all of its churches to hold vigils, prayer meetings or other worship services "to remember the victims and to pray for the healing."
But more is required of the Korean Christians community, Choi added.
"It is heartbreaking that the person who killed the students is our fellow Korean who apparently had emotional problem during his young life," he said. "It also presents a great challenge for our believing community to reach out young people who are lost. This is a wake-up call for the whole Korean community."
In his condolence letter to Steger, Choi said the NKPC "hopes to join you in your effort to recover from the tragedy through a memorial fund or other such means as we can."
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