For six years, I have been honored to be Director of Government Relations for the Episcopal Church. During this time, my advocacy on behalf of the church has been centered on Middle East peace. I write to you now because for the first time in these six years there is an unprecedented level of hope that a just and lasting peace can be achieved and a two-state solution realized. But at the same time there is recognition that time is short, the window of possibility is closing, and we must act now!

That is why we are asking you today to join our Presiding Bishop and write to President Obama, who in Cairo pledged to "personally pursue" the goal of two states living in peace and security, saying it was time for all of us to work for the day when the "Holy Land of three great faiths is the place of peace that God intended it to be; when Jerusalem is a secure and lasting home for Jews and Christians and Muslims."

In an ecumenical letter released that day, over 50 Christian leaders, including Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, commended the President's strong commitment to resolving the conflict, and pledging to "rally Christians nationwide around robust U.S. peacemaking efforts to achieve Israeli-Palestinian peace." Now, we are asking you to join in sending that letter to President Obama as a way of reiterating the Episcopal Church's long-standing affirmation of both the right of the Palestinians to self-determination and the establishment of their own state and the existence of the State of Israel and its right to recognized and secure borders.

In this time of unprecedented hope, please add your voice for peace (click here).

Sincerely,
Maureen Shea