wfn.org | NCCCUSA "HOSPITABLE COMMUNITY" TELECONFERENCE

[CAROL_FOUKE.parti@ecunet.org]

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.
Contact: Wendy S. McDowell, NCC, 212-870-2227
Internet: c/o carol_fouke.parti@ecunet.org

NCC9/25/96                   FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

130 SITES PARTICIPATE IN NATIONAL "BUILDING
HOSPITABLE COMMUNITY" TELECONFERENCE TO COMBAT BIAS
AGAINST IMMIGRANTS

 NASHVILLE, Tenn., Sept. 24 ---- As Congress
considered legislation to restrict services for
immigrants, a national teleconference today (Sept.
24) urged the religious community to make the United
States more friendly to immigrants.  "Building
Hospitable Community," with 130 downlink sites
across the nation, was sponsored by the National
Council of Churches (NCC) and financed with a
Rockefeller Foundation grant.

 "The issue is one of grave significance for the
United States right now," said Dr. Kathleen S.
Hurty, director of the NCC Ecumenical Networks
Department and the teleconference's executive
producer.  She participated from the United
Methodist Teleconference Connection studio in
Nashville, from which the teleconference originated.
"My hope is that we contributed something to the
public conversation in this difficult time of public
decision making around immigration issues."

Expert panelists began the program by
addressing common misinformation about immigrants.
They pointed out that 85% of immigrants come to the
United States legally and that immigrants pay more
in taxes than they take out.  They stressed that
although immigration is an "election year hot
potato," people of faith must bring their values to
bear on the issue.  "As Christians, we hold the
belief that we are citizens not just of this world"
but also of God's Realm, lawyer and activist
Ignatius Bau said.  "Our sense of community must be
based on (this vision)."

 A caller from Georgia exhibited this sense of
community when she emphasized the "hidden" work
immigrants do picking and tending crops and working
in restaurants.  "In a sense, we (already) meet
across the dinner table," she said.  Panelists
encouraged viewers to take the caller's sentiment to
their churches, communities and to their local,
state and national politicians.

Dr. Elizabeth G. Ferris, director of the
Immigration and Refugee Program of Church World
Service, NCC, reported that faith-based communities
are responsible for most of the refugee resettlement
in the United States; Mr. Bau encouraged the
religious community to increase work that would make
communities friendly to refugees and immigrants on a
day to day basis.  In a video clip, Dr. Joan Brown
Campbell, NCC General Secretary, also stressed the
need for Christians to move from crisis response to
advocacy and policy.  Being hospitable to the
"stranger," she said, is "not a choice for
Christians" but is an essential part of faith.

Panelists also stressed the connections between
anti-immigrant bias and racism.  "They are two sides
of a curious coin," said the Rev. Ernest H. Jones of
the Bridgeport, Conn. Council of Churches.  "You
cannot adequately talk about immigration without
talking about race."  Bau explained the historical
bias against particular groups of immigrants, such
as Chinese people and Mexicans.  Both Rev. Jones and
Dr. Ferris pointed out the media images that tend to
cast the immigrant as a person of color and focus
nearly exclusively on the Southern border.

"You don't hear people say, 'Oh, look at those
Canadians who are overstaying their visas!'" Dr.
Ferris noted.

Dr. Martha McCoy, Pomfert, Conn., director of
the Study Circles Resource Center of the Topfield
Foundation, and Dr. Hurty joined the telecast later
to discuss already existing models of hospitality,
including study circles, posadas and Bible studies.
"There are already a lot of grounded, practical
ideas," explained Dr. Hurty.  Examples cited from
across the country included:

  * A weekly prayer vigil at a prison in York
County, Pa., where Chinese immigrants from the
"Golden Venture" boat have been held for more than
two years.  A local Methodist minister has organized
an effort to get the prisoners freed.  Local
religious people visit the Chinese detainees
regularly and have agreed to house and support the
immigrants when they are released.

  *"St. Joseph's Pub," started by the Sisters of
St. Joseph Justice Center in Orange, Calif., wherein
local immigrants are invited for weekly conversation
and refreshments.  Four pubs have been successful in
allowing a forum for issues of importance to
immigrants.

  * A "Cultural All-a-Day" event in Ridgewood,
N.J., held in place of Columbus Day to celebrate
diversity and cultural heritage.

 In addition to the two-hour teleconference,
most local sites (churches, seminaries,
universities, libraries and businesses), included
time before and after to discuss local challenges
around immigration and racism.  "We hope that the
discussions that preceded and followed the
teleconference will produce some exciting new
ventures and undergird those that are already
ongoing," said Dr. Hurty.

"The interaction from around the nation was
remarkable," to the extent that "there were more
questions than we could handle," Dr. Hurty also
reported.  "I was struck by the quality of questions
and the willingness of people to talk frankly about
the issues, as well as the link made continually
between xenophobia and racism," she said.  Questions
ranged from technical legal and legislative concerns
to requests for practical strategies to deal with
community tensions.

Moderator for the two-hour program was Bonnie
Boswell, Los Angeles, host of the Lawson Live show
aired on the Faith and Values network.  Other video
participants included NCC president Bishop Melvin G.
Talbert, Sacramento, and three Christian ethicists
who participated in preliminary conferences on the
topic: Dr. Rosetta Ross, Interdenominational
Theological Center, Atlanta, Ga.; Dr. Rosemary
Radford Reuther, Garrett Evangelical Seminary,
Evanston, Ill.; and Professor William S. C. Spohn,
University of Santa Clara, Calif.  Ethicists pointed
to scriptural and theological bases for hospitality
and highlighted negative images of immigration which
shape our moral community.

An unedited video copy of the teleconference is
available from EcuFilm, 810 12th Ave. South,
Nashville, TN 37203 ($24.95 plus $3.75 postage and
handling) or by calling 1-800-251-4091.  A continued
discussion stemming from the teleconference will
take place on Ecunet at the meeting "BUILDING
HOSPITABLE COMMUNITY."  Producer of the
teleconference is Shirley Whipple Struchen, director
of the United Methodist Teleconference Connection,
475 Riverside Drive, Suite 1948, New York, NY.  The
Stanley Foundation also was a co-sponsor.

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