Fair Witness
on the Middle East
c/o Sr. Ruth Lautt
475 Riverside Drive
Suite 1960
New York, New York
10015
(212) 870-2320
(212) 870-2001 (fax)
srruth@christianfairwitness.com
National Director
Sr. Ruth Lautt, O.P., Esq.
Sr. Ruth Lautt, O.P., Esq. is the founder and National Director of Christians for Fair Witness on the Middle East. She is a professed member of the Sisters of the Order of St. Dominic, Congregation of the Holy Cross, Amityville, New York.
Sr. Ruth received a law degree from NYU School of Law and was previously associated with the law firms of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and Parcher & Hayes in New York. Prior to founding Fair Witness she was a litigation partner in the Law Firm of Vollmer & Tanck, P.C. in Jericho, New York.
Sr. Ruth has also served on the Ecumenical Commission of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn , Catholic-Jewish Dialogue, and the Executive Committee of the National Christian Leadership Conference for Israel. She was previously the Co-Convener of the Five-Towns/Rockaway Interfaith Clergy Council. Sr. Ruth is currently finishing her Masters Degree in Biblical Studies in the Jewish Christian Studies Department at Seton Hall University in New Jersey.
Board of Directors
Mr. G. Morris Gurley, Esq., Chairman
Mr. Gurley received a law degree from Harvard Law School. He was previously a Vice President of Trusts and Estates and the Head of Trust Administration at the Chemical Bank. He was also the Chairman of the Annie Laurie Aitken Charitable Distribution Committee, the Co-founder of the National Center for Victims of Crime and the Co-founder of the Brain Trauma Foundation. Mr. Gurley is an active lay member of the Methodist Church and serves as the Vice-President on the Board of Directors of the New York City Council of Churches. He also serves on the Commission of Religious Leaders of the City of New York and on the Advisory Council of the New York Board of Rabbis.
Hon. Peter F. Vallone, Vice-President
Peter F. Vallone served as Speaker and Majority Leader of the New York City Council from 1986 through 2001 and represented the 22nd District in Astoria, Queens since 1974. In 2002 he rejoined the law firm of Vallone & Vallone, founded by his father, the late Judge Charles J. Vallone, after whom the new Civil Courthouse in Queens was named. Peter Vallone is also a member of the Governmental Consulting firm of Constantinople & Vallone, and serves on the Mayor’s Election Modernization Task Force. He received his law degree from Fordham Law School and has served as professor of Politics and principles of Government at Fordham University. Peter Vallone is a leading Roman Catholic layman in New York State.
Dr. Dennis Hale, Secretary /Treasurer
Prof. Hale is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Boston College. He is a Lay Eucharistic Minister at Grace Episcopal Church in Medford, Massachusetts where he previously served as Vestryman and Treasurer. He is also a founding member and director of the Episcopal Jewish Alliance for Israel.
Executive Committee
Rev. Currie Burris
Rev. Burris is a minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA) currently serving Silver Spring Presbyterian Church in Silver Spring, Maryland. In over 26 years of ordained ministry, Rev.Burris’experience has combined a commitment to work for peace, justice and human rights, service to the church, and spiritual formation. He has worked in ministries with homeless people, refugees and new immigrants, as well as in multiracial/multicultural church contexts. He has degrees from Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington DC and Union Theological Seminary in New York City. He has traveled and served in Cameroon, Kenya and Zimbabwe.
Rev. Dr. Bruce Chilton
Rev. Chilton is an ordained Episcopal Priest. He is the Director of the Institute of Advanced Theology and the Bernard Iddings Bell Professor of Religion at Bard College in Annandale-On-Hudson, New York. He is the chair of the Episcopal-Jewish relations Committee in the Episcopal Diocese of New York. Throughout his career Rev. Chilton has been active in the pastoral ministry of the Anglican Church; he is currently rector of the Church of St. John the Evangelist in Barrytown, New York.
Rev. Dr. Roy W. Howard
Rev. Dr. Howard is an ordained Presbyterian Minister and the pastor of St. Mark Presbyterian Church (USA) in Rockville, Maryland. He has served the Presbyterian Church USA as an elder and pastor since 1980, including previous pastorates in Kentucky and Virginia. Rev. Howard earned a Doctorate in Ministry from Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington, DC., and an M Div. from Emory University, Candler School of Theology He is active in Jewish- Presbyterian dialogue within the Metro DC area and his own congregation is involved in an interfaith dialogue. He has been a leading voice for a fair witness in the Middle East for several years.
Rev. Chip Larson
Rev. Larson is the Pastor of Christ The King Lutheran Church in Tahoe, California. He is also a Dean, an Assistant to the Bishop and serves on the Ecumenical Commission in the Synod of Sierra Pacific. Rev. James Loughran, S.A Fr. Loughran is a Roman Catholic Priest and a professed member of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement. He is the Director of the Graymoor Ecumenical & Interreligious Institute of Graymoor and New York. He served as Director of the Ecumenical and Interreligious Commission of the Archdiocese of New York
Rev. Dr. Peter Pettit
Dr. Pettit is an ordained Minister in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. He is the Director of the Institute for Jewish-Christian Understanding at Muhlenberg College and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Religion.
Rev. Steve Simmons
Rev. Dr. Steve Simmons is an ordained Presbyterian minister and the Director of Continuing Education and an adjunct faculty member at Moravian Theological Seminary in Bethlehem, PA. He directs the Adult Education program at First Presbyterian Church in Allentown, PA. Rev. Simmons earned a PhD at the University of Chicago.
Rev. Dr. L.T. Archer Summers
Archer Summers is an ordained Minister in the California-Nevada Conference of the United Methodist Church and currently serves as the Senior Minister in the First United Methodist Church in Palo Alto California. He received a Masters Degree from the Harvard Divinity School, as well as a Masters and Doctorate in Education, also from Harvard. Dr. Summers is also an attorney, having earned a law degree from the Georgetown Law Center.
Mr. Dexter Van Zile
Mr. Van Zile is a layman in the United Church of Christ. He is Christian Media Analyst for the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA). He received his M.A. in Political Science/Environmental Studies from Western Washington University and his B.A. in Politics and Government from the University of Puget Sound. In the 1980s, he served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Zaire, now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Rev. Suzanne E. Wagner
Rev. Wagner is an ordained Minister in the United Church of Christ and serves at the First Congregational Church in Fairfield, Connecticut as its Associate Pastor. She received a Master of Divinity from the Andover Newton Theological School in Newton Centre, Massachusetts. Rev. Wagner is active in the Conference of the U.C.C. and is on the Connecticut Regional Board of the Anti-Defamation League and the National Outreach and Interfaith Committee of the National Anti-Defamation League. She has been actively involved in Interfaith Dialogue in the Bridgeport Community.