Joel Hanisek
The Presbyterian Peacemaking Program has named Joel Hanisek as Presbyterian Representative to the United Nations, effective Sept. 5.
A graduate of Davidson (NC) College and Yale Divinity School, Hanisek has been active in the international relations work of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). He served as young adult intern for educational and advocacy in the Presbyterian United Nations Office and has also served on the U.N. Isreal-Palestine Working Group, a coalition of humanitarian nongovernmental organizations.
Hanisek has studied in Syria and Ireland. He participated in a five-month course on cooperation between governments, the U.N., and nongovernmental organizations in the areas of dispute resolution, mediation, negotiation, humanitarian aid, and peace building capacity in the Middle East held in Amman, Jordan and at U.N. offices in Geneva.
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The Rev. Noelle Damico and August Xavier Damico Geary
The Rev. Noelle Damico, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Associate for Fair Food, gave birth July 12 to her first child, August Xavier Damico Geary. Damico’s husband, the Rev. Jeffrey Geary, is a pastor at Setauket Presbyterian Church in Setauket, NY.
Damico, 40, had previously served the PC(USA) as national coordinator of the Taco Bell Boycott, which successfully ended last year following a nearly four-year-long consumer boycott of the fast-food restaurant chain led by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), a group of Florida-based farm workers.
Damico, a United Church of Christ minister, is now the PC(USA)'s liaison to the CIW and helps the church work in partnership with the farmworkers to advance human rights and socially responsible purchasing in the fast-food industry.
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Dutch Cardinal Johannes Willebrands, who worked to improve relations between Roman Catholics and other Christians, as well as with the Jewish community, died Aug. 2 at the age of 96.
For almost 30 years, Willebrands was a key Vatican figure in efforts to promote Christian unity, being nicknamed the “Flying Dutchman” for his travels to bring different denominations closer together. He was appointed secretary of Pope John XXIII’s newly
created Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity in 1960, becoming its president in 1969, a post he held until he retired 20 years later. Willebrands played a key role in enabling Orthodox, Protestant and Anglican observers to attend the Second Vatican
Council (1962‑65), which introduced major changes into the life of the Catholic Church, and paved the way for improved relations with Christians of other denominations. From 1974, he was also the first president of the Vatican commission for religious relations with the Jews.
In 1952, with another Dutch priest, Willebrands was given permission by the Vatican to enter into direct contact with the World Council of Churches. He became a frequent visitor to the WCC’s Geneva and with Dutch compatriot W. A. Visser’'t Hooft. and in 1965, the two Dutchmen became the first co‑moderators of the “Joint Working Group” of the WCC and the Catholic Church. |
