wfn.org | PRAYERS FOR BOSNIANS, PEACEKEEPERS ASKED AT NOON JANUARY 25

[CAROL_FOUKE.parti@ecunet.org]

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.
NCC Contact: Carol Fouke, 212-870-2252
Internet: carol_fouke.parti@ecunet.org

8NCC1/23/96                  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

 NEW YORK, Jan. 23 ---- People of all faiths are
asked to pause at noon Thursday, Jan. 25, to pray
for peace in the former Yugoslavia, for the U.S. and
other NATO peacekeepers and for all who provide
charitable and medical aid in Bosnia.  Places of
worship are asked to toll their bells for three
minutes at noon.

 The call to prayer has been endorsed by leaders
of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in
the U.S.A. (NCC), Catholic Relief Services, The
Episcopal Church, the Union of American Hebrew
Congregations and the J.W.B. Jewish Chaplains
Council, City of New York, and by many individual
Roman Catholic and Episcopal Church bishops.
Additional endorsements are expected.

 Organizers offer the following prayer for use
on Jan. 25:

O Creator of all life, we remember before You
this day the pain and death that has marked the
recent history of the former Yugoslavia.  For
some time it has been a place of wounded
bodies, wounded families and wounded
communities.  Today we ask Your divine
assistance to support and defend the military
forces now committed to a peacekeeping mission
in these torn lands and Your blessing on their
efforts to bring peace and healing to all
peoples of the region.  We especially pray for
the protection of the children and the innocent
of all faiths and for those who provide medical
aid, charitable help and sanctuary for them.
In Your Holy name we pray.  Amen

 NCC General Secretary Joan Brown Campbell asked
the heads of the Council's 33 Protestant and
Orthodox member communions and their 51 million
members to "find appropriate ways to observe this
within the practices of your own traditions."  She
prayed that all people on the ground in Bosnia "may
be held in God's safe embrace."

 Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Edmond
Browning commended the day of prayer, saying, "Let
us not for one minute forget the enormous power of
prayer.  We ask God's help in converting our own
hearts -- the hearts of all neighbors on this
fragile planet -- that we may become people of
peace."

 The appeal to prayer began in San Francisco,
Calif., with an invitation from the Rt. Rev. William
Swing, Episcopal Bishop of California, who was
joined by William Levada, Roman Catholic Archbishop
of San Francisco, and Charles Keyser, the Episcopal
Bishop for the Armed Forces, who endorsed the
initiative to all military chaplains and to all
Roman Catholic and Episcopal diocesan bishops.

 "This season opens the dangerous multinational
mission of nurturing the fragile truce in Bosnia,
where the three Abrahamic faiths -- Christianity,
Islam and Judaism -- have collided in war and
holocaust all during the 20th century, beginning
with the start of World War I in Sarajevo in 1914,"
Bishop Swing said.

 "Bosnia is a particularly tortured and torn
land," he said.  "Success would be significant for
the millions of innocent people living there and
would be a powerful symbol that countries and
peoples can unite for good ends.  We all want to
help the peacekeepers bear the risks of mines,
military accidents and hostile fire.  A time-honored
form of support for those on a dangerous military
mission is a day set aside for special prayer."

 People who would like to register support can
do so via the Internet, addressed to
BosniaDay@aol.com.

-end-

NOTE TO EDITORS:  Additional contacts on this story
include: Kasey Vannett, Catholic Relief Services
(410-625-2220); Jim Solheim, The Episcopal Church
(212-867-8400); Rabbi Sanford Seltzer, Director,
Committee on Interreligious Affairs, Union of
American Hebrew Congregations (212-650-4075), and
Rabbi David Lapp, Director, J.W.B. Jewish Chaplains
Council, City of New York (212-532-4949).
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