wfn.org | WACC Names Valle, Fore, Willingham and Struchen Life Members

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

WACC is pleased to announce that four outstanding communicators have
agreed to become Honorary Life Members of the Association. The four
honorees are: former General Secretary, Carlos A. Valle; former WACC
President, William F. Fore; a regional broadcaster and mainstay of
NABSWACC, Ed Willingham; and, Shirley Struchen who has served the
cause of ecumenical and interfaith communication for essentially all
her career.

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WACC is pleased to announce that four outstanding communicators have
agreed to become Honorary Life Members of the Association.
<http://www.waccglobal.org/component/content/article/1915:wacc-announces-fou r-new-honorary-life-members.html

This brings to only 19 the number of members acknowledged through
Honorary Life Membership.

The Honorary Life Membership is awarded by WACCâ??s Board of
Directors to communicators who have served WACC, religious
communications and the cause of communication rights throughout their
careers and whose work is characterised by dedication, integrity, and
achievement.

The four honorees are: former General Secretary, Carlos A. Valle;
former WACC President, William F. Fore; a regional broadcaster and
mainstay of NABSWACC, Ed Willingham; and, Shirley Struchen who has
served the cause of ecumenical and interfaith communication.

In announcing the honourees, WACCâ??s General Secretary, Randy Naylor
congratulated the 4 honorees and applauded them for their outstanding
contribution to WACCâ??s mission and for advancing the cause of
faithful communication throughout the world.

The Honorary Life Members will be installed as such in 2010.

Carlos Valle, a Methodist minister from Argentina, served as
WACCâ??s General Secretary from 1986 through 2001. Prior to serving as
General Secretary he was a member of the WACC Board and a pastor in
Methodist congregations in Argentina. He was also a staff member of
the ecumenical theological school, ISIDET, in Buenos Aires, where he
taught various courses on communication, especially film and theology.

Carlos has written numerous books, published in both Spanish and
English, and is an active proponent of communication and justice.

During his years on the Latin America Regional Committee he, with
others on the Executive Committee, recognized that there was a strong
need for dialogue between communicators within the Americas (North and
South) and he was part of the Latin American group that proposed an
â??encuentroâ?? or encounter between WACC Latin America and WACC  North
America.

The first encuentro was held in Mexico City in 1986, while a second
one was held in Puerto Rico in 1988. Both events brought WACC members
together to recognize the challenges within the two Regions and to
look at possible ways to jointly address those challenges.

As the General Secretary, Carlos organized the first WACC World
Congress which was held in Manila. Subsequent Congresses, under his
leadership, were held in Mexico and the Netherlands.

During his time in office, Carlos also worked to develop a written
understanding of cooperation and commitment between the World Council
of Churches and WACC. He also convened the first meeting of senior
communication leaders in European churches and ecumenical
organizations.

Upon his retirement, Carlos returned to Argentina to serve as a
chaplain to students at ISIDET in Buenos Aries, where he continues to
write on issues related to communication and to serve his Church.

William F. Fore (Bill), a minister of the United Methodist Church,
was President of WACC 1982-90, during the difficult transition from
the â??old WACCâ?? to the â??new WACCâ?? which was  formally adopted in
1986 and registered in England in 1987. The move resulted in the Board
of WACC being recognized as the highest authority for decision making
within WACC.

Bill served for many years as the Executive Director of the
Communication Commission of the National Council of Churches, USA,
where he became recognized as a leader in the field of communication
policy and regulation. He is often remembered as saying, â??if you
want to know where the real communication issues are to be found in
regulatory matters â??follow the moneyâ?? â??.

He also taught in Yale Theological Seminary and when he retired
taught communication for some years at the United Theological College
in Bangalore, India. Not content to reflect on past achievements Bill
launched a website that would publish articles, papers, and research
documents related to communication and theology. The site now attracts
one million hits per month!

Two of his best known books are Television and Religion: the Shaping
of Faith, Values and Culture and Mythmakers: Gospel, Culture and
Media.

Ed Willingham, a Baptist minister, worked for three decades with the
Council of Churches of Detroit and Windsor (a USA/Canadian border city
alliance), first as communication officer and eventually as Executive
Director. During his years at the Council, Ed became well known on
both sides of the border and to this day takes some pride in
celebrating religious, civic and cultural events in both Canada and
the USA.

He was a delegate to the conference in 1968 that gave birth to WACC,
where the old WACC (once WACBroadcasting) was merged with the North
American committee, RAVEMCCO.

Ed is well known for his work with the North America Broadcast
Section of WACC. Present in Toronto at the founding meeting of a group
of North American ecumenical communicators that decided to form
NABSWACC, Ed was the Business Manager (a ¼ time position) of NABS for
nearly 30 years.

During that time, NABS held yearly conventions of one-week duration
in which ecumenically minded communicators from the faith communities
of Canada and the USA gathered for inspiration, information, renewal
and fellowship. The annual gathering was recognized as the largest
annual ecumenical event held in the world. Each convention held
premieres of about-to-be-released Hollywood films, theme speakers from
the field of broadcasting, workshops on new technologies and
production techniques, worship, evenings to share latest productions
by attendees, and lots of time for networking. Even though NABS has
not met since 2001, Ed has continued to keep the network alive through
a monthly newsletter in which past attendees report on current
travels, life experiences and professional developments.

Shirley Whipple Struchen, a United Methodist and an employee of
United Methodist Communications, has worked as an ecumenical Christian
communicator for essentially all her career. She was instrumental in
introducing the use of satellite downlinks for sharing information
important to improving church and community life. Her biggest success
was to hold a satellite seminar on youth and gun violence with two
weeks of the infamous Columbine High School shooting massacre in 1999
in which hundreds of hospitals, police stations, community centers and
churches throughout the United States joined the seminar to learn from
experts on kids and guns, violence in the schools.

Shirley is equally well known in the ecumenical world for her
pioneering work as a co-creator of the Television Awareness Training
programme She was also an active committee member of the Communication
Commission of the NCCUSA and in 2002 became a television producer for
the NCCâ??s quarterly television programming, coordinating at the same
time the access for religious broadcasting on the major US television
networks by the Roman Catholic, Southern Baptist, and Jewish faith
communities of the USA.

Although recognized as a denominational and ecumenical communicator
extraordinaire, Shirley is best known these days for her pivotal role
in both the Religion Communication Congress 2000 and RCC 2010. A
long-time member of the Religious Public Relations Council, now known
as Religious Communicators Council, she has served as the coordinator
for both the 2000 and 2010 RCC events.

Shirley has also served on the WACC North America Executive Committee
and the WACC Board. She has been an active participant in WACC
Congresses as well.

For a full list of previous Honorary Life Members, click here?
<http://www.waccglobal.org/en/about-wacc/honorary-life-members.html

> Randy Naylor

> General Secretary, WACC