wfn.org | News in brief

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

 ... LWF Protest over Lutheran bishop's treatment in Jerusalem. Following
an incident of maltreatment of the Bishop Munib Younan of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in Jerusalem, LWF General Secretary Ismael Noko has sent
off a letter of protest to the Israeli authorites. The bishop holds a VIP
card issued by the State of Israel, yet at the Allenby Bridge he was
subjected to a humiliating security inspection forcing him to undress
partially. Alluding to the Netanyahu government's policy of support for far
right Jewish religious groups working to make Jerusalem an exclusively
Jewish city, Noko stated in the letter, "This incident takes place in the
context of increasing concerns - concerns which are shared by the Lutheran
World Federation - regarding the revocation of residency rights of many
Palestinian Jerusalemites by the summary confiscation of their blue
identity cards. The political implications of these events... can only
increase our disquiet."

 ... 250 years of the first North American Synod. Over 235 people gathered
at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania., last month to
commemorate the 250th anniversary of the founding of North America's first
Lutheran synod by Henry Melchior Muhlenberg. The Ministerium of
Pennsyvania, as it was called, provided the earliest American roots of what
is now the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Although its
creation was much contested, Muhlenberg believed congregations needed to
join together for strength and mutual support. The commemoration was
particularly apt in that the ELCA is the product of mergers bringing
together numerous traditions, which have obliged it to continute to wrestle
with diversity within unity. The celebration included a symposium, music
and theater, all special for the occasion.

 ... Luther's catechisms for Italian speakers. The project of publishing
selected works of Luther in Italian has moved ahead with the appearance of
Luther's Small and Large Catechisms in a single volume. Begun in 1987, the
series, called Opere scelte, is under the direction of Prof. Paolo Ricca of
the Waldensian Faculty in Rome and published by the Claudiana Publishing
House of Turin. To date, seven volumes, all illustrated with reproductions
of 16th century woodcuts, title pages, and paintings, have been brought
out. The catechisms were translated by Dr Fulvio Ferraro, pastor of the
Waldensian community in Milan, who added ample introductions and
commentary. The Large Catechism translation is the first ever made into
Italian.

 ... Attitudes of Danish Lutherans toward their church. A Gallop poll on
Danes' attitudes to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark revealed
three basic orientations. More than one third of those polled never attend
church, about one half goes to church for the traditional rites of passage
(weddings baptisms, funerals etc.), and some 10% attend church regularly or
least from time to time. Church membership was deemed important to 76% of
the female respondants, while only 50% of the male respondants thought so.
The persons polled were generally very satisfied with their pastors,
although only 25% of them would confide their problems to a pastor.

 ... New general secretary for the Lutheran Council of Great Britain. Rev.
Thomas Bruch, a former secretary of the Lutheran Council of Great Britain
for many years, was appointed the Council's General Secretary on 1
September. In this capacity he will act as Chief Executive Office of the
Council.

 ... LWF Studies book goes into an unprecedented fourth printing. The LWF
Studies volume Worship and Culture in Dialogue, edited by S. Anita
Stauffer, has gone into its fourth printing since first published in 1994.
It is the first volume from the LWF's Worship and Culture Study, and
concentrates on Baptism and Eucharist in the cultural contexts of the New
Testament and early Church, as well as on foundations for considering
issues of Christian worship in the contexts of today's cultures of the
world. (The second volume from the study, Christian Worship: Unity in
Cultural Diversity, focuses on the Eucharist in relationship to culture. A
third volume, Baptism, Life, and Culture, will be published later this
year.) All three books may be ordered from the Lutheran World Federation,
Attention Mrs. Maya Maugue, P. O. Box 2100, CH-1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland;
US$ 15 per book via surface mail, or US$ 25 via airmail.

 ... New assistant named to ELCA Presiding Bishop. Myrna J.Sheie, 52, of
Anoka, Minnesota, has been named executive assistant to Presiding Bishop H.
George Anderson of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA),
effective October 1. A former assistant to the bishop of the ELCA's Saint
Paul (Minnesota) Area Synod since 1988, Sheie worked in the Division for
Life and Mission in the Congregation of the former American Lutheran
Church, specializing in communications and youth education resources. Her
new responsibilities will include developing agendas for the ELCA's Church
Council meetings and churchwide assemblies, providing leadership in
churchwide planning and budgeting processes and serving as a liaison for
the bishop with synods of the ELCA. She succeeds Lita Brusick Johnson, who
is now director for the ELCA's World Hunger and Disaster Appeals.

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