ELCA Seminaries Plan 2003 Commencement Exercises
Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia The Rev. Margarita Martinez, bishop, ELCA Caribbean Synod, Dorado, Puerto Rico Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, Lansdale, Pa. May 18 Wartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa Father Elias Chacour, a Palestinian Christian of the Melkite Catholic Church St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church, Dubuque May 20 Lutheran...
ELCA Publisher Reports Financial Health Improved
PHILADELPHIA (ELCA) -- The financial health of Augsburg Fortress, the publishing house of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), has improved, and the company's management team is focused on achieving a "break even" financial year in 2003. The information was part of a financial report to the board of...
Thomas Thomsen Resigns as President of Concordia College
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Thomas W. Thomsen, president of Concordia College, Moorhead, Minn., announced his resignation at an April 28 news conference. The board of regents accepted his resignation effective July 1, according to a news release issued by the college. The board will form a transitional team to...
Death, Illness in Maine ELCA Congregation Linked to Arsenic
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- W. Reid Morrill, 78, a longtime member of Gustaf Adolph Lutheran Church, New Sweden, Maine, died April 28. Maine health officials have identified arsenic poisoning as the probable cause of his death and of illnesses experienced by a dozen other members of the congregation. Gustaf Adolph is...
ELCA Communicators Receive 2003 DeRose-Hinkhouse Awards
INDIANAPOLIS (ELCA) -- The Religion Communicators Council (RCC) honored several members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) with DeRose-Hinkhouse Awards at the opening banquet of the 2003 RCC convention here April 24. Awards were given for communication projects completed in 2002 in eight general and 31 specific categories,...
ELCA Awards Grants to Projects That Address Hunger
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) awarded $826,750 in grants to projects that address hunger and poverty in urban and rural communities across the United States. Through the church's Domestic Hunger Grants program, projects were funded in three distinct areas: direct relief, projects and activities that...
St. Olaf Conference Addresses ELCA Studies on Sexuality
NORTHFIELD, Minn. (ELCA) -- People who are gay or lesbian must be welcomed by the church without reservation, say two former bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The denomination should make every effort to find a way to do so without causing division among its members, they...
ELCA Presiding Bishop Gives Thanks for Apparent End to War
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), said in an April 16 statement that he is thankful the most intense phase of the military conflict in Iraq has ceased. Hanson said he is grateful for sacrifices made in the...
Lutheran Laity Movement to Cease Operations May 31
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Lutheran Laity Movement for Stewardship (LLM), a self-supporting membership organization within the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), will cease operations immediately and officially dissolve May 31. LLM, based at the ELCA churchwide offices here, has been an advocate and leader in stewardship ministry for nearly a...
Lutherans Participate in Ecumenical Effort Regarding Korea
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is participating in an effort to address humanitarian need on the Korean peninsula and the current political impasse between the United States and North Korea. The ELCA and 16 other members of the National Council of Churches of Christ in...
Lutherans Collect More than $17 Million for World Hunger
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The World Hunger Appeal of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) collected more than $16 million in 2002 -- surpassing 2001 general World Hunger contributions by $400,000 - - plus $1 million in "Stand With Africa" giving. The revised income goal for the 2002 appeal was...
ELCA Council Nominates Presiding Bishop, Acts on Other Topics
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) formally nominated the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop, as a candidate for a six-year term as president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF). The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves...
ELCA Council Transmits Evangelism Strategy to Assembly
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) recommended that the 2003 Churchwide Assembly adopt "Sharing Faith in a New Century: A Vision for Evangelism in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America." The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves as...
ELCA Council Approves Plan for Mission, Recommends Budget
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) adopted "Faithful Yet Changing: The Plan for Mission in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America" and asked the 2003 ELCA Churchwide Assembly to authorize the next steps in the process. The council also recommended 2004 and...
ELCA Council Seeks Clarity in Proposed Health Care Statement
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) delayed transmission until this summer of a final proposed social statement on health and health care to the 2003 Churchwide Assembly. Acknowledging the document's strengths, the council said it had several concerns about the document related...
ELCA Council Hears Presiding Bishop's Concerns about Iraq War
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The church must ask moral questions about the "rightness" of a U.S. government decision that the Pentagon -- and not the United Nations or non-governmental organizations -- be in control of service to people, institutions and the infrastructure of Iraq after the war ends. The comment was...
ELCA Churchwide Organization Reduces Budget, Positions
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- As a result of a $1.2 million budget reduction approved April 5 by the Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), six permanent employees of the ELCA churchwide organization will lose their positions. In addition, three permanent positions -- two that are vacant and...
ELCA Council Elects Members to Boards, Committees
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) elected clergy and lay people to fill vacancies on boards, steering and advisory committees of the church when it met here April 4-6. The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves as the...
ELCA Council Forwards Progress Report on Studies on Sexuality
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) transmitted a progress report on the church's studies on sexuality to the 2003 ELCA Churchwide Assembly. The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves as the legislative authority of the church between churchwide...
Lutherans Agree to Discuss Regular Theological Conversations
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) met as the Committee on Lutheran Cooperation (CLC) April 3 here at the ELCA churchwide office and agreed to take the first steps toward regular theological conversations between the two largest Lutheran...
