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ALC NEWS SERVICE
E-mail: director@alcnoticias.org

ALC HEADLINES:
ARGENTINA: Biblical Scholar Severino Croatto Passes Away
BRAZIL: Followers of Afro-Brazilian cults pray more than others
GERMANY: German theological project extends to Spanish speaking world
COLOMBIA: Colombian children and young people to participate in the World 
Forum in Barcelona
ECUADOR: Bishop Koppe: We must work for a new international legal order

ARGENTINA
Biblical Scholar Severino Croatto Passes Away

BUENOS AIRES, April 27, 2004 (alc).  Renowned Biblical scholar and 
Argentine Educator, Severino Croatto, professor emeritus from ISEDET passed 
away Monday and was buried in the La Chacarita cemetery in Buenos Aires 
Tuesday.

Dr. Mercedes Garcia-Bachmann, dean of the Evangelical Theological Studies 
institute of Buenos Aires (ISEDET) told ALC that one of the distinctive 
features of Professor Croatto was his wisdom, which was accompanied by his 
extensive knowledge and his gift of being human. He was a gentleman, an 
excellent professor and a great Biblical scholar, she said.

The dean added that Croatto has left many disciples and a vast number of 
works that allow us and will continue to allow us to continue dialoguing 
with him.

An act was to be held in the Magna Hall of ISEDET, where professors and 
students offered their condolences to his wife, children and relatives. 
Professor Emeritus of ISEDET, Ricardo Pietrantonio will be responsible for 
the meditation.

Croatto, born March 19, 1930 studied in the Pontifical Biblical Institute 
of Rome and in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He was a professor of 
the Old Testament, Hebrew and the Phenomenology of Religion in ISEDET.

Previously he was professor of the Old Testament in the Theology Faculty in 
the Maximo School, San Miguel, Buenos Aires, and of Philosophy and the 
History of Religion in the University of Buenos Aires.

Among the 19 books he wrote several stand out: Historia de la Salvacisn, 
Fenomenologma de la Religisn: experiencia de lo sagrado, Hermeniutica 
Bmblica, Liberacisn y libertad, three volumes on Isaiah and another three 
on Genesis  and Counter-cultural traditions in the Pentateuco. He also 
wrote Los lenguajes de la experiencia religiosa and recently El mundo 
cultural de la Biblia: Un panorama de los pueblos relacionados con Israel.

In 1975 he organized the Commentated Theological Bibliography, an annual 
ISEDET publication for 18 consecutive years.

In  2000 Severino Croatto was honored by his colleagues, students and 
friends with the publication of the book: "Los caminos inexhauribles de la 
Palabra. Las relecturas creativas en la Biblia", as a homage for his 70 
years, 40 years of teaching and 25 in ISEDET.

BRAZIL
Followers of Afro-Brazilian cults pray more than others

RIO DE JANEIRO, April 29, 2004 (alc). The Umbandistas (followers of 
Afro-Brazilian cults) pray more than other believers, even Evangelicals, 
according to a survey by the Gerp Institute, carried out in Rio de Janeiro.

According to the survey, 95 percent of Umbanda followers said they dont do 
anything without praying about it first. Of the Evangelicals polled 91 
percent said that they are used to praying anywhere. The same was true for 
85 percent of Catholics and 84 percent of spiritualists.

The survey polled 400 people and 10 percent said they did not have any 
religion. Of those, however, some do turn to prayer as 93 percent of those 
polled said they believed it was important to pray.

Anthropologist Peter Henry Fry, professor at the Philosophy and Social 
Sciences Institute in the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) said 
he believes that the 10 percent who said they do not have a religion are 
not atheists but have doubts. This explains why 60 percent of the non 
believers pray.

Evangelicals attend worship services the most. Of those polled 87 percent 
go regularly and the majority go three to four times a week. The same was 
true for 85 percent of the Candomble followers, 64 percent of Spiritualists 
and slightly more than 50 percent of the Catholics.

The poll, published exclusively by the daily Jornal do Brasil emphasized 
the multiplication of Evangelical Churches in Rio de Janeiro. The Catholic 
Church has lost the highest number of faithful. Fry compared this exodus to 
the movement that divided Christianity in Europe in the XVI Century, as 
part of the process of adaptation to the capitalist society.

According to the poll, 20 percent of those polled changed religion 
recently: 56 percent left the Catholic Church and the vast majority joined 
the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God and the Assemblies of God. 
However, 55 percent of Rio residents are Catholic.

According to Fry, the multiplication of Evangelical Churches in Rio 
reflects a second Protestant Reform. With their emphasis on personal 
decision, Evangelical Churches are more connected to the consumer society, 
the anthropologist analyzed.

Evangelical Churches, he said, are similar to shopping malls and they 
address issues like perseverance, determination and prosperity. The 
language is accessible to anyone, no matter what level of education they 
have had. The Catholic Church, on the other hand, has a discourse that is 
distant from the desires of current society and which insists on collective 
values like fraternity, cooperation and solidarity.

The president of the Gerp Institute, Gabriel Pazos, attributes the 
explosion of Evangelical Churches to the use of radio and television. In 
the past the Catholic Church used communication resources with efficiency 
but this is no longer true, he said.

The Catholic Church, said Pazos, was the first to use marketing tools. The 
first research department was confession, the first billboards were the 
images of the saints, the first logo was the cross and the first public 
publicity was to place the cross on Church towers.

The Catholic Church was also the first organization to use non-verbal mass 
communication: to cross oneself.

GERMANY
German theological project extends to Spanish speaking world

HANNOVER, April 29, 2004 (alc).  Theologians from around the world 
participate in a project promoted by the University of Goettingers 
Theology Faculty in Germany.

