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Thanksgiving Service for Refugees at Los Angeles

Diocesan Press Service. November 7, 1975 [75385]

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Over 500 persons took part in the first service of its kind held in St. Paul's Cathedral (Episcopal) here on Sunday, October 26. It was a service offered "in Thanksgiving for the life and presence in our midst of Southeast Asian Refugees."

Presiding at the afternoon Solemn Eucharist was the Rt. Rev. Robert C. Rusack, Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Los Angeles.

Also the preacher at the occasion, Bishop Rusack set the thanksgiving theme for the day: "We are met in the Cathedral to render thanks and praise that to our midst have come people of South East Asia -- coming to our shores from the South Pacific seeking a haven from oppression. " He added, in addressing the refugee members of the congregation, "We pray that you will find, as did our forebears, the opportunity for new work, new life, new hope. "

Reading the Old Testament lesson at the service was Mrs. Donald E. Wilbert, St. Mary's Church, Laguna Beach, and chairman of the Commission on Southeast Asian Refugees of the Diocese of Los Angeles. The epistle was read in Vietnamese by Lt. Col. Long Van Nguyen, head of a Vietnamese family being sponsored by St. Anselm's Church, Garden Grove. The Rev. Samir J. Habiby, rector of St. Anselm's Church, read the gospel. Fr. Habiby is currently the West Coast Coordinator of the South East Asian Refugee Resettlement Program of the Episcopal Church. To do this work, he is taking a several months' leave of absence from his parish duties. He conceived the idea of the service and then organized it.

The outstanding work of the office and of its director was praised by the Rt. Rev. John M. Allin, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, in a recent letter to Bishop Rusack. He said, "This is just the kind of partnership in mission that we are hoping can be carried on in many areas of the Church and we are making plans to publicize this particular example as widely as possible.. .."

To date, the West Coast Office has implemented the sponsorship of over 600 refugees from Southeast Asia. It does its work in representing the Episcopal Church officially in refugee resettlement work on the West Coast largely through assisting Episcopal Church parishes and dioceses in sponsorship of refugees. It works in cooperation with other agencies and conducts an extensive educational program through establishing public forums and providing information to the media and to civic groups.