By Xin Yu
On
Sunday, September 10, 2006, church members of a Greek Orthodox Church in Sydney
came out of their church service and found a table with fliers exposing the Chinese
Communist Party (CCP) crime of harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners.
On the table was also a stack of signature collection forms to be sent to the
Australian Prime Minister. Greek Australians surrounded the table to sign their
names, calling on the Australian government to help stop the CCP atrocity.
Penny,
a young woman and her little daughter told people about the purpose of the signature
collection and distributed fliers. The little girl took a signature collection
form around the church yard to collect signatures. Penny and her daughter are
not Falun Gong practitioners. They are members of the Greek Orthodox Eastern Church.
Father John entrusted the signature collection to them to support his letter to
the Australian Prime Minister. Penny told Falun Gong practitioners that she had
received a flier about organ harvesting from living Falun Gong practitioners a
fews weeks before and signed to support the anti-persecution effort. She said
the persecution was terrible and she was happy to help Father collect signatures.
Father John met two local Falun Gong practitioners a few weeks ago, who told
him about the brutal persecution of Falun Gong by the CCP since July 1999, especially
about the atrocity of harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners.
Father John was shocked. He asked immediately, “It has been a long time. What
are you doing? What have you done? You should have put together a committee to
ask help from communities, organizations and governments.”
Father John planned
to write to the Prime Minister and tell his church members about the cruel persecution
and call for signatures. On the first weekend of September, Father John asked
church members to sit down after the service and told them about the tragedy of
innocent Falun Gong practitioners in China, and about the signature collection.
Many in the congregation asked where to sign as soon as they came out of the door.
After signing and getting a flier, they patted practitioners’ shoulders and
gave them thumbs-up, “You did great! Hold on!”
One of them said, “I have heard
about the organ-harvesting. It is horrible! I have called the Chinese Embassy
to ask them.” Councilman George’s wife said, “You did the right thing! You
should ask for support from charitable organizations like churches. My husband
is a city councilman. He supports you.” Mr. George came over and shook hands with
the practitioners. He had heard about the organ-harvesting, and was surprised
and pleased that the priest of his church raised this issue today. He shook hands
again before he left and said he would like to talk more with practitioners later.
An elderly gentleman told the practitioners with a smile that his church stressed
peace, love and family values. The CCP’s persecution of innocent people was
against their faith, so they were against the persecution.
About ninety people
signed on the open letter, which was sent to the Prime Minister and Councilmen.
Posting date: 21/Sep/2006
Original
article date: 21/Sep/2006
Category: Australian News