wfn.org | Death, Illness in Maine ELCA Congregation Linked to Arsenic

[News News <NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

April 30, 2003

DEATH, ILLNESS IN MAINE ELCA CONGREGATION LINKED TO ARSENIC
03-089-FI/VS*

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- W. Reid Morrill, 78, a longtime member of Gustaf
Adolph Lutheran Church, New Sweden, Maine, died April 28.  Maine health
officials have identified arsenic poisoning as the probable cause of his
death and of illnesses experienced by a dozen other members of the
congregation.  Gustaf Adolph is a congregation of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
     Members of the congregation in northeast Maine became sick Sunday
afternoon, April 27, several hours after drinking coffee and eating
sandwiches and sweets at the church.  The suspected cause of the illness
is arsenic poisoning, said Dr. Dora Anne Mills, director, Maine Bureau
of Health.
     Investigations are being conducted into how the parishioners
ingested the arsenic, Mills said.  An autopsy was conducted April 29,
with the cause of death reported as pending.
     Morrill was one of several Gustaf Adolph members taken to Cary
Medical Center, Caribou, Maine.  Others were hospitalized at the Eastern
Maine Medical Center in Bangor, Maine.	Seven were treated without being
hospitalized.
     The Rev. James P. Morgan, an Episcopal priest and pastor of
Trinity Lutheran Church, Stockholm, Maine, has been serving Gustaf
Adolph on a part-time basis while the congregation works with the ELCA
New England Synod to find its own pastor.  The Rev. Elaine C. Hewes,
Redeemer Lutheran Church, Bangor, is assisting Morgan in counseling
family members and friends of the congregation.
     Congregations of the ELCA are organized into 65 synods, each
headed by a bishop.  The New England Synod includes congregations in
Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and
Vermont.
     The Rev. Hans R. Arnesen, associate to the bishop, ELCA New
England Synod, Worcester, Mass., and Morgan conducted the Morrill
funeral service April 30 at the Lancaster Morgan Funeral Home, Caribou.
     The Rev. Margaret G. Payne, bishop of the ELCA New England Synod,
is to arrive May 1 in Maine and visit the hospitalized.  She will travel
to New Sweden to comfort members of Gustaf Adolph and to conduct the
Sunday worship service.
     "I have assured the congregation of Gustaf Adolph Lutheran Church
that the prayers of the entire ELCA have been raised on their behalf,"
said Payne.  "I know that is true."
     The Rev. David R. Cote, Covenant Lutheran Church, Gardner, Mass.,
who has been trained in crisis counseling, is assisting the New England
Synod to construct a plan for immediate crisis management.  The plan
also provides for ongoing care and support for the members of the New
Sweden congregation and the community as they deal with the stress
surrounding this situation, both now and in the weeks and months to
come, said Payne.
     Members of the Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Maine are
assisting the ELCA congregation.
     "Our partnership with the Episcopal Church is very strong in that
place in particular," said Payne.  "Bishop Chilton Knutson and the whole
Episcopal Diocese of Maine have been very supportive at the difficult
time," she added.
-- -- --
     * Sister Virginia Strahan is editor of The Lutheran Link, the
bi-monthly publication of the ELCA New England Synod.

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