For immediate release

Contact: Annmarie Sanders, IHM

301-588-4955; 301-672-3043

August 1, 2005

Leadership Conference of Women Religious Joins Japanese Religious in Commemorating Hiroshima and Nagasaki

[Silver Spring, MD] At the invitation of the Japanese Conference of Major Superiors of Women, a delegate from the US Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) will be traveling to Japan to represent US Catholic sisters at commemorative services on the 60^th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Sr. Beatrice Eichten, OSF, LCWR vice-president and president of the Sisters of St. Francis of Little Falls, Minnesota, will be in Japan from August 3 to 10 where she will participate in a number of commemorative services and peace gatherings in Tokyo, Hiroshima, Fukuoka, and Nagasaki. She will offer statements of solidarity and support in each of these locations on behalf of the more than 800 LCWR members, who represent more than 70,000 Catholic sisters in the United States.

The LCWR statement reads in part. “Increasingly in our world, we see many factors that lead to division among people – major social and global changes, the ripple effect of happenings in a world where there is less and less separation of time and distance, disparity in people’s access to basic resources, groups using religion to justify political and personal aggression, and increased use of violence, military force and terrorist activity to settle disputes. We carry great concern about our country’s contributions to these factors and, as an organization, and as member congregations, speak out on issues such as global warming, relief of debt, “free trade” that penalizes poor developing countries, and religious tolerance.”

The statement continues. “We see our government’s attempt to promote democracy and peace in other countries through political maneuvering and reliance on military force as detrimental to the ultimate goal of promoting peace and freedom for all people. We in LCWR have consistently spoken publicly about our opposition to the use of military force and instruments of war, including nuclear weapons that cause so much suffering and devastation. We call our government to conscience as we see it increase its military budget and add to the proliferation of nuclear arms.”

In addition to speaking at religious services, Eichten will represent LCWR at a Foreign Correspondents Club press conference in Tokyo, and will meet with a group of women religious survivors of the bombings.

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