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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
 

 

 

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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
 

 

 

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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,

 

 

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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

 

 

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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.