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Prayers

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA
Contact: NCC News, 212-870-2227
  Stephanie Gadlin, Rainbow/PUSH, 773-256-2758
E-Mail: news@ncccusa.org; Web: www.ncccusa.org

TWO SEE U.S. SOLDIERS, OFFER BIBLES, 
FAMILY MESSAGES, PRAYERS
Religious Leaders Delegation to Belgrade 
Also Meets Yugoslav Faith Community

52NCC4/30/99    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 April 30, 1999, BELGRADE, Yugoslavia - The three U.S. 
soldiers captured by Serbian forces on March 31 had nothing 
to read; now they have Bibles - signed by all 19 members of 
a U.S. interfaith delegation.  They also have received 
messages from their families, audio-taped especially for the 
delegation to carry.  And, after being kept isolated from 
one another, they have seen one another.

So reported the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Congressman Rod 
Blagojevich (D-Ill.), the two delegation members who got in 
to see the soldiers today (Friday) just after 6 p.m. local 
time.  Rev. Jackson, Founder and President of the 
Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, and the Rev. Dr. Joan B. Campbell, 
General Secretary, National Council of Churches, are co-
leading the delegation, which includes U.S. Christian, 
Muslim and Jewish religious leaders.
 
"The Bibles were signed this very morning by everyone 
in the religious mission to Belgrade.  So we were there with 
them in a very real sense," reported the Rev. Roy T. Lloyd, 
Broadcast News Director for the National Council of 
Churches, who is accompanying the delegation. "And it's a 
gift from home signed by all the people who came here to 
show their concern for the three young Americans.

 "We rejoice that they were visited, that word that 
people loved and cared for them was shared, that Rev. 
Jackson prayed for and with them, that they were brought 
together, that they met Americans for the first time since 
their captivity and they know people have them in their 
thoughts and prayers," he said.  "In some small way the 
caring touch of the family was delivered."

Earlier Friday afternoon, the entire delegation met for 
two hours with Yugoslav religious leadership "across the 
spectrum" - about 16 or 17 persons, the Rev. Lloyd reported.  

In their statements, which he described as "frank," 
"all of the religious leaders of Yugoslavia said that the 
U.S. bombing is hurting innocent people and they urged their 
religious counterparts to do what they could to stop the 
bombing."  Dr. Campbell, the Rev. Jackson and the Very Rev. 
Leonid Kishkovsky, Ecumenical Officer of the Orthodox Church 
in America, Syosset, N.Y., also spoke.

The meeting needed to end abruptly before dialogue 
could continue to a deeper level, the Rev. Lloyd said; the 
hope was expressed for an in-depth follow up conversation.

Other meetings/developments of the day included the 
following:

- Dr. Nazir Uddin Khaja, M.D., Chairman and President, 
Board of the American Muslim Council, Los Angeles, Calif., 
was able to worship with the Muslim community today.

- A small group of delegates, including Rev. Jackson 
and Dr. Campbell, met with the President of the Chamber of 
Citizens, with whom they "had a productive discussion about 
what would make for peace."

 The group's meeting with the Serbian Orthodox Patriarch 
was reported in an earlier news release.  Following is an 
excerpt of a March 25 public statement, signed "Serbian 
Patriarch Pavle, President of the Holy Synod of Bishops of 
the Serbian Orthodox Church," which was used as the basis of 
the Patriarch's remarks today:

"The Serbian Orthodox Church, in the misfortune which 
has affected our Homeland by NATO's bombardments, appeals to 
the governments of all countries in the world for their 
action in order that the bombardment would be stopped and 
that the just solution for the exit from the actual crisis 
may be found through negotiations.  

"The Serbian Orthodox Church appeals to the military 
and civilian authorities of Serbia and Yugoslavia to do 
everything so that peace may be established.  We call upon 
all diocesan bishops, in Serbia and abroad, priests and 
faithful people of our Holy Church, in this calamity which 
came upon us, to multiply their prayers to the Good Lord, 
the only One who is in the possession of peace, that peace 
would be granted to our tortured and suffering nation, but 
also to other people who live together with us.  

"May this Appeal of ours, to the World and domestic 
public, not remain only as the `lone voice from the 
wilderness.'"  

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