We are very excited to announce that Professor Paolo Naso, one of our Global Ministries partners, will be with us in worship on Sunday, February 10, and will do a presentation after worship. There will be a catered lunch that day.
Professor Naso is the program director of the FCEI (Italian Protestant Federation of Churches) Programs Director and Faculty at the Sapienza University of Rome and since 2014, he has been a senior advisor to Mediterranean Hope.
Mediterranean Hopeis a program of the Federation of Protestant Churches in Italy, including the Waldensian Church. Started three years ago, it is a response of the church to those who arrive in Lampedusa after being subjected to unspeakable violence of poverty, persecution, exploitation and brutality of traffickers. In the first four months of 2017, already over 1200 people have died attempting to cross the Mediterranean by boat. With staggering numbers of people attempting, and often fatally failing, to reach Europe by sea, the Federation of Protestant Churches has chosen to witness the Christian gift of hospitality, the commandment to say “welcome” to men and women who have fled out of desperation. By creating a humanitarian and social program to receive and integrate refugees wishing to remain in Italy, and to advocate on their behalf, Mediterranean Hope is directly addressing this crisis. Two humanitarian corridors have been established between Morocco and Italy, and between Lebanon and Italy, to allow for the possibilities of visas and transportation by plane for refugees in particularly vulnerable situations. In the words of Martin Luther King Jr., these churches working together have chosen “the right thing to say and do”.
