Presbyterian Promise Announces A WITNESS FOR PEACE

The Service will include preaching by Rev. Frasier, special music by Wayne Osborne, a celebration of communion led by the Rev. Letty Russell and a commissioning of Rev. Frasier by the gathered community led by Lisa Larges.

In recognizing Rev. Frasier’s witness for peace and justice, Presbyterian Promise, Presbyterian Welcome and the Act of Conscience churches recognize the many people of faith who have joined with him in progressive justice ministries.

WHINSEC, according to its Directive, offers “… professional education and training of military, law enforcement, and civilian personnel of nations of the Western Hemisphere….”    Its graduates, in its School of the Americas years, include Manuel Noriega and Omar Torrijos of Panama, Leopoldo Galtieri and Roberto Viola of Argentina, Juan Velasco Alvarado of Peru, Guillermo Rodriguez of Ecuador, and Hugo Banzer Suarez of Bolivia.

Rev. FRASIER has been arrested on two occasions for non-violent protest of the Institute’s existence. His protest was part of an annual action organized by the School of the Americas Watch. He is Minister of Outreach for Presbyterian Welcome, an organization of Presbyterian churches serving New York City working for the full inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in the life of the Presbyterian Church (U. S. A.) [PC USA]

The PC USA issued an official statement in 1994 calling for an end of the school and a reapplication of its funding to humanitarian programs in Latin America.

WAYNE OSBORNE has recently released his debut album with RA Records. So Serious, is a very personal exploration of relationship. His unique keyboard and vocal stylings will add distinction to the service.

Osborne is the elder behind the recent case brought against First Presbyterian Church in Stamford [FPC] concerning his election as an openly gay elder. Presbyterian Church is deeply divided over its requirements for church leaders.  When the church elected Wayne to serve as an Elder, it anticipated the need to encourage new understanding. In the judicial case which resulted, church courts determined the Session had acted within the Constitution, helping the denomination move toward a more responsible and gracious interpretation of it. Osborne is a founding member of Presbyterian Promise.

Presbyterian Promise is a sister organization of Presbyterian Welcome. It is a Connecticut non-profit serving the Presbytery of Southern New England, a regional body of the PC USA in Connecticut, Rhode Island and parts of Massachusetts. The Act of Conscience churches are sixteen churches in the Presbytery of Hudson River (Westchester and Rockland counties in New York plus some adjacent area). The three organizations – Presbyterian Promise, Presbyterian Welcome and the Act of Conscience churches – share a vision of a justice oriented denomination and community and have worked cooperatively to this end.

The Rev. Letty M. Russell is Professor Emerita of Theology at Yale Divinity School. She is author of many books and is considered a pioneer of feminist and liberation theology.

Lisa Larges is Regional Coordinator with That All May Freely Serve [TAMFS], a national organization devoted to gaining full participation for lesbian, gay, transgender and bisexual people in the PC USA. She is a 1989 graduate of San Francisco Theological Seminary and has been a candidate for the ministry in the Presbyterian Church since 1985. In 1992, the Permanent Judicial Commission, the highest ecclesiastical court in the Presbyterian church, ruled that Lisa could not seek a position in ordained ministry as she had openly acknowledged that she is lesbian. Lisa works with Presbyterian Promise, Presbyterian Welcome and five other regions and affiliates of TAMFS.  She lives in Burlingame CA with her partner.

First Presbyterian Church in Stamford is host for this event. It is noted for its unique architecture and its commitment to its community. Built in 1958, it is designed to look like a fish.

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BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Links:

A WITNESS FOR PEACE

The Act of Conscience Churches of Hudson River Presbytery, Presbyterian Welcome and Presbyterian Promise will join together in this witness for peace by commissioning Cliff Frasier as he goes to serve his prison term, offering up prayers of solidarity in his witness. Cliff Frasier, as preacher, will bring us a message of courage in the face of violence. Lisa Larges, Regional Partnership Coordinator from That All May Freely Serve will conduct the commissioning service for Cliff. Wayne Osborne, from the Stamford Church, will offer a witness in music. Many others from the three sister Presbyteries will participate.

