An Urgent Letter from the Bishop of Connecticut

Dear Companions in Christ Jesus:
Every one of us is aware of the relentless persecutions that have been the daily reality for people in Darfur for so many many months.

With clear evidence of genocide and the displacement of millions of people from their homes in Darfur, the governments of the world, and the United Nations, have failed to intervene effectively.

At our Annual Meeting on March 7, 2006, the Board of Directors of the Christian Conference of Connecticut, voted to join the Connecticut Coalition to Save Darfur.
In light of that commitment, and knowing the extreme need of the people of Darfur, I am writing to urge you to encourage two actions to the parishioners you serve.

The first is to publicize the rally to be held in Washington, D.C., on Sunday, April 30, in support of encouraging our government and others to collaborate in an international intervention to stop the killing and persecution of the people of Darfur.

The second is to encourage our members to contact our president and national legislators in writing, by fax if possible, to lead and support the formation of a worldwide response to the genocide in Darfur.

Information on the Washington D.C. rally and the Million Voices Campaign can be found at savedarfur.org.

Please use your email capabilities (before this weekend if possible!), and your bulletin and “announcement time” on Sunday to urge our members to go to Washington for the rally, and/or to write to persuade our elected leaders to provide the leadership that is so urgently needed.

Thanks, on behalf of the lives we can save, and the dignity and peace we can foster for the people of Darfur.

Yours in Christ,
The Rt. Rev. Andrew D. Smith
Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut
and President of the Christian Conference of Connecticut

[More can be learned on the internet about this conflict, of course. A place to start could be here, although this is by no means a definitive article. -ed.]