Churches To President: 'Bring Us More Refugees'
Episcopal News Service. July 12, 1979 [79218]
New York -- On the day that President Carter was doubling the admission quota for refugees, a broad spectrum of Church leaders met the press in New York to give assurance that they were ready and able to settle as many as could come in.
Leaders of the Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and evangelical communities said they are urging the U.S. government to speed up the refugee admission process.
The religious community gives blanket assurance that they will resettle any number of refugees that are admitted, said Cardinal Terence Cooke of New York, who presided at the press conference.
Presiding Bishop John M. Allin of the Episcopal Church was out of the country to preside at an episcopal consecration but issued a statement throwing the full weight of the 3-million member church behind the joint appeal. Noting that "we cannot sit idle as these refugees face an uncertain fate, deprived of the elemental human right of a safe haven," he said: "We call upon all those concerned with this human tragedy to join actively in sharing the resources available to the religious community in assisting in finding a home for these refugees."
Participating in the press conference were the Rev. Paul McCleary, executive director of Church World Service, relief arm of the National Council of Churches; Dr. George F. Harkins, general secretary, Lutheran Council in the U.S.A.: the Rev. T. Grady Mangham Jr., director of World Relief Refugee Services of the National Association of Evangelicals; Rabbi Marc H. Tanenbaum, national Interreligious Affairs Director of the American Jewish Committee; and Cardinal Cooke.
Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who was in the U. S. to establish new convents of her Missionary Sisters of Charity, made a surprise appearance at the press conference and pledged the support of her order.
She said "the immediate need now is to get a group of people together, with loving hands and loving hearts," to rescue the refugees drowning on the South China Sea and help ease the suffering of the thousands of refugees crowded in temporary camps.
"I am willing to give some of our sisters," Mother Teresa said. "Let us go into the sea and pick up the people..." She called on people of all faiths around the world to unite to solve the emergency.
The religious leaders said they welcomed President Carter's decision to double the number of refugees admitted to the U.S. from 7,000 a month to 14,000. "We are now eager for Congress to act and follow up on the President's call." Dr. Harkness said. "We stand ready. We are experienced. We are going ahead."
Nine voluntary resettlement agencies currently are jointly cooperating with the U.S. State Department under the umbrella of the American Council of Voluntary Agencies. Included are the U.S. Catholic Conference's Migration and Refugee Service; Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, International Rescue Committee, Church World Service, Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, and the evangelical relief agency which officially joined the council this year. Catholics have resettled about 45 percent of all refugees admitted to the U. S.
In a joint statement issued at the press conference, the religious leaders said: "We -- Roman Catholics, Protestant, Evangelicals, Lutherans, Anglicans, Eastern Orthodox, Jews of all denominations -- face a direct test of our shared belief in the dignity of human beings, created in the sacred image of God."
"Refugees will continue to die in the thousands unless the world community responds," they said. "American Christians and Jews -- the largest organized bodies of American citizens -- call on President Carter and leaders of other governments to do everything in their power to meet this vast human catastrophe now. "
They urged President Carter, the U.S. State Department, congressmen, and United Nations Secretary Kurt Waldheim to take the following actions:
- "1. Double the U.S. quota for refugees admitted to long-term residence from 7,000 to 14,000 on an ongoing basis and to promote increased admissions of Indochinese refugees by other countries, both those that now admit these refugees and those that have up to now excluded them.
- "2. To establish transit camps or other temporary safe havens for those now drifting in the South China Sea.
- "3. To expedite movement, by United States military transport if necessary, for thousands of refugees already cleared by United States immigration authorities and waiting to join their sponsors in this country.
"The United States Churches and religious groups have resettled approximately 75 percent of the 210,000 Indochinese refugees who have to date come to our country," the statement continued. "Our Christian and Jewish communities will continue their unfaltering support for answering the needs of refugees and their offers of sponsorship which are the gifts of life itself."