wfn.org | NCCCUSA ON Pavle's Repentance Call

[CAROL_FOUKE.parti@ecunet.org (CAROL FOUKE)]

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.
Contact: NCC News, 212-870-2227
E-Mail: news@ncccusa.org; Web: www.ncccusa.org

NCC HAILS COURAGE OF PAVLE'S PLANNED CALL FOR REPENTANCE

77NCC7/2/99  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 NEW YORK, July 2 - National Council of Churches General 
Secretary Joan Brown Campbell today hailed Serbian Orthodox 
Patriarch Pavle's announced intention to call on his nation to 
confess its wrong as a necessary precursor for reconciliation.

"His courage to say this in Belgrade has the potential of 
creating an atmosphere where peace might happen," said the Rev. Dr. 
Campbell, who was co-leader with Jesse Jackson of the interfaith 
mission to Belgrade in late April-early May that secured the release 
of the three captured U.S. soldiers.  "It's a bold move."

The London Guardian (June 25, 1999) reported that "Serbia's 
wall of denial surrounding war crimes in Kosovo is about to be 
smashed by the Serbian Orthodox Church, which plans to tell its 
flock that the nation's soul is stained with the blood of ethnic 
Albanians.  Church leaders will return from the province to Belgrade 
and defy the Yugoslav president, Slobodan Milosevic, by publicly 
admitting that Serb forces committed widespread atrocities .

"Since arriving in Kosovo last week, the head of the church, 
Patriarch Pavle, has been shocked by evidence of murders, tortures 
and expulsions.  He and his bishops have decided to break the 
silence by declaring some of their countrymen guilty of horrific 
crimes.  Luka Novakovic, dean at the church's library in Belgrade, 
said the church hierarchy would make an announcement at a press 
conference in the Yugoslav capital next week, regardless of 
government threats.

"'At our services on Sunday (July 4) our priests will be able 
to tell the people about what happened in Kosovo,' the deacon said.  
`We have learned that some Serbs did terrible things in Kosovo, and 
admitting that is the first step in changing things for the better.  
It will not be possible to keep it a secret, not any more.  Society 
will know about it..It is our duty.  It is important for a country 
to know the truth.  It has to know, otherwise it will just continue 
on without confessing.  Denying it is not going to save souls."

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