wfn.org | Institute Honors Mac Charles Jones

[CAROL_FOUKE.parti@ecunet.org]

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

NCC7/18/97     FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

INSTITUTE FOR POLICY STUDIES HONORS DR. MAC CHARLES JONES

 WASHINGTON, D.C. ---- The Institute for Policy Studies, 
an independent research institute, has announced its plan to 
honor the late Rev. Dr. Mac Charles Jones with a 1997 
Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award.  The award will be one 
of three presented on Sept. 27 at the Lincoln Theater in 
Washington, D.C.  A "Special Recognition Award," it gives 
posthumous recognition to Dr. Jones (who died in March) for 
having brought national attention to the recent wave of 
attacks on African American churches and for initiating the 
Burned Churches Project of the National Council of Churches.

 "He is most noted for bringing diverse people around a 
table where all have voice and participation, respect and 
dignity," the IPS commented in its announcement.  "He was a 
peacemaker and a master at building relationships.  In 1993, 
he hosted the National Peace Summit for youth gangs at his 
church, St. Stephen's Baptist Church in Kansas City, Mo.  He 
has a long history of addressing Klan violence and speaking 
out to address injustice.  At the risk of personal 
ostracism, he ordained women in the Baptist Church and 
fought against discrimination of gays and lesbians."

 For more information on the Letelier-Moffitt Human 
Rights Awards, contact IPS at 202-234-9382, ext. 236.  The 
awards were established 21 years ago to honor two IPS 
colleagues who were assassinated in Washington, D.C., by the 
Chilean secret police - Orlando Letelier, the former Chilean 
ambassador to the United States, and Ronni Karpen Moffitt, 
an IPS fundraiser.
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