Proposed Progressive Presbyterian Programs
for the 218^th General Assembly (2008)
San Jose, CA

[Posted 10-22-07]

See the official Proposed Docket at http://www.pcusa.org/ga218/docket.pdf

Included in this calendar-in-process are some of the major official events (but not all of them), and events being planned by

Not yet heard from are:

The events planned by these progressive groups are printed in italics.

Details on planned events (as they are made available)

Presbyterian Peace Fellowship Breakfast -- Wednesday, 6:45 am.

The Peace Breakfast Speaker is Jonathan Kuttab, a Palestinian Christian from Jerusalem.

Jonathan Kuttab, a leading human rights lawyer in Israel and Palestine, was born in West Jerusalem and raised there and in Bethlehem. After the Six Day War, Kuttab's family moved to the United States, where he graduated from Messiah College and earned his law degree from the University of Virginia. After practicing with a Wall Street law firm for several years, in 1980 Kuttab returned to his homeland where he continues to handle cases that have both Israeli and Palestinian officials squirming.

Kuttab co-founded the Jerusalem-based Palestinian Center for the Study of Nonviolence, the West Bank affiliate of the International Commission of Jurists, AI-Haq; and the Mandela Institute for Political Prisoners.

We also will be honoring our 2007 Peaceseeker Awardees, Beth Pyles and Anita Davis, who worked with Christian Peacemaker Teams in Iraq. 

The recipient of the 2008 Peaceseeker Award is Gary L. Cozette, who is program director of the Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America (CRLN), a 600-member network of both lay and clergy leaders who together work for human rights, justice and peace in Latin America. Prior to this, Gary served as a Presbyterian Church (USA) lay mission worker in El Salvador from 1984-1987 doing human rights reporting from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Salvador to an ecumenical urgent action network in North America. Gary has led over 30 delegations of religious and community leaders to Latin America, including delegations to El Salvador with three current and past members of Congress from Illinois (1989), Cuba with the Illinois Conference of Churches (2000), and Colombia with Chicago area African-American leaders (2003).  Previously, Gary has served on the Board of Governors of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) as well as the board of CRISPAZ in El Salvador. 

 

Gary currently serves on the Board of Directors of Latin America Working Group (LAWG), to which the PC(USA) Washington Office belongs.  Gary is also co-chair of the Chicago Presbytery "Congregations in Solidarity with Latin American” Mission Team, a project that currently links Chicago area Presbyterians to the struggle for justice, peace and human rights of Latin American Presbyterians, African descendants, and human rights defenders – especially in Colombia.  Gary lives in Chicago with his spouse of 18 years, Joseph M. Lada.

 

We will also be having Conversations at the Peace Fellowship Booth in the exhibit hall.
 

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1.  We want to share our concerns and views with commissioners and others attending the Assembly, and with anyone else who is watching from afar.  While some of our groups focus on one area of concern and others are more general in their focus, we are all committed to the wholeness of our world, which we understand to involve justice and peace and the well-being of all people; and we are committed to the wholeness and health of our Church and its witness and service in the world.

2.  We want to get to know you better and serve your concerns and needs in any way we can.  So we will invite you to share your views with us and with one another with any email responses or questions.  We'll invite your responses with links here and there, and we'll try to post those that seem to contribute to our conversations.  Just send a note now, and tell us how we can be helpful!