wfn.org | Updated Alert, NCCCUSA Executive Board May 30-31

[Carol Fouke <carolf@ncccusa.org>]

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

NCC5/29/2001

UPDATED REMINDER!  MAY 30-31 NCC EXECUTIVE BOARD, WASHINGTON, D.C.
Agenda Includes Ecumenical Celebration of 1700th Anniversary of Armenian 
Christianity
The Rev. Dr. James A. Forbes, Jr., to Preach (Replacing Africa-Bound Andrew 
Young)

The National Council of Churches' regular spring Executive Board meeting 
will open at 9 a.m. Wednesday, May 30, and adjourn at 2 p.m. Thursday, May 
31.  Venue: AARP Brickfield Center, 601 'E' Street, N.W.

ON THE AGENDA:

** CELEBRATING 1700th ANNIVERSARY OF ARMENIAN CHRISTIANITY

Ecumenical prayer service (6 p.m. Wednesday, May 30) celebrating the 1700th 
anniversary of Armenia's conversion to Christianity, distinguishing the 
Armenians as the world's first Christian nation.  Honored guest: His 
Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians.

Sermon: Rev. Dr. James A. Forbes, Jr., Senior Minister, The Riverside 
Church, New York City. (Ambassador Andrew Young, the NCC's president, was 
to have given the sermon, but will be leaving for Nigeria May 28.) 
 Cosponsors: National Conference of Catholic Bishops, Diocese of the 
Armenian Church of America and National Council of Churches. 4 p.m. lecture 
precedes. Venue: Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate 
Conception, 400 Michigan Ave., N.E.  DETAILS FOLLOW

** LAUNCHING PARTNERSHIP WITH HABITAT FOR HUMANITY

Millard Fuller, President of Habitat for Humanity International, will speak 
(9:15 a.m. Thursday, May 31).  A brand-new NCC-Habitat for Humanity 
collaboration will be announced.

** OTHER NEWSWORTHY AGENDA

* Updates on the NCC's mobilization to overcome poverty and expanding the 
ecumenical vision.  Related presentations by Rabbi David Saperstein, 
Director, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, and Hannah Rosenthal, 
Executive Vice President, Jewish Council on Public Affairs (1 p.m. 
Wednesday, May 30).
* Presentation by Ziad Asali, Palestinian Christians on a Shared Jerusalem 
(10 a.m. Wednesday, May 30).

DETAILS: SHRINE TO HOST ARMENIAN PONTIFF

WASHINGTON (May 21, 2001) - Leaders from Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox 
Christian communities in the United States will gather for an ecumenical 
prayer service at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate 
Conception May 30, 2001 to mark the 1700th anniversary of Armenia's 
conversion to Christianity. His Holiness, Karekin II, the Catholicos 
(pontiff) of the Armenian Apostolic Church, will be the honored guest at 
the service, which will be hosted by His Eminence, Theodore Cardinal 
McCarrick, Archbishop of Washington.

Catholicos Karekin, who was elected in 1999 to head the world's 7 million 
Armenian Christians, will be in Washington on his first pastoral visit to 
North America.

Armenia became the world's first Christian nation in 301 A.D. preceding the 
Emperor Constantine's "Edict of Milan" by more than a dozen years. The 
milestone has inspired two of America's leading Christian organizations - 
the National Conference of Catholic Bishops and the National Council of the 
Churches of Christ in the USA - to cosponsor the event entitled, "Walking 
Together in the Light of Our Lord."

A joint announcement was made by William Cardinal Keeler, Archbishop of 
Baltimore; the Rev. Dr. Robert W. Edgar, General Secretary of the National 
Council of Churches; and Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Primate of the New 
York-based Diocese of the Armenian Church of America.

Msgr. Michael J. Bransfield, rector of the National Shrine, expressed 
enthusiasm in hosting the ecumenical event. "Jesus prayed that his 
followers 'may all be one,' and the Catholic Church has forever affirmed 
this call for unity in faith. I'm honored that His Holiness, Karekin II, 
will join us in prayer at the National Shrine, and hope that this event 
will advance the cause of Christian unanimity."

The Rev. Dr. James A. Forbes, Jr., Senior Minister, The Riverside Church, 
New York City, is scheduled to preach at the 6:00 p.m. prayer service in 
the Shrine's Great Upper Church, preceded by a 4:00 p.m. lecture about the 
Armenian Church at in the Shrine's Crypt Church.

Tentative event schedule:

4:00 p.m., Crypt Church - "The Armenian Christian Experience"
* Lecture by the Rev. Canon J. Robert Wright, St. Mark's Church in the 
Bowery, Professor of Ecclesiastical History, General Theological Seminary 
(Episcopal), New York City
* Question & Answer session
* Moderators: Dr. Abraham Terian, Academic Dean, St. Nersess Armenian 
Seminary, New Rochelle, N.Y. and the Very Rev. Fr. Daniel Findikyan, 
Rector, St. Nersess Armenian Seminary.

6:00 p.m., Great Upper Church - Ecumenical Prayer Service
* Incorporating parts of the Armenian Hrashapar (huh-RAH-shah-par) service 
of welcome and including sacred hymns sung in the medieval Armenian k'rapar 
(KUH-rah-par) dialect;
* Prayers on the occasion of the 1,700th anniversary of Armenia's 
conversion to Christianity, for Christian unity, and the Lord's Prayer;
* Musical performances by the Knar-Ani (KUH-nar) Armenian Choral Group, an 
adult choir of 150 voices under the direction of Maestro Arsen Sayan, and 
the D.C. Boys Choir, a youth gospel choir, Mrs. Eleanor Steward, director 
and Mr. Norris Berry, accompanist.

-end-