[Oe List ...] Sunday night CNN compassion forum

[Janice Ulangca]

See below this announcement for info on the interesting Faith in Public Life group.
Janice Ulangca

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COMPASSION FORUM: At 8 p.m. (ET) on Sunday, April 13 Faith in Public Life will sponsor its first national Compassion Forum featuring Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, to be broadcast live on CNN from Messiah College near Harrisburg, PA. Republican candidate John McCain was invited but has declined due to a scheduling conflict, and will conduct his own compassion tour later, reported David Brody of Christian Broadcasting Network. 

CNN Election Center anchor Campbell Brown and Newsweek editor and Newsweek.com election anchor Jon Meacham will co-moderate the 90-minute forum. Faith in Public Life spokeswoman Katie Barge said the forum will consist of wide-ranging and probing discussions of policies related to pressing moral issues that are bridging ideological divides now more than ever, including poverty, global AIDS, climate change and human rights. Leading up to The Compassion Forum, chief national correspondent John King will anchor live special coverage beginning at 10 p.m. (ET) on Saturday, April 12. Special coverage immediately following the forum on Sunday, will feature analysis from commentators across the faith and ideological spectrum. Faith in Public Life defines itself as "a resource center for justice and the common good," founded by diverse American faith groups to strengthen their public witness. 

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>From the web site of the sponsoring organization, "Faith in Public Life":
It was founded in Dec. 2004 when religious leaders from Christian Catholic, Protestant (both evangelical and "mainline"), and Jewish leaders met. 
"Jim Wallis, Rabbi David Saperstein, Rev. Jim Forbes, Rev. Bob Edgar, Sr. Catherine Pinkerton, Rev. C. Welton Gaddy, and Rev. Timothy McDonald -- gathered in Washington, DC to confront the challenges facing the burgeoning social justice faith movement. They recognized the critical need for increased and effective collaboration, coordination, and communication on the national, state and local level. The meeting resulted in the creation of Faith in Public Life -- a permanent organization providing critical organizing and communications resources to strengthen diverse faith movements that share a call to pursue justice and the common good. 




Why A Resource Center?
"Faith in Public Life provides organizing and communications resources to diverse faith leaders and organizations in support of justice and the common good. As a resource center, our tools and services are intended to build capacity among partners, enabling each to maximize reach and mission impact. We build bridges between faiths; provide common space for discussion; encourage collaboration and the formation of non-traditional alliances; and offer non-finite communications and organizing tools and services. Faith in Public Life aims to build a nationwide infrastructure designed to ensure faith communities are actively engaged and included in public discourse."

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Note: The Faith in Public Life web site is interesting.  Staff, board members and advisory board members include clergy, Catholic sisters, and laity with experience in: 
  a.. political campaign (John Edwards) 
  b.. denominational UN representative 
  c.. professional communication expertise 
  d.. lobbying on behalf of a faith tradition 
  e.. leadership in African-American and Hispanic networks 
  f.. organizing a statewide ecumenical clergy network for peace/justice issues.  
They come from Presbyterian, United Methodist, Catholic, Reform Jewish, Muslim, UCC, Episcopal, Unitarian, and "Sojourners" (Jim Wallis' evangelical group) - backgrounds.

In addition to aiding groups working on particular issues (according to testimonials), they are actively mapping faith-related groups in every state that are working for "justice and the common good".  I checked the searchable map on their web site;  they have 129 groups listed in New York State, ranging from local congregations to headquarters for national organizations.

Janice Ulangca
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