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Church leaders embark on Mideast visit
2002-095-1
4/16/2002
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[Episcopal News Service]
A delegation of U.S. Protestant, Orthodox and Anglican church leaders will visit the Middle East April 16-27. Planned for several months, the trip is 'all the more urgent' given the deepening crisis, said the delegation’s leader, the Rev. Dr. Bob Edgar, general secretary of the National Council of Churches.
The NCC--whose 36 member denominations comprise 50 million adherents--organized the visit by invitation of the Middle East Council of Churches and Jerusalem church leaders. Co-leader with Edgar, a United Methodist, is Elenie Huszagh, a Greek Orthodox layperson from Nehalem, Ore.
Acknowledging security concerns, the delegation nevertheless intends to fulfill as much of its planned itinerary as possible. The group will meet with clergy in each country and expects to meet with high-level political officials, including Syrian President Bashar Al Assad and Lebanon’s Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri. The delegation also intends to meet with Israeli and Palestinian government officials and with the U.S. Consul General in Jerusalem, and hopes to visit Israeli and Palestinian wounded and bereaved.
Delegation members include the Rt. Rev. Arthur Edward Walmsley,retired Episcopal bishop of Connecticut; the Rev. Janet Arbesman, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.); Bishop Vicken Aykazian, Diocese of the Armenian Church; Mark Byron Brown, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; the Rev. Dr. James A. Forbes, Jr., Senior Minister, Riverside Church, New York City; Rev. Joseph Rice Hale, former general secretary of the World Methodist Council; the Rev. Robert S. Jones, National Baptist Convention U.S.A.; His Eminence Cyril Aphrem Karim, Archdiocese of the Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch for the Eastern United States; the Rev. William Shaw, president, National Baptist Convention U.S.A.; the Rev. James, Churches for Middle East Peace; and James Edward Winkler, general secretary, United Methodist Board of Church and Society.
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