On Thursday, February 19, the semiannual interfaith luncheon was hosted at St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center. Attending on behalf of The Church of the Second Advent were head bishop Gene Savoy Jr., the Reverend Dr. William Bartlett, the Right Reverend Robert Petrovich, and the Reverend Francine Petrovich. The Reverends Savoy and Bartlett also helped plan and execute the event.
The regularly scheduled luncheons are sponsored by the Nevada Clergy Association (NCA) and St. Mary’s chaplains.
In attendance were more than forty clergy, representatives of Senators Harry Reid and John Ensign, and other guests.
The meeting was particularly fruitful in that a national group, Faith United Against Tobacco, heard about the luncheon and sent their national coordinator, Vinny DeMarco, from Baltimore to speak. Their purpose was to ask Senator Reid to push through Congress a bill that would enable the FDA to regulate tobacco, especially in regard to the sale of tobacco products and their marketing to children and youth. Mr. DeMarco said that he had the support of eleven Northern Nevada clergy with the help of Rabbi Myra Soifer and Gene Savoy.
Mr. DeMarco personally thanked Bishop Savoy for his support and that of the Nevada Clergy Association and announced that Savoy and the International Community of Christ would be sponsoring a press conference at 643 Ralston Street on Monday, March 9, to proclaim this initiative.
That press conference was to coincide with similar press announcements in four other states. Due to the presentation, NCA’s support and press conference announcement, twenty-two clergy signed the petition at the luncheon.