Lutherans Plan to Visit Vieques March 22-25

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. H. George Anderson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), will head a delegation of church leaders and staff to Puerto Rico, in response to an invitation of ELCA members there concerned about the live ammunition and bombing practices of the U.S. Navy on Vieques, an island eight miles east of Puerto Rico. The delegation will visit Puerto Rico March 22-24.
"The people of Puerto Rico have expressed overwhelmingly their desire for the U.S. Navy to cease operations on Vieques," said Anderson in a letter to the 5.15 million-member ELCA. "The use of the island [by U.S. military personnel] has depressed the local economy, damaged the environment and affected the health of the people of Vieques," he said.
An objective of the delegation's visit to Puerto Rico is to support members of the ELCA Caribbean Synod and "listen to the cry of people on Puerto Rico and their families living on Vieques," said the Rev. Gregory J. Villalon, director for ethnic leadership development, ELCA Division for Ministry, and former bishop of the ELCA Caribbean Synod. Villalon is a member of the delegation.
Another objective of the delegation is to demonstrate the church's solidarity with the people of Puerto Rico and Vieques, according to Villalon. "They are not alone in their struggle. The church is listening, advocating, working and praying for a just solution by intensifying its efforts to meet with all people," he said.
The delegation plans to visit Vieques on March 23. They will meet with the island's government officials, residents, clergy and lay members of the ELCA.
Villalon said the ELCA Caribbean Synod has been very active in participating with other Christian denominations in supporting a fair and just solution "to the complicated problem" on Vieques.
"We seek a solution that will be fair to the people and not jeopardize the security of the United States," he said.
In 1999, the ELCA Churchwide Assembly adopted a resolution that called on the U.S. government "to seek reasonable solutions" that will end all U.S. military operations on Vieques. The resolution asked that the land be returned to the people of the island "while not compromising our nation's security."
The assembly asked the ELCA Division for Church in Society, through the Lutheran Office for Governmental Affairs (LOGA), to "encourage the U.S. government to seek reasonable solutions." LOGA is the ELCA's federal public policy advocacy office in Washington, D.C.
In a statement issued May 11, 2000, members of the Caribbean Synod said, "Our plea to ... the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is to pray and witness to the gospel with us. We need the ELCA, motivated by a sense of compassionate solidarity, to take sides with the oppressed people of Vieques and leap into this struggle with us, firmly and positively, pro justice and human rights."
The ELCA Caribbean Synod, with offices in Dorado, Puerto Rico, is made up of 6,783 Lutherans in 26 congregations.
The Rev. Francisco L. Sosa, bishop of the ELCA Caribbean Synod, met with Anderson and more than 20 Spanish-speaking leaders and staff of the churchwide organization here Oct. 5. The group worked to determine ways in which the church can continue its effort to bring an end to U.S. military training on Vieques. During the meeting, Sosa invited Anderson and others to visit Vieques in Spring 2001.
Leaders who plan to travel with Anderson and Villalon are the Rev. Donald J. McCoid, bishop for the ELCA Southwestern Pennsylvania Synod, Pittsburgh, and chair of the ELCA Conference of Bishops; the Rev. Russell O. Siler, director for LOGA; Evelyn B. Soto, director for multicultural resource production, ELCA Division for Congregational Ministries; the Rev. Eric C. Shafer, director, ELCA Department for Communication; and Melissa O. Ramirez, associate director for news, Department for Communication.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
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