In the wake of recent shootings in Gilroy, Calif., in the Texas communities of El Paso and Odessa and in Dayton, Ohio, and with the advent of the Season of Peace, the Compassion, Peace & Justice Ministry programs of the Presbyterian Mission Agency (PMA) are providing congregations and mid-councils a robust package of resources to help congregations put thoughts and prayers about gun violence into obedient action.
In addition to worship and workshops — and even some hiking, kayaking and gardening — Presbyterians for Earth Care handed out awards at last week’s national conference.
of Nebraska in 1949, Lois Kroehler heard about a short-term opportunity to travel to Cuba to work as an English language secretary for a Cuban church executive. She had planned to teach Spanish after college and reasoned that a couple years of translation work would improve her Spanish, particularly grammar and vocabulary.
“After those two years, the Cuban church invited me to stay,” Kroehler said in a 1998 interview with Democracy Now!, an independent nonprofit news organization in Washington, D.C. “So, I actually became a missionary at the invitation of the Cuban church.”
Missionary, music teacher and composer, choir director, Christian educator … Lois Kroehler embraced Cuba, and accompanying the Cuban people became her passion. Kroehler died Aug. 4 at age 91.
Nearly 400 people took part in Tuesday’s Office of Public Witness webinar offering listeners, among other suggestions, tips on how to respond to people seeking asylum or refuge in the United States — and ways to lobby their member of Congress to alter the laws and budgets that impact people fleeing their country for a new life in the U.S.
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (WPCU) was celebrated Jan. 18–25 at the Presbyterian Center of the PC(USA) with the theme: “Justice, Only Justice, You Shall Pursue” (Deut. 16:20). We were invited to share intentional prayers with our ecumenical friends from around the world. The theme this year pointed to the hunger many have for a more just world. This year, our friends from Indonesia invited us to pray for them, for each other and for those suffering around the world. More information is available at geii.org/week_of_prayer_for_christian_unity/welcome/invitation.html.
The Universal Day of Prayer for Students has been celebrated since the late 19th century. But the events of last February have given this year’s observance a special sense of urgency in the eyes of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship.
For hours, Fossil Free PCUSA representatives lay scattered across the floor outside of the convention hall at the 223rd General Assembly in St. Louis last week. The “die-in” was in response to the commissioners’ decision to accept a minority report asking the Committee on Mission Responsibility Through Investment (MRTI) to continue its engagement with fossil fuel companies.
With 36,000 Americans dying from gun violence last year, the General Assembly gathering of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in St. Louis June 16-23 will reaffirm church policies for gun reform. Hopefully, Presbyterians will leave with new resources and a new resolve to take action at home to prevent gun violence. The 223rd General Assembly marks 50 years of Presbyterian statements on the need for legislative action to curb gun violence, beginning in 1968.