Goettinger Predigten (Sermons from Goettinger) has offered a weekly sermon 
service on-line at no charge since 1997 and more than 1 million people have 
visited the page.

Goettinger is a university city in the State of Baja Sajonia, in northwest 
Germany, south of Hanover. The sermons include Biblical interpretations in 
several languages.

Since the beginning of this year it is also possible to read the weekly 
sermons in Spanish. Ekkehard Heise, a German Lutheran Theologian who worked 
as a pastor for many years in Latin America and was a professor of 
practical theology in ISEDET, coordinates the Spanish pages.

Spanish theologians from the United Evangelical Theology Seminary in Madrid 
(SEUT), Latin American pastors and theologians from several Protestant 
Churches and professors from the Evangelical Theological Studies institute 
of Buenos Aires (ISEDET) collaborate with the project.

These pages are open to all the public. They are geared for people seeking 
homiletical material, as well as laity interested in devotional reading.

The sermons are accessible as of Thursday and therefore are frequently used 
by pastors and preachers seeking inspiration for their Sunday sermon.

This is nothing new as Martin Luther published sermons for readers and 
communities and sought the fastest method in his time to disseminate them: 
the printer.

Goettinger Predigten was founded by Ulrich Nembach, professor of Practical 
Theology in the Theology Faculty in the University of Goettinger and Pastor 
Johannes Neukirch, of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hanover. Today, it 
publishes contributions in several languages and theologians from around 
the world collaborate. It has an archive of more than 2,000 different
sermons.

Sermons in Spanish use Biblical texts according to LET (Triennial 
Ecumenical Lectionary), used in many European Churches and in the Americas. 
They reflect a wide variety of styles, techniques and traditions, published 
under the responsibility of the authors.

COLOMBIA
Colombian children and young people to participate in the World Forum in 
Barcelona

BOGOTA, April 30, 2004 (alc). Nine Colombian children and young people will 
talk about peace in the world during the Childrens Panel in the 2004 
Barcelona Forum where participants from around the world will discuss the 
most urgent problems in the XXI Century. The event will begin May 9 in this 
Spanish city.

Nasly Pastora Cubillas, age 16 will preside the panel together with four 
other children and young people from around the world. Event organizers 
selected her to represent Latin America in the five-person panel.

The UN High Commissioner on Refugees (ACNUR), the Spanish International 
Cooperation Agency, the International Labor Organization (ILO) and UNESCO 
will participate in the Barcelona 2004 Forum.

Invited guests include former UN Secretary General, Boutros-Ghali, Paulo 
Coelho, Mikhail Gorbachov, Josi Saramago, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio 
Lula Da Silva, King Juan Carlos of Spain, Nobel Peace Laureate Rigoberta 
Menchz, Salman Rushdie and Angelina Jolie, among others.

Together with Nasly, eight other Colombian young people were invited. They 
all form part of the Peacekeepers Movement, organized by World Vision 
Colombia, to empower the construction of peace, citizens and child and 
youth participation, as key elements in processes of human transformation 
and sustainable development. The young people come from communities in 
diverse Colombian regions that lack infrastructure and development.

The movement, with the participation of 12,000 young people from poor zones 
in Colombia, began in 1996 as part of the Colombian Childrens Movement for 
Peace, which began in Santandersito (Cundinamarca).

This national campaign was organized by UNICEF, the Non Government 
Initiatives for Peace Network, the National State Registry, World Vision 
Colombia, and others. The movement involves children and young people age 4 
to 24, said Alba Judith Santoyo of World Vision.

The movement has participated in international events such as the recent 
Special Session on Childhood held in the United Nations headquarters in New 
York and the World Social Forum held in Cartagena. At a national level, the 
peacekeepers have carried out two major national events and one regional 
meeting.

ECUADOR
Bishop Koppe: We must work for a new international legal order

By Manuel Quintero
QUITO, April 30, 2004 (alc). The need to overcome a warrior perspective and 
the use of armed conflicts as instruments to overcome differences between 
nations was emphasized here by the Rev. Dr. Rolf Koppe, head of the 
Ecumenism and Foreign Relations Department of the German Evangelical Church 
(EKD).

Bishop Koppe, who traveled to Andean nations this April with the Rev. 
Branco Nikolitsch, responsible for EKDs Latin American relations, said 
that Churches should work with the United Nations to encourage a new 
international legal order that is not based on military might.

In our contacts with the Churches we have seen that this is one of the new 
and most important challenges: to cooperate and support efforts to 
establish respect and the practice of international law through the United 
Nations Organization, he said.

The Church leader visited Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, countries where he met 
with German speaking Evangelical congregations and other Churches and 
Christian bodies.

Since 1995, when he first visited the continent, Bishop Koppe has also 
visited Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay to keep contacts 
alive with German speaking congregations and historic Churches with whom we 
have maintained close collaboration for a long time. Last year he also 
visited Colombia and Venezuela.

In a conversation this Friday in the headquarters of the Latin American 
Council of Churches in Quito, with CLAI Secretary General Pastor Israel 
Batista, Bishop Kroppe was interested in the main themes on the agenda of 
Churches as well as the emphasis CLAI places on the ecumenical ministry.

He also referred to the decline in membership and the reduction of income 
and how factors like these are forcing some Churches to sell their temples.

In the North Elbia region, close to Hamburg, this could mean that the 
Evangelical Lutheran Church sells a third of its temples in the next 10 
years, he said.

The Evangelical Church of the North Elbia has more than 2.5 million faithful.

Bishop Kroppe said that he is opposed to selling these Churches to Islamic 
congregations, something that has taken place in England and Holland.

------------------------
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