wfn.org | Ralph Van Loon, LCA Worship, Church Architecture Leader, Dies

[News News <NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

August 30, 2002

RALPH VAN LOON, LCA WORSHIP, CHURCH ARCHITECTURE LEADER, DIES
02-208-JB

     CHICAGO (ELCA)   The Rev. Ralph R. Van Loon, coordinator for
worship and church architecture, Division for Parish Services of the
former Lutheran Church in America (LCA), and pastor of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), died Aug. 24 at his
home in Reno, Nev.  Van Loon, 75, received hospice care prior to his
death.
     Van Loon served as the LCA's coordinator for worship and church
architecture from 1973 to 1987, when the LCA merged with the American
Lutheran Church (ALC) and Association for Evangelical Lutheran
Churches to form the ELCA.  From 1991 to 1995, he served as executive
director of The Liturgical Conference, Washington, D.C.
     He was known in the church for his contributions to the
Lutheran Book of Worship, (LBW), a standard in many Lutheran churches
today.
     The LBW was first published in 1978 and was prepared by
representatives of Lutheran churches participating in the Inter-
Lutheran Commission on Worship.  They were the LCA, ALC, Evangelical
Lutheran Church of Canada and The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.
Van Loon assisted in the preparation and introduction of the LBW.
     Van Loon was born in Lindsborg, Kan.  He earned a bachelor's
degree from Bethany College, Lindsborg, one of 28 ELCA colleges and
universities.  He earned a master of divinity at Augustana
Theological Seminary (now Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, one
of eight ELCA seminaries), Rock Island, Ill.   He was ordained in
1954.
     From 1954 to 1957 Van Loon was pastor of Our Saviour's Lutheran
Church, Soderville, Minn. From 1957 to 1967 he was pastor of
Concordia Lutheran Church, Duluth, Minn. He then joined the LCA staff
in New York as assistant director for liturgy with the Commission on
Worship.
     In 1966 the Lutheran World Federation awarded Van Loon a grant
to study liturgical renewal in Denmark, Germany and Sweden.  In 1970
the LCA awarded him a scholarship to attend the Ecumenical Institute
in Strasbourg, France.
     He served on the board of directors for The Liturgical
Conference; Interfaith Forum on Religion, Art and Architecture; North
American Academy for Liturgy; Association of Worship Executives; and
Societas Liturgica.
     Van Loon was a member of Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd,
Reno, and was a clergy associate at Trinity Episcopal Church, Reno,
according to the Reno Gazette-Journal.
     Survivors include his wife, Corinne; daughters Catherine
Thompson, Tahoe City, Calif., and Marcia Hope, Carson City, Nev.; and
a son, Gregory Van Loon, Truckee, Calif.
     A funeral service is scheduled Aug. 31 at Trinity Episcopal
Church.  A memorial service is planned for Sept. 28 at Immanuel
Lutheran Church, Evanston, Ill.

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