Front Page

Civil Rights and Religious Leaders Align to Oppose Legislative ‘Nuclear Option'

May 6, 2005, NEW YORK – A historic civil rights organization has joined the National Council of Churches USA in warning that efforts to eliminate the Senate filibuster may dismantle the system of checks and balances that once made civil rights legislation possible, and could now alter the fabric of American society. Threats to change Senate rules so filibusters against judicial appointments could be ended by a 51 percent vote represent "a small skirmish," said Wade Henderson, executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. Henderson joined NCC General Secretary Bob Edgar in a forum in New York May 6 to respond to right-wing religious groups that want to end the filibuster.

Receiving the Holy Spirit from One Another

May 13, 2005 – A leading Vatican official affirms that Catholics are "in the ecumenical movement" to find answers to questions of Christian unity, recognizing the World Council of Churches as "an essential partner." "We are here to listen," said Bishop Brian Farrell, leader of the Vatican delegation to the 13th Conference on World Mission and Evangelism, "and as we listen, we've got to reflect, and then respond. We are in the ecumenical movement to try to clarify the questions before us all, and to come to answers. The value of a meeting like this is that it stimulates us to want to find answers together."

General Synod to Consider Endorsing ‘Alternative Paths' to Ordination

May 12, 2005 – In July, the United Church of Christ's General Synod will be asked to consider a measure that would affirm the possibility of alternative paths for "forming and preparing" ordained ministers. The long-anticipated, widely-vetted "pronouncement" – a weighty statement that calls the church to its highest levels of conversation, action and implementation – makes a case that regional training and mentoring can be effective models, in some settings, for educating persons for ordination.

General News

‘Davey and Goliath' TV Episodes Available on DVD

May 10, 2005, CHICAGO (ELCA) – Original television episodes of "Davey and Goliath" will be available on DVD in retail stores across the United States starting June 7. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and Starlight Home Entertainment, Inc., Los Angeles, made select episodes available in a two-disc "Collector's Edition" package. Davey and Goliath is a classic stop-motion animated television series starring Davey Hansen and his talking dog Goliath.

'Brimming with Worship' Explores Music and Arts in Worship

May 10, 2005, ELGIN, IL – The "Hebrews 12:28 – Brimming with Worship" conference brought close to 100 participants from as far away as Florida and Washington state to Bethany Theological Seminary in Richmond, Ind. The seminary is affiliated with the Church of the Brethren. Part of Bethany's centennial celebration, the conference was sponsored by the Rosenberger Memorial Recital Series, the Stephen I. Katonah Endowment for Faith and the Arts, and the seminary. Participants joined together to explore the heights and the depths of music and the arts in worship.

"God Healed Me Completely, Although I Am Still Living with HIV"

May 13, 2005 – Gracia Violeta Ross only understood the meaning of her first name (grace) after discovering she was HIV-positive. At that point in her life, she thought she was going to die soon, and asked God for forgiveness for a lifestyle that she felt had separated her from God's will. "God healed me completely then, although I am still living with HIV," she told participants at the Conference on World Mission and Evangelism in Athens. Ross, a 28-year old Bolivian who grew up in an evangelical family, spoke at the conference plenary session on Friday, 13 May. Her moving testimony strongly made the point that healing and cure don't necessarily come together. "Actually my life became better after becoming HIV-positive."

"Year of the Family" Resources Available Online and from Center for Family Care

May 9, 2005, GARRISON, NY – The "Year of the Family" continues to be observed throughout the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America through special programs and resources offered through local parishes, the Metropolises, and the Archdiocese. To assist with this focus on the needs of families, the Center for Family Care at Saint Basil Academy continues to expand the resources available through the Family website at http://www.familyaschurch.org/. The name of the web site follows the theme of the "Year of the Family" that is taken from the biblical phrase used by the Apostle Paul, kat'oikon ecclesia, "the church in the home" (Romans 16:5, Colossians 4:15).

Mission and Violence: an Ambivalent Relationship

May 12, 2005 – Moving away from cool images of violence conveyed by culture, participants at the world mission conference in Athens took a hard look at the ambivalent relationship between mission and violence. No easy answers though. "Violence is not cool, there is nothing glamorous in violence" said Tinyiko Maluleke, a Presbyterian missiologist from South Africa, addressing a plenary session of the Conference on World Mission and Evangelism on Thursday, 12 May. "We have to oppose the current trend in our culture which portrays violence as fashionable and sexy," he added.

