REACHING OUT. . .
REPORT FROM LA BORGOÑA
Janet Melcher, Don Walker and I were proud to represent LUMC on our annual visit to La Borgoña, Nicaragua. The loving greeting they give to us is clearly intended for all of you who do so much to assist them in their struggle against poverty and injustice.

On the one hand, you should know that families are eating, people are becoming healthier, and in a land where the literacy rate is spiraling downward, we've tripled the rate of La Borgoña students attending secondary school and doubled the rate attending college. On the other hand, introducing resources and opportunities creates the possibility for jealousy, dependency, misunderstandings, misappropriation of funds, and undue authority being centralized in the hands of those who manage the resources we provide.

We're completing the fifth year of the effort the Nicaragua committee asked LUMC to embark upon. We're critically evaluating the impact of our assistance, examining the issue of dependence/independence, and trying to craft a proposal for the future relationship between La Borgoña and LUMC. In May or June, I plan to issue a report reviewing the many aspects of our relationship since 1991.

   —Bob Miner
Pictures and more reports about La Borgoña are available here.

“JEWISH VOICES ON PEACEMAKING IN THE HOLY LAND”

A conference of this name is being sponsored by the NE Friends of Sabeel North America and the Society for Biblical Studies. This program will be held Sunday, March 3, 2002 from 1:00–6:30 p.m. and on March 4th from 9:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. at the Belmont United Methodist Church, 421 Common St., Belmont, MA. The March 3rd program will be a lecture format and the March 4th program will be an interactive workshop with the presenters.
The conference will feature Rabbi Jeremy Milgrom from the Rabbis for Human rights, Jerusalem; Prof. Norman Finkelstein of DePaul University; Prof. Norton Mezvinsky of Central Connecticut State University; and Carolyn Toll Oppenheim, director of Friends of Open House.

To register or obtain more information, one can go online at www.sbsedu.org or contact the Society for Biblical Studies at 781-641-4453.  Advance registration is $40 and on site registration is $50.

RECONCILING MINISTRY

The NE Conference Reconciling Ministry Task Force will hold a gathering on Saturday March 23 (10 to 3pm) at the United Parish of Auburndale. Rev Susan will give an update on the recently organized Church Within a Church movement. 

MFSA RETREAT

The Annual Spring MFSA (Methodist Federation for Social Action) retreat is scheduled for Saturday April 20, 10am to 3pm at the LUMC. The theme of the retreat is Israel/Palestine Justice: Is it possible? Keynote speaker will be Rami Khoury, Palestinian journalist, lecturer, author, and former editor of the Jordan Times.

LUMC-ACT

We have all been inspired at times to express our opinions to our elected politicians on matters of concern to us. Too often, the inspiration does not survive the effort to find an appropriate address, and the communication is never sent.

The Outreach Committee wants to help by introducing LUMC-ACT! This is the name of a list of postal, e-mail, and web addresses, as well as phone and fax numbers, of our federal and state politicians who need to hear from us on matters we consider urgent. It consists of a page of federal officials, senators, and congressmen, and another with local state politicians. In addition, there is a page listing URL web addresses for Internet Resources On Government, Elections, and Peace.

Where will you find LUMC-ACT? On the LUMC web site, of course, through the courtesy of our webmaster, Rainer von Saleski! Just visit www.lexumc.org/LUMC-ACT.htm. You may copy and paste names and addresses from this list into your word processor, or use the active hyperlinks to send quick e-mail messages or visit web sites. If you would like a hard copy, it’s in the March newsletter, and the entire file may be downloaded in Word 2000 format.

Please check out this new resource and give us your feedback! We would appreciate your comments that would make it as useful as possible.

—For the Outreach Committee by Bill Santelmann