wfn.org | NCC Satellite Event on Immigration

[ELCANEWS@ELCASCO.ELCA.ORG]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

NEWSBRIEF

September 13, 1996

SATELLITE EVENT ON IMMIGRATION

A national town meeting on immigration and racism Sept. 24 will
involve participants at satellite downlink sites from Hawaii to
Florida.  The National Council of Churches of Christ (NCC) in the
U.S.A. is sponsoring "Building Hospitable Community," an
interactive satellite teleconference to be aired from 1:00 to
3:00 P.M. EST.  Dr. Kathleen S. Hurty, executive producer, said,
"We hope to strengthen and deepen the capacity of communities
throughout the United States to welcome the gifts and skills of
new immigrants."  Hurty, a member of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America, heads the ecumenical networks department for
the NCC.  "The teleconference seeks to involve all who want to do
something about the growing anti-immigrant bias, which builds on
xenophobia (fear of strangers)," Hurty said.  "The religious
community ... is finding effective ways to challenge hateful and
short-sighted public policy decisions that prevent churches and
synagogues, schools and hospitals, from fulfilling their mission
of welcoming and serving all people," she said.  Groups will
gather at the satellite downlink sites to share "action stories"
as they address community tensions created by anti-immigrant bias
and racism, according to the NCC.  They will talk about moving
communities from hostility to hospitality.  The teleconference
will use ethical and biblical images of mutuality together with
practical strategies for deepening understanding of diversity and
for making policy decisions.  Participants will interact with
panelists in studios at Nashville, Tenn.

For information contact: Ann Hafften, Dir., ELCA News Service,
(312) 380-2958 or AHAFFTEN@ELCA.ORG; Frank Imhoff, Assoc. Dir.,
(312) 380-2955 or FRANKI@ELCA.ORG