Presiding Bishop Welcomes Appointment of Panel of Reference Chair

May 11, 2005 – Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold has welcomed the appointment of the Most Rev. Peter Carnley of Australia to serve as chair of the Panel of Reference created by Archbishop Rowan Williams in response to the request of the Primates Meeting in February. Carnley, the Archbishop of Perth, is also Anglican co-chairman of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) and served as spokesperson for the primates at their last meeting in Newry, Northern Ireland. "It is my expectation that the Panel of Reference will bring the whole question of delegated episcopal oversight objectivity and fair-mindedness," said Griswold. "This will help dispel misrepresentations regarding the willingness of bishops and congregations under their care to make use of Delegated Episcopal Pastoral Oversight.

Healing Not the Same as Curing Says Disabled Person

May 11, 2005 – For disabled persons, healing does not first and foremost mean being cured. Rather, it has to do with restoration to and inclusion in the community. Churches willing to heal disabled people must fully assume their mission to include them. The coordinator of the Ecumenical Disability Advocates Network (EDAN), Samuel Kabue of Kenya, made this point in Athens today while speaking to the 9-16 May 2005 Conference on World Mission and Evangelism (CWME). Kabue, who was born blind, explained that "To those who have been disabled since birth – disability and sickness are two very different things, and healing [understood as cure] applies to sickness, not to disability."

Women Challenge Churches to Redefine Mission

May 13, 2005 – The mission of women is often very ordinary. It happens every day, sometimes in very quiet ways. It happens in Canada when a woman encourages the spiritual gifts of her three daughters. It happens in Nigeria when Christian and Muslim women join in solidarity to protest religious violence in their town. It happens in India when a woman with a theological degree offers to volunteer at her church because, as a woman, she will never be ordained there. "Women in the church are doing many things, but often hesitate to call it mission," says German missiologist Katja Heidemanns, who led the only workshop dealing specifically with women's issues at the 13th Conference on World Mission and Evangelism near Athens, Greece. "Often their work is not recognized because it doesn't fall under the official, narrow understanding of what mission is."

Ecumenical News

For Christian Mission, It's Time for Confession, Repentance and Conversion, Kobia Says

May 10, 2005 – It is time for confession, repentance and a deep conversion in thinking and attitudes, the World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia told participants at the Conference on World Mission and Evangelism. Kobia addressed some 700 participants at the opening session of the conference being held 9-16 May near Athens. In his remarks, he acknowledged that "‘mission' carries a heavy historical baggage, having played a part in fostering division and conflict – between peoples, and even between families of churches." "So perhaps the time has come for confession, and repentance," he suggested.

Communion: an Answer to Globalization

May 11, 2005 – "Avoiding the simplistic interpretations which see globalization and post-modernity only as a melting-pot or, on the contrary, only as an inevitable clash of civilizations, we are called to see the present state of affairs as an occasion for critical creativity." Facing globalization seen as a monocultural melting-pot on the one hand, and the rise of the conviction that every single local human context has its own truth, on the other, Dr Athanasios P. Papathanasiou called the churches to a critical creativity towards reconciliation. In his presentation to the plenary on the second day of the Conference on World Mission and Evangelism being held 9-16 May 2005 by the World Council of Churches in Athens, Papathanasiou brought an Orthodox contribution to the debate.

Christodoulos Affirms Ecumenical Dialogue and Renewed Identity and Mission

May 10, 2005 – The archbishop of Athens and all of Greece, His Beatitude Christodoulos, affirmed the need for ecumenical encounter and dialogue, as well as for a new articulation of Christian identity and mission in order to face contemporary challenges. Addressing some 700 participants at the opening session of the 9-16 May Conference on World Mission and Evangelism, Christodoulos welcomed it as an "important and timely" event, in face of the "many and difficult challenges which confront all Christians today." The head of the (Orthodox) Church of Greece emphasized the "determination to join our forces with other Christians in dialogue and common witness" in spite of the "past bitter experience from aggressive missionary activities and hostile actions" suffered by his church.

Greek Church Leaders Call for Strengthening of United Christian Witness

May 12, 2005 – Greek church leaders have called for "coordinated efforts and a united Christian witness" to tackle global problems more effectively. "The church does not close its eyes to the burning issues of our times, issues that can only be dealt with effectively through coordinated efforts and a united Christian witness," stated Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens during a meeting with the WCC general secretary in Athens. Christodoulos recalled that "such concerns led the Orthodox Church of Greece to become a founding member of the World Council of Churches in 1948." Members of the 12-person Holy Synod of the Church of Greece and other hierarchs, presided by the archbishop, met with Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia on 12 May to discuss progress in WCC-Orthodox relations and other issues.

CTCR Web Site Offers Information on Religious Orders, Movements

May 10, 2005 – Information about religious organizations and movements – both Christian and non-Christian – is now accessible on the LCMS Web site as a service of the Commission on Theology and Church Relations. The site currently provides summaries of the history, basic beliefs, and evaluations from a Lutheran perspective on beliefs such as the occult, Wicca, Satanism, and New Age, plus organizations like the Unification Church and the International Churches of Christ and Judaism.

Where and When the Holy Spirit Comes

May 10, 2005 – About 700 representatives from churches and mission bodies from all over the world were advised to recognize that the presence of the Holy Spirit is not to be claimed by themselves, but acknowledged by their neighbours. The 9-16 May Conference on World Mission and Evangelism (CWME) opened this morning in Athens with two thematic presentations on the general theme "Come Holy Spirit, Heal and Reconcile." The two complementary presentations were linked to the speakers' own traditions – more theological for the Presbyterian lecturer, Dr Kirsteen Kim, more narrative for the Pentecostal missionary, Dr Wonsuk Ma, both from South Korea.

Statement Due Monday on "Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ"

May 14, 2005, SEATTLE, Washington – An international delegation of Anglicans and Roman Catholics will convene in Seattle May 16 to release a joint statement of understanding on the place of Mary in the doctrine and life of the Church. The document, titled Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ, represents the first major agreed statement by a formal international dialogue between two Christian world communions on this important aspect of Christian faith and devotion. The statement draws together the fruits of five years of work by the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC), a dialogue officially sponsored by the Anglican Consultative Council and by the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

Spanish News

Cruz Portadora De Esperanza Inaugura Reunión Mundial

11 mayo 2005 – Una cruz cargada de simbolismo religioso y político fue protagonista en la apertura de la décimo tercera Conferencia Mundial sobre Misión y Evangelización. En la soleada y tibia mañana del martes 10 de mayo, un barco de unos diez metros de eslora atravesó una franja del legendario mar Egeo trayendo al centro Agios Andreas, a 30 kilómetros de Atenas, una gran cruz de madera de olivo. Fabricada en Tierra Santa, al otro lado del Mare Nostrum de los antiguos, la cruz venía acompañada por representantes de iglesias de Jerusalén, a quienes se debió la iniciativa de donarla a la décimo tercera Conferencia Mundial sobre Misión y Evangelización que se lleva a cabo hasta el 16 de mayo.

Christodoulos Apoya El Diálogo Ecuménico Y La Renovación
En La Identidad Cristiana Y La Misión

10 mayo 2005 – El arzobispo de Atenas y de toda Grecia, Su Beatitud Christodoulos, afirmó la necesidad del encuentro y el diálogo ecuménico, así como de una nueva articulación de la identidad y la misión cristianas para hacer frente a los desafíos contemporáneos. Hablando a unos 700 participantes en la sesión de apertura de la Conferencia Mundial sobre Misión y Evangelización (9-16 de mayo), Christodoulos se congratuló de este "importante y oportuno" acontecimiento, frente a los "muchos y difíciles retos con que se enfrentan hoy los cristianos." La máxima autoridad de la Iglesia (ortodoxa) de Grecia recalcó la "determinación de unir nuestras fuerzas con otros cristianos en el diálogo y el testimonio común" a pesar de la "amarga experiencia de actividades misioneras agresivas y acciones hostiles" padecida por su iglesia.

Cristianos Del Mundo En Aghios Andreas: No Todos Les Dan La Bienvenida

12 mayo 2005, ATENAS, Grecia – Un grupo de cristianos ortodoxos griegos no está precisamente complacido por la presencia aquí de cerca de 700 cristianos de una amplia variedad de confesiones y de más de un centenar de países del planeta, en la décimo tercera Conferencia Mundial sobre Misión y Evangelización. El grupo ha expresado su descontento mediante una demostración frente a las puertas del centro Aghios Andreas (sede de la Conferencia) y distribuido octavillas con leyendas curiosas y estridentes. Los protagonistas de los actos de repudio a la Conferencia son los mismos que, casi exactamente cuatro años atrás, se opusieron a la visita a Grecia del hoy desaparecido papa Juan Pablo II.

Comunión: Una Respuesta a La Globalización

11 mayo 2005 – "Evitando las interpretaciones simplistas que ven la globalización y la posmodernidad solo como un crisol unificador, o por el contrario solo como un choque inevitable de civilizaciones, se nos invita a ver el actual estado de cosas como una ocasión para la creatividad crítica." Frente a la globalización vista como un crisol monocultural por una parte, y la convicción creciente, por otra parte, de que cada contexto humano local particular tiene su propia verdad, el Dr. Athanasios Papathanasiou instó a las iglesias a una creatividad crítica con miras a la reconciliación.

Dónde Y Cuándo Viene El Espíritu Santo

10 mayo 2005 – Cerca de 700 representantes de iglesias y organismos de misión provenientes de todas partes del mundo fueron advertidos de que la presencia del Espíritu Santo no ha de ser proclamada por uno mismo, sino reconocida por el prójimo. La Conferencia Mundial sobre Misión y Evangelización, que se celebra del 9 al 16 de mayo, fue inaugurada esta mañana en Atenas con dos presentaciones sobre el tema "Ven, Espíritu Santo, Sana y Reconcilia."

