wfn.org | ELCA Council Seeks Clarity in Proposed Health Care Statement

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

April 10, 2003

ELCA COUNCIL SEEKS CLARITY IN PROPOSED HEALTH CARE STATEMENT
03-81-JB

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America (ELCA) delayed transmission until this summer of a
final proposed social statement on health and health care to the 2003
Churchwide Assembly.  Acknowledging the document's strengths, the
council said it had several concerns about the document related to
"definition of key terms, clarity of language and sequencing of
thought."
     The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves
as the legislative authority of the church between churchwide
assemblies.  The council met here April 4-6.  Assemblies are held
every other year; the next is Aug. 11-17, in Milwaukee.
     In its action the council said it would send the document,
"Caring for Our Health: Our Shared Endeavor" to the ELCA's 65 synods
and inform them that a final draft would be approved by the council's
Executive Committee and sent after June 6.  The council followed the
church's policy that synods receive text of proposed social
statements at least four months before an assembly.
     In a separate action, the council recommended that the assembly
adopt the final text of the social statement, and asked that the
assembly direct the ELCA Division for Church in Society (DCS) to
provide leadership for it.  It also asked the assembly to request the
ELCA Division for Congregational Ministries, in consultation with
DCS, to develop worship and educational resources to interpret the
social statement should it be adopted.
     The draft of "Caring for Our Health" is the result of a 1999
ELCA Churchwide Assembly request for a social statement on health and
health care.  A task force, chaired by the Rev. Hebert E. Anderson,
Seattle, has been working on the project for four years, said the
Rev. John R. Stumme, DCS director for studies.
     Because it is a social statement approved the DCS board, the
council may only transmit the statement to the assembly but may
attach a report for consideration, said Dr. Addie J. Butler, ELCA
vice president and council chair.
     In remarks to the council, Anderson said the topic of health
care is "extraordinarily complex."  The task force "struggled" to
make the document relevant to immediate concerns and remain useful in
the future, he said.  The draft of "Caring for Our Health" attempted
to "balance personal [health] responsibilities with the
responsibilities of the larger community," Anderson said.
     Before it acted, the council engaged in considerable discussion
on the proposed text, its clarity and whether it should be sent to
the assembly at all.  Earl L. Mummert, council member, Harrisburg,
Pa., asked if there was an urgency to act on the proposed document
and what the costs would be in terms of "dollars and advocacy work"
if there was a delay.
     The DCS board would review the proposal again this fall, Stumme
said in response. People involved in the project expected action on
the proposed social statement at this year's assembly, he said.
     The church's advocacy offices, including the Lutheran Office
for Governmental Affairs, Washington, D.C., and state public policy
advocacy offices are looking forward to the statement, said the Rev.
Ronald W. Duty, DCS assistant director for studies, who worked with
the task force.  "They would be disappointed if we would not have a
statement for consideration at the churchwide assembly," he said.
     If the council was not prepared to transmit the proposed social
statement, then it would "face a somewhat catastrophic decision" to
delay the process, and there would be considerable financial costs to
review it again, said the Rev. Lowell G. Almen, ELCA secretary.
     Sally Young, council member and chair of the Program and
Services Committee, Waterloo, Iowa, said the committee did not have
serious foundational questions about the text but wanted clearer
language so that the document's foundation could be understood
better.
     After the council voted to delay transmission of the document
to the assembly until the proposed text can be edited, and asked the
assembly to adopt the final text, it took a third and final action
related to the process for developing social statements.
     It requested DCS to review the church's policies to address
several processes related to social statements.  They are "timely
review and response" by the ELCA Conference of Bishops and the
council to drafts of social statements; and evaluation of how "the
substance and spirit" of social statements have been implemented by
churchwide units and affiliated organizations.	The council also
asked for a report and possible recommendations to be brought to the
council's November 2004 meeting.
     The action addresses a concern that the Conference of Bishops
was not able to make time to discuss the draft of  "Caring for Our
Health," and that the council didn't believe it had enough time to
discuss the draft, Young said.
     "This action is a good one," said Brian D. Rude, council
member, Coon Valley, Wis. "It addresses a frustration we've all had
about getting documents late."
     "The process you have set in motion will mean we will have a
better social statement," Stumme told the council following its
actions.
---
     Information about "Caring for Our Health: Our Shared Endeavor"
can be found at
http://www.elca.org/dcs/healthcare_statement.html on the ELCA Web
site.

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