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Korean Leaders Caution Against Prejudice after Shooting

April 20, 2007 – Korean and American Korean Methodist church leaders are calling for "healing, reconciliation and peace" amid concerns that the Virginia Tech shootings by a South Korean native could lead to a backlash against Koreans. "I was really shocked to hear that this senseless crime was committed by a Korean-immigrated student," said Bishop Kyung-Ha Shin, president of the Council of Bishops of the Korean Methodist Church. In an April 18 letter from Seoul to the World Methodist Council, Shin offered condolences to the bereaved families and the American people while hoping "there will be no undesirable negative feeling and attitude toward Koreans."

Kobia to Visit Many-Sided Reality of WCC's UK and Ireland Member Churches

April 20, 2007 – The comprehensive programme of Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia's forthcoming (24 April to 4 May) visit to the UK and Ireland will afford the World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary with many opportunities for new insights into the life and current work of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland's (CTBI) member churches. His trip, while taking him from England to Wales to Scotland to Ireland and back to England again, will bring Kobia into contact with church leaders and workers engaged in such diverse fields as interfaith relations, work with refugees and asylum seekers, racial justice initiatives, and ecumenical theological education. In the area of mission, the 2010 centennial celebration of the 1910 World Mission Conference in Edinburgh, widely considered as the symbolic starting point of the contemporary ecumenical movement, will be the focus of a visit to that city.

General News

ELCA Council Recommends Adoption of ‘Our Calling in Education'

April 19, 2007, CHICAGO – The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) recommended that the 2007 ELCA Churchwide Assembly adopt "Our Calling in Education" as a social statement of the church. The council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves as the legislative authority of the church between churchwide assemblies. It met here April 14-16. Assemblies are held every other year; the next is here Aug. 6-11. Adopted by ELCA churchwide assemblies, social statements are social policy documents that address significant social issues. The 2001 ELCA Churchwide Assembly called for a statement on education.

ELCA Council Commends Report on Multicultural Strategies

April 18, 2007, CHICAGO – In 1987 the constituting convention of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) adopted the goal "that within 10 years of its establishment its membership shall include at least 10 percent people of color and/or primarily language other than English." The ELCA Church Council received a report on the church's continuing work to achieve that goal and commended the report "for study, reflection and response."

ELCA Council Assumes Responsibility to Address Racism, Sexism

April 19, 2007, CHICAGO – The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) assigned responsibility for its ongoing antiracism and antisexism education and training to its Board Development Committee. In November the council voted to begin planning "for its continuous education, reflection and training on the issue of sexism, just as the Church Council has committed itself to continuous education, reflection and training on the issue of racism."

ELCA Council Affirms ‘Evangelical Lutheran Worship'

April 20, 2007, CHICAGO – The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) recommended the 2007 ELCA Churchwide Assembly adopt a resolution designed to affirm the church's work on renewing its worship life. The "Renewing Worship" project invited the 4.85-million-member ELCA and the 182,077 members of the ELCIC to engage new worship materials. The ELCIC began its participation in Renewing Worship in 2001. Evangelical Lutheran Worship is published by Augsburg Fortress Publishers, Minneapolis, the publishing ministry of the ELCA.

Archbishop of Canterbury to Visit US Church

April 17, 2007 – The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has announced that he intends to visit the United States this autumn in response to the invitation from the House of Bishops of The Episcopal Church. Speaking in a press conference in Toronto, Dr Williams said he would undertake the visit together with members of the Standing Committee of the Primates and the Anglican Consultative Council: "I look forward to some sharing of our experiences as pastors as well as discussion of the business of the Communion. These are complicated days for our church internationally and its all the more important to keep up personal relationships and conversations. ....my aim is to try and keep people around the table for as long as possible on this, to understand one another, and to encourage local churches."

Ecumenical News

Lutheran-Roman Catholic Dialogue Continues ‘Hope of Eternal Life' Theme

April 15, 2007, CHICAGO – The U.S. Lutheran-Roman Catholic Dialogue in Round XI met March 15-18 at Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary, Columbia, S.C., for its fourth meeting to discuss "The Hope of Eternal Life." The Lutheran and Roman Catholic co-chairs described the meeting as constructive and precise, helpful to both Christian traditions as they search for greater mutual understanding through the dialogue. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops chose the topic at the end of Round X in 2004, to examine issues related to the Christian's life beyond death. The conversation stems from principles of life-after-death developed in the "Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification," which the Lutheran World Federation and the Catholic Church signed Oct. 31, 1999, in Augsburg, Germany.

