|
|
|
HR0171 |
|
LRB095 11482 KXB 32538 r |
|
|
1 |
| HOUSE RESOLUTION
|
2 |
| WHEREAS, State Representative Monique D. Davis and the |
3 |
| Illinois House of Representatives are pleased to congratulate |
4 |
| Pastor Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr., on 35 years of ministry at |
5 |
| Trinity United Church of Christ; and |
6 |
| WHEREAS, Pastor Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr., was born in |
7 |
| Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; he completed his elementary |
8 |
| education in that city and then went to the college where his |
9 |
| mother and father met, Virginia Union University, in Richmond, |
10 |
| Virginia; he was a third generation family member to be a |
11 |
| student at that college; his grandparents also finished |
12 |
| Virginia Union University in the early 1900s; and
|
13 |
| WHEREAS, After six years in the military, Pastor Wright |
14 |
| transferred to Howard University where he completed his |
15 |
| undergraduate studies and received his first Master's Degree; |
16 |
| his second Master's Degree was from the University of Chicago |
17 |
| Divinity School; his Doctorate was received from the United |
18 |
| Theological Seminary under Dr. Samuel DeWitt Proctor; in |
19 |
| addition to Pastor Wright's four earned degrees, he has been |
20 |
| the recipient of three honorary doctor of Divinity Degrees, a |
21 |
| Doctor of Letters degree (from Colgate University), and a |
22 |
| Doctor of Laws Degree from Bethune-Cookman College; and
|
|
|
|
HR0171 |
- 2 - |
LRB095 11482 KXB 32538 r |
|
|
1 |
| WHEREAS, Pastor Wright was called to serve the congregation |
2 |
| of Trinity United Church of Christ in March of 1972; Trinity's |
3 |
| membership was 87 adults in that year; the membership now |
4 |
| exceeds 8,000; over the last three decades Trinity Church has |
5 |
| constructed two new worship centers, with the present worship |
6 |
| center seating 2,700 and covering 150,000 square feet;
Trinity |
7 |
| Church has also constructed two Senior Citizen Housing |
8 |
| complexes which provide comfortable living quarters for 130 |
9 |
| families; Trinity Church has operated a federally funded child |
10 |
| care program for low-income and unemployed families for a |
11 |
| quarter of a century; and Trinity Church has run a federally |
12 |
| funded credit union for 25 years, with assets exceeding |
13 |
| $2,000,000; and
|
14 |
| WHEREAS, Pastor Wright's ministry has extended far beyond |
15 |
| the 400 W. 95th Street address in Chicago, Illinois; Trinity |
16 |
| Church tithes its annual budget each year by giving one tenth |
17 |
| of its revenues to other churches, other agencies, and |
18 |
| denominational missions (as well as world missions); and
|
19 |
| WHEREAS, In 2005, Trinity gave $100,000 to the UCC |
20 |
| denominational effort to help the evacuees displaced by |
21 |
| Hurricanes Katrina and Rita; in addition, Trinity Church gave |
22 |
| another $199,000 to Dillard University to help rebuild the |
23 |
| school, which is historically related to the United Church of |
24 |
| Christ and was virtually destroyed by Hurricane Katrina; and
|
|
|
|
HR0171 |
- 3 - |
LRB095 11482 KXB 32538 r |
|
|
1 |
| WHEREAS, In addition to supporting mission work in Liberia, |
2 |
| Haiti, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Ghana, Brazil, and South Africa, |
3 |
| Trinity makes a tremendous investment in higher education (in |
4 |
| general) and theological education (in particular) each year; |
5 |
| Trinity church has given over $300,000 to the United Negro |
6 |
| College Fund and $325,000 in scholarships to graduating high |
7 |
| school members who are college bound;
and
|
8 |
| WHEREAS, Trinity Church has ordained 38 seminary |
9 |
| graduates; Trinity currently has 65 additional members in |
10 |
| accredited seminaries throughout the country; Trinity Church |
11 |
| makes an annual investment in excess of $300,000 to its members |
12 |
| who are students in accredited seminaries;
in addition to |
13 |
| supporting individual members who are in seminary, Trinity has |
14 |
| also "birthed" four new congregations in the United Church of |
15 |
| Christ, two in Atlanta, one in Gary, Indiana, and one in |
16 |
| Milwaukee, Wisconsin;
and
|
17 |
| WHEREAS, Four of the new pastors serving the new |
18 |
| congregations are sons and daughters of Pastor Wright; they |
19 |
| went to seminary with Trinity Church paying for over $21,000 |
20 |
| for each student's graduate school work, and they were all |
21 |
| ordained by Pastor Wright after completing seminary; in |
22 |
| addition to theological education, Trinity Church has been |
23 |
| supporting missions in Ghana, West Africa, in Bahia on Brazil, |
|
|
|
HR0171 |
- 4 - |
LRB095 11482 KXB 32538 r |
|
|
1 |
| in Guguletu, and in Durban, South Africa for over a decade; and |
2 |
| Trinity Church opened a Computer School in Saltpond, Ghana in |
3 |
| the summer of 2000; and
|
4 |
| WHEREAS, In August of 2003, Pastor Wright was enstooled by |
5 |
| the Ga-Dangme People of Ghana as Chief Afotey Oblum, II; |
6 |
| seventy-six members of the church accompanied Pastor Wright to |
7 |
| Ghana for the enstoolment; thirty African-Americans from |
8 |
| Pastor Wright's hometown of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, also |
9 |
| were in Ghana to witness his enstoolment;
and
|
10 |
| WHEREAS, Pastor Wright was awarded the Alumnus of the Year |
11 |
| Award by the Howard University Board of Trustees in March of |
12 |
| 2004; the Howard University Board of Trustees recognized him as |
13 |
| their leading alumnus in the field of Religion and Theological |
14 |
| Education;
Pastor Wright's personal, pastoral, and ministry |
15 |
| philosophy have been shaped by his mother and father, the Rev. |
16 |
| Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Sr., and Dr. Mary Henderson Wright; and |
17 |
| WHEREAS, He gives thanks to God for having had parents who |
18 |
| showed him by their living what the gospel of Jesus Christ |
19 |
| really means; he now shares those lessons with his wife, Ramah |
20 |
| Reed Wright, his four daughters, his son, and his three |
21 |
| grandchildren; therefore, be it
|
22 |
| RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE |
|
|
|
HR0171 |
- 5 - |
LRB095 11482 KXB 32538 r |
|
|
1 |
| NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we |
2 |
| congratulate Reverend Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr., as he celebrates |
3 |
| his 35th year in the ministry at Trinity United Church of |
4 |
| Christ, serving the needs of his congregation and people around |
5 |
| the globe; and be it further
|
6 |
| RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be |
7 |
| presented to Reverend Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr., as a symbol of |
8 |
| our esteem.
|