wfn.org | WCC - International ecumenical delegation to visit US

["Sheila Mesa" <smm@wcc-coe.org>]

churches

World Council of Churches
Press Release, PR-01-41
For Immediate Use
7 November 2001

Gesture of compassion following attacks on US:
International ecumenical delegation to be "Living Letter"to US
churches

cf. WCC Press Update, Up-01-33, of 21 September 2001
cf. WCC Press Release, PR-01-32, of 11 September 2001

Representatives of World Council of Churches (WCC) member
churches will travel to the United States 8-14 November as a
"living letter" of compassion to the churches and people of the
USA.  

The WCC executive committee was meeting in Geneva on 11
September when terrorists attacked the World Trade Center and the
Pentagon.  Committee members, shocked by the news, spontaneously
suggested the gesture.  

The purpose of the visit, which begins in New York, is "to
express the solidarity and compassion of the worldwide ecumenical
fellowship" to US churches and to "discern together what 11
September and subsequent events mean for the witness of the
churches" in the US and elsewhere.  

The delegation is also coming to reflect on "the long-term
consequences" of the attacks and the resulting allied military
strikes against Taliban positions and terrorist camps in
Afghanistan in the light of the WCC's Decade to Overcome
Violence.  The board of directors of the US Conference for the
WCC, meeting in New York on 2 October, welcomed the visit and
affirmed its purpose.  

"The trip is seen as a pastoral visit by churches from around
the world to the churches of the United States," said Jean S.
Stromberg, executive director of the US Office of the WCC.  "Many
of the persons coming recognize that US people and churches are
always quick to respond to need when disaster strikes other parts
of the world.  US church members have less often been on the
receiving end of pastoral care and outreach by others, but
receiving is as important for all members of the body of Christ
as giving."  

Rev. Jean-Arnold de Clermont of the Reformed Church of France, a
member of the delegation, expressed his appreciation for the
leadership role of the US churches during the crisis.  "During
the past weeks, we in France listened carefully to what the US
churches said," Clermont noted.  Europe as well as the US needs
to "look into the future and understand why people are led to
terrorism and hate because we will have to face similar
challenges in the coming years," Clermont said.  

Many members of the delegation are from areas of the world that
are all too familiar with terrorism and religious and ethnic
conflict.  

Leading the delegation will be Bishop Mvumelwano Dandala,
presiding bishop of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa and
moderator of the WCC advisory group on regional relations.  

Other "living letter" team members are:

Metropolitan Elias Audi, Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch
and All the East, from Beirut, Lebanon.  

Bishop Samuel Azariah, former moderator of the Church of
Pakistan and currently diocesan bishop of the Raiwand Diocese.  

Rev. Fr. Nicholas Balachov, secretary for Inter-Orthodox
Relations at the Department for External Affairs of the Russian
Orthodox Church.  

Rev. Jean-Arnold de Clermont, president of the French Protestant
Federation, Reformed Church of France.  

Rev. (Ms.) Septemmy Lakawa, teacher at the Jakarta Theological
Seminary, Indonesia, and a member of the WCC executive and
central committees.  

Ms. Jean Zaru, presiding clerk, Religious Society of Friends,
Ramallah, Palestine.  

Accompanying the team will be the Rev. Kathryn Bannister, a
United Methodist clergywoman who is moderator of the WCC US
Conference and WCC president, and who will be with the team
through the conclusion of its meetings in Chicago on 10 November.
 Also accompanying the team are Georges Lemopoulos, WCC acting
general secretary, and Jean Stromberg, director, US office of the
WCC.  

The Rt. Rev. Frank Tracy Griswold III, presiding bishop of the
Episcopal Church, has invited New York City church leaders to an
ecumenical service in the Episcopal Center chapel at 11.00h on 8
November.  The service will be followed by lunch at the Center
from noon to 14.00h.  

The delegation will meet with New York pastors whose
congregations were affected by the WTC disaster from 14.30h to
16.30h on 8 November.  

The Most Rev. Metropolitan Philip of the Antiochian Orthodox
Christian Archdiocese of North America will host a reception for
the team Thursday evening, 8 November, in the Antiochian
Chancery, Englewood, N.J.  Joining the reception will be members
of the Standing Conference of Middle Eastern Christian and Muslim
Religious Leaders, a group of Christian and Islamic leaders based
in the US.  

In Chicago on 9 and 10 November, the delegation will meet with
representatives of local ecumenical councils and WCC member
churches at the headquarters of the Evangelical Lutheran Church
in America.  On 11 November, the team will bring greetings to the
Fourth Presbyterian Church and other Chicago churches.  

The delegation will fly to Washington, DC, on 12 November, where
it will meet with representatives of the US Catholic
Conference/National Council of Bishops and with representatives
from the American Muslim Council.  The group will also attend
worship Monday morning in Simpson Memorial Chapel of the United
Methodist Building on Maryland Avenue.  

The pilgrimage will conclude 13 and 14 November in Oakland,
California, when the group meets with the US National Council of
Churches general assembly.  

For more information, please contact Philip E. Jenks,
communications officer, US office, World Council of Churches, 475
Riverside Drive, Room 915, New York, NY 10115, tel. : (+1)
212-870-3193, mobile : (+1) 917-453-3106, pej@wcc-coe.org 

**********
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a fellowship of churches,
now 342, in more than 100 countries in all continents from
virtually all Christian traditions. The Roman Catholic Church is
not a member church but works cooperatively with the WCC. The
highest governing body is the assembly, which meets approximately
every seven years. The WCC was formally inaugurated in 1948 in
Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Its staff is headed by general
secretary Konrad Raiser from the Evangelical Church in Germany.

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