News

CHURCHES: MAKE LIBERIA'S PEACE `IRREVERSIBLE' Fourteen aid agencies working in Liberia urged President Bill Clinton to make the peace process in that country "irreversible." In a March letter, Lutheran World Relief and Catholic, Methodist and Episcopal agencies requested firm U.S. support for a democratic transition to peace rather than continued...

SEMINARY HOSTS ECUMENICAL DAY Dr. Darlis J. Swan spoke during "A Day of Ecumenical Dialogue" at Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary, Columbus, S.C. Swan is associate director of the Department for Ecumenical Affairs for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. As part of the seminary's John Lewis Yost Jr. Lecture Series,...

SEMINARY PRESIDENTS COUNSEL ON ECUMENISM Without endorsing any of the ecumenical proposals now before the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the presidents of the ELCA's eight seminaries have offered the church their counsel. They recommended that Lutherans give the details of each proposal careful attention, honor the convictions of the...

ELCA WANTS SAFETY LOCKS ON GUNS "All persons are entitled to the protection of life and physical well-being," Kay A. Bengston wrote April 11 to members of the Crime Subcommittee in the U.S. House of Representatives. That committee is looking at the Juvenile Crime Control Act of 1997. "To our...

LUTHERANS WIN RPRC AWARDS The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and related individuals won 29 DeRose-Hinkhouse awards at the annual convention of the Religious Public Relations Council (RPRC). The convention was held April 3-5 in Boston. The memorial award recognizes communication efforts of the 500 RPRC members in the United...

DIAL BISHOP ANDERSON Beginning May 1, the Rev. H. George Anderson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, will provide a regular recorded message by calling a Chicago telephone number -- 773-380-2930. "I look forward to one more way to communicate with the people of our church and...

ROREM EDITS LUTHERAN JOURNAL The Rev. Paul E. Rorem, a pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and an associate professor of church history at Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, N.J., has been named editor of "Lutheran Quarterly," a research journal of Lutheran history and theology. Rorem has been an...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America experienced "significant transitions" in its business and in its relationships, the Rev. Lowell G. Almen, ELCA secretary, said after the council met here April 4-7. The council shifted several governance responsibilities to this summer's Churchwide Assembly; and...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Since 1996 the Division for Global Mission of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has acknowledged the retirement of missionaries with long records of service. The Rev. Bonnie L. Jensen, executive director of the division, said, "The whole church, here at home and around the world, lifts...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Division for Global Mission of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has asked for a churchwide response to "recurrent tragedies of the 20th century resulting from ethnic strife." The board of the division, meeting here March 14-16, voted to send its request to the ELCA Church...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "The tears of the people are adding to the height of the river," said James Barclay, president of Lutheran Social Services of South Dakota. April snow, vicious wind-driven rain and ice storms added to the misery of the 1996-1997 record winter snowfalls, according to the Rev. Leon...

ELCA STAFF STAYS IN CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC Missionary staff of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) remain in the Central African Republic despite a U.S. government decision to suspend its operations there temporarily. A State Department staff member told reporters March 28 that in light of hostilities between rebel...

"SAFE HAVEN" DURING BOMBING TRIAL Families of the Oklahoma City bombing victims will be offered a "safe haven" while attending the trial of bombing suspect Timothy McVeigh in Denver. The "safe haven" will be a quiet, comfortable and confidential location families can retreat to when they need a break from...

CORDELIA COX DIED Cordelia Cox, 95, former director for Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service , died March 5 in Richmond, Va. Cox became the first woman to head a major Lutheran agency in the United States. During her tenure from 1948 to 1957 Cox led the resettlement of more than...

LUTHERANS PREPARE FOR FLOODS A Lutheran Disaster Response (LDR) coalition in eastern North Dakota has developed two approaches to cope with possible flooding along the Red River and Sheyenne River and in the Devil's Lake area. The first is to provide information for congregational leaders and individuals about local and...

TOO HUNGRY TO LEARN Staying healthy and getting an education are two big challenges for more than 6,000 children of Mukuru Kayaba, one of the slums of Nairobi, Kenya. Sister Mary Killeen, a Lutheran World Relief (LWR) partner in Nairobi, told Na Eng, LWR intern, about the early years of...

CHURCHES MARK EARTH DAY "Earth Day was created by secular organizations in 1970," said Job S. Ebenezer, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's director for environmental stewardship and hunger education. "It is time that the churches consider the biblical call for earthkeeping and the unique contributions that churches can make...

SILER TO HEAD LUTHERAN OFFICE IN WASHINGTON The Rev. Russell O. Siler, an attorney and Lutheran pastor, has been named director of the Lutheran Office for Governmental Affairs, Washington, D.C. LOGA is the federal public policy advocacy office of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Siler, 54, will succeed Kay...

ELCA HUNGER APPEAL SLIGHTLY SHORT "We almost made it -- $11,814,023 toward a $12 million budget goal," said the Rev. Roger O. Livdahl in a memo to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's World Hunger Appeal network. Livdahl is director of the appeal. "Congregational giving to the appeal, the most...

CHURCHES OPPOSE JERUSALEM SETTLEMENT Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP) told President Bill Clinton it is "gravely concerned about recent Israeli decisions that jeopardize the peace process." In a March 7 letter the organization asked the administration, "as sponsor of the peace process and friend of Israel, to convince Israel...