CHEVY CHASE, Md. -- Members of a peace commission heard on Oct. 8 that the Episcopal Church can play a crucial role on the issue of international debt.
"There's a tremendous potential in the Episcopal Church to influence public policy," said David Beckmann, President of Bread for the World. "It's a small church, but a it has a lot of people who are well-wired."
The Standing Commission on Anglican & International Peace with Justice Concerns met on Oct. 7-10 at the National 4-H Center in Chevy Chase, but opened only its meeting on Oct. 8 to journalists.
Episcopalians can help sway key Congressional leaders whose support will be necessary to win debt relief in Congress, Beckmann said.
The struggle to persuade Congress is hampered by the view that "Africa is not important to us," Beckmann said. Episcopalians could have "a tremendous influence" in countering this view by sending letters encouraging Congress to support debt relief, he said.
Bread for the World promotes policies aimed at alleviating hunger in the U.S. and abroad. Beckmann, a Lutheran, now attends Christ Episcopal Church in Alexandria, Va.
The Episcopal Church's belonging to the Anglican Communion also strengthens its influence. Anglican bishops, many from debt-plagued nations in Africa, embraced a broad agenda for debt relief during the Lambeth Conference. "The Anglican Communion really has been in the forefront," Beckmann said.
Beckmann described the unfairness of unequal relationships between debtors and creditors, with the absence of anything equivalent to an international bankruptcy court.
"There's no Chapter 11 for countries," he told the commission.
Lambeth has called for the United Nations to establish a Mediation Council for negotiating debt relief.
*Let's go to the video*
Commission member Brian Sellers-Peterson of the Diocese of Olympia brought the commission a video produced by Christian Aid, a British organization. The video featured Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey endorsing debt relief.
The video also contained a powerful and poignant interview with an African woman and her young son, who cannot afford to go to school, reportedly because the International Monetary Fund has forced their country to start charging for some of the cost of public education.
A showing of the video during a plenary session at Lambeth outraged World Bank President James Wolfensohn. The video's characterization of The World Bank "as the epicenter of debt problems which create all the problems of the world is neither fair nor correct," Wolfensohn told the bishops in a speech after the video.
The Christian Aid video asserts that the 52 poorest countries bear a debt burden of $165 billion.
Thomas Hart, Director of Government Relations for the Episcopal Church, said that level of debt probably could be written off for about 10 to 15 percent of the face value, or about $15 billion. "Now you're talking about manageable [sums of] money," he told the commission.
*Postponing sexuality talks*
During a meeting in March, the commission postponed discussing the Kuala Lumpur Statement on Human Sexuality. Members preferred to wait until after Lambeth to discuss the statement. The General Convention of 1997, facing a resolution that asked it to affirm the Kuala Lumpur Statement, instead referred it to the commission.
The Kuala Lumpur Statement, adopted by 80 bishops from the global South in February 1997, endorses the Church's historic teaching stand on sexuality, rejecting support for homosexual marriages and ordaining noncelibate homosexuals.
Peace commission members voiced no interest on Oct. 8 in the Kuala Lumpur Statement -- or the orthodox Lambeth statement on sexuality. Members said privately that they would address the question before the end of 1999.
The peace commission, like other interim bodies in the Episcopal Church, will prepare a report and any proposed resolutions by the end of 1999.
Commissioners' recommendations will depend, to a great degree, on any progress toward debt forgiveness for the poorest countries, Trichel said.
The peace commission also devoted much of its attention to the issue of religious persecution around the world, bringing in a number of outside speakers for briefings.
Alexandra Arriaga, a State Department official, spoke about the Clinton Administration's growing efforts to support religious freedom around the world.
Diane Knippers of the Institute on Religion and Democracy spoke on the need to develop a movement to protest the persecution and genocide of Christians in the Sudan.
David Aikman, a former correspondent for *Time* magazine and now a Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, described the persecution of the underground, unofficial church in China.
Debt relief, however, probably will remain at the top the commission's agenda, according to Madeleine G. Trichel, the chairwoman of the commission.
Other commission members agree. "Clearly international debt is coming up in a big way," said the Rev. Jane Garrett of the Diocese of Vermont.
*Jubilee 2000*
The U.S. movement for debt relief is part of an international movement called Jubilee 2000. First launched in Africa in 1990, Jubilee 2000 took off in Britain in 1994. Its U.S. affiliate opened last year.
The Episcopal Church was a lead supporter of creating Jubilee 2000/USA, which is based in Washington, D.C. General Convention passed a resolution in 1997 supporting Jubilee 2000 and laying out a program to address debt relief.
The Jubilee 2000 movement is based on the Old Testament teaching that all debts should be forgiven in a jubilee year. It is now active in over 40 countries and is seeking a debt-free start for about a billion people in the developing world.
Neither the U.S. nor the Episcopal Church has embraced the idea of debt relief for poor countries as fully as the United Kingdom or the Anglican Communion, Beckmann said.
The 1997 General Convention directed the Episcopal Church's Washington office to support federal legislation to fund the U.S. contribution to debt relief through the International Development Association.
Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., has drafted Jubilee 2000 legislation, but has not yet introduced it in the House.
Critics of unconditional debt relief say corrupt officials may benefit by stealing money that would have gone toward debt payments. Critics also worry that military leaders, after obtaining debt relief, might spend current budget funds for a military buildup.
"We want to be sure the relief can help jump-start economics and advance the struggle for democracy" in the affected countries, said Carole Collins, National Coordinator for Jubilee 2000/USA.
The peace commission's role is only advisory, Trichel said. Any ongoing programs to bring the issue before the laity and clergy of the Church are the responsibility of the Executive Council's Committee on Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation (JPIC).
General Convention charged this committee with promoting Jubilee 2000 through publicity, educational efforts, and working with other churches and nonprofit organizations.
JPIC will sponsor a conference about jubilee debt relief on Nov. 12-14 at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York City.
The peace commission is also reviewing the International Monetary Fund's debt-relief initiative launched in 1996. Aimed at what the IMF has dubbed 41 "highly indebted poor countries," it is commonly referred to as the HIPC initiative.
The bishops at Lambeth praised the HIPC initiative as a good start, but added that "these measures do not as yet provide sufficient release for the hundreds of millions of people whose governments are diverting scarce resources away from health, education, sanitation and clean water."
Peace commission members had planned to meet with officials from the World Bank during their Chevy Chase meetings, Trichel said. World Bank officials, however, were unable to break away from their annual meeting.
The peace commission expects to meet with World Bank officials during the commission's next full meeting in September 1999 in New York City, Trichel said.
The peace commission also plans its own fact-gathering missions. Several members planned to visit Haiti -- accompanied by Haitian Bishop Jean-Zach=E9 Duracin, a commission member -- immediately after the meeting in Chevy Chase.
Next year members plan a trip to a yet-to-be-chosen African country for a further case study of conditions there, Trichel said.
United Voice (www.episcopalian.org/eu/uv) is the national newspaper of Episcopalians United. Distribute freely, with credit to United Voice for its reporting.
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