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[Church of the Brethren News Services]

Date:      April 23, 1998
Contact:  Nevin Dulabaum
V:  847/742-5100   F:  847/742-6103
E-MAIL:   CoBNews@AOL.Com

Newsline                                     April 23, 1998
News
1) The U.S. Campaign to Ban Land Mines is seeking grass-roots
     support for a letter-writing campaign to top federal
     politicians.
2) Manchester College launches a three-phase, $49 million
     campaign.
3) An Emergency Disaster Fund is allocated for child care in
     Alabama; Emergency Response/Service Ministries reports on
     other ongoing projects.
4) "Keep the Faith," a video about the rebuilding of Butler
     Chapel A.M.E. Church and other Brethren ministries, is sent
     to each Church of the Brethren congregation.
5) Two Brethren lobby on Capitol Hill with the assistance of the
     Church of the Brethren Washington Office.
6) A ceremony in Guatemala City on Friday will honor the victims
     of the recent Guatemalan civil war.
7) Friday will be observed worldwide as a day of fasting for
     North Korea.
8) Audrey Osborne is named program coordinator of On Earth Peace
     Assembly.
9) John Lapp is appointed senior fellow for 1998-1999 at
     Elizabethtown College's Young Center for the Study of
     Anabaptist and Pietist Groups.
10) Bridgewater College's annual Estate and Financial Planning
     Seminar will be May 14.
11) Two Juniata College professors receive Fulbright Scholar
     awards.
12) Glade Valley Church of the Brethren to dedicate its renovated
     facility on Sunday.
13) Christian Peacemaker Teams looks to expand its Peacemaker
     Corps by 50 percent.
14) Remembered -- Clarence Bowman.

Feature
15) A delegation from the National Council of Churches sees
     firsthand the effect that eight years of sanctions have had
     on the people of Iraq.

1) How effective is an agreement among a large group of
neighborhood children if the biggest and most influential kid
refuses to participate? Not very, which is why the United States
Campaign to Ban Land Mines is seeking grass-roots participation
for a letter-writing campaign to top federal politicians.

In December a comprehensive treaty to eliminate land mines was
signed in Ottawa, Canada, by 124 countries. Although President
Clinton on May 16, 1996, pledged to work toward eliminating land
mines, the United States was not among the 124.

"Washington's absence from the treaty is a grave disappointment
and denies the international ban movement a very significant
political and diplomatic presence," states a March 31 letter from
the U.S. Campaign to Ban Land Mines to its supporters, which
includes the Church of the Brethren. "We must educate and
mobilize at the community level and in Washington to bring
sufficient political pressure to bear on President Clinton so
that he will reconsider the current U.S. position and sign the
Ottawa Treaty."

The U.S. campaign is promoting a letter-writing campaign to
President Clinton and to U.S. senators and representatives, with
May 16 being the target date for the letters to be delivered. The
campaign is also seeking 700 new sponsoring organizations by the
end of the year, adding to its current 301 supporting
organizations. 

"The Church of the Brethren Washington Office fully supports the
efforts of the U.S. Campaign to Ban Land Mines and urges Brethren
to assist in these efforts in any way possible," said Costa
Nicolaidis, Washington Office legislative associate. "In its 1996
Nonviolence and Humanitarian Intervention Statement, the Church
of the Brethren Annual Conference called upon Brethren to
'attempt to exert influence in the larger world community' by
supporting the efforts of intergovernmental and other
organizations 'when their policies are in harmony with making
peace through peaceful means.'" 

Nicolaidis said the U.S. Campaign to Ban Land Mines’ grass-roots
initiative is an excellent opportunity for Brethren to express
the denomination's historically pacifistic beliefs in Washington,
D.C. "Our leaders won't hear us unless we speak up," Nicolaidis
added.

A sample letter to President Clinton is available from the
Washington Office. To receive additional advice or materials
relating to how individuals or groups can promote the land mine
ban, contact Jill Greenberg of the U.S. Campaign to Ban Land
Mines at jill@vi.org or 202 483-9222.

2) A three-phase, $49 million campaign that will extend up to
2007 was announced Monday by Manchester College, a Church of the
Brethren-affiliated college located in North Manchester, Ind.
Phase One calls for $20.5 million to be raised by 2001. Phase Two
calls for the raising of $16.2 million from 1999 to 2004. Phase
Three will begin in 2002 with the goal of raising $12.2 million
through 2006.

"The Next Step! A Campaign to Strengthen Manchester College,"
actually began last fall when construction began on a $1.3
million addition to the college's Physical Education and
Recreation Center. Other components of the campaign's first phase
include $3 million for endowed scholarships; $1.5 million for
faculty and program development; $3.7 million for renovations to
the college’s Union, which will include expanded kitchen and
dining facilities; $1 million for library renovations; $500,000
for the development of a library information center; and $500,000
for buildings and grounds improvements. The remaining $9 million
will be used for general operating expenses.

Phase Two will finance the renovation and expansion of the
college's science center. The specifics of Phase Three were not
described in the college’s press release.

3) In the wake of devastating storms in Birmingham, $5,000 has
been allocated from the Church of the Brethren General Board's
Emergency Disaster Fund. The allocated funds will provide two
child care volunteers for up to two weeks and will allow an
Emergency Response/ Service Ministries  representative to assess
whether a rebuilding project needs to be established.

In related news, ER/SM reported this week that it is shipping two
40-foot containers to Liberia from its New Windsor, Md.,
warehouse. Totaling more than 75,000 pounds, the containers will
contain clothing; sewing, school and health kits; quilts; and
soap. The shipment is on behalf of Lutheran World Relief.

Other current ER/SM efforts include --
     * the presence of Teresa Matamora, a Spanish-speaking
          disaster worker, in Orlando, Fla., to assist disaster
          victims in contacting agencies for help.
     * allocating $2,600 to Catholic Charities of Le Center,
          Minn., to help displaced children with transportation
          to school.
     * sending 720 school kits to McCalla, Ala., for children
          whose school was destroyed by a tornado.

4) "Keep the Faith," a two-part video to be sent next week to all
Church of the Brethren congregations, tells of Church of the
Brethren leadership in the rebuilding of Butler Chapel A.M.E.
Church, Orangeburg, S.C., during most of 1997. The video also
features various congregational outreach efforts that were
incorporated in the General Board’s Live Report at Annual
Conference 1997. An accompanying study guide is included.

The video, produced by Brethren videographer David Sollenberger,
is a project of the General Board's Emergency Response/Service
Ministries and Interpretation offices. Additional copies can be
purchased for $10. For more information, contact Jane Yount at
JYount_GB@Brethren.Org or at 410 635-8730.

5) Brethren descended upon Capitol Hill twice within the past
week to lobby on issues of concern to them.  

Stephen Longenecker, professor of History/Religious History at
Bridgewater (Va.) College, went to the Hill on Friday to discuss
an article he authored opposing the Istook Amendment, an
amendment that, according to some, would weaken the balance
between church and state, encouraging government-endorsed prayer
and religion in schools.   

"(The Church of the Brethren) Annual Conference clearly opposes
any change in the current interpretation of separation of church
and state (codified in the U.S. Constitution)," Longenecker said.
While on the Hill, Longenecker shared his views with five
different legislative offices -- those of Sen. Warner (R-VA ),
Sen. Robb (D-VA), Rep. Goodlatte (R-VA), Rep. Conyers (D-MI), and
Sen. Ashcroft (R-MO). Only Rep. Goodlatte's office disagreed
completely with Dr. Longenecker's position; Goodlatte is one of
the amendment's most avid supporters and he sits on the Judiciary
Committee that addressed it.

On Monday, the Washington Office organized lobbying visits for
three Eastern Mennonite University students -- Shelly Ungemach, a
Church of the Brethren member from Palmyra, Pa., and two
Mennonites. The visits with staff members from the offices of
Rep. Goodlatte (R-VA), Sen. Santorum (R-PA), and Sen. Specter
(R-PA) were intended to encourage support of the Agriculture Bill
(S.1150/H.R.2534) and co-sponsorship of legislation to increase
the minimum wage.  

Enactment of the Agriculture Bill would use surplus money
(ironically saved by the federal food stamp program) to restore
food stamps to approximately 200,000 of the 900,000 legal
immigrants who lost them under the new Welfare Law, said Heather
Nolen of the Washington Office. According to Nolen, the three
students expressed concern over the double-edged state of welfare
reform, which moves individuals from welfare into work, but often
without providing them with living wages. While the group was
received well, they encountered mixed results with the offices on
these particular issues, Nolen added. 

For example, Sen. Santorum supports passage of the Agriculture
Bill and has even written to Senate majority leader Trent Lott,
urging him to bring it to the Senate floor. However, Santorum’s
aide who met with the group indicated the senator would oppose a
minimum wage increase. 

