Title: ELCA Churchwide Assembly to Consider 125 Memorials from Synods ELCA NEWS SERVICE
July 24, 2007
ELCA Churchwide Assembly to Consider 125 Memorials from Synods 07-133-JB
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The 1,071 voting members of the 2007 Churchwide Assembly meeting here at Navy Pier next month will be asked to respond to 125 memorials summarized in a 74-page assembly report. Memorials are requests from the church's 65 synods asking for action by the assembly on specific topics. The churchwide assembly, which meets every two years, is the ELCA's chief legislative authority. Voting members, staff, visitors and media will meet Aug. 6-11 in Chicago, where the ELCA churchwide organization is based.
A Memorials Committee, appointed by the ELCA Church Council, the church's board of directors, met here June 29-30. The committee categorized the memorials and drafted proposals for the assembly to consider. Norma J. Hirsch, Des Moines, Iowa, and the Rev. Kenneth M. Ruppar, Richmond, Va., both members of the Church Council, are co-chairs of the committee.
Hirsch and Ruppar said the Memorials Committee saw its role as helping to organize the synod memorials and present recommendations to the Churchwide Assembly to facilitate discussion and decision-making by the voting members. Both said the committee proposed discussion on memorials that voting members were likely to want to address specifically, such as matters related to sexuality and the Iraq war.
"We took very seriously the role we had to help facilitate the work of the assembly," Ruppar said.
"We hope that we put the memorials forward in a way that makes their (voting members') work more effective and efficient," Hirsch said.
Seven categories of memorials recommended for assembly discussion
The committee categorized all of the memorials and recommended seven specific categories for discussion by Churchwide Assembly voting members: support for congregations assisting returning military veterans; criminal justice; Israeli- Palestinian conflict; Iraq war; blessing of same-sex relationships; standards for professional leaders; and referrals to the task force for ELCA Studies on Sexuality (about half of the 125 memorials addressed topics and issues related to homosexuality, standards for sexual conduct of ordained ministers, same-sex relationship blessings and discipline):
+ Assisting returning veterans: The ELCA Saint Paul Area Synod asked the 2007 ELCA Churchwide Assembly "to encourage all congregations of this church to support returning military personnel and their families." The Memorials Committee recommended that the Churchwide Assembly urge the ELCA to provide a welcoming and supportive environment for returning military personnel, and it recommended that the ELCA Conference of Bishops and ELCA Bureau for Federal Chaplaincy Ministries explore ways that the ELCA "might effectively provide healing ministries to military veterans and their families."
+ Criminal justice: Three synods asked the Churchwide Assembly to ask ELCA Church in Society to prepare a social statement on criminal justice; two also asked that the social statement address prevention programs for at-risk families and youth, and inmate restoration. The Memorials Committee recommended that the assembly direct the ELCA Church in Society program unit to develop the social statement for possible consideration at the 2013 ELCA Churchwide Assembly.
+ Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Three synods adopted similar memorials asking the Churchwide Assembly to support efforts for a just two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and that members recommit and financially support the Churchwide Strategy for Engagement in Israel and Palestine, which the ELCA adopted in 2005. Three other synods offered memorials on related topics. The Memorials Committee recommended the Churchwide Assembly acknowledge the churchwide strategy and called on the ELCA to recommit to the strategy.
+ Iraq war: Six synods addressed memorials to the Churchwide Assembly on the Iraq War, commenting on pre-emptive military strikes, opposing escalation of the war and seeking nonviolent conflict resolution. The Memorials Committee recommended the assembly reaffirm a 2005 Churchwide Assembly resolution, "Opposition to War," oppose any escalation of the Iraq war, and urge the U.S. government to work with the international community to support peacemaking and nation-building operations in Iraq. It also recommended the assembly urge members to pray for peace, support armed forces personnel and their families, study ELCA social statements and messages on peace and terrorism, discuss the war and policies of the U.S. government and communicate their views to elected representatives.
+ Blessing of same-sex relationships: Three synods adopted similar memorials discouraging blessing of same-sex relationships, pending decisions to be made at the 2009 Churchwide Assembly. The ELCA Metropolitan Washington, D.C., Synod asked for liturgies for the blessing of "same-gender unions." The Memorials Committee recommended referring these memorials and a record of the Churchwide Assembly's discussion to the Task Force for ELCA Studies on Sexuality, and urged that "it consider this information in its ongoing discernment and deliberation."
