EMM Meets In Washington
Episcopal News Service. July 6, 1989 [89124]
WASHINGTON, D.C. (DPS, July 6) -- Under the banner of "Refugees and Human Rights/The Church's Call to Action," and with videotaped greetings from Presiding Bishop Edmond L. Browning, the Episcopal Migration Ministries (EMM) opened its annual network meeting (May 22-27) in Washington, D.C. The gathering included 96 volunteer Diocesan Refugee Coordinators (DRCs) and staff members of EMM's legalization and immigration service centers across the country.
After opening remarks by Marion M. (Marnie) Dawson, Executive Director of EMM, underlining the Presiding Bishop's vision of the Church's inclusive and compassionate servant ministry, the meeting featured presentations by human rights advocates, representatives of the United States government, and ecumenical partners, in recognition of the fortieth anniversary of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. Special emphasis was placed on the treatment of refugees and of people seeking political asylum from the perspective of international conventions governing human rights.
The formation of EMM as one of the Church's major program units -- it was previously part of the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief -- was an expression of the Presiding Bishop's commitment to the ministry of hospitality, a ministry offering dignity, new life, and hope to those people around the world whose rights have been violated and whose lives have been threatened.
In calling participants at the Washington meeting to live out their baptismal covenants, Dawson urged a broader understanding of the global issues that surround human-rights violations against some 12 to 14 million refugees around the world and three times that number of people who are displaced within their own countries.
The Palestinian refugee situation that has defied solution for 40 years was addressed by Jonathan Kuttab, founder and director of Law in Service of Man (Al Haq), and consultant to the Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem. Kuttab spoke of the suffering of Palestininan refugees and of the hope for a solution to their problems and the consequent political stabilization of neighboring states.
Luke Lee, who serves both the Episcopal Diocese of Washington's Committee on Peace and Justice and the State Department Bureau for Refugee Programs, joined with Sally Dresser of the EMM staff to describe a recent joint trip to the Occupied Territories in Israel. The Episcopal Church has long been active in seeing that the story of the Palestinian refugees is told.
The Ven. Gene Jennings, Archdeacon of the Diocese of West Texas, described the efforts of parishes on the Texas border to respond compassionately to the large number of Salvadorans, Guatemalans, and Nicaraguans entering the region. Parish efforts include keeping count of the refugee flow, monitoring the treatment the refugees receive from United States Immigration and Naturalization Service workers, and providing food, clothing, shelter, and community.
The concern of EMM for Palestinians and Central Americans was underscored by two Executive Council resolutions in February: one urging a generous and humane United States policy toward Central Americans fleeing civil strife and violence, and another urging the recognition of the basic human rights of Palestinians as refugees. These concerns were also on the agenda when the Presiding Bishop met with President Bush at the White House in May.
The EMM meeting heard a variety of other speakers addressing refugee concerns. Among them were Carl Harris, an Episcopal priest and Refugee Officer in the State Department; Richard Day, an Episcopalian from Wyoming and Minority Chief Counsel for the Subcommittee on Immigration and Refugee Affairs of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary; John Sewell, President of the Overseas Development Council; Rick Swartz, President of the National Immigration, Refugee, and Citizenship Forum; Msgr. Nicholas DiMarzio, Executive Director of Migration and Refugee Services for the United States Catholic Conference; Kathleen Ptlomey, Director of Refugee Programs for the Primate's Fund of the Anglican Church of Canada; Le Xuan Khoa, Director of the Indochina Resource Action Center; and Alexander Casella, Special Assistant to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (Geneva).
The highpoint of the EMM meeting was the Awards Banquet. The speaker was Jonathan Moore, United States Coordinator and Ambassadorat-large for Refugee Affairs. Moore, an Episcopalian, provided moral and ethical insights into the history and future of United States refugee and migration affairs. In his speech, challenging the Episcopal Church to stay with the cause of refugees worldwide -- "seize the opportunities," "inspire officialdom" -- he noted that "This crisis in emergency relief, care, and protection for refugees in first asylum threatens both humanitarian standards and United States policy achievements and long-range interests."
Special honors were given in several categories at the banquet. First, among those DRCs and dioceses serving faithfully since the first network meeting in 1981, awards went to Rosemary Goodman of the Diocese of El Camino Real, Gail Kowalski of Western New York, Sylvia Robles of Indianapolis, Nona Stewart of Central New York, Allan Hanson and Sr. Mary Stevens of Milwaukee, and Robin Teztloff of Southern Ohio.
In the area of legalization ministry, awards for outstanding achievement went to the following: St. Simon's Episcopal Church, Diocese of Los Angeles (Juana Mojica, Director); and to the Diocese of Chicago (Elena Van Treek, Director). The award for ministry to the undocumented was given to two parishes in Brownsville, Texas (Diocese of West Texas) -- the Church of the Advent and St. Paul's Mission.
Special staff awards went to Lori Seymour, Special Services Officer, who is leaving for refugee work in Thailand, and to Elizabeth Blunt, who has given seven of her 20-year service at the Episcopal Church Center to EMM.
EMM works with international, Anglican, and ecumenical partners and through local parishes and congregations across the United States. Parishes and congregations respond to those in need through sponsorship of refugee families, direct assistance to asylum seekers, care of displaced persons, migrants, and immigrants, and by giving for global refugee programs through the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief. In 1988, over 2,200 new arrivals to the United States -- a 76 percent increase in one year -- were resettled by the EMM network of caring congregations in 75 dioceses. More than 50,000 undocumented persons were assisted through the Legalization Program of EMM; the program is operative in 24 dioceses.
For more information, contact Episcopal Migration Ministries (EMM), Episcopal Church Center, 815 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10017.