wfn.org | Support for Public Education Tops NCC Executive Board Agenda

["Nat'l Council of Churches" <nccc_usa@ncccusa.org>]

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA
NCC5/13/02

SUPPORT FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION TOPS NCC EXECUTIVE BOARD AGENDA
National Religious Leaders Travel to Harrisburg, Pa., for Boards May 14-15
Meeting

EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETS: 10:15 a.m. May 14 - 1 p.m. May 15, 2002
LOCATION: Pine Street Presbyterian Church, 310 N. 3rd St., Harrisburg, Pa.

TOPPING THE AGENDA

INTERFAITH PRAYER VIGIL FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION: 4 p.m. Tuesday, May 14
LOCATION: Capitol Rotunda, Harrisburg, Pa. (After a 3 p.m. briefing, the
group - many in clerical garb - will leave Pine Street Presbyterian Church
at 3:30 p.m. and walk to the Capitol.)

ATTENDEES:  * Dr. Bob Edgar, General Secretary, National Council of Churches
* Mrs. Elenie Huszagh, President, National Council of Churches
* Several dozen other national religious leaders representing Methodist,
Baptist, Lutheran, Episcopal, Greek Orthodox and other Christian
denominations - all members of the NCCs Executive Board
* Five Pennsylvania Bishops from the Lutheran, Episcopalian and Methodist
denominations

DETAILS:        The NCC Executive Board voted in February to move its
regular May meeting to
Harrisburg to stand in solidarity for public education reform with Good
Schools Pennsylvania advocates.  Together they are calling on the
Pennsylvania legislature to pass comprehensive public education reform this
legislative session.

IN OTHER BUSINESS

Other agenda items on the Executive Board agenda include the NCCs work
against poverty and for a broader expression of Christian unity in the
United States.  The Board is expected to approve a new program, Open Doors:
Interfaith Hospitality Project, that would encourage congregations to hold
open houses on or around Sept. 11, 2002, for Muslims living near them to
grieve last years attacks together and foster unity rather than division
between the two faiths.  There will be reports on an NCC delegation visit to
the Middle East in April and the NCCs participation in the Habitat for
Humanity Blitz Build in Durban, South Africa, in June.

The National Council of Churches is the nation's leading ecumenical
organization.  Its 36 Protestant and Orthodox member denominations comprise
50 million persons in 140,000 local congregations across the United States.
-end-

CONTACTS: Sheila Ballen, Good Schools Pennsylvania, 215-332-2700
Carol Fouke, NCC, 212-870-2252 (NYC); 717-233-1611 (Hotel) or 717-238-9304
(Church) in Harrisburg