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ALC NEWS SERVICE
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ALC HEADLINES:
ECUADOR: Evangelicals Analyze Political Crisis
GUATEMALA: Diploma course launched in political theology
ARGENTINA: Site of assassination of ecumenical leader is identified
BRAZIL: Wesleyan Week debates challenges to Pastoral Ministry
PERU: False letters attributed to Cardinal Cipriani create rift in Catholic 
Church

ECUADOR
Evangelicals Analyze Political Crisis

By Manuel Quintero
QUITO, June 1, 2004 (alc). As rumors grow about a possible coalition of the 
major parties to force a political trial in Congress and the removal of 
President Lucio Gutierrez, a group of Evangelicals analyzed the complex 
national scenario and the apparent lack of solutions for a crisis that has 
put the executive power in checkmate.

In a debate, sponsored by the Christian Forum for Political Reflection held 
June 1, the general sentiment was that while there is an explicit and 
majority rejection of Gutierrez, there is no constitutional causes or 
figures that could guarantee a decent government in Ecuador.	Commentator 
Simon Espinoza, a recognized political analysis was invited to attend the 
event.

Personally I want Gutierrez to leave but I fear we are falling into a 
culture of switching the president because we do not know how to choose 
well, said Pastor Walter Manzo, professor of the Latin American Christian 
University.

But I also dont think it is fair for a people that made a mistake to have 
to tolerate a president who provokes increasing rejection and more 
violence, he added.

According to economist Franklyn Canelos, former official from the Lutheran 
World Federation and World Vision Ecuador, it is not prudent to turn to 
presidential destitution without a figure who can replace him, who responds 
to the institutionality of the country.

Rumors of political destabilization, that were particularly strong last 
weekend when several political groups held closed door meetings, led 
Gutierrez to return to Ecuador earlier, when he was participating in the 
European - Latin American summit in Guadalajara, Mexico.

In statements when he returned to the country, Gutierrez said he had 
returned to give a message of peace, calmness, tranquility and stability, 
and to ask all Ecuadorians to not pass on rumors that do so much damage to 
the country and peoples tranquility.

The president denied that his government is in crisis but the removal of 
his Social Welfare Minister Patricio Acosta, his friend and former army 
companion, and the resignation of the Agriculture Minister and the Finance 
Minister reflect major rifts in the cabinet and in Executive management.

In the face of a lack of clear and viable solutions to the crisis, Simon 
Espinoza underscored the need to work in the municipal environment and with 
government sectors.

I think the municipal work is interesting and promising where there are 
models of citizen participation, social monitory and rendering of accounts 
that are working, he said.

He also referred to the experience in the municipality of Quito where he 
collaborates with Mayor Pablo Moncayo.

The mayor met 87 times with street vendors so that they would leave the 
historic center of the city based on an agreement and after a consultation 
process that took two years. I think this is an example of democratic 
practice, he said.

For his part, Pastor Manzo emphasized the need for a major educational 
campaign with the participation of Churches so that the country did not 
fall into the same mistake of electing the wrong candidate.

We must give the people tools so that they can choose well so that we 
dont have the same problem in three or four years, he said.

GUATEMALA
Diploma course launched in political theology

By Antonio Otzoy
CITY OF GUATEMALA, June 2, 2004 (alc). A diploma course in Political 
Theology was inaugurated with the sponsorship of the Salvadoran Lutheran 
Church and the Guatemalan Conference of Evangelical Churches (CIEDEG).

  The course will focus on religious and social leadership skills, giving 
people the capacity to analyze and interpret the political reality in the 
light of the contents of the Christian faith in the Sacred Scriptures and 
in theological documents, supported by the social sciences.

The course places priority on group work and the participation of experts 
from Guatemala and El Salvador. There will 14 weekly workshops from April - 
October in the CIEDEG Training Center.

As well as studying selected texts for each issue, participants will carry 
out analysis and local and national research. They will study the historic 
development of political theology and will analyze the political and 
religious discourse. Teachers include Everton Ricardo Bootz, coordinator of 
the Theology Department from the Salvadoran Lutheran University and Hector 
Fernandez, dean of the same entity.

The act, held in CIEDEG May 28 was attended by Bishop Medardo Gomez, of the 
Salvadoran Lutheran Synod, the auxiliary of the Western Synod of El 
Salvador, the Rev. Carlos Najera, Fernandez and Bootz.

Bishop Gomez invited those present to believe that every act that 
Christians carry out should emphasize human dignity because that is the 
essence of politics. We inaugurate this diploma course with the hope and 
strength of the Holy Spirit, he said.

ULS Dean Fernandez addressed Faith and the Political Commitment in Central 
America. In his speech he underlined the need to keep alive the memory of 
the martyrs who offered their lives in defense of Christian values in 
Guatemala, El Salvador and other Central American countries.

In the face of questions about how to understand political commitment and 
how to make concrete the faith of Jesus Christ in the political situation 
of the countries, he said that in order to respond to these questions we 
must recall the legacy of those martyrs.