Sanación Y Curación No Son Idénticas, Afirma Persona Discapacitada

11 mayo 2005 – Para las personas discapacitadas, la sanación no significa, ante todo y sobre todo curación. Se relaciona más bien con restauración e inclusión en la comunidad. Las iglesias que desean la sanación de personas discapacitadas deben asumir plenamente la misión de incluirlas. El coordinador de la Red Ecuménica de Defensa de los Discapacitados (EDAN), Samuel Kabue de Kenya, hizo esta puntualización hoy hablando a la Conferencia Mundial sobre Misión y Evangelización (CMME) que se celebra del 9 al 16 de mayo de 2005 en Agios Andreas, cerca de Atenas.

Recibí Sanidad a Través Del Vih, Dice Evangélica Boliviana

13 mayo 2005 – Gracia Violeta Ross no entendió el verdadero significado de su primer nombre hasta el día en que se descubrió portadora del virus de inmunodeficiencia humana, o VIH. "No veo lógica humana alguna en mi caso, sino la acción de Dios. Una noche, después de conocer que el diagnóstico era positivo, me arrodillé sola en mi cuarto, oré y le pedí perdón a Dios. Y Dios me dio la sanidad en ese momento. Dios me ha dado la sanidad a través del VIH." Este testimonio de la activista evangélica boliviana de 28 años fue uno de los más conmovedores presentados hoy en el plenario sobre sanación de la Conferencia Mundial sobre Misión y Evangelización.

Para La Misión Cristiana, Es Tiempo De Confesión,
Arrepentimiento Y Conversión, Dice Kobia

10 mayo 2005 – Es tiempo de confesión, arrepentimiento y conversión profunda en las ideas y actitudes, dijo el secretario general del Consejo Mundial de Iglesias (CMI), pastor Dr. Samuel Kobia a los participantes de la Conferencia Mundial sobre Misión y Evangelización. Kobia se dirigió a unos 700 participantes en la sesión inaugural de la conferencia que se está celebrando del 9 al 16 de mayo cerca de Atenas. En su alocución, reconoció que "la misión arrastra un pesado bagaje histórico, ya que ha contribuido a fomentar la división y el conflicto entre personas e incluso entre familias de iglesias."

New York Metro News

Youth Education Effort Honored at Human Rights Church Service

May 15, 2005, NEW YORK – Teens in dozens of countries who work with Youth for Human Rights International, an educational program adopted by the Church of Scientology, were publicly honored at a special service Sunday at the Church's New York headquarters. The group's work in human right's education was commended in a letter from Ms. Imaculee Ilibigaze, an executive in the United Nations Development Programme. Ms. Ilibigaze is a survivor of the Rwandan genocide, and now helps the UN evaluate the effectiveness of their programs. "This is a woman who knows firsthand the disastrous results when people lose respect for one another," said Rev. John Carmichael, who led the service.

National News

Pastor Says Quilts, Prayers Well-Received Following Red Lake High School Shootings

May 9, 2005 – Delivering the quilts was a simple gesture, really, but those unfamiliar with Native American culture might not appreciate its significance as well as Rev. Richard Latterner, a former LCMS missionary to several reservations in northern Minnesota. Latterner, a Minnesota Chippewa, was born on a reservation just 40 miles from Red Lake, Minn., where a March 21 shooting rampage claimed 10 lives. So when he decided to go to Red Lake to see how he could help its hurting residents, he took about 60 quilts, handmade by members of the Lutheran Women's Missionary League.

Middle East News

Delegation Disturbed by Effects of Occupation,
Says Two-State Solution for Israel/Palestine Threatened

May 12, 2005 – Anglicans who visited Israel and the Palestinian Territories April 29-May 6 said they returned "deeply disturbed" by the separation barrier, checkpoints, expansion of settlements, and the tightening of security around Palestinian areas, especially in Bethlehem and Hebron. "Israel has a right to defend itself. But it appears that, in the name of security, injustices are being done to the Palestinians that amount to collective punishment," said Jacqueline Scott, a member of the Standing Commission on Anglican and International Peace with Justice Concerns (AIPJC).

The Gift of a Cross: Symbolism Is Rich at Opening Prayer Service

May 10, 2005 – The wood of olive trees uprooted near Bethlehem during the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian crisis is transformed into an emblem of hope and reconciliation. On the shore of the Aegean Sea, a small craft delivered a cross of olive wood from Bethlehem at morning prayer on the first day of the Conference on World Mission and Evangelism (CWME) near Athens. It came as a gift from the Christian churches of Jerusalem, a reminder of the birthplace of Christianity and the contemporary struggles of the people there.