WASHINGTON (August 16, 2004) — Bishop John H. Ricard, SSJ, of Pensacola-Tallahassee, who represented the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in a trip to Sudan, will be available to answer questions from the press, by telephone at 3 pm on Wednesday, August 18.

Bishop Ricard is Chairman of the Catholic Bishops International Policy Committee. He visited refugee camps in Sudan and, in Khartoum, met with Catholic Church leaders, United Nations personnel, and several officials of the Government of Khartoum.

The Bishop has called the atrocities in Darfur "the newest symbol of human depravity and ethnic cleansing."

To obtain the phone number and participant code for the Conference call, please contact Sherri Watkins of the USCCB Department of Communications at 202-541-3409.

For media inquiries, e-mail us at commdept@usccb.org
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