Calling the Capitol Hill visits successful, Nolen said they are
more the exception than the rule. This was the first time that
Brethren from the grass roots came to speak on the Hill (since
she joined the office in September),” Nolen said. “It's exciting
to see!" 

Nolen added that the Washington Office will help arrange Capitol
Hill meetings with U.S. legislators or their aides for any
Brethren interested in lobbying. For more information, contact
the Washington Office at WashOfc@AOL.Com or at 202 546-3202.

6) Telling their stories of suffering, in the aftermath of 36
years of civil war, is what the people of Guatemala have been
doing in a massive, four-year-long process known as Project for
the Recovery of Historic Memory (REMHI). On Friday, the results
of this project and a monument to the civil war's victims will be
unveiled at a ceremony in Guatemala City. David Radcliff,
director of Brethren Witness for the Church of the Brethren
General Board, will be one of 12 North American visitors
attending the event at the invitation of the Archbishop of
Guatemala.

“Even with recently signed peace accords, the Guatemalan people
cannot easily escape a past in which over 100,000 civilians were
killed and another 40,000 ‘disappeared,’" Radcliff said.  

"REMHI is helping us unravel the truth about the internal war,
its consequences and its victims," wrote Ronalth Ochaeta of the
Archbishop's Human Rights office. "This also may help them
express and sometimes ease their hidden pain and find inner
peace."  

While in Guatemala, Radcliff will also visit the community of
Nuevo Mexico -- home for one year of Brethren-supported
accompanier Melinda Van Slyke, who serves as an international
presence in this village of returned refugees.

7) Friday, which has been designated a world day of fasting for
North Korea, will be observed by people in at least 70 cities
worldwide, including the Dalai Lama and Pope John Paul II. An
interfaith service by Protestants, Jews and Buddhists will be
held in New York City from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. at the Interchurch
Center Chapel, 475 Riverside Drive. 

The day of fasting is being held because "the situation is
desperate," said Madam Bertini, executive director of the World
Food Program (WFP). According to a release from the National
Council of Churches, the WFP in March warned that food supplies
in North Korea would run out by the end of April. The people of
North Korea, especially children and the elderly, continue to
suffer from pervasive famine. Over 1 million children under age
six are suffering from malnutrition. Some experts estimate that
the number of deaths from famine and hunger-related diseases may
already have exceeded that of the Ethiopian tragedy of the 1980s.

Since the famine began, the Church of the Brethren has responded
with about $500,000 in relief aid to North Korea, which included
wheat seed, medical supplies and canned beef.

8) Audrey Osborne of Codorus, Pa., has been named program
coordinator for On Earth Peace Assembly, an independent Church of
the Brethren peace and reconciliation ministries organization. 

Osborne, a graduate of Western Maryland College of Westminster,
Md., most recently has served as Christian Education/Visitation
staff for Westminster Church of the Brethren. She also has served
as chaplain and assistant program coordinator for Camp Eder,
Fairfield, Pa. Osborne has served on the Church of the Brethren
National Youth Cabinet, the National Young Adult Steering
Committee and as a 1997 Ministry Summer Service participant.

"Audrey's knowledge and commitment to the church, her deep
attachment to Jesus as Savior and his New Testament message, and
her strong desire to serve the church by helping On Earth Peace
Assembly become more of a servant organization for the
denomination make her an ideal choice for our program coordinator
position," said Tom Hurst, OEPA executive director.

9) John Lapp, executive secretary emeritus of the Mennonite
Central Committee, has been appointed a senior fellow for the
1998-1999 academic year at Elizabethtown (Pa.) College's Young
Center for the Study of Anabaptist and Pietist Groups. He has
been awarded a year-long appointment to conduct and coordinate
ongoing research on the "Global Mennonite/Brethren in Christ
History Project." Lapp also will offer a public lecture in the
fall and spring and will teach courses for the college's
religious studies department.

10) Bridgewater (Va.) College's annual Estate and Financial
Planning Seminar is scheduled for May 14. The presenters --
Lawrence Hoover, an attorney, and James Replogle, director of
Deferred Gift Services for Brethren Benefit Trust -- will
"illustrate a practical approach and a range of issues to
consider when preparing an estate plan.”

The seminar is free-of-charge but reservations are required. Call
Charles Scott at 540 828-5450.

11) Emil Nagengast and J. Jackson Barlow, both professors at
Juniata College, Huntingdon, Pa., have been selected as Fulbright
Scholars. "As Fulbright Scholars, Nagengast  and Barlow join the
ranks of distinguished scholars and professionals worldwide who
are leaders in the educational, political, economic, social and
cultural lives of their countries," according to a Juniata
release. "For over 50 years, the Fulbright program has offered
faculty, students and professionals from around the country the
opportunity to conduct research, teach or study abroad and to
make major contributions to global understanding."

