wfn.org | ELCA Bishop to Visit World Ecumenical Centers

[Brenda Williams <BRENDAW@elca.org>]

Reply-To: ElcaNews <ELCANEWS@ELCASCO.ELCA.ORG>
ELCA NEWS SERVICE

March 11, 1998

ELCA BISHOP TO VISIT WORLD ECUMENICAL CENTERS
98-10-051-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. H. George Anderson, presiding bishop of
the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), will make his first
official visit to three world ecumenical centers -- Istanbul, Rome and
London -- March 14-24.  A delegation of ELCA synod bishops, church staff
and church council members will accompany the presiding bishop and continue
on to Geneva.  Anderson was elected bishop of the 5.2-million member church
in 1995.
     The trip's itinerary includes visits to the Ecumenical Patriarchate
of Constantinople, headquarters of world Orthodoxy, Istanbul, Turkey, March
16-17; the Vatican of the Roman Catholic Church in Rome, March 18-20; and
the offices of the Anglican Communion at Lambeth Palace in London, March
23-24.  Anderson will return to Chicago on March 25, and much of the
delegation will proceed to offices of the World Council of Churches (WCC)
and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in Geneva, March 26-30.
     In Istanbul the delegation will have an audience with His All
Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew I and hold informal discussions with members
of the Synodical Commission on Inter-Christian Affairs about Lutheran-Orthodox relations.
     The agenda in Rome includes conversation on Lutheran-Roman Catholic
rapport with Bishop Jean-Claude Périsset, adjunct secretary of the
Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, and Bishop Michael
Fitzgerald, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious
Dialogue.
     The delegation will meet with the Archbishop of Canterbury George L.
Carey and the Rev. Canon John L. Peterson, secretary general of the
Anglican Communion, in London.  Anglican-Lutheran and Anglican-Lutheran-Moravian relations will be discussed.
     The ELCA is a member church of the WCC and the LWF.  In Geneva the
delegation will visit with executives of the two organizations and meet
with LWF General Secretary Ishmael Noko.  It will also confer with WCC
General Secretary Konrad Raiser of the Evangelical (Lutheran) Church of
Germany.
     In addition to Anderson, the delegation includes the Rev. April
Ulring Larson, bishop of the La Crosse (Wis.) Area Synod; the Rev. Duane
Larson, associate professor of systematic theology, Lutheran Theological
Seminary at Gettysburg, Pa.; the Rev. Daniel F. Martensen, director of the
Department for Ecumenical Affairs, Chicago; the Rev. Donald J. McCoid,
bishop of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Synod, Pittsburgh; Beverly A.
Peterson, member of the Church Council and vice president of the Montana
Synod, Billings, Mont.; the Rev. Eric C. Shafer, director of the Department
for Communication, Chicago; the Rev. Larry V. Smoose, member of the Church
Council and pastor of Reformation Lutheran Church, Media, Pa.; the Rev.
Edgar R. Trexler, editor of The Lutheran, magazine of the ELCA, Chicago;
and the Rev. Ronald B. Warren, bishop of the Southeastern Synod, Atlanta.

For information contact:
Ann Hafften, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html