wfn.org | Notes about People

[PCUSA_NEWS@ecunet.org]

8-Dec-95

95442                   Notes about People 
 
                      by Jerry L. Van Marter 
 
     The Rev. Richard C. Halverson, 79, who as chaplain of the United 
States Senate for 14 years made the prayer breakfast movement among 
politicians a national institution, died Nov. 28 of congestive heart 
failure. 
     A native of Pingree, N.D., Halverson graduated from Wheaton College in 
Illinois and Princeton Theological Seminary.  He served pastorates in 
Kansas City, Mo., and Coalinga and Hollywood, Calif., before becoming 
pastor of Fourth Presbyterian Church of Bethesda, Md., in 1958.  He served 
there until being named Senate chaplain in 1981, a post he held until his 
retirement in 1994. 
     A memorial service was scheduled for Dec. 11 at Fourth Church. 
Halverson is survived by his wife, Doris; three children -- Richard Jr., 
Stephen and Deborah Markey; and nine grandchildren. 
 
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     The Rev. J. Paul Frelick, a recently returned missionary to Cameroon, 
has been named acting associate for corporate witness in the Social Justice 
Program Area of the National Ministries Division. He will serve in the 
position from Jan. 1 to July 15, 1996, while the permanent associate, the 
Rev.  Vernon Broyles, serves as acting director of the division. 
     Frelick has been teaching theology and ethics at the Youande Faculty 
of Protestant Theology of the Presbyterian Church of Cameroon.  Prior to 
that he was associate pastor of Highland Presbyterian Church in Louisville, 
Ky. 
 
                              # # # 
 
     Five new members of the Presbyterian Women Churchwide Coordinating 
Team began their terms of service at the team's recent meeting in Seattle.   
     They are Ellen Carter, Natoma, Kan., Synod of Mid-America;  Flavia 
Alvarez, Quebradillas, Puerto Rico, Synod of Puerto Rico;  Barbara Haith, 
Apple Valley, Calif., Synod of Southern California and Hawaii; Peggy Lane, 
Davenport, Fla., Synod of South Atlantic; and Gloria Venett, State College, 
Pa., Synod of the Trinity. 
 
                              # # # 
 
     Nathan O. Hatch, a member of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), has 
been appointed provost of Notre Dame University in South Bend, Ind., one of 
the premier Roman Catholic schools in the country.  The provost is the 
university's second ranking officer and exercises overall responsibility 
for the Notre Dame's academic program. 
     Hatch has taught at Notre Dame since 1975. One of the United States' 
most renowned American religious history scholars, he is best known for his 
1989 book "The Democratization of American Christianity." 
 
                              # # # 
 
     United Methodist bishop Melvin G. Talbert, 61, of San Francisco was 
installed Nov. 16 as president of the National Council of Churches (NCC). 
He will serve a two-year term. 
     Talbert is completing his eighth year as secretary and ecumenical 
officer of the United Methodist Council of Bishops.  He is also a member of 
the Executive Committee, Central Committee and Finance Committee of the 
World Council of Churches. 
     In his first interview after his installation, Talbert said one of his 
top priorities is putting racism at the center of the NCC's agenda.  He 
announced plans to gather a panel of high-level consultants to advise the 
NCC on what it might do to combat racism. 
 
     The Rev. Joan Brown Campbell, the National Council of Churches (NCC) 
general secretary since 1991, was unanimously reelected to another 
four-year term by the NCC's general board at its annual meeting last month 
in Oakland, Calif. 
     Campbell is a minister in both the Christian Church (Disciples of 
Christ) and the American Baptist Churches in the U.S.A.  As general 
secretary, she is chief executive and spokesperson for the New York 
City-based NCC, whose 33 Protestant, Orthodox and Anglican member 
communions have a combined U.S. membership of nearly 51 million. 
 
                              # # # 
 
     The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) installed the Rev. 
H. George Anderson as its presiding bishop Nov. 18 during a worship service 
in Chicago attended by more than 1,500.  
     Anderson was elected in August by the ELCA's churchwide assembly to 
succeed retired bishop Herbert W. Chilstrom.  He started work Nov. 1 at the 
denomination's Chicago headquarters.  Anderson had served since 1982 as 
president of Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. 

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