April 5, 1999		"Cultural Implications of the Church in the City" Forum to be Held Thursday Media Contact: Betty Gabrielli
	PANEL DISCUSSION   Thursday, April 8 7-9 p.m.   King Building Room 306 Free and open to the public.		OBERLIN, OH--"Cultural Implications of The Church in the City " will be the focus of a faith and community action program to be held Thursday from 7-9 p.m. in King 306. The event is free and open to the public. The event is one in a series of regional forums being held throughout northern Ohio as part of the internationally acclaimed Church in the City initiative developed by the Most Reverend Anthony J. Pilla, Bishop of Cleveland. Considered one of the most far-sighted pastoral initiatives in the modern American church, The Church in the City program "seeks to challenge the economic, environmental, social and spiritual values of the region as it approaches the new millennium. "We share one economy and one environment," says Bishop Pilla. "Whether we live in the city, suburb or country, we are one metropolitan society. Our fates are intertwined economically, socially and spiritually. Our geographic boundaries can be illusions that distract us from the real needs and real capabilities of the region in which we live." The Oberlin forum will explore multicultural factors that bind and divide in a talk by Dr. M. Shawn Copeland and a panel comprising community and college activists. Dr. Copeland is associate professor of systematic theology at Marquette University. Her work on such topics as suffering, identity and difference, community, freedom and the common good frequently appears in professional journals and books, and she has been honored with the Sojourner Truth award for outstanding work in the field of religion by the Black Women's Community Development Foundation. The April 8 panelists are members of the Student Interfaith Council; Mount Zion Community Development Corporation; Broad-faith Organizing for Lorain's Development; Lorain County Social Action Commission; and Common Ground. The Oberlin forum is sponsored by the Center for Service and Learning, the Cleveland Catholic Diocese and the Office of Chaplains.