HCEF Establishes First HCSN Committee in Mississippi

25-Nov-08
HCEF
Contact: Zachary Wales, Communications Director
301-951-9400 ext 211
news@hcef.org

Energized from a recent success at Harvard's St. Paul Parish in Cambridge, MA, the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation (HCEF) made inroads into Mississippi over the weekend at Fondren Presbyterian Church in Jackson, the state's capital. Delivering his signature presentation, The Living Stones: Palestinian Christians, Witnesses of Christ in the Holy Land, HCEF President/CEO, Rateb Rabie, KCHS, addressed an ecumenical audience of Presbyterians, Catholics, Methodists and Baptists, encouraging them to form the Hospitality State's first Holy Land Support Network (HCSN) committee.

Rabie spoke at Fondren's Session Hall on Saturday, November 22 before a public audience, and again on the following day before the church's combined youth and adult Sunday school classes. HCEF's visit coincided with the installation of Fondren's new minister, Rev. Morris A. Taylor, Jr., who attended the presentation and lent his blessing to HCEF's work. During his installation ceremony later that day, Rev. Taylor donned a hand-embroidered stole from the Holy Land, bearing the Jerusalem cross, which HCEF's Rabie had given him as a gift. "We were very grateful today to learn about the plight of the Palestinian Christians from our friends from the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation," Rev. Taylor said after his sermon that day, which centered on Matthew 25:31-46.

Left to right: Zachary Wales, HCEF Communications Director; Linda Powell, HCSN-Mississippi Committee Chair; Rev. Morris A. Taylor, Jr.; Rateb Rabie, HCEF President/CEO

In his presentations, Rabie appealed to the audiences, saying, "All of our roots go back to the Holy Land, and we all share a Mother Church in Jerusalem. But it is we Christians who bring Jesus' message of reconciliation, and this is essential for peace between all people of the Holy Land." (To view a video of Rabie's opening remarks at Fondren, click here.)

Inspired by HCEF's message of peace and reconciliation, Fondren member Linda Powell volunteered to chair the first HCSN-Mississippi committee. "Fondren has a proud history in Mississippi's civil rights movement, so it was fitting to host a group that supports the oppressed," said Powell, who hopes to work with other denominations throughout the state by garnering support for a Holy Land Pilgrimage, and other HCEF programs. Other new HCSN members include Powell's spouse, Dan, Rev. Rims and Judy Barber, Glenn and Betty Gentry, and high school student, Catherine Carroon, who volunteered to launch a HCSN youth initiative. Mississippians interested in joining the HCSN may contact Powell at lpowell@hcef.org. For general information, please contact Zachary Wales at news@hcef.org or 301-951-9400 ext. 211.

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HCEF Establishes First HCSN Committee in Mississippi