WHAT: Quarterly meeting of
the 50-member National Council of Churches’
Executive Board. The board includes
delegates from the NCC’s 35 Protestant and Orthodox member communions (denominations)
embracing some 50 million congregants and is responsible for Council governance between
annual General Assemblies (November).
The Rev. Dr. Robert W. Edgar
is the NCC’s General Secretary; the Hon.
Andrew Young is the Council’s President. (Incidentally,
both are former members of the U.S. House of Representatives.)
The National Council of
Churches is the nation’s leading ecumenical organization, with a broad program,
supported by some $70 million annually, of humanitarian assistance, unity, justice,
education and public witness.
NEWSROOM: NCC Washington
Office, 110 Maryland Ave. N.E., Washington, D.C.; 202-544-2350 ext. 11 (May 22-23 only; at
other times call 212-870-2227).
AGENDA HIGHLIGHTS:
1:30-4:30 p.m. Monday, May 22, Cannon House Office Building, Caucus
Room #345. The agenda includes:
2:00 p.m. – Presentation of a proposed framework for NCC/Church World Service and Witness future, which would separate out financial management of CWSW, the Council’s humanitarian response ministry, from that for the rest of the NCC, while reaffirming a common ministry and common accountability to the NCC General Assembly.
4:15 p.m. – Briefing titled “Prescribe U2K: Our Partners in
Universal Health Care Campaigning in the Year 2000,” presented by Dr. Henry Simmons,
President, National Coalition on Health Care, Washington, D.C.; Dean Barbara Aldave,
National Chair, Gray Panthers/U2K, and Dr. Ken Frisof, National Chair, UHCAN, and
Co-Chair, U2K. The campaign aims to put our
national and state governments’ responsibility for universal health care squarely on
the national political agenda in this election year.
6 to 8 p.m. Monday, May 22, Rayburn House Office Building, Gold Room
#2168
Reception and dinner honoring Mary Anderson
Cooper, an Episcopal Church lay member, celebrating her 35 years of leadership in
ecumenical public policy advocacy and education through the NCC’s Washington
Office.
Father Daniel Coughlin, Chaplain, House of
Representatives, will give the dinner keynote address on “The Role of Religion in
Public Life.” The dinner has been
arranged in cooperation with the Congressional Clearinghouse on the Future, which Dr.
Edgar chaired from 1982-86.
8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. May 23, Hall of States, 444 N. Capital St. N.W.,
Room #383. Agenda includes:
9:15 a.m. – Action on a proposed
framework for NCC/Church World Service and Witness future, which would separate out
financial management of CWSW, the Council’s humanitarian response ministry, while
reaffirming a common ministry and common accountability to the NCC General Assembly.
10:00 a.m. – Administration and Finance
Report, including action on the proposed July 1, 2000-June 30, 2001 NCC Consolidated
Budget.
11:40 a.m. – Action on a proposed
10-year “Mobilization Against Poverty,” committing the Council and calling on
the Council’s member communions and partners to join in a program to relieve poverty
in the United States.
12:15 p.m. – Lunch; members of Congress
invited to attend.
2 p.m. Tuesday, May 23, Hall of States, 444 N. Capital St. N.W., Room
#331
“Book Launch” of “Witness to
Genocide: The Children of Rwanda,” drawings by child survivors of the Rwandan
genocide of 1994. Editor Richard A. Salem
will be present. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who
wrote the book’s foreword, and Richard Sezibera, M.D., Rwandan ambassador to the
United States and among the book’s contributors, have been invited. A portion of the proceeds from the NCC Friendship
Press book along with other contributions will be used for the treatment of trauma in
Rwanda.
-end-
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