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Ukraine
This summer, together with his partner Troy, the Rev. Brian Ellison, executive director of Covenant Network of Presbyterians, crossed three countries off his bucket list with a visit to the Baltic states — Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. In Latvia’s capital, Riga, they visited the new Museum of the Occupation of Latvia, which “tells the story of a healthy functioning democracy” in a country that was occupied from 1939-89 by first the Soviets, then the Germans and then the Soviets again.
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has signed onto an interfaith letter urging Congress to make “stopping the bloodshed” in Ukraine a top priority as reports of injuries, death, displacement and destruction from the war with Russia continue.
In the past few months, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) Director the Rev. Dr. Laurie Kraus has seen the gravity of the global refugee crisis.
The Rev. Carolyn Winfrey Gillette, a Presbyterian hymn-writer who has penned new lyrics to more than 400 hymns, has published her most recent hymn, “We Pray for Peace” to Finlandia, the tune for the hymn “Be Still, My Soul” and “This is My Song.”
Yemen is the largest humanitarian crisis in the world, with 23.7 million in need of help, including 13 million children.
War is neither necessary nor romantic. The deaths that come from war are needless and tragic. Those who give their lives in war may be remembered and honored for their selfless sacrifice, but the wars which brought their deaths are not glorious adventures. Our entry into war may at times be unavoidable but must never be sought. We mourn those killed in war on Memorial Day as we grieve the pain of loss and deprivation.
Ellen Smith, World Mission’s regional liaison for Eastern Europe, has just returned from a visit with partners in Germany, the Czech Republic and Poland to see first-hand how they are coping with the enormous task of caring for refugees fleeing Ukraine and how the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) can accompany them.
It’s been a little more than a month since Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation” to “demilitarize and denazify” Ukraine on the morning of Feb. 24.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine late last month, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) has committed rapid response solidarity grants to five ecumenical partners in Eastern and Central Europe addressing the humanitarian crisis created by the unprovoked attack.
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Office of Public Witness (OPW) says the United States and its allies are right in their resolve to hold the Russian government of Vladimir Putin accountable for violating international human rights and humanitarian law in its invasion of Ukraine.
