wfn.org | Update from Episcopal Presiding Bishop on Kosovo

[Daphne Mack <dmack@dfms.org>]

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Kathryn McCormick
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99-071
Update from the Presiding Bishop on the ongoing crisis in 
Kosovo

I write to the Church today to provide an update on 
the multiple efforts undertaken at our Church Center and our 
whole Church in the midst of the tragedy that unfolds daily in 
Kosovo.  Yesterday I sent two letters, one to President Clinton 
and the other to Dr. Han Wenzao of the China Christian Council, 
both on the subject of the bombing of the Chinese Embassy in 
Belgrade.

We are now searching with our Anglican and ecumenical 
partners for any creative means of supporting diplomatic efforts 
to end this tragedy. Much of this work necessarily goes 
unreported, but the efforts have been unflagging. While 
recognizing the difficulty in finding solutions, we are pursuing 
any avenue of peacemaking open to us.

Since last speaking on this crisis, the bombing has 
intensified and thousands more have fled to safety in Macedonia 
and Albania. Some modest gestures toward peace have been made, 
but the anguish and suffering for both refugees and the people of 
Kosovo continue. However, from this tragedy has come an 
incredible response from the whole Church.

The Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief has 
received a heartening outpouring of support which has already 
made possible over $120,000 of humanitarian relief to Kosovo 
refugees.  The Fund with its ecumenical partners is bringing 
relief to the thousands who now search for safety in neighboring 
Balkan countries. Donors to the Fund should know that their 
contributions will help those refugees now coming to the United 
States to rebuild their lives. The Fund also looks forward to 
assisting with rehabilitation in Kosovo should those so brutally 
dislodged from their homes and communities be  able eventually to 
return home. The needs are great and I count on your continuing 
generosity so that the Episcopal Church can be an instrument of 
both relief and recovery for our sisters and brothers from 
Kosovo. 

Further, Episcopal Migration Ministries through its 
network of diocesan resettlement programs will share in the 
resettlement of 20,000 refugees coming to the United States. In 
helping these refugees begin their lives anew, Episcopal 
Migration Ministries will connect these refugees with churches 
and other sponsors who will help with the healing that these new 
neighbors so urgently need. This effort will be sustained by the 
extraordinary generosity of parishes and Episcopalians around the 
country whose offers of assistance and friendship are received 
daily by the Church Center. 

Surely, this is the Church at its best, seeking to 
serve Christ in all persons--even those of another faith from 
another land.  Let us rejoice in this manifestation of our Church 
as a true source of resurrection for so many.

I also want you to know that I have assigned a team of 
staff to explore every option we might take in supporting an end 
to the conflict.  Working in concert are staff from Anglican 
Relations, Migration Ministries, Peace and Justice Ministries 
(including the Church's Office of Government Relations), 
Ecumenical Relations, the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World 
Relief, and Media Services.

I again ask that we join in prayer with our sisters 
and brothers of all faiths in bringing healing out of the 
devastation that assaults us daily as we watch the evening news 
and read the daily press.  I pray we will not enter the next 
millennium with the legacy of this tragedy hanging over us.

Yours sincerely,
The Most Reverend Frank T. Griswold
Presiding Bishop and Primate
May 14, 1999