In a time of fear and war we all need to make our own witness as we pray for justice and peace in the Middle East and our world. All are welcome to attend the service and the reception at the First Presbyterian Church, 1101 Bedford St., Stamford, CT. Flyers and directions to the church will be on the Presbyterian Promise web cite at Presbypromise.home.att.net.
 

Cliff Frasier's statement to the court:

Please take the time to read Cliff's statement. It is fantastic. Of all the defendants, he was the one who really was able to put WHISC [short - fortunately! - for Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation) itself on trial. The army lawyer assisting the prosecution was very upset when Cliff suggested that WHISC comment on the appropriateness of light sentences as an example to the Latin American students attending the SOA of the best way to handle nonviolent civil disobedience. Cliff also provoked the most outrageous comment from the judge, who compared our nonviolent witness with a bank robbery where no actual weapons had been used. Once again I was insulted by his equating our commitment to nonviolence with the kind of coercion and threats of violence that are used in bank robberies. Even our attorney, Bill Quigley, felt he had to challenge the judge on this comparison.

Trial Statement before Judge G. Mallon Faircloth
January 28, 2003
Federal Courthouse, Columbus, GA
Rev. Cliff Frasier

Your Honor, thank you for this chance to make a statement to you and to this court.

I was ordained as a United Church of Christ minister in 1997, at The Riverside Church in New York City. Currently I serve 14 Presbyterian churches in New York City as their Director and Minister of Outreach and Inclusion for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons.

Your Honor, I have stipulated to the fact of crossing onto Ft. Benning last November 17, and I believe my non-violent act was not criminal in nature, and not to the degree worthy of incarceration or other penalty.

Compelled by my conscience, as well as by religious laws and international laws, under which we all stand, and consistent with WHINSEC's [another version of Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation] new mission statement which says its purpose is to "promote . . . . knowledge and understanding of United States customs and traditions" - with the understanding that non-violent civil disobedience is a cherished and time-honored United States tradition, and so wishing to embody this part of the school's mission statement - I chose to walk to the steps of the Western Institute for Security Cooperation, "WHINSEC", in order to memorialize the thousands of civilians killed by soldiers who learn arts-of-war on that site.

I respect that it is your sworn duty, your Honor, to uphold U.S. law, which includes the class-B federal misdemeanor of trespass. However, my walking onto Ft. Benning was my best attempt to be a responsible citizen in troubling times. I was in New York City on the day of the terrorist attacks, and I witnessed its chaos and destruction, and I want our country and world to be safe from such horrible violence. I am troubled, your Honor, by knowing that my country and yours is the only nation in the world found guilty by the World Court for international terrorism. In 1986 the United States was ordered to pay reparations for unlawful use of force in Latin America - reparations we still have not paid.

Human Rights Watch has just issued a report that says "Washington has waged war on terrorism as if human rights were not a constraint" and warns that international support for our anti-terrorism campaign is weakening because of U.S. human rights violations [NYT Jan 15, 2003]. My intent was and is to do everything within the American tradition to improve the human rights record of the United States, including voting, writing to my legislators, and, when necessary, participating in the highly regarded American tradition of non-violent civil disobedience.

Your honor, WHINSEC is a combat training school which instructs foreign military personnel in the use of lethal force and then releases these personnel to the command of foreign armies. WHINSEC trains soldiers who do not remain under American command. Even when Latin American armies are connected to human rights abuses of the poor, even then WHINSEC continues training these personnel. Even when the human rights abuses against civilians by these armies are well documented, as they are currently in Columbia, even then WHINSEC continues this policy of training-and-releasing foreign soldiers with no reliable way to track them or hold them accountable in courts of law.

We tax-payers support an institution that leads to human rights violations overseas.

Your Honor, I know WHINSEC claims, by pointing to its mission-statement and to some of its courses, that its purpose is to promote human rights. But if WHINSEC is actually a human-rights school, why are most of its courses in methods for the deployment of lethal force? If WHINSEC is actually a human-rights school, why does WHINSEC receive no recognition for being such by other human rights organizations, and why aren't there human rights groups rushing to WHINSEC's defense? If WHINSEC is a human rights school, why does WHINSEC approve (and here I assume its administration does approve, at least tacitly . . . . ) of giving maximum penalties and prison sentences to peaceful, non-violent citizens who wish to hold a funeral service for the thousands who have been killed or tortured at the hands of persons who trained at that site? Would a human rights school support maximum prison sentences for class-B misdemeanors of non-violent trespassing? Would not a human rights school call for minimum sentences or no sentences?

Your Honor, I know you consider WHINSEC to be an improvement over its predecessor school, the School of the Americas, located on the same site. I agree with you, your honor, that WHINSEC has a better curriculum than the SOA. But if WHINSEC is now a human rights school, why has Amnesty International just recommended that WHINSEC be shut down while being investigated? If WHINSEC is a human rights school, why has WHINSEC not called for a full-scale investigation of its predecessor school, the SOA? Given the seriousness of the charges and well-documented connections between SOA graduates and human rights atrocities in Latin America, would not a credible human rights school at least embrace the idea of an investigation? Given the seriousness of the charges against its predecessor school, would not WHINSEC call for supervision entirely under the authority and guidance of Congress, rather than the Department of Defense?

Your Honor, it appears as if WHINSEC is not a human rights school. It appears as if WHINSEC is a combat school for Latin American soldiers who are then released to serve under the command of foreign armies. It appears as if WHINSEC is determined to continue this policy and so it seems as if WHINSEC is doomed to foster the same cycles of violence that have been well-connected to the graduates of the SOA..

My prayer is that, because of the non-violent actions of my sisters and brothers, in which I join, and the actions of those in the past and in years to come, that WHINSEC will become a human rights school. My prayer is that when it does it will act like a human rights school by investigating its predecessor school and embracing complete congressional oversight. My prayer is that, the chain-of-non-violence that processes every year onto Ft. Benning will inspire WHINSEC to become a human rights school, and that doing so will create greater security for ourselves, our children and grandchildren.

When WHINSEC finally makes the transition to becoming a human rights school, one clue, one sign, will be when it stops giving its tacit support to maximum prison sentences on non-violent persons for misdemeanors of trespass. Your honor, you could help make the case that WHINSEC has become a human rights school by dismissing all of the cases before you this week, or by giving token sentences that reflect the token nature of the action. WHINSEC could then issue a public statement affirming your leniency which, I believe, more than anything, would send a message and establish its credentials as a human rights school.

Your honor, the denomination in which I now serve, the Presbyterian Church, voted in 1994 to call for an end to U.S. military training of Latin American military personnel. I am responding to that call, and ask that you and others join with me.

Thank you, your Honor.

TAMFS NYC Evangelist Sentenced for Antimilitary Protest

(February 4, 2003) -- Along with Janie Spahr, our National Liaison Board, and the other staff of That All May Freely serve, I want to publicly acknowledge my gratitude for the Rev. Cliff Frasier, Coordinator of Presbyterian Welcome, for his powerful witness and his depth of faith as he now faces a six month prison sentence for trespassing, in an act of civil disobedience, onto a military base that houses the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation ("WHISC" -- formerly The School of the Americas "SOA") last November.

The action for which Cliff has been sentenced was organized by the School of the Americas Watch (SOAW), whose mission is to close the School of the Americas through "vigils and fasts, demonstrations and nonviolent protest, as well as media and legislative work." In total 86 protesters will be tried and sentenced before a judge in Columbus GA including two other Presbyterians, elder Ann Huntwork of Portland OR, and Presbyterian Peace Fellowship Co-Moderator Marilyn White, a member of A Community of the Servant Savior, a More Light Church in Houston TX.

Presbyterian Welcome is the New York City regional affiliate of That All May Freely Serve.

The website for the School of the Americas Watch writes this about the military training school:
"The US Army School of Americas (SOA) based in Fort Benning, Georgia, trains Latin American soldiers in combat, counter-insurgency, and counter-narcotics. Graduates of the SOA are responsible for some of the worst human rights abuses in Latin America. Among the SOA's nearly 60,000 graduates are notorious dictators Manuel Noriega and Omar Torrijos of Panama, Leopoldo Galtieri and Roberto Viola of Argentina, Juan Velasco Alvarado of Peru, Guillermo Rodriguez of Ecuador, and Hugo Banzer Suarez of Bolivia. Lower-level SOA graduates have participated in human rights abuses that include the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero and the El Mozote Massacre of 900 civilians."

Through congressional legislation the school changed its name in 2000 to the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, but other changes to curb abuses have proven to be mostly cosmetic and Amnesty International has recommended that the school be closed until a full and thorough investigation can be completed.

"The church, for all of its flaws, has always had a part of it that promoted a peace movement in society," Cliff told me in a conversation in December, "there is a clear anti-militarism message in Christianity, even though it has often been suppressed, and the church has had a role in restraining military violence and the powers of the state."

Cliff said that it was through a youth group at his home church, a UCC congregation in Concord MA, that he learned that doing justice and challenging systems of oppression were the work of the gospel. "It was shocking to me, when I came out to learn that violence was committed against queer people in the name of the church. How could they not extend that message of justice and love to those of us who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender?"

Cliff went on, "The call to do peace work and antimilitary work in society is the orthodox work of the church. I felt that to advocate for justice for queer people in the church was a mandate of the Gospel. I also draw energy to confront militarism because the military says that as a queer person I'm not even fit to join their ranks."

Cliff got involved with the work of SOAW in 1998 through Jan Hus Presbyterian Church, a Supporting Congregation of Presbyterian Welcome and a More Light Church. He has been arrested in three previous nonviolent actions of SOAW. Cliff spoke warmly of the Rev. Chuck Booker-Hirsh, pastor of Northside Presbyterian Church, a More Light congregation in Ann Arbor Michigan who served a three months sentence for a similar action in 2001. Chuck along with Marilyn White, Ann Huntwork, Dwight Lawton (a Presbyterian Elder in Florida), and others in the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, "continue to inspire me with their witness," Cliff said, "It is a privilege and an honor to walk with them in this witness."

Cliff reflected on how trespassing onto the property of the school by squeezing through a gap in the chain link fence, and his arrest and night in jail deepened his faith: "I had my previous understanding of Christology, but that experience deepen my sense of incarnation as an act of theological disobedience. It was God's act of crossing over into human culture. This crossing over of God through Jesus is shocking"

Of his night in the county jail following his arrest Cliff said, "It was life changing. When I got out the next day the world was a different place. This is a lovely gem of a world - so damn beautiful!"

Cliff will begin serving his six-month sentence on May 22, 2003 in a Minimum security prison somewhere in the northeast. When he is released in mid November, that lovely gem of a world will still be waiting for him.

Thank you Cliff for your witness, your courage, and for all that you do to make this world more lovely and more just!
 

Evangelist Rev. Cliff Frasier

A native of Massachusetts, Cliff grew up in the United Church of Christ (UCC). He studied at the University of Washington (Seattle) when we received a BA in Russian literature and at Harvard Divinity School where he graduated in 1995 with a Masters of Divinity degree. He moved to New York City and worked for 1-1/2 years as interim staff to social justice programs at Riverside Church. The UCC ordained him in 1997 and assigned him to work with Presbyterians. In his spare time, Cliff likes biking, camping, social dancing, and movies.

Frasier works as Minister of Outreach for Presbyterian Welcome, the affiliate of That All May Freely Serve in New York City.
 

WAYNE OSBORNE

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN STAMFORD, CT

The racial and ethnic mix is beginning to be more evident in the First Presbyterian Church. Always a participant in the Stamford community, the church has provided key leadership for community services in housing, Hospice, education, social services and more. Stamford was considered as a headquarters site for the new United Nations in 1948. Out of that discussion grew a Forum for World Affairs which continues a lively group today.

The Session has adopted as its mission focus the practice of hospitality. More than being “a friendly church,” the Session understands biblical hospitality as a challenge to social barriers designed to keep certain people out. Hospitality of the sort Jesus practiced is both radical and risky.

This church is a magnificent structure with a contemporary design inspired by the fish, a symbol used in early Christianity. The fish shape is apparent both in the profile and in the floor plan of the structure. Of interest are the abstract colored glass windows and the Visser-Rowland Opus 87 type organ. Outside, a walk of more than 100 stones depicts the history of religion from the time of Moses and Abraham. A Memorial Wall, fronting the church property, traces the history of Stamford. Carillon concerts are held on special days during the year.