Detroit Chaplaincy Holds Vigil for Hostages
Episcopal News Service. March 31, 1988 [88061]
Richard Walker
DETROIT (DPS, Mar. 31) -- The continued captivity of Terry Waite and other hostages in Lebanon was remembered by Christians in the Detroit area last month with prayer for their safety and ultimate freedom, as much of the religious community united to mark the 400th day since the Archbishop of Canterbury's special envoy disappeared.
Focal point for this observance was the Newman Chapel at Wayne State University, where the Episcopal Chaplaincy sponsored a 12-hour ecumenical prayer vigil and an afternoon service at which a small photo of Waite was placed on the altar next to a single votive candle surrounded by barbed wire.
Episcopal Chaplain Duane W. H. Arnold said he conceived the vigil as a way to remind the University and the community of the tragedy of the Middle East conflict, which has special significance to Detroiters as their city has probably the largest concentration of residents of Middle Eastern origin of any U.S. metropolis.
"We're using Terry as a focus for what's happening there," Arnold said, noting he had met Waite while studying in Britain. "We wanted to confront people with the reality of the situation."
The vigil drew more than 200 participants throughout the day with the support of other campus ministries, including those of the Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, and Baptist churches. U.S. Senator Carl Levin of Michigan also lent his backing.
For Arnold, a high point in planning the event was a message of support and blessing from Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie, who had named him a Lambeth Scholar in 1984.
"I gladly send my blessing and appreciation for this imaginative initiative," the archbishop wrote from Lambeth Palace in London.
"It is immensely encouraging to Terry's family and to me to know of the widespread concern and prayer that is offered on behalf of Terry and the many other hostages that are held in the Middle East. I shall remember you in your vigil on that day and pray for all victims of the troubles that at present afflict the Holy Land."
With the support of Michigan diocesan Bishop H. Coleman McGhee Jr., Episcopal clergy and congregations were also encouraged to mark the 400th day since Waite's disappearance with special prayers for the President and Congress of the U.S., the leadership of the Soviet Union, the government of Israel, and the Palestinian and Lebanese peoples.
Arnold, who was ordained to the a priesthood late last year after 10 years as a Congregationalist clergyman, told worshippers at the Wayne State campus that he had been affected during a 1987 visit to Lambeth Palace by seeing a staff board in which the marker over Terry Waite's name was fixed on the "out" position.
"Terry is out, out on business, but not his own," the priest said of the globe-trotting Anglican peacemaker's disappearance on Jan. 20, 1987.
Though some believe that Waite has been killed by a radical faction in Lebanon, Arnold said he believes the Church of England lay worker is being held for ransom because "it would have served no purpose for Terry's captors to have killed him." He added a hope that more Episcopalians would remember Waite in corporate worship until he is released.
Aside from praying for an end to the sufferings of the Palestinian people and all political captives in Lebanon, Arnold also called for prayer for the witness of the Church in the Middle East so that "setting aside our differences, we may together show forth the love of Christ and a passion for peace and justice in this troubled region."