FOSNA Names New Program Director

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:
Sister Elaine Kelley
Friends of Sabeel-North America
PO Box 9186, Portland, OR 97207
friends@fosna.org
(503) 653-6625

Friends of Sabeel—North America Names The Rev. Dr. Donald E. Wagner as Program Director
New Position to Facilitate Growing Sabeel Volunteer Network

PORTLAND, Oregon, January 24, 2012 – The Rev. Dr. Donald E. Wagner has been named Program Director of Friends of Sabeel-North America (FOSNA), a nonprofit Christian ecumenical organization seeking peace in the Holy Land and working directly with Palestinian Christians through the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem. The new staff position was established to address an increasing awareness among American Christians of the Palestinian Christian community and the principles required for a “just peace” between Israel and Palestine.

Rev. Wagner, an ordained Presbyterian minister who holds a Master in Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary, has been an active volunteer “friend” of Sabeel since its beginnings in the early 1990s, as an organizer of local events and as a frequent lecturer at FOSNA regional educational conferences and Sabeel’s international events in the Holy Land. He recently served as Research Professor for Interfaith Engagement at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. From 1995 to 2010 he was Professor of Comparative Religious Studies and Middle East Studies at North Park University in Chicago where he also founded and directed its Center for Middle Eastern Studies. He is the author of four books, including Anxious for Armageddon: A Call to Partnership for Middle Eastern and Western Christians (1995) and Dying in the Land of Promise: Palestine and Palestinian Christianity from Pentecost-2000 (2003). His extensive experience and knowledge include five years as a leader of Evangelicals for Middle East Understanding where he worked in collaboration with the Middle East Council of Churches to organize conferences and educational travel throughout the Middle East. He was Director of Middle East Programs at Mercy Corps International in Chicago from 1990 to 1995 and served as the National Director of the Palestine Human Rights Campaign in Chicago from 1980 to 1989.

The Rev. Dr. Naim Ateek, founder and director of the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem said, “I am very pleased to have Don leading FOSNA’s programs. He has been committed to this issue for many, many years, especially to Palestinian students whom he helped to obtain scholarships. He demonstrated long ago his passion for justice for oppressed Palestinians, and he has been committed ever since.”

Part of Rev. Wagner’s job as program director will be to support regional volunteers in organizing FOSNA events (see conference history pages at fosna.org). Sabeel conferences attract wide participation from an ecumenical audience by offering speakers representing the Palestinian Christian and Muslim communities as well as the Israeli Jewish community—religious leaders, scholars, writers and activists.

Rev. Wagner will be giving much attention to efforts to develop the Kairos Palestine movement in the U.S. The Kairos Palestine Document (http://www.kairospalestine.ps/) is a statement launched by Palestinian Christian leaders in the Holy Land in December 2009. Subtitled “A word of faith, hope and love from the heart of Palestinian suffering”, it is their “word to the world about what is happening in Palestine”, a historic statement modeled on the Kairos call of South African religious leaders striving to end Apartheid. Kairos Palestine is a call to action, including the use of nonviolent tools like boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS). “Kairos Palestine is a hopeful and natural partner for FOSNA and Sabeel worldwide”, says Wagner, “who have been prophetic voices throughout Europe, Canada, and the United States on BDS, particularly with the churches.”

Rev. Wagner comes to a new staff position that for the past ten years has been accomplished through the dedicated volunteer efforts of the Rev. Canon Richard K. Toll of Portland, Oregon, a retired Episcopal priest who has served both as volunteer program director and as chair of the board of directors. Rev. Toll will continue to serve on the board of FOSNA and to participate in its activities. “We have accomplished much in the past decade,” said Rev. Toll, “but the times call for new energy and new leadership to take the Sabeel message to a wider Christian audience. I am very pleased that we now have Don to carry things forward.”

Rev. Dr. Wagner can be reached through FOSNA by email at don.wagner@fosna.org.