wfn.org | Sept. 11 Disaster Response Named Top ELCA Story of 2001

[News News <NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

January 14, 2002

SEPT. 11 DISASTER RESPONSE NAMED TOP ELCA STORY OF 2001
02-10-MR

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The response to the destruction of the World
Trade Center in New York and attack on the Pentagon near Arlington, Va.,
on Sept. 11 was one of the most significant news events that involved
the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) in 2001, according to
the ELCA News Service, Department for Communication.
     ELCA News provides news and information about the church's mission
and ministry to the public and religion media.  Staff members include
John R. Brooks, director; Frank F. Imhoff, associate director; Melissa
O. Ramirez, associate director; and Brenda G. Williams, editorial
assistant for production and media relations.
     Members and leaders of the ELCA, Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod
(LCMS), Aid Association for Lutherans/Lutheran Brotherhood have
developed a unified response to the destruction of the World Trade
Center.  AAL/LB is a fraternal benefits society.
     Most of the response is aimed at counseling, help for students in
Lutheran schools who lost parents in the destruction, individual
emergency assistance, respite care for clergy, training for trauma
response, a camp for children affected by the attacks, recovery
materials, and interfaith initiatives.
     Lutherans have designated funds and other resources for the Sept.
11 disaster through Lutheran Disaster Response (LDR) -- a ministry of
the ELCA and LCMS -- to support specific projects that meet a variety of
human needs.  Other funds have been made available by Lutherans through
many other agencies.
     More than $5 million has been contributed by members to the ELCA;
$3 million has been given by members to the LCMS; and $8.7 million has
been given to AAL/LB.  AAL/LB each contributed $1 million of its
corporate funds to the Sept. 11 disaster response.
     The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop, was among a group
of Lutheran church leaders who visited the World Trade Center site and
met with ELCA pastors and members in New York, Dec. 14-17.  A purpose of
the trip was to express appreciation to those working to provide
services to people affected by the tragedy.
     Human sexuality was another key topic for the ELCA throughout
2001. The Rev. Paul W. Egertson resigned July 31 as bishop of the ELCA
Southern California (West) Synod, one month before his six-year term was
to end. Egertson made the decision following conversations with ELCA
leaders after his controversial role as a key participant in the April
28 ordination of Anita C. Hill, who was not approved for ordination in
the ELCA.  Hill was not in compliance with an ELCA policy that requires
pastors who are homosexual in their self-understanding to refrain from
homosexual sexual relationships.
     In August the ELCA Churchwide Assembly asked the Division for
Ministry and Division for Church in Society to lead a comprehensive
four-year study on homosexuality and report back to the 2003 and 2005
Churchwide Assemblies, the chief legislative authority of the ELCA. The
2001 assembly also asked the Division for Church in Society to prepare a
social statement on human sexuality.
     The two divisions developed a six-point "protocol" to coordinate
the assembly mandates. The protocol outlines how leadership in the
projects will be shared, the selection of a study director, how the
director is to be supervised, the selection of a task force, how and
when study reports will be issued and how study documents will be
authorized for distribution.
     In November the Church Council, the ELCA's board of directors and
the legislative authority of the church between its churchwide
assemblies, set aside $250,000 in start-up funds for the development of
a social statement on human sexuality and churchwide study on
homosexuality.
     ELCA News also named several other top stories, listed in no
particular order, in 2001:
     + Administration.  Hanson, 55, was elected to serve a six-year
term as presiding bishop of the ELCA at the 2001 ELCA Churchwide
Assembly, which met Aug. 8-14 in Indianapolis.  Hanson, former bishop of
the ELCA Saint Paul (Minn.) Area Synod, was installed Oct. 6 at the
Rockefeller Memorial Chapel here.  In November the Church Council named
the Rev. Charles S. Miller, 58, executive for administration and
executive assistant to the presiding bishop, and Christina Jackson-
Skelton, 36, ELCA treasurer.  In 2001, 27 of the ELCA's 65 synods held
elections for bishops.  Eleven bishops were re-elected to serve another
term and 16 pastors were called to serve as new synod bishops.  In
addition, the Rev. Paul M. Werger was named as interim bishop of the
ELCA Saint Paul Area Synod, replacing Hanson.
     + Augsburg Fortress Publishers.  Augsburg Fortress, Minneapolis,
the publishing house of the ELCA, incurred an operating loss of $4.22
million for the first nine months of 2001.  The company, however, showed
