Dear Richard and People of St.John St Andrew,
Bobby Dellelo and I had a beautiful, upbeat time at the Ecumenical
Advocacy Days in Alexandria VA last weekend. We had intense
conversations with dozens of the 700 Christian activists there --
bright young teenagers, tough hard-working sisters who serve people
in Africa, South America and across the USA, grizzled old ministers,
some who knew the horror of prisons, most who did not.
The best part was that in a series of conversations with Rich
Killmer, the Executive Director of the National Religious Campaign
Against Torture, he agreed to ask his board to seek funding to
educate America about torture in USA prisons. NRCAT is partly
responsible for President Obama prohibiting torture -- overseas.
Bobby and I showed him American torture in the links below -- and
although he has worked with torture for many years -- he was deeply
moved. He had not seen anything like what we showed him.
Please accept my thanks for your prayer and blessing to me as I
knelt among you the Sunday before I drove south. I don't really
know what good such a blessing is. How does one understand the
bread and wine at the Altar, the value of prayer, something so
invisible unmeasurable unspeakable? But I can say that I was UP for
the weekend. Being with Bobby Dellelo (who says he is not a
believer) was a blessing. He sees life as it really is. And he
tells it like it is. Now 67 years old, he spent 2/3 of his life in
reform schools and prisons, escaping three times. Although he could
and did fight to protect himself in prison -- he also learned
non-violent resistance there. Talking with him 8 hours down from
Boston to Virginia, all weekend, and 8 hours back was a gift to me I
will sure remember. I hope to welcome him to Maine so you can meet
him. His picture is in the attachment.
Thanks you all again, dear friends in Jesus, for you love and
blessing.
George
PS Here are the links to torture --
Torture in Texas
and Florida prisons is on the web at:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8451.htm