Theological education is an important challenge in our Central American 
region, above all when it contains a nucleus of a liberating faith, said 
Fernandez. He added that this type of liberating education is what the 
Salvadoran Lutheran University and the Guatemalan Conference of Evangelical 
Churches have proposed to develop in our educative action: Educate to 
transform.

Fernandez spoke about the history of the reality of the Church and the 
different tendencies that exist today. He said we find shocking 
phenomenon, like the so-called mega-Churches which elaborate a frequently 
confusing theology, but generate significant earnings in that confusion.

These currents, he said preach a devaluated God. Jesus is extracted from 
history, an a-historic Father God and Son God are presented, and a Holy 
Spirit that transforms appearances but not consciences; today God is 
presented as a merchant peddling cheap grace.

Offering the magic action of unctions, salts, holy water, videos, lotions, 
rosaries, alleged ancient objects, residential places that are a taste of 
the promised paradise, they present a God that you can access by selling 
and buying salvation, he said.

ARGENTINA
Site of assassination of ecumenical leader is identified

BUENOS AIRES, June 2, 2004 (alc). An isolated part of the Mendoza foothills 
that the Armed Forces used for training was a clandestine camp during the 
past military dictatorship. There, professor Maurico Amilcar Lopez may have 
been held and possibly murdered.

The revelation about the ecumenical leader and dean of the National 
University in the Province of San Luis was made by Eduardo Luis Duhalde, 
head of the Human Rights Secretariat for the Justice Ministry, in a 
statement before the Federal Appeals Chamber.

Duhalde requested urgent measures to preserve the soil, the subsoil and 
called for forensic anthropological analysis because he is sure that 
there are common graves of people murdered during the military regime in 
the area.

The site is known as the Las Lajas camp and belongs to the IV Air Brigade, 
based in Mendoza. It is a desert area. In one hollow you can see two huts 
that served to house the detained. A tent was also used, according to the 
daily Clarin.

Poco o nada se sabma sobre las actividades secretas que la Fuerza Airea 
realizs allm durante la dictadura de 1976 a 1983. En el escrito de Duhalde 
se mencionan nombres de personas que estuvieron detenidas en el lugar. 
Entre ellas Horacio Ferrari, que actualmente vive en San Luis, y que 
asegura haber compartido el cautiverio con Mauricio Ammlcar Lspez. Otros 
testimonios lo confirman.

Very little is known about the secret activities that the Armed Forces 
carried out there during the 1976 - 1983 dictatorship. Duhaldes case 
mentions the names of people who were detained there. These include Horacio 
Ferrari, who is currently living in San Luis. Ferrari said he was detained 
with Amilcar Lopez. Other testimonies also confirm this.

Lopez was a professor of philosophy and a respected leader in the 
ecumenical movement. A member of the Free Brothers Church, Lopez was a 
leader in the 1960s and 1970s of the Universal Federation of Student 
Christian Movements, of the Church and Society in Latin America movement 
and an official in the World Council of Churches (WCC).

He was named a Social Sciences Professor at the Evangelical Theological 
Studies Institute (ISEDET), however, he never held the post as a commando 
kidnapped him from his home on January 1, 1977 in Mendoza and he has been 
on the list of the disappeared ever since.

Lawyers Ciro Annichiarico and Gustavo Szarangowicz, of the Human Rights 
Secretariat, said they are certain that Lopez was detained in Las Lajas 
together with others and that there are at least two common graves where 
people were buried. It was believed to be a transit point for the detained 
from and to different provinces.

Carlos Lspez, Mauricios brother, sponsored by four lawyers from Mendoza, 
filed a suit to demand that the case be reopened. A lawyer from  Csrdoba, 
Marma Elba Martmnez, has requested that Luciano Benjammn Menindez be called 
upon the testify. Menindez was former commander of the Third Army Corps and 
was head of the entire area during the illegal repression.

Duhalde also demanded that testimony be taken from the current Air Forces 
Chief of Staff, Brigadier Major Carlos Alberto Rohde and at least 20 others 
who operated in Las Lajas during the repression, including several medical 
officers such as Eurasquin, Fiordalisi, Acacia, Canela or Camela, 
Carretero, Hernandez y Pellegrini.

BRAZIL
Wesleyan Week debates challenges to Pastoral Ministry

SAO PAULO, June 4, 2004 (alc).	The Christian Church has become a private 
institution which is visible but not considered to be of public interest, 
said the Dean of the Methodist Faculty of Theology Rui Josgrilberg.

Josgrilberg made this affirmation after participating in the 53rd Wesleyan 
Week, held in the Methodist University of Sao Paulo (UMESP) from May 25-28 
to commemorate the 300 years since the birth of John Wesley, founder of 
Methodism

The Church, he added, Preaches to people but does not have a voice aimed 
at the joint collective, for the country, for city, or even for the crisis 
of civilization. Reading the signs of the times is essential for the 
pastoral ministry, he said, adding that there is both an ecclesiological 
and pastoral crisis.