operating profits for August and September, the result of this summer's
reorganization, reduced staff and tight spending controls.
     + Called to Common Mission.  The 2001 ELCA assembly approved a
bylaw change that will allow pastors, after approval by their synod
bishops and in consultation with the presiding bishop, to ordain new
ELCA pastors in "unusual circumstances."  As part of a full-communion
agreement -- Called to Common Mission -- with The Episcopal Church, USA,
only Lutheran bishops are to ordain ELCA clergy.  Both churches
celebrated together their new relationship of full communion at a
Service of Holy Communion at the Washington National Cathedral on Jan.
6, 2001.
     + Disaster response.  Members of the ELCA provided funds and other
resources to support recovery efforts after major domestic and global
disasters in 2001.  They include meeting human needs in Afghanistan,
where people have fled their homes as a result of years of civil
conflicts, natural disasters, poverty and U.S. air strikes there; India,
El Salvador and Peru, where earthquakes have killed people and destroyed
homes; and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where people have
become internally displaced as a result of war.  Among the disasters in
the United States, Lutherans responded to tornado damage in Alabama,
Kansas and Mississippi; Tropical Storm Allison, which caused destruction
in seven U.S. states from Texas to Florida; and an earthquake damage 10
miles northeast of Olympia, Wash., and 35 miles southwest of Seattle.
     + Human cloning.  The ELCA Division for Church in Society produced
"Human Cloning: Papers from a Church Consultation."  The resource offers
a wide-ranging compilation of theories and studies offered by
individuals working in the fields of medicine, genetics, theology,
ethics and the law.  It consists of 14 papers, responses and a summary
of conversations from an Oct. 13-15, 2000 consultation here.
     + Merger.  AAL, based in Appleton, Wis., and LB, based in
Minneapolis, merged to form a single organization at the end of 2001.
AAL had 1.8 million members and LB had 1.2 million members; both serve
the members and ministries of the ELCA. The new organization -- with its
corporate center in Minneapolis, and its operations center in Appleton -
- will manage almost $60 billion in assets.  A new name for the
organization is expected to be introduced in 2002.
     + Middle East.  The ELCA held a "Mini-Summit on Palestine" last
spring to determine ways the church can support nonviolent Israeli and
Palestinian activities  through travel, prayer, advocacy, education,
media relations, leadership development and networking.  The ELCA has
sent delegations to the Middle East, hosted guests from there, supported
Lutheran schools and hospitals in the Middle East, and conducted a
national prayer vigil for the Middle East.  The 2001 ELCA Churchwide
Assembly called for an end to suicide bombings, urged international
protection for Palestinian people in Israeli-occupied territories and
acknowledged the "pain and suffering" of all involved in Middle East
tensions.  In August soldiers with the Israeli Defense Forces entered
the premises of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Reformation in
Beit Jala, West Bank.  Soldiers entered the church property and took up
positions on the roof of the church building, according to the Rev.
Munib A. Younan, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan
(and Palestine).  The soldiers withdrew Aug. 29.  Later in 2001, Younan
said renewed violence in the Middle East "will not take us anywhere."
He said the ultimate goal must be to get all parties to the negotiating
table, where they can "build confidence in each other," and added that
the U.S. government should be an "honest broker" in seeking peace in the
Middle East.
     + Obituaries.  The ELCA celebrated the lives of prominent members
who died in 2001.  They include the Rev. James D. Ford, chaplain
emeritus of the U.S. House of Representatives; the Rev. Paul A. Hanson,
executive director, Division for Life and Mission in the Congregation of
the former American Lutheran Church; the Rev. Donald L. Houser,
executive secretary of the Board of American Missions in the former
Lutheran Church in America; former U.S. House Representative Floyd D.
Spence (R-S.C. 2nd); and the Rev. Conrad M. Thompson, a former speaker
for Lutheran Vespers, the radio ministry of the ELCA.
     + Rural summit.  Sixty-five leaders from the ELCA and farm
organizations across the country shared their thoughts and concerns
about the current conditions of U.S. agriculture and their hopes for the
future at the Rural Summit hosted by the ELCA here March 26.
     + Stand With Africa.  Lutherans launched "Stand With Africa," a
three-year campaign that focuses on issues significant to Africa,
including HIV/AIDS, economic justice, food security, and peace and
reconciliation.  The campaign is coordinated by the ELCA World Hunger
Program, LCMS, and Lutheran World Relief, the overseas relief and
development organization of the ELCA and LCMS.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html