Nagengast begins his summer Fulbright Scholarship session June 13
in Germany. Barlow will spend the 1998-1999 academic year in
eastern Czech Republic.

12) Glade Valley Church of the Brethren, Walkersville, Md., will
dedicate its newly renovated facility on Sunday. Originally
constructed as a college chapel and recital hall, the building's
interior was remodeled to provide adequate classrooms, nursery,
rest rooms, offices and fellowship areas. The $500,000 renovation
also allowed for the installation of a new roof, heating systems,
a new entryway and a more intimate worship setting for the small
congregation.

13) A 50 percent increase in its full-time Peacemaker Corps is
what the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) Steering Committee
agreed to strive for by the year 2000, which would be an increase
from 12 to 18 people. The expansion is designed to increase
participation of ethnic minority people and Canadians, according
to a CPT release.

Meeting in Winnipeg on March 26-28, the steering committee also
encouraged the continuation of the "Campaign for Secure
Dwellings," which calls North American churches to advocate on
behalf of Palestinian families whose houses are targeted for
demolition by Israeli authorities.  Through this program, U.S.
and Canadian congregations are partnered with specific families
whose houses are facing demolition near Hebron. Israeli peace
groups form part of this campaign creating a three-way
partnership to challenge this devastating policy.

"This project keeps on layering as many relationships as
possible," said steering committee member Orlando Redekopp, a
native of Winnipeg who currently pastors First Church of the
Brethren in Chicago. "It is a good path for us to be on."  With
an estimated 500 homes slated for demolition in the Hebron area,
CPT hopes to develop 100 such partnerships by the end of the
year.

In related news, Cliff Kindy, a CPT steering committee member and
a member of the Church of the Brethren from North Manchester,
Ind., reported "enthusiastic response" to his speaking tour in
Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and five states. Kindy ended his one
month, 57-engagement tour by delivering that Sunday's morning
sermon at Fort Garry Mennonite Fellowship. 

14) Clarence Rufus Bowman, 94, of Bridgewater, Va., died April 19
after an extended illness. Bowman, a 1929 Bridgewater College
graduate and a 1932 graduate of Bethany Bible School, served as a
Church of the Brethren pastor for 43 years. He served
congregations in Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania,
California and Florida before retiring in 1976. His children
include Bob Bowman, religion professor at Manchester College,
North Manchester, Ind., and Brethren minister John David Bowman
of Lititz, Pa. His grandson, Chris Bowman, pastor of Martinsburg
(Pa.) Memorial Church of the Brethren, currently serves as chair
of the Church of the Brethren General Board.

15) Since August 1990 economic sanctions have been enforced
against Iraq by the United Nations Security Council, following
that country's aggression toward Kuwait. The sanctions, which the
U.N. has pledged to continue until Iraq eliminates its weapons of
mass destruction, have had a devastating effect on that country's
citizens.

A delegation of National Council of Churches representatives,
traveling to Iraq from April 8 to 13, filed this report -- 

"I have seen people living under all sorts of difficult
conditions all over the world, but I have never before seen death
stare at me from the eyes of a little baby."  It happened, said
Rodney Page of Church World Service (CWS), while he and several
colleagues were visiting a children's hospital in Baghdad just
before Easter.

Page, CWS executive director, was in Iraq to deliver medicines
valued at nearly $100,000 to two children's hospitals. Along with
leaders of the American Friends Service Committee, Lutheran World
Relief and Middle East Council of Churches, he witnessed the
impact of eight years of United Nations-imposed sanctions, which
have deprived the Iraqi people of essential food, medicines and
other goods.

The sanctions were imposed by the U.N. Security Council after
Iraq invaded and occupied Kuwait in August 1990. Security Council
resolutions stipulated that the sanctions should remain in place
until it has been certified that Iraq has eliminated its weapons
of mass destruction.

Group members already knew the shocking statistics of suffering.
More than 1.2 million Iraqis, half of them under the age of five,
have died since 1990 as a direct result of the sanctions; 6,000
more die every month.  

These statistics became wrenchingly personal just moments after
the delegation arrived at Ibn Biladi Hospital. As the group began
visiting sick children and their parents, an infant girl died
before their eyes. The malnourished daughter of a malnourished
mother, she succumbed to a chest infection that could have been
cured with ordinary antibiotics.

