ELCA NEWS SERVICE

December 12, 2008  

Global Priorities Campaign Receives 'Blessed Are The Peacemakers' Award
08-205-JD/WCC*

     WASHINGTON (ELCA) -- The United States Conference for the
World Council of Churches (WCC), at its 2008 annual meeting here,
presented the Global Priorities Campaign its "Blessed Are the
Peacemakers" Award for its work in redefining global needs.
     Dennis W. Frado, director, Lutheran Office for World
Community (LOWC), and member of the campaign, accepted the award
on behalf of Global Priorities.  The LOWC represents the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Lutheran World
Federation at the United Nations headquarters in New York.
     The Global Priorities Campaign is an interreligious effort
to change budget priorities by facilitating practical ways to
reduce unproductive military spending and increase effective
spending on human needs. The WCC cited it for activities
including "creating a process to establish international
mechanisms that would greatly shrink nuclear arsenals and devote
more spending on securing nuclear material and other forms of
nuclear security."
     Upon receiving the award, Frado said, "My colleagues and I
are very grateful for this recognition and hope that it will lead
to the expansion of our network as we seek to reduce military
spending and increase funding for social and economic development
in our national budget, and with respect to other national
budgets."
     Presented by the Rev. Phil Jones, Church of the Brethren and
co-chair of the U.S. Conference Decade to Overcome Violence
Committee, the award praised the campaign for its "close links
with religious, military and political leaders in the United
States and on the international level (for) stimulating
extraordinary alliances that span the ideological spectrum."
     After a series of consultations in Geneva beginning in 2001
with the support of the Ford Foundation and U.S. and European
church institutions, Global Priorities has been developing a
network among the WCC Office of the Decade to Overcome Violence,
the Catholic Church, the Lutheran World Federation and many other
religious institutions.
     The "Blessed are the Peacemakers" awards are an annual
tradition of the U.S. Conference to recognize the contributions
of local, national and international peacemakers. The awards were
first given in 2004 as a part of the U.S. focus on the WCC's
Decade to Overcome Violence.
---
     *Information for this release was provided by the World
Council of Churches

     More information about the Global Priorities Campaign is at
http://www.globalpriorities.org on the Web.


For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask]
http://www.elca.org/news
ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog