wfn.org | LWF president positive about pastoral trip to Latin America,

[FRANK_IMHOFF.parti@ecunet.org (FRANK IMHOFF)]

Caribbean
"Despite being small, churches have gained great deal of respect"

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina/S O LEOPOLDO, Brazil/GENEVA, 30 April 1998
(lwi/alc) - "Despite being numerically small, Lutheran churches in Latin
America and the Caribbean have gained a great deal of respect in their
countries," Christian Krause, Lutheran World Federation (LWF) president,
said positively about his three-week visit to Lutheran churches in the
region.

Speaking to journalists in Buenos Aires, Argentina, April 22, Krause said
the reason for this development is that the churches have known how to
become part of the local culture, while maintaining their fidelity to the
Lutheran tradition. He cited the traditional Lutheran willingness to help
refugees which has become incarnate in all Central American churches, and
the strong commitment to defending human rights that he encountered in
Argentina.

The LWF president also spoke of the need to strengthen the local
institutional coordination of Lutheran churches in the region in order to
offer a joint response to different problems, such as human rights defense
at an international level, and the link between economics and ethics.

Human rights issues raised with Argentine President Carlos Menem

Krause met with President Carlos Menem on the first day of his visit to
Argentina, accompanied by president of the Evangelical Church of the River
Plate (IERP), Rodolfo Reinich, and president of the United Evangelical
Lutheran Church (IELU) Angel Furlan. Questions of human rights and the fate
of those people deported during the military dictatorship came under
discussion.

After the audience, both Argentine church presidents voiced their
criticism. "Dr. Menem spoke the language of statistics, which is to say
half-truths", Furlan said summing up his impression, confirmed by Reinich,
"The president describes an ideal country that does not coincide with the
reality experienced by people in our communities," he said.

Krause's visit to the Argentine Catholic Bishops' Conference was held in a
"warm and cordial atmosphere", according to the Latin American and
Caribbean Communication Agency. The main subject of discussion was the
Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification between Lutherans and
Roman Catholics. Krause expressed his recognition and gratitude for the
good relationships between the local Roman Catholic church and the two LWF
member churches there.

Brazilian Lutheran churches strive for closer communion

During his last stop, Brazil, the president met with, among others, former
LWF president, Gottfried Brakemeier, and with president of the Evangelical
Church of the Lutheran Confession in Brazil (IECLB), Huberto Kirchheim.
Krause said he was impressed particularly by the efforts of the IECLB and
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil (IELB) toward closer communion. The
IECLB, Latin America's largest Lutheran church, is an LWF member, the IELB
is linked to the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod.

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Lutheran World Information
Editorial Assistant: Janet Bond-Nash
E-mail: jbn@lutheranworld.org
http://www.lutheranworld.org/