Spanish News

Diez Religiosos Integran La Lista De Los Marcados Para Morir, Según El Diario De San Pablo

14 abril 2007, BRASILIA, Brasil – Confinado a su residencia y cuando sale para visitas pastorales siempre va acompañado de dos policías militares, el obispo de Prelazia del Xingu, en Pará, Erwin Kräutler, de 67 años, integra la lista de los marcados para morir. Él habla de un "consorcio del crimen" en el Estado. Otros prelados integran esa lista: el obispo de Guarajá-Mirim, Geraldo Verdier, y el obispo de Ji-Paraná, de la Rondônia. El informe es del diario El Estado de San Pablo, que incluyó, además de los tres obispos, otros siete religiosos en la lista de los marcados para morir: el fraile Henri Burin de Roziers, de Xinguara, en Pará, y la hermana Leonora Bruneto, de Alta Floresta, Mato Grosso, los dos actuando en la Comisión Pastoral de la Tierra (CPT).

Religiosos Y Religiosas Refuerzan Sus Compromisos Ante El VIH Y SIDA Claudia Florentin

17 abril 2007, BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – De la apertura de corazones, estoy satisfecho, afirma Elías Szczytnicki, Director de la Oficina Regional Latinoamericana y Caribeña de la Conferencia Mundial de Religiones por la Paz (WCRP), promediando el Pre-Foro Ecuménico e Interreligioso del IV Foro Latinoamericano y del Caribe en VIH/SIDA e ITS, que se realizó hoy en la AMIA, Comunidad Judía de Buenos Aires. "Todos y todas hemos venido con la conciencia de que la diversidad es el eje central y debemos practicarlo entre nosotros, y sabemos que sobre algunos temas, particularmente lo que hace a la sexualidad, no todos pensamos igual, pero nos sentimos hermanados por el gran dolor de oír las cifras alarmantes de crecimiento del VIH y Sida en América Latina" expresa.

El CMI Provee Seis Puestos Clave De Su Personal

18 abril 2007 – Seis comprometidos ecumenistas han sido nombrados para asumir roles de liderazgo en el Consejo Mundial de Iglesias (CMI). Los recién designados miembros del personal poseen, cada uno, una importante experiencia en ámbitos específicos de la tarea ecuménica. De acuerdo a la nueva estructura programática adoptada tras la IX Asamblea del CMI en 2006, ellos estarán al frente, respectivamente, de cinco programas y de una Oficina de Planificación e Integración.

Conferencia Episcopal Peruana Desmiente Apoyo Al Arzobispado

19 abril 2007, LIMA, Perú – El titular de la Conferencia Episcopal Peruana (CEP), monseñor Miguel Cabrejos, negó que la organización que preside haya emitido un pronunciamiento respecto del conflicto judicial entre el Arzobispado de Lima y la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP). Por medio de una nota de prensa, Cabrejos manifestó la necesidad de incidir en este tema, para evitar confusiones al respecto, puesto que anteriormente, el obispo de Chimbote, Jesús Moliné, había declarado que la CEP había acordado hacer público su respaldo al Arzobispado.

La V Conferencia Del Celam Inicia La Cuenta Regresiva

20 abril 2007, CIUDAD DEL VATICANO – La V Conferencia General del Episcopado Latinoamericano (Celam), entró en su última fase preparatoria cuando faltan 23 días para su inicio en la ciudad de Aparecida, Brasil. Con el lema "Discípulos y misioneros de Jesucristo, para que nuestros pueblos en Él tengan vida," 266 personas, divididos entre 162 miembros, 81 invitados, 8 observadores y 15 peritos, participarán de la misma, del 13 al 31 de mayo. Benedicto XVI participará del evento en la ceremonia inaugural.

New York Metro News

Korean Churches Pray for Virginia Tech Victims

April 20, 2007, FLUSHING, NY – Pastors and members of the Council of Korean Churches of Greater New York met for a special Memorial Prayer Service Thursday evening for the victims and families of the massacre on the campus of Virginia Tech. The service was held at the Hyo Shin Bible Presbyterian Church, Flushing. The homily was preached by Rev. Moon, the new pastor of the Hyo Shin Church, as other clergy brought Memorial messages. Scriptures were read and many prayers were offered as the Korean community feels anguish for the violence committed by a Korean-American student. The Rev. N. J. L'Heureux, Jr., Executive Director of the Queens Federation of Churches, spoke and assured them: "I am mindful of your concerns and special identification with this act of wanton mayhem by reason of nationality or ethnicity. But let me affirm as strongly as I can, that our identity together as human beings – and, thus, as children of the one Creator God – places no one nearer or further in relationship to the one who caused this terrible, terrible suffering."

National News

Illinois Church Remembers Virginia Tech Shooting Victim

April 18, 2007 – Austin Cloyd was raised as a child of faith, taught by her family that she was blessed and needed to pass on that blessing to others. That faith was evident to the Rev. Terry Harter, senior pastor of First United Methodist Church in Champaign, Ill., and others in the congregation where she was actively involved for six years. Cloyd was one of the 32 victims of Cho Seung-Hui, a disturbed student who went on a shooting rampage April 16 at Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, Va., before killing himself. She was a freshman majoring in international studies and would have been 19 years old on April 24.

ELCA World Hunger Program Distributes Funds to Reduce Domestic Hunger

April 18, 2007, CHICAGO – The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America World Hunger Program awarded $913,300 in 360 grants to churches and organizations in the United States that provide services and programs for people who are hungry or living in poverty. "We're doing a lot with a little," said Joe Young, director for community development services, ELCA Church in Society. Grants from $750 to $7,500 were awarded to local organizations because "they're doing good work for a population that might otherwise be overlooked," Young said. The $913,300 awarded in 2007 represents an 18 percent increase over last year's total. Young estimated that 460 organizations requested $3 million, and 55 percent of those requests were from organizations that had never requested domestic hunger grants.

Lutherans Provide Emotional, Spiritual Care at Virginia Tech

April 20, 2007, CHICAGO – Lutheran Disaster Response, a collaborative ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, is providing emotional and spiritual care at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, Va., after a lone gunman shot and killed 32 people there before killing himself April 16. "Our response will include outreach and spiritual and emotional care for the campus community, the town of Blacksburg and the surrounding area. It will also include spiritual and emotional care for those beyond the borders of Virginia," said Heather L. Feltman, executive director, Lutheran Disaster Response, and director, ELCA Domestic Disaster Response.

Middle East News

Hundreds Pack Jerusalem Cathedral for Bishop's Enthronement

March 17, 2007 – Heads of Churches in Jerusalem are joined by the clergy and people of the diocese, and also by a host of international friends to welcome new bishop Historic St George's Anglican Cathedral was filled to overflowing on Low Sunday, 15 April as the 14th Anglican bishop, the Rt Revd Suheil Dawani, was installed and welcomed as bishop of this important diocese in the life of the Anglican Communion. Local Jerusalem Orthodox, Lutheran, Armenian, Coptic, Protestant and Roman Catholic prelates, pastors and members of religious orders, processed into the cathedral accompanied by a Palestinian Youth Marching Band, amidst clouds of incense and smiling faces. Clergy of the diocese, as well as lay leaders, processed with Anglican and Ecumenical guests from around the world.

People in the News

WCC Fills Six Key Staff Leadership Positions

18 abril 2007 – Six committed ecumenists, each with significant experience in specific fields of ecumenical endeavour, have been appointed to take up key leadership roles within the Geneva-based World Council of Churches (WCC). The newly appointed staff members will head five programmes plus a planning and integration office, all of which are the result of programmatic reshaping following the WCC 9th Assembly in 2006. The newly appointed WCC directors are: Rev. Dr Hielke Wolters (Justice, Diakonia and Responsibility for Creation); Mr Mark Edward Beach (Communications); Rev. Dr Martin Robra (WCC and the Ecumenical Movement in the 21st century); Rev. Jacques Matthey (Unity, Mission, Evangelism and Spirituality); and Dr Aruna Gnanadason (Planning and Integration). The director of the WCC programme on Education and Ecumenical Formation, Fr Prof. Ioan Sauca, was appointed last year. Wolters and Beach will be leaving positions in their own countries to come to the Council, whereas Sauca, Robra, Matthey and Gnanadason are already on WCC staff.