wfn.org | ALC Noticias Sept 20 2004 El Salvador, Chile, Ecuador

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

ALC NEWS SERVICE
E-mail: director@alcnoticias.org

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CONTENT

EL SALVADOR: World Lutheran leader committed to lobbying for economic 
justice and peace
EL SALVADOR:  A prophetic Church marked by solidarity
CHILE: Pentecostal Movement celebrates five years of presence and testimony
ECUADOR: Cardinal affirms that market logic does not serve Christians

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EL SALVADOR
World Lutheran leader committed to lobbying for economic justice and peace

SAN SALVADOR, Sept. 16 (ALC). At the end of a six-day visit to El Salvador, 
the president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Mark S. Hanson 
committed himself to transmitting the concern of Central American Lutherans 
about the Free Trade Agreement with the United States and to continue to 
struggle for peace and a more just world.

  Hanson, who is also president of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the 
United States (ELCA) visited El Salvador from September 11-16, invited by 
the Central American Communion of Lutheran Churches (CILCA).

In a press conference just prior to his return to the United States, Hanson 
said Thursday that during his visit to Lutheran communities and their work 
places, he has found people who live in situations of dramatic poverty.

Based on a profound faith commitment, Central American Lutheran Churches 
understand that their ministry consists in accompanying the suffering 
population, caring for creation and defending peoples human rights 
(health, education, housing, employment), he said.

He said that in talks with civil society sectors he could perceive 
frustration because the Peace Agreements have not been fully implemented 
and they have not brought peace with justice. For us peace is not just the 
end of the armed conflict, but involves ensuring access to all basic 
rights, he said.

He added that Churches expressed their gratitude for the accompaniment of 
the Lutheran World Federation, with 63 million believers worldwide, and 
their satisfaction because the LWF is intensely debating the impact of 
economic globalization, in particular among the most vulnerable.

The Churches, he said, expressed their concern about the impact that the 
Free Trade Agreements with the United States could have on peoples lives 
in Central America. They were particularly concerned about the lack of 
public participation in the discussion of these deals, the impoverishment 
of the most vulnerable sectors (rural zones, indigenous people, women etc) 
and the lack of control to exploit natural resources and the subsequent 
deterioration of the environment.

I am committed to taking this message and these concerns back to the LWF 
and particularly to my Church in the United States, he said. The ELCA is 
the fifth largest denomination in the United States, with 5 million faithful.

He noted that on the third anniversary of the September 11 terrorist 
attacks he perceived, once again, the cruel and continuous violence 
affecting our world. We are witnesses to how violence generates more 
violence in Iraq. This visit has helped me see how violence is also 
expressed in unjust structures and in situations of exclusion and 
marginalization, said Hanson.

As I return to my country, I have a renewed committed to act in favor of 
peace, investing my best efforts to construct a more just world without 
exclusion, said the LWF president.

As a religious leader profoundly committed to non violence I recently 
participated in meetings with the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to debate 
about peace in Iraq and with the US Secretary of State Colin Powell, to 
seek a peaceful means to solve the crisis in the Middle East.

He criticized the decision to begin a war against Iraq, adding that peace 
in that country will only be achieved if the sovereignty of the Iraqi 
people is respected and not as a result of a US imposition.

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EL SALVADOR
A prophetic Church marked by solidarity

SAN SALVADOR, September 14 (alc). Cecilia Alfaro, a 52-year-old pastor with
two children, has seen too many faces to remember them all. Today, more than
20 years after the war began in her country that left more than 75,000
people dead; she cannot avoid tears as she tries to remember their faces.

She shared her testimony with Lutheran World Information/ALC during a visit
on the part of the president of the Lutheran World Federation Mark Hanson,
his wife Ione and leaders from Latin American Lutheran Churches to the Faith
and Hope Community, which sheltered scores of displaced and persecuted
during the bloody Salvadoran internal war that wracked the country between
1980 and 1992.

Cecilia was one of the first volunteers from the Lutheran Church of San
Salvador who welcomed hundreds of displaced who reached the city, fleeing
death, persecuted by the army, terrified, hungry and defenseless. She
recalls the feelings that swept over her as she walked through the refuge.

"I could not help but remember the Gospel of Saint Luke, the part that says
'to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives and
recovery of sight to the blind, and to let the oppressed go free,' because
that is what we did, we helped them, gave them a hand, helped them with the
little that we could."

