wfn.org | LWF General Secretary Welcomes New Bishop in Canadian Church

["Frank Imhoff" <FRANKI@elca.org>]

Commends Unanimous Vote on Full Communion between Anglicans and
Lutherans

WATERLOO, Canada/GENEVA, 11 July 2001 (LWI) - Rev. Dr. Ishmael Noko,
Lutheran World Federation (LWF) general secretary, has welcomed the
election of Bishop Raymond Schultz as the new National Bishop of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC).

Noko also hailed the church's Eighth Biennial Convention vote in favor
of the Waterloo Declaration establishing full communion between the
ELCIC and Anglican Church of Canada (ACC). A similar action was taken in
the ACC General Synod held simultaneously at a neighboring university in
the city of Waterloo. Full communion is not a merger of the two churches
but they will share resources and work closely together on common goals
while maintaining their distinct identities.

Speaking to Lutheran World Information (LWI), Noko who attended the
ELCIC Convention July 4-8 in Waterloo, Ontario also expressed deep
appreciation for retiring National Bishop Telmor Sartison, who has led
the Canadian church since 1993, during which period "the relationship
between the LWF and the ELCIC has developed significantly through
various levels of collaboration." Sartison, 64, serves on the LWF
Council where he is a member of the Program Committee for Communication.

The general secretary described the new national bishop as an
experienced pastor, who has made significant contributions during the
three years he has served as a synod bishop for British Columbia. "I
know he will be an excellent partner as we cooperate with the ELCIC in
preparing for the LWF Tenth Assembly in Winnipeg, Canada in 2003," Noko
added.

Noko also welcomed the election of Rev. Susan Johnson as ELCIC
Vice-President, emphasizing her dedication as a church leader and her
good work on the LWF Council. Johnson who is assistant to Eastern Synod
Bishop Michael Pryse serves as an adviser on the LWF Standing Committee
for Ecumenical Affairs.

National Bishop-elect Schultz, 59, will be installed on September 16,
and will officially take office on October 1. He will be the first of
ELCIC's bishops to carry the official title of National Bishop. Earlier
in the convention, delegates had voted to make the title official. It
had been used informally for several years.

The upcoming LWF Assembly was a recurring topic at this year's ELCIC's
Biennial Convention. It was referred to positively by many of the
speakers, and was focused on in concrete ways both by Noko in his
greeting to the convention and by the LWF North American Regional
Expression Officer, Rev. Art Leichnitz, himself a Canadian, in his
report to the convention.

Speaking to LWI, Rev. Sven Oppegaard, LWF Assistant General Secretary
for Ecumenical Affairs, who also attended the convention, described the
Canadian churches' endorsement of the Waterloo Declaration as a
significant one in the global Anglican-Lutheran relationship. The three
communion agreements in Europe and North America-the Porvoo Declaration
(1996) between the Nordic and Baltic Lutheran churches and the Anglican
churches of Great Britain and Ireland, Called to Common Mission (2001)
between the Episcopal Church in the USA and Evangelical Lutheran Church
in America and now the Waterloo Declaration-which open up for exchange
of pastors/priests and bishops, represent a significant level of
fellowship where Christian unity is made manifest in concrete,
institutional ways, Oppegaard said.

Oppegaard described the joy brought by the Canadian agreement as "the
reverse side of the pain experienced by people over church division." He
commented positively on the emotional and very joyful signing
celebration of the Waterloo Declaration in the Sunday Eucharist held in
a large sports stadium with many thousand worshippers from the two
churches in attendance.

At the time of taking the decisive vote Bishop Sartison and ACC
Archbishop Michael Peers communicated by mobile phone while on their
respective podiums, conveying the mutual greetings of the two
assemblies. A prolonged standing ovation followed, with a spontaneous
singing of the popular hymn "The Church's One Foundation."

The ELCIC, a member of the LWF since 1986, has over 191,000 members. The
ACC has more than 800,000 members. Both churches belong to the Canadian
Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches.

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran
tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund (Sweden), the LWF now has 133 member
churches in 73 countries representing over 60.5 million of the 64.3
million Lutherans worldwide. The LWF acts on behalf of its member
churches in areas of common interest such as ecumenical relations,
theology, humanitarian assistance, human rights, communication, and the
various aspects of mission and development work. Its secretariat is
located in Geneva, Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is the information service of the
Lutheran World Federation (LWF). Unless specifically noted, material
presented does not represent positions or opinions of the LWF or of its
various units. Where the dateline of an article contains the notation
(LWI), the material may be freely reproduced with acknowledgement.]

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