"A member of our group, Kara Newell, executive director of the
American Friends Service Committee, threw her arms around the
baby's mother and they wept together," Page said. A few minutes
later, in another ward, the group saw another baby take its last
breath.  

Just at the moment when Christians, Jews and Muslims around the
world were celebrating festivals of joy and life, the visiting
church leaders were faced with death. Mothers pressed
prescriptions into Page's hand, pleading for medicine and milk
for their children.
 
Kenlynn Schroeder of Lutheran World Relief recounted how Suzi, an
Armenian Orthodox woman and "a mother like me," spoke of the
depression the parents have "because they cannot provide enough
food for their families." She added, "They are either unemployed
or must work for two or three U.S. dollars a month, which is not
enough."
 
The church leaders carried back with them many other images of
misery: The makeshift children's hospital in a converted hotel --
its roof so full of holes that when it rains, the water pours in
onto the beds. A woman doing her best to clean a hospital floor
with a dirty mop and no disinfectants. Leaking, pooling, stinking
sewage -- breeding grounds for water-borne diseases. 

The widespread misery and despair strengthened the resolve of
Page and the others to continue to press for an end to the
economic, nonmilitary sanctions against Iraq, "which are hurting
the most vulnerable of the Iraqi citizens," Page said. "It's not
the politicians who are suffering, but the children, the women,
the poor, the sick, the elderly."

Iraq may purchase food and medicine under its "oil for food" deal
with the United Nations, but the U.N.'s delivery of supplies has
lagged considerably, reported David Weaver, CWS Middle East
director and delegation member. "But even if Iraqis received the
maximum allowed under the program, the food supplies would be
barely adequate and the medical supplies wholly inadequate to the
need."

Weaver added, "Most people are beginning to get almost enough
rice, flour, sugar, cooking oil and pulses, like lentils, but
they still are deficient in animal protein, which is very
important for immune response. Many children suffer wasting or
stunting. Calcium, protein and vitamin deficiencies are
widespread. Therefore, people, especially children, are
vulnerable to infections and will bear the consequences of these
deprivations into adulthood.

CWS has delivered nearly $3 million in humanitarian aid to Iraq
since 1991 and currently is seeking another $426,000 toward a
goal of $2.2 million set by Action by Churches Together (ACT), an
international, ecumenical consortium of which CWS is a member.
CWS/ACT work closely with the Middle East Council of Churches,
which distributes the aid.

Over and over again, Iraqis thanked the visiting church leaders
for their assistance. "Your efforts have saved many lives," they
said. Church World Service group members also found it gratifying
to see blankets from the CWS Blanket Program on almost every
hospital bed, and on beds in orphanages and other institutions
that they visited.  

"CWS has provided enough blankets to cover every hospital bed in
Iraq," Page said. "We want to blanket the world with love."

During their six days in Iraq, the church leaders met with
Christian and Muslim religious leaders, humanitarian aid workers
and government ministers of health, education and religious
affairs, and visited Christian and Muslim holy sites.  

"We were moved by the kindness, generosity and hospitality of the
Iraqi people, and by the dignity, graciousness and
professionalism of the doctors, ministers and others we met,"
Page said. "We know we encouraged people with our visit. In an
art shop, artists spotted us and said, 'We saw you on TV. You
brought the medicines.’ The story of our visit was all over the
TV, radio and newspapers.  It made quite a stir to know that
churches in America were trying to do something about the
sanctions."

"We remember the great commandment, 'Love the Lord your God' and
the second like it, 'Love your neighbor as yourself,'" Schroeder
said. "We mothers and fathers in the U.S. cannot stand by and
watch Iraqi children die needlessly because of the sanctions.
Enough is enough."

"What I have seen, heard and felt in Baghdad is that a strong,
creative and highly educated people have had an injustice
perpetrated on them for the past eight years," said Kara Newell
of the American Friends Service Committee. "We stand with the
Iraqi people, especially the women, children and elderly. We will
do everything in our power to pressure the lifting of nonmilitary
sanctions and to work with partners to see desperately needed
medical supplies find their way to the Iraqi people."

(In addition to those mentioned, the NCC delegation included Rick
Augsburger, CWS Emergency Response office director; Mel Lehman,
CWS Constituency Information and Development director; Riad
Jarjour; general secretary of the Middle East Council of
Churches; and Mike Nahhal, MECC Relief Coordinator.

Newsline is produced by Nevin Dulabaum, manager of the General
Board's News Services. Newsline stories may be reprinted in
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