FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NOVEMBER 29, 2000
Black
Catholics Celebrate
Human
Rights Day
On Sunday, December 10, 2000, people across
the world will commemorate Human Rights Day, established to remember the
adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
To mark this day the National Black
Catholic Apostolate for Life, will have a 6:30 PM Eucharistic Prayer Service at
the Holy Mother of God Chapel Shrine of Saint Josephine Bakhita located at St.
Clare Friary 440 West 36th Street Manhattan.
This year Black Catholics will be invited
through prayers and action to reflect on the human rights issues confronting
their sisters and brothers in Africa and in a special way the Sudanese.
The great injustice in Sudan is the fact that innocent civilians continue
to perish and are sold into slavery in the world's longest running civil war.
Prayers will also be offered for the seven
persons who died when a Sudanese military plane bombed the southern Sudanese
town of Narus on November 11, 2000.
Immediately following the Eucharistic
Prayer Service, Mr. Herbert Johnson, Associate Director of the Criminal Justice
Center- John Jay College and Father James Goode, OFM will lead a discussion on
the crisis in Sudan. The discussion
will center around the National Conference of Catholic Bishops' statement on
"Sudan's Cry for Peace," the Pastoral Statement from the Bishops of
Sudan and the "Sudan Reports" from the National Black Catholic
Apostolate for Life and the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus.
According to Father Goode, President of the
National Black Catholic Apostolate for Life and the National Black Catholic
Clergy Caucus, "recognizing the urgency and crisis in Sudan, we are asking
Black Catholics on Human Rights Day to embrace the Catholic Bishops statement
"Sudan's Cry for Peace," and counter this stark injustice with prayers
and action."
For more information and reservations: call
Solid Ground Franciscan Ministry and the Shrine of Saint Josephine Bakhita at
212 868-1847.