US Conference for the WCC presents annual "Blessed Are the Peacemakers" awards
Lois McCullough Dauway presented a Blessed Are the Peacemakers award to Janet Johnson Bryant, a journalist who reported on the Taylor regime when she worked for the Catholic radio station in Liberia.
The the United States Conference for the World Council of Churches (WCC) honored five individuals or groups who had rendered outstanding service in the cause of peace during its 2-4 December annual meeting.
The "Blessed are the Peacemakers" awards are a yearly tradition of the US Conference to recognize the contributions of local, national and international peacemakers. The awards were first given in 2004 as a part of the US focus on the WCC's Decade to Overcome Violence.
The awards ceremony on Wednesday night was preceded by a service of common prayer at Washington's historic National City Christian Church.
During the service, Rev. Dr Michael Kinnamon, general secretary of the National Council of Churches USA, read the scripture, and Rev. Dr Sharon Watkins, general minister and president of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), delivered the sermon.
Awards
Rev. Bob Cilinski, pastor of All Saints Catholic Church in Manassas, Va., could not attend the dinner because he had promised to hear confessions of children he had helped prepare to receive first communion in his church. But Rev. Dr Jeffrey Carter read a citation honoring Cilinski's tireless efforts in ecumenical and interfaith communities, including his leadership in raising "deep concern over the lack of civil discourse and moral rationale when addressing issues related to illegal immigration in 2007 and 2008."
The Council of Churches of Greater Washington was awarded for its year-round food programmes for the hungry, professional development and job placement programmes, including special assistance for those released from incarceration, summer camps for children, and provision of toys for children at Christmas. "Despite the scope of the challenges facing people in Metropolitan Washington," said Rev. Dr Angelique Walker-Smith in presenting the award, "the leaders, members and friends of the Council of Churches of Greater Washington continue to do justice and to serve their neighbours. In the midst of their own internal process of renewal, the council finds ways to tap the gifts of compassion, generosity, advocacy and imagination as its members reveal God's promise of peace."
The Eco-Justice Programme staff of the National Council of Churches USA was awarded for providing the churches with "an on-going structure to work collaboratively on environmental issues." The citation, read by Dr David Hallman, United Church of Canada and WCC senior advisor on Climate Change, said, "over the past number of years, Cassandra Carmichael has led a staff in an expanded and yet focused engagement on a wide range of issues including biodiversity, climate change, consumerism, Earth Day, energy, environmental health, food and farmlands, green churches, liturgical resources, public lands and wilderness, and water conservation." The award is an example of young adult contributions to the work of peacemaking: the average age of this NCC team is 31.
The Global Priorities Campaign, an initiative that is facilitating practical ways to reduce unproductive military spending and increase effective spending on human needs, was cited for activities including "creating a process to establish international mechanisms that would greatly shrink nuclear arsenals and devote more spending on securing nuclear material and other forms of nuclear security." Presented by the Rev. Phil Jones, Church of the Brethren and co-chair of the US Conference Decade to Overcome Violence Committee, the award praised the Campaign for its "close links with religious, military and political leaders in the US and on the international level (for) stimulating extraordinary alliances that span the ideological spectrum." The Global Priorities Campaign is an international, interfaith movement of Muslims, Jews, Christians and other persons of good will. The WCC is part of the coalition.
The Women in Peacemaking Network (WIPNET) and "Pray the Devil Back to Hell" filmmakers Abigail Disney and Gini Reticker were cited for their work to confront violent warlords and the corrupt regime of Liberia President Charles Taylor, "standing resolute, using all the resources they could muster to win a long-sought peace in 2003." Lois McCullough Dauway presented the award to Janet Johnson Bryant, a journalist who reported on the Taylor regime when she worked for the Catholic radio station in Liberia. The citation read, "The women of Liberia are living proof that moral courage and non-violent resistance can succeed, even when the best efforts of traditional diplomacy have failed and in the face of violent forces." The film, "Pray the Devil Back to Hell," chronicles that story "and, in doing so, insures that an important moment in history is not lost."
More information on the 2008 annual meeting of the US Conference for the WCC
