FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, NOVEMBER 21, 2004
Contact: Greg Rixon, 202-537-6247

NORTH CAROLINA PREACHER URGES REFORM
IN WASHINGTON NATIONAL CATHEDRAL SERMON

WASHINGTON – A North Carolina educator and pastor said in a sermon at Washington National Cathedral on Nov. 21 the state and nation need to overcome “failed leadership” that is falling short of protecting poor and vulnerable citizens.

María Teresa Palmer, an immigration reform advocate and member of the North Carolina Board of Education from Chapel Hill, urged worshipers to demand fairness and justice from their leaders.

“We’re talking about everyone deserving to live without fear,” she said. She added later that, “It is time to move beyond band-aid solutions that rescue the cute lovable individuals, and look at the health of the whole flock.”

Palmer delivered a Scripture-based sermon at North Carolina State Day, a service hosted by Washington National Cathedral to celebrate the people of the Tar Heel State. About 650 of the 1,400 worshipers at the Cathedral’s 11 am service traveled from the state, or were North Carolina natives now living in the Washington area.

The acclaimed Raleigh Boychoir performed the service prelude, a 25-minute hymnal program. It marked the third time the group had performed at Washington National Cathedral, but the first for most of its 45 members, boys between the ages of 8 and 14.

Delivering the sermon, Palmer addressed the congregation from the historic Canterbury Pulpit, where the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered his last Sunday sermon on March 31, 1968, and from where the homily at Ronald Reagan’s state funeral was given on June 11.

Palmer touted North Carolina as a “little piece of heaven that Tar Heel fans claim it already is.” But, she added, “In North Carolina, we know something about failed leadership.”

Palmer referenced Meg Scott Phipps, who resigned as elected state agriculture commissioner in June and was convicted of taking tens of thousands of dollars in illegal contributions from vendors seeking work at the North Carolina State Fair.

She also mentioned Pfc. Lynndie England, who faces a court-martial trial in January at Fort Bragg related to the prisoner abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, and accusations that officials in Alamance County discouraged Hispanics from voting this fall.

“We have watched millions cut from our education budget, and we’re watching the re-segregation of our schools,” Palmer said. “We are watching the furniture industry and the textile industry leaving our state, and poor workers struggling to survive.”

Palmer said: “Christ commanded us to be like him. Could you extend the grace and love he did? Probably not? But we could do a whole lot better than we are doing.”

She challenged leaders to “make sure that the weak grow strong and that all have the opportunity to grow great.”

More than 105 acolytes representing 13 North Carolina congregations marched in the service-opening processional, carrying colorful banners designating their parish affiliations.

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