wfn.org | Chernobyl a Continuing Disaster

[George Conklin <gconklin@igc.apc.org>]

                   WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES

        Office of Communication - Press and Information

              150 Route de Ferney, P.O. Box 2100
                  1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland

 Telephone: (022) 791 61 52/51        Telefax: (022) 798 13 46
                   E-mail:  JWN@WCC-COE.ORG

PRESS RELEASE		FOR IMMEDIATE USE			23 APRIL 1996

       CHERNOBYL A CONTINUING DISASTER SAYS WCC GENERAL
                           SECRETARY

Dr Konrad Raiser, General Secretary, World Council of Churches
(WCC) has issued the following statement on the occasion of the
tenth anniversary of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power
station which took place on the night of 24-25 April 1986.

"The catastrophe at Chernobyl, in the Ukraine,  was not a one-off
event but is a continuing disaster.  Ten years on, people,
particularly children, still suffer as a result of the
contamination which followed the accident.

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church has asked Christians around the
world to pray with the churches in Ukraine for the victims of the
disaster.  I urge Christians everywhere to respond to this call.

Staff at the Ecumenical Centre will gather in our chapel on 25
April to say special prayers.

On the same day, Miroslav Matrenczyk, of the WCC's Eastern Europe
office, will represent me at a commemorative service in Minsk,
the capital of Belarus, which was the country most affected by
the radiation.  The service will be led by Metropolitan Filaret,
head of the Bielorussian Orthodox Church.

Since 1986, the WCC has, in cooperation with its member churches
and local charities in the affected countries, provided
humanitarian aid to those contaminated by the Chernobyl accident,
particularly in Belarus and Minsk.

The WCC will continue its support of existing work with
church-related initiatives especially those which aim to
alleviate the suffering of children.

To those victims of this appalling tragedy the WCC says, 'You are
not forgotten and we will not forget our responsibilities to
you'.

'Chernobyl' is today a byword for the grave risks involved in the
production and use of nuclear energy.  It reminds us we do not
control the universe; God does.  Humankind's task now is to care
for the earth in such a way that we maintain the integrity of
creation.

We failed at Chernobyl.  I pray God will give us the wisdom and
determination to do better in the future.  If not, the existence
of the whole world is threatened."

Contact: John Newbury  WCC Press & Information Officer
             (+41.22) 791.61.52 (Office); 369.37.26 (Home)

                                                                
The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches, now
330, in more than 100 countries in all continents from virtually
all Christian traditions.  The Roman Catholic Church is not a
member church but works cooperatively with the WCC.  The highest
governing body is the Assembly, which meets approximately every
seven years.  The WCC was formally inaugurated in 1948 in
Amsterdam, Netherlands.  Its staff is headed by general secretary
Konrad Raiser from the Evangelical Church in Germany.