These signs include structural unemployment, violence, hatred in all areas 
of life and in the religions, the limits that modern society is reaching 
and the speed at which the changes take place.

Do we still need pastors?, asked Josgrilberg. The crisis in the pastoral 
ministry and the Church reflects the crisis of their presence in the world, 
he responded. The Church has trouble responding to swift social 
transformations and one of its major problems is its current lack of 
authority, he said.

Pastors are trying to establish a direct relationship with Christ but they 
neglect their relationship with the Church. For this, we are seeing a loss 
of the idea of the Church ministry and growth of the idea of the personal 
ministry, he explained.

The balance between activities in the public and private sphere is a 
challenge for pastoral ministry, said Josui Adam Lazier, Methodist bishop 
of the 4th Church Region, which includes the states of Minas Gerais and 
Espmrito Santo.

Among public activities, the Bishop mentioned the use of the pulpit, 
greeting at the door of the Church and visitation. Among private 
activities, he referred to prayer, Bible study and counseling. The pulpit, 
he said, is the culmination of pastoral activity as from there the 
pedagogic dimension of pastoral activity is developed.

On May 25, during the Wesleyan week, participants also commemorated 30 
years of womens ordained pastoral ministry in the Methodist Church of 
Brazil. Pastor Zeni Lima Soares, the first women to be ordained in 1974 
recalled that it was a difficult time in the country due repression of the 
military dictatorship, but it was also a time in which there was much hope, 
resistance and struggle.

The week also had an ecumenical touch, with a presentation by Baptist 
Pastor Jorge Schutz, about the Challenges of the pastoral ministry in 
Brazil of today.

One of those challenges, he said, is urbanization. It is necessary that the 
Church, which has a strong rural tradition, approaches the urban population 
and responds to their needs. Moreover, it is important to take into account 
the changes in Brazil in recent decades, with the greater awareness of 
grassroots participation in politics and technological advances and in 
communication.

Schutz proposed four paths for a contextualized pastoral ministry. First, 
to follow the teaching of John Wesley: deny oneself. Second, to follow the 
example of Jesus in the chaos of the world: to welcome people, to restore 
relationships, to serve ones neighbor and the community.

A third path involves once again turning to a trinity vision of God in the 
Church and fourth is to take on training for different aspects of the 
ministry, taking into account the complexity of the present time.

PERU
False letters attributed to Cardinal Cipriani create rift in Catholic Church

By Hugo Livano
LIMA, June 4, 2004 (alc). A judicial investigation involving some letters, 
considered to be false, that were supposedly sent by Cardinal Juan Luis 
Cipriani to former President Valentin Paniagua and Vladimiro Montesinos, 
spy chief under former President Alberto Fujimori, now allegedly involves 
another bishop and threatens to create a rift in the Peruvian Catholic
Church.

The daily Correo ran a headline that said, It was the bishop of Puno. 
According to the story, the bishop of Puno turned the letters over to 
former Justice Minister and current Ambassador to Spain Fernando Olivera in 
September 2001.

Two of the letters, one also signed by Apostolic Nuncio Rino Passigato was 
addressed to Montesinos, asking him to arrange some donations. In the 
third, addressed to interim Paniagua, someone claiming to be Cipriani asked 
him to incinerate all the videos that showed him in company of Fujimori and 
Montesinos.

According to official information, Olivera presented the letters to 
President Alejandro Toledo and the cabinet and they decided to treat the 
issue with extreme reserve. The following month Olivera traveled to Europe 
and it was agreed that he would present the letters to the Vatican to 
certify their authenticity.

The Holy See determined that they were false, as did the Peruvian Bishops 
Conference. It appeared that they were put together from pieces of other 
letters.

However, Cardinal Cipriani insisted that the theme must be investigated. He 
said that turning the letters over to the Vatican was a very low blow and 
an attack on the figure of the Cardinal and the Church.

The Attorney General has reopened the investigation and has called on those 
involved to testify, including President Toledo, Ambassador Olivera and 
several prelates and Catholic priests.

Correo and other dailies published stories quoting testimony from Gonzalo 
Carriquiry, a leader of Oliveras Independent Moralizing Front (FIM) party. 
At the time Carriquiry was an official in the justice ministry.

Carriquiry said in his testimony I can vouch that it was Bishop (Jorge) 
Carrion who gave the letters to Minister Olivera. Carrion, who is bishop 
of Puno in southeastern Peru and who has previously testified, denied 
having any knowledge of the letters in question. He acknowledge that he met 
with the minister to give him some documents requesting support for the 
region.

Other testimonies, according to the Lima press, also attribute Msgr. 
Carrion with the delivery, but not the authorship of the false letters. 
However, the Peruvian Bishops support his innocence.

President Toledo, accompanied by Prime Minister Carlos Ferrero visited 
Cardinal Cipriani this week. However, the meeting reportedly focused on the 
governabilty of the country and the visit forms part of a series of 
interviews with political and civil leaders. The issue of the letters was 
reportedly not addressed.

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