[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 40 (Friday, March 3, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E516]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                     IN MEMORY OF SISTER ANN GILLEN

                                 ______


                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, March 3, 1995
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, as chairman of the Commission 
on Security and Cooperation in Europe, I would like to call the 
attention of my colleagues to the recent passing of Sister Ann Gillen, 
one of the leading human rights activists on behalf of persecuted 
Jewish dissidents and refuseniks in the former Soviet Union. A member 
of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus, Sister Ann served for 15 years 
as executive director of the Interreligious Task Force for Soviet 
Jewry. On numerous occasions, she traveled to the former Soviet Union 
to visit and support Jewish refuseniks and the families of political 
prisoners. In addition, Sister Ann was a frequent attendee at 
international human rights fora. An unwavering supporter of the 
Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, Sister Ann served as 
a leader for several human rights delegations to the Belgrade, Madrid 
and Vienna CSCE Review Conferences where she urged political figures 
and diplomats to press the Soviets to live up to their own obligations 
under the Helsinski Accords and other international agreements.
  Sister Ann was a woman of action when responding to the plight of 
Soviet Jews. In 1979, Sister Ann offered her own freedom to the Soviet 
Government in exchange for the release of long-time refusenik Ida 
Nudel. Needless to say, the Soviets refused, but her gesture helped 
dramatize Ida Nudel's plight to the world and bring additional pressure 
on Kremlin leaders to allow Nudel to emigrate. In 1982, Sister Ann was 
one of three human rights leaders to serve an historic Writ of Habeas 
Corpus on the Soviet Consul in
 Washington, DC for Andrei Sakharov. In 1989, while attending the 
Sakharov International Human Rights Conference in Moscow, Sister Ann 
publicly urged Soviet leaders to end state regulation of religion.

  Long before others were encouraged to speak out on behalf of 
religious liberty and long before religious organizations collaborated 
on issues such as these, Sister Ann crossed ecumenical lines and 
reached out to persecuted, imprisoned human beings of all faiths--and 
in particular the Soviet Jews--to bring them hope and to fight 
tirelessly for their rights. Even in the last days of her life, Sister 
Ann did not think of her own pain, but of the suffering of religious 
believers around the world as she continued to plan conferences and 
projects that would go on after her own work had ended.
  Sister Ann's fellow campaigner in the struggle for Soviet Jewry, 
Union of Councils President Pamela Braun Cohen, was certainly correct 
when she said, ``No doubt thousands of Soviet Jews owe their freedom to 
Sister Ann's tireless efforts.''
  Dr. Kent Hill, President of Eastern Nazarene College and an expert on 
religion in the former Soviet Union, described Sister Ann as ``a 
tireless, selfless, and effective advocate of those who suffered 
because of their religious convictions.''
  In an award presented to her by a coalition of human rights 
organizations just prior to her death, Sister Ann was honored with 
these words: ``All of us who are novices in this work are very grateful 
for the paths that you have paved for us. This small token of our 
admiration pales in contrast to the contributions that you have given 
to make the world more humane. Perhaps, someday, we, following your 
example, may demonstrate the same depth of devotion and be a role model 
to other human rights activists.''
  Mr. Speaker, Sister Ann exemplified the finest qualities of her faith 
and her religious order as she reached across ethnic and religious 
boundaries to rescue strangers in distress. Her many friends and 
associates, and those who benefitted from her tireless efforts, will 
cherish her memory.


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