+ Standards for professional leaders: There were 23 memorials in this category. The ELCA Metropolitan Washington, D.C., Synod asked the Churchwide Assembly to remove language from church policy that precludes people who are gay or lesbian and in a homosexual relationship from serving in an official leadership role in the church. The ELCA Northeastern Iowa synod asked the assembly not to change its policy documents for ordained ministers.
Twenty-one synods adopted nearly identical memorials concerning a response to a discipline hearing committee that was formed to consider charges filed by the Rev. Ronald B. Warren, bishop of the ELCA Southeastern Synod, Atlanta, against a former ELCA pastor, Bradley E. Schmeling, Atlanta.
The hearing committee agreed with Warren and said Schmeling should be removed from the clergy roster on Aug. 15, 2007. It also criticized church policy regarding sexual conduct for ordained ministers, and suggested that synods call on the churchwide organization to change those policies. Recently, the ELCA Committee on Appeals upheld the original decision but reversed the date Schmeling was to be removed from the roster, making it effective July 2. It also said the discipline hearing committee exceeded the authority granted to it by the ELCA constitution when it suggested there be changes in ELCA clergy policies.
In general these 21 synod memorials would direct specific churchwide units to develop amendments to ELCA clergy standards, permitting people who are gay or lesbian and in committed homosexual relationships to serve as ordained and professional lay leaders in the church. The memorials also ask for reinstatement of people -- without the current requirement of a five-year waiting period -- who were removed or resigned from the official leadership rosters of the church. The Memorials Committee recommended the Churchwide Assembly refer all of these memorials and the verbatim record of the assembly's discussion about them to the Task Force for ELCA Studies on Sexuality, urging that the task force consider this information in its ongoing discernment and deliberation.
+ Referrals to the Task Force for ELCA Studies on Sexuality: Four synods adopted similar memorials asking the Churchwide Assembly to refer all memorials and resolutions regarding blessings of same-sex unions and ordination of people who are gay or lesbian and in committed relationships to the Task Force for ELCA Studies on Sexuality. Four synods called for the church to wait until the 2009 Churchwide Assembly to re-open the ordination question; three other synods asked that the Churchwide Assembly not consider any policy changes, or asked that proposals for policy change be forwarded to the Task Force for ELCA Studies on Sexuality as it prepares to present a social statement on human sexuality for consideration at the 2009 Churchwide Assembly.
The Memorials Committee recommended that all of these memorials and the verbatim record of the Churchwide Assembly's discussion be forwarded to the Task Force for ELCA Studies on Sexuality and urged that the task force consider this information in its ongoing discernment and deliberation.
Other synod memorials addressed topics such as ministry funding, global climate change, HIV and AIDS, genocide in Darfur, immigration, hunger, health care, Lutheran-Muslim dialogue, the purpose of the church and reparative therapy. The Memorials Committee proposed that most of its recommendations on these and other memorials be approved "en bloc," in which responses are adopted in one action. Proposed responses for some memorials call for referral to a unit of the churchwide organization or legislative body for study and possible action.
Also recommended for en bloc action are similar memorials from 14 synods encouraging the church to refrain from disciplining candidates for professional leadership in the church and those already serving, who are gay or lesbian and in a committed same-sex relationship. The Memorials Committee recommended that these memorials be referred to the ELCA Conference of Bishops, since responsibility for most disciplinary matters in the ELCA resides with synod bishops.
The ELCA Conference of Bishops is an advisory body of the ELCA consisting of the church's 65 synod bishops, presiding bishop and secretary.
Voting members may ask that memorials recommended for en bloc action be removed for discussion by the assembly.
---
Information about the 2007 ELCA Churchwide Assembly is at http://www.ELCA.org/assembly/ on the ELCA Web site.
The Memorials Committee report to the 2007 ELCA Churchwide Assembly is linked at http://www.ELCA.org/assembly/votingmatters/ on the ELCA Web site.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org http://www.elca.org/news ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog