Dear Members of the URI Global Community,
Greetings of love and peace.

On behalf of the Global Council, I am delighted to notify you of the results of the global voting to select 24 trustees to serve on URI’s 2005 – 2008 Global Council. The list of the new trustees includes each trustee’s region, name, tradition, CC/MCC affiliation, and city and country or state. Several of the trustees-elect belong to more than one CC, but only one is listed.

The new GC will take office in Seoul, Korea during a joint meeting of the outgoing and incoming Global Councils from June 26 - July 1, 2005.

United Religions Initiative Global Council 2005 – 2008

• Ms. Despina Namwembe, Orthodox Christian, Interfaith CC Initiative, Kampala, Uganda;
• Mr. Sabapathy Alagiah, Baha’i, Associacao Homoeopathia de Mocambique CC, Maputo, Mozambique;  
• Mr. Mussie Hailu, Orthodox Tewahedo Christian, Addis Ababa CC, Addis Ababa,Ethiopia.
  

• Ven. Jinwol Lee, Buddhism, URI Korea MCC, Seoul, Korea;
• Fr. James Channan, Catholic, Lahore CC, Lahore, Pakistan; 
• Dr. Mohinder Singh, Sikh, Religions for Social Justice CC, New Delhi, India.
  

• Shaikh Bashir Dultz, Muslim, URI Europe CC, Bonn, Germany;
• Dr. Raschid Bockemuehl, Muslim, DML Bonn CC, Dortmund, Germany; 
• Ms. Heidi Rautionmaa, Christian/Lutheran, Forum of Religions in Turku CC, Espoo, Finland.
  

• Mr. Raul Angel Mamani, Indigenous/Kolla, Qewña CC, Palpala, Argentina;
• Rev. Elias de Andrade Pinto, Christian/Independent Presbyterian, CC Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil;
• Dr. Susi Reich, Jewish, Proyecto 3rd Milenio CC, Buenos Aires, Argentina. 

 
Middle East and North Africa:


• Ms. Hanan Salem Shahatit, Orthodox Christian, Quested Peace CC, Amman, Jordan;
• Mr. Shlomo Alon, Jewish, Jerusalem Interfaith Encounter CC, Jerusalem, Israel; 
• Ms. Atefah Sadeghi, Muslim, Iran Youths for Peace and Interreligious Dialogue CC, Tehran, Iran.
  

Multi-Regional:

• Ms. Yoland Trevino, Hinduism/Indigenous Spirituality, URI Council for Women, Altadena, California;
• Rev. Deborah Moldow, Interfaith, URI UN CC, New York, New York; 
• Mrs. Elana Rozenman, Jewish, Women’s Interfaith Encounter CC, Jerusalem, Israel.
  
 
North America:

• Ms. Perri Kathryn “P.K.” McCary, Christian/Lutheran, Women’s Spirituality CC, Houston, Texas;
• Ms. Kathy Sandoval, Native American Acjachemen and Progressive Christian, Alliance for Spiritual Community CC, San Juan Capistrano, California; 
• Rev. Heng Sure, Buddhist, Bay Area Friends of the Parliament and URI CC, Berkeley, California.
  

Southeast Asia and the Pacific:

• Sr. Sandra Clemente, RSCJ, Catholic, Kalinaw-Cebu CC, Cebu City, Philippines;
• Dr. Amir Farid Isahak, Muslim, Kuala Lumpur CC, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 
• Dr. Ratnam Alagiah, Baha’i, Unity, Peace and Multiculturalism Gold Coast CC, Queensland, Australia.
  

Here are some reflections of the new GC’s diversity:

8 trustees from the current GC and 16 new trustees;
11 women and 13 men;
17 countries;
9 Christians, 4 Muslims, 3 Jews, 3 Indigenous, 2 Buddhist, 2 Baha’i, 1 Hindu, 1 Sikh, 1 Interfaith (with diversity within traditions).
 
A few words about the vote-counting process: After an opening prayer to invite the presence of the URI community around the world, the votes from 174 CCs around the world were counted at the URI office in San Francisco, 8 – 10 AM local time, Wednesday, 6 April 2005. Each region easily met the requirement that 50% of the eligible voting members participate. Latin America had the highest percentage participation – 100% of eligible CCs (17 of 17) participated. Asia had the greatest number of participating CCs – 64 CCs voted in Asia.

The ballots were read by Global Council Chair, Rita Semel and Executive Director, Charles Gibbs, alternating region by region, and supported by Sally Mahé and Victoria Smiser. Ray Signer and Barbara Hartford separately recorded the votes as they were announced, and their vote tabulations were compared for accuracy after each region’s votes had been read. Iftekhar Hai, Paul Chaffee and Alice Kawahatsu observed all or part of the voting. The three nominees with the highest vote totals in each region were designated as Trustees-elect.

Once the results from a region were confirmed, all those present offered the following prayer, which all of you are encouraged to offer on behalf of all the newly elected trustees and the rest of the URI community:

May these trustees receive blessing and support to fulfill the vision and values of the Preamble, Purpose and Principles of URI. We hold in gratitude all candidates who stood for leadership, and all CCs who voted, and all who collectively serve the URI. May they serve URI with strength, love and joy.

Finally, I offer my gratitude to all who participated in this process – for those willing to be nominated; for those who withdrew their nominations believing that URI would be better served that way; and for those who voted.

 
Love,
The Rev. Canon Charles P. Gibbs
Executive Director