Many of the young people who reached the Lutheran Church or the shelter they
set up when they needed more space, never came back.  Some families left,
but never came back. Many left the country for foreign lands but others
decided to fight for their ideals.

Cecilia remembers that from the onset of the military repression, the
resources for the displaced were insufficient. La Resurreccion Church only
had room for 25. Later they found land where they could make room for 400
displaced and later they expanded to the point where the "Faith and Hope"
shelter housed up to 1,700 people.

The Churches were overwhelmed by requests for solidarity support from
thousands of people displaced from their places of origin by a war that
racked the country for more than a decade and left 75,000 dead in its wake
and more than 1 million displaced and homeless.

"I remember the faces of young people, of people I went to school with,
members of Bible reflection groups who are no longer with us," said Cecilia,
as her memory was filled with the names and gestures of so many young
people, men, women and children who never returned.

Cecilia grew up in Mejicanos City in a very Catholic household. "Ever since
I was a young girl I dreamed of being a nun and going to Africa as a
missionary," she said, adding that God had other surprises in store and the
Holy Spirit led me down another path. "God wanted me to be a missionary in
my own land, in the midst of war."

Cecilia was studying Sociology at the National University of El Salvador
when the government shut it down, considering it to be a subversive focal
point and bastion of opposition groups. There she met Victoria Cortes,
social work leader for the Lutheran Church (then linked to the Missouri
Synod) and a professor of Pedagogy at the University. "Victoria invited me
to be a volunteer with the social work and I accepted," she said.

At the beginning of the 1980s, the country confronted major political and
social conflicts, grassroots organizations were repressed with violence,
there were selective murders, channels of social expression were closed and
the much feared war became a harsh reality.

On March 24, 1980, a paramilitary commando murdered Oscar A. Romero while he
celebrated Mass in the La Divina Providencia Hospital Chapel. With his death
the "voice of those who have no voice" was silenced and the link between
grassroots sectors the government was broken.

The insurgent struggle, on the other hand, meant that vast sectors of the
civilian population were caught in the crossfire. In rural zones, they were
forced to abandon their houses, their crops and escape with the clothes on
their back

THE LUTHERAN CHURCH BECOMES INVOLVE

The Catholic Church and the Green Cross immediately sought to help the
displaced, thousands of men and women, the majority elderly and children,
sick and hungry. The shelters were filled to overflowing. Someone mentioned
the La Resurreccion Lutheran Church, located in the San Miguelito barrio in
the city.

There was enormous demand. Hundreds of people needed a place to stay. At the
end of April 1982, Cecilia and other volunteers met with Pastor Medardo
Gomez and he, together with the board, prayed and discussed the best way to
help such a huge group. In the Church, they can only offer shelter for 25
people. .

The Church found itself before a need to organize for social and pastoral
attention. The Salvadoran Lutheran Aid was created, run by Victoria Cortis,
and included Vilma Rodrmguez, Angel Ibarra, Cecilia Alfaro, among other
leaders

Faced with the urgent need to offer practical and immediate responses to the
displaced and with the support of ecumenical cooperation, the Lutherans
bought land in Galera Quemada, in the municipality of Nejapa, some 24
kilometers from San Salvador.

With precarious installations built by the displaced themselves, the "Faith
and Hope" shelter was established, a name that reflects the spirit that
motivated the Church. Years later, Victoria Cortes would open a Lutheran
project in Managua (Nicaragua) with the same name.

The first 400 refugees arrived on May 5, 1982 from San Vicente and San
Sebastian, rural areas close to San Salvador. In Faith and Hope, they
eventually housed between 1,500 and 1,700 refuges, the majority having fled
their homes in fear of their lives.  Under its so-called "raised earth"
policy, the army destroyed entire populations it suspected of being linked
to insurgents.

The panorama could not have been more dramatic or challenging. Many people
were very ill and in a fearful state. Cecilia recalls that she suffered at
home when she thought about the people in the refuge. How could I stay at
home, she said. Finally, she took her things and spent the nights with the
refugees.

After the first 15 days, and after the refuges themselves created a basic
organization that included health, food and education committees among
others, they had to face how to survive and generate resources.

Faith and Hope developed like the early Church. People had fowl, they built
a bakery, and they made shoes, all for the refugees themselves. As in the
early Christian Church, everyone put their gifts at the service of the
community.

The war and the displacement also left marks that are hard to erase. This
was even truer when "Faith and Hope" was the victim of an attack in