Posted on 08/16/2005 12:57:52 PM PDT by areafiftyone
New York, August 16, 2005 – The General Secretary of the National Council of Churches is urging President Bush to join with Gold Star families and religious leaders in an interfaith prayer service outside the Bush ranch at noon (CDT) Friday,
The prayer service has been called by Gold Star mother Cindy Sheehan “as an opportunity for Americans and others across the world to pray for our soldiers in Iraq, their families and in particular the mothers of our fallen.”
Sheehan, along with United Methodist laywoman Celeste Zappala and other Gold Star mothers, has been waiting outside the Bush compound to meet with the President since his five-week vacation began.
“I urge the President and the First Lady to join this brief and simple service,” said the Rev. Dr. Bob Edgar, NCC General Secretary. Edgar visited the Gold Star mothers and their families outside the presidential ranch and conducted a worship service on August 12. The visit was at the invitation of his fellow United Methodist, Celeste Zappala, whose son Sherwood was killed in Iraq.
“This war, like any war, has generated terrible losses, immense pain and sharp divisions in our country,” Edgar said. “Each day we see the pain in the faces of the Gold Star mothers and their families. It’s evident that President Bush, who has faced agonizing decisions in this war, feels the pain as well.”
“Whether or not we agree with Mr. Bush’s decisions,” Edgar said, “and whether or not he agrees with us, we can agree that we’re all feeling a heavy burden of grief. Let’s suspend the rhetoric for a few minutes on Friday and join together – commander-in-chief and families of the fallen – to seek strength from the God who sustains us all.”
In an open letter to religious leaders August 15, Sheehan urged those who cannot attend to host a prayer vigil in their cities. “We ask you to join us in a simultaneous moment of silent prayer to honor all who have been affected by this war.”
The service will take place at “Camp Casey,” an impromptu encampment outside the Bush compound named for Sheehan’s son, Casey Sheehan, who was killed in Baghdad on April 4, 2004. Camp Casey, which displays white crosses named for those who have been killed in Iraq, has become a gathering place for Gold Star families and their supporters.
The full text of the Sheehan August 15 letter to religious letters follows:
Dear Religious Leader:
Family members of fallen soldiers, who have joined me in Crawford, and I invite you to attend a moment of silent prayer at 12:00 noon (Central Daylight Time) this Friday, August 19th at Camp Casey just outside the Presidents’ Ranch. We’re holding this moment of prayer as an opportunity for Americans and others across the world to pray for our soldiers in Iraq, their families and in particular the mothers of our fallen. We have also invited President Bush and the first lady to join us in praying for the troops.
Several family members of fallen soldiers have joined with me in Crawford and will take part in the moment of silent prayer. Outside the President’s ranch we have set up a temporary camp named “Camp Casey” and a memorial of crosses with names of fallen soldiers has been erected, which is where the prayer service will take place.
If you cannot attend our service in Crawford, Texas please consider hosting a prayer vigil in your city. We ask you to join us in a simultaneous moment of silent prayer to honor all who have been affected by this war. You are welcome to contact your local media and inform them of your vigil.
My son, Casey Sheehan, 24, of Vacaville, Calif., died in Baghdad, Iraq, on April 4, 2004, when his unit was attacked with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas. When President Bush began his 5 week vacation, I decided to camp outside his ranch in hopes of meeting with him to ask some unanswered questions about the war and the needless loss of lives of so many. Thus far the President has refused to meet, but my resolve is strong and I will remain in Crawford until the meeting takes place or his vacation ends.
Thank you in advance for your consideration and support of this interfaith prayer service.
Respectfully,
Cindy Sheehan
Mother of Casey Sheehan
Picture courtesy of Lone Star Iconoclast.
If you plan to go to Crawford, travel logistics provided by the Sheehan support team can be found here
Contact: NCC News, Philip E. Jenks, 212-870-2252,
How could he? He barely had a leg to stand on.
Cal Thomas has in interesting piece at Townhall.com
His premise is have a public meeting with Iraqi's and the rest of her family with Sec Rumsfeld to name a few
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/calthomas/ct20050815.shtml
Right--but we don't base our actions on the babbling of lunatics.
I wonder if they will import an Ayatollah from iran to lead the prayer vigil?
Yes, but they are too little to enlarge. The detail is gone. We need a good copy for posters etc. She removed the evidence so that it couldn't be disbursed.
I'm presently teaching 160 students at a well-known university in a fairly conservative-to-middle-ground history department. I belong to two social clubs, two martial arts schools, and train therapy dogs. I listen to all of them speak, and keep my mouth shut.
W's support is slipping like pants off a buttless beggar.
And you would get the same scripted answers she gives regardless of what the question is.
Wasn't he a peach? (still is!)
I sure remember the long lines at the pumps! Carter just about killed the farming industry as well. Seems he would fit right in with mother sheehan. Idiots all!
Who are they praying to, Satan?
I'll bet you thought Bush was going to lose last Nov. too. And that he had better do something about the crippled ex-Senator rolling in for Kerry too.
Short of running a herd of longhorns over this dingbat's camp nothing will "shut this lady up" certainly not ANOTHER meeting with her.
Nor will it stop the RATmedia from publicizing her antics.
And you are wrong if you believe she is not being dismantled and pointed out as a lying hypocrit.
Quacks are outside the White House every single day should Bush meet with "Transexuals for Wind Power" next?
who does Cal's hair? Shinola?
Baal?
I'd just as soon have Jon Stewart as a source of information as Rush Limbaugh. It's about as reliable.
I listen to people speak--literally hundreds every day, of all ages and colors. That's my source of information.
If the Secret Service is worth their salt, they won't let our Commander-In-Chief within 100 yards of those seditionous bastards. Cindy Sheehan has just the right mentality to morph into a latter day Squeaky Fromme with a dynamite bomb belt.
Don't think the thought hasn't crossed her mind. I'd bet the rent that it has.
I believe they include the Episcopal Church, the United Methodist Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, the United Churches of Christ, and the Presbyterian Church of the USA, among others, the Unitarians perhaps.
Please withhold the high school fault-finding.
He met with anyone who was getting national attention, like Cindy Sheehan is at present. He was brilliant that way, and charming as a snake.
This is why Bush should never have had any of his aides meet with her, or refer to her during his press conference.
By given her attention, he made her newsorthy.
It was amateurish and stupid on the part of the White House.
This is just like the NAACP. Both Sheehan and Julian Bond go all over television saying the most hateful, nasty, personal things about the President, way beyond just criticising his policy, and then they act shocked that he doesn't want to come to their little party to be viciously attacked in person. And the press acts like Bush is being the unreasonable one in this regard.
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