Office of the Moderator

Metropolitan Community Churches

For Immediate Release:  05 February 2011

Presiding Moderator of Metropolitan Community Churches

Appointed To U.S. Presidential Advisory Council

The Reverend Elder Nancy Wilson, Presiding Moderator of the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches, was today named by President Barack Obama to serve on the White House Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.   

Rev. Elder Nancy Wilson Moderator of MCC

The White House Advisory Council brings together leaders and experts in the fields of faith-based and neighborhood organizations to work in the Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, which mobilizes and coordinates community organizations, religious and otherwise, to provide effective social services to address the needs of low-income and underserved populations at home and abroad.  

"I am deeply honored and grateful for this opportunity to serve," said The Rev. Wilson. "This is a wonderful opportunity to seek common ground and shared purpose with a broad spectrum of the religious and social service communities, and an opportunity to transcend lines of religious and political affiliation as we to seek sustainable solutions to the needs of the vulnerable. 

"It is my hope," she continued, "that, as our President has stated so eloquently on many occasions, our varied beliefs will together forge our common strength." 

The Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships was created on February 5, 2009, by President Obama, to bring together experts to identify best practices for delivering social services, evaluate public policies and make recommendations to the President on those policies. 

Metropolitan Community Churches applauds the President's selection of one of the nation's leading religious figures in the LGBT community. Known both for her pastoral skills as well as her public advocacy, Rev. Wilson has pastored many of MCC's congregations, including its founding church, and for more than 20 years was the denomination's Chief Ecumenical Officer, representing MCC at the National and World Council of Churches. She continues to be an active voice on behalf of HIV and AIDS issues, prison reform, LGBT human rights efforts, and the rights of women and children. 

Rev. Wilson is a graduate of Allegheny College and holds the Master of Divinity degree from SS. Cyril and Methodius Seminary. She is currently a doctoral candidate at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  

This statement prepared in conjunction with The Moderator's Global Justice Team,

The Rev. Pat Bumgardner, Chair, and DeWayne Davis, MCC Public Policy Team.

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 4, 2011

President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts

WASHINGTON - Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to appoint the following individuals to the President's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships:

·         Susan K. Stern, Chair, President's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships

·         Leith Anderson, Member, President's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships

·         Andrea Bazán, Member, President's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships

·         Angela Glover Blackwell, Member, President's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships

·         Brian Gallagher, Member, President's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships

·         Bishop Mark Hanson, Member, President's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships

·         Lynn Hybels, Member, President's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships

·         The Most Rev. Dr. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Member, President's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships

·         Rabbi Julie Schonfeld, Member, President's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships

·         Archbishop Demetrios Trakatellis, Member, President's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships

·         Sister Marlene Weisenbeck, Member, President's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships

·         Reverend Elder Nancy L. Wilson, Member, President's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships

The President's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships brings together religious and secular leaders as well as scholars and experts in fields related to the work of faith-based and neighborhood organizations in order to make recommendations to the government on how to improve partnerships. The President will announce additional members to this Council at a later date.

President Obama said, "I am pleased to announce that these experienced and committed individuals have agreed to join this Administration, and I look forward to working with them in the months and years ahead."

President Obama announced his intent to appoint the following individuals to key Administration posts: