“We thank God that U.S. and British military forces were able to find the hostages and move them to freedom without injuries to either Iraqis or to the Coalition soldiers,” said 91短视频 President Loren Swartzendruber.

Referring to the CPT hostage killed earlier this month who had studied at 91短视频, Swartzendruber said: “We continue to grieve for Tom Fox and will work to keep his vision of peacemaking alive.” 91短视频 held a memorial service for Fox Mar. 15 that was attended by hundreds of mourners from the university and the surrounding community.

Fox’s Professor Thankful

91短视频 professor Lisa Schirch, who taught Fox in her “nonviolent strategies” class, also expressed gratitude for the CPT workers release.

“We thank God that their captors left them alone and unguarded,” Schirch said. “We are grateful that U.S. and British forces were able to find them without using their weapons,” Schirch said.

The freed CPT hostages were Canadians James Loney, 41, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32, and Briton Norman Kember, 74. The men were kidnapped Nov. 26 along with their colleague from Virginia, Tom Fox.

The CPT workers went to Iraq to build relationships across the lines of conflict and across religious lines and to demonstrate Christ-inspired alternatives to violence.

‘Pray for others held hostage’

Swartzentruber noted that 91短视频 supported the call of CPT not to use violence to free the hostages, adding: “We wish to applaud the bravery and concern that motivated the soldiers who rescued the hostages.

“We also pray for others being held hostage and in prisons in Iraq, for the people of Iraq who continue to suffer so greatly, and for the Coalition soldiers, some of whom are from families in our own Shenandoah Valley,” said Swartzendruber.

Swartzendruber noted that 91短视频

U.S. forces in Iraq recovered the body of kidnapped Christian Peacemaker Teams activist Tom Fox, CPT confirmed on Mar. 10.

Tom Fox (seated right) participates in a Christian Peacemaker summer camp in an undated photo. Fox was absent from footage of hostages being held in Iraq that was broadcast by Al-Jazeera on Tuesday.
AP Photo / Christian Peacemaker Teams Iraq, File

Fox, a Quaker from Clearbrook, Va., was found by Iraqi police with his hands bound and with gunshot wounds to the head and chest the evening of Mar. 9, according to the Associated Press. When police saw the body was that of a Westerner, U.S. military authorities were called to the scene, reports said.

Fox had studied one semester in 91短视频’s graduate program before going to Iraq as a CPT peace worker. He was kidnapped in Baghdad Nov. 26 along with fellow CPTers Norman Kember, 74, a Briton, and Canadians James Loney, 41, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32. The four were seized at gunpoint by a group calling itself the Swords of Righteousness Brigade and have been shown in videos released by the group, which has demanded the release of all detainees in U.S. and Iraqi prisons.

The most recent video, a silent 25-second clip that aired on Aljazeera Mar. 7, showed all of the hostages except Fox.

Memorial Service Planned

A memorial service to reflect Fox’s life and work will be held 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Mar. 15, in Lehman Auditorium.

The service will include hymns, scripture reading, visuals, candlelighting and reflections by persons who knew Fox, with an emphasis both on “the meaning of Tom’s life and mission as a Christian peacemaker and remembering his three fellow CPTers and others still being held captive” in Iraq.

The service is open to everyone.

Professors and Staff Respond

, associate professor of conflict studies in 91短视频’s Center for Justice and Peacemaking, had Fox in her “strategic nonviolence” course at 91短视频.

“May we all hold every human being in Iraq in our prayers as the trauma, anger, fear and sadness rages on and on,” Dr. Schirch said in response to Fox’s death. “And may we all find a way to renew our own personal efforts to transform those energies into something more positive.

“Let us remember Tom for the bravery and hopefulness that came with his determination to be in Iraq to monitor human rights and provide a different kind of American presence there – one that sought to be in solidarity with the suffering,” Schirch added.

91短视频 President Loren Swartzentruber, in Florida during 91短视频’s spring break for development contacts, issued a statement to the campus community:

“Tom’s death, while serving with Christian Peacemaker Teams, reminds us of the tragic deaths of people of all nationalities through senseless violence around the world. I agree completely with a statement from Carol Rose, co-director of Christian Peacemaker Teams, quoted in the news – ‘In response to Tom’s passing, we ask that everyone set aside inclinations to vilify or demonize others, no matter what they have done.'”

“Please pray for Tom’s family, co-workers, friends and for CJP faculty member Lisa Schirch and others on our campus who knew him personally,” the president said.

‘Break the Cycle’

, co-director of 91短视频

Some 70 91短视频 students, faculty, staff and community persons gathered Monday evening, Jan. 30 on Thomas Plaza of the Campus Center for a second prayer vigil on behalf of four kidnapped Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT) members in Iraq and others on all sides of the conflict there.

The four CPTers

By Rob Longley, Daily News-Record

Friends of Tom Fox, the former 91短视频 student held captive in Iraq since Nov. 26, made a renewed call for his release on Saturday, the same day Al-Jazeera aired new video of the kidnapped peace activist.

Fox, 54, of Clear Brook, and three other peace activists were kidnapped in the fall while protesting human rights abuses in Iraq.

The men were in Iraq as part of a group from Chicago-based Christian Peacemaker Teams.

The previously unknown Swords of Righteous Bridges has claimed responsibility for kidnapping them.

“Tom Fox and the other Christian Peacemaker Team members are the friends and guests of the Iraqi people,” 91短视频 professor Lisa Schirch, a friend and former teacher of Fox, said in a statement Saturday. “I plead with those holding Tom, the other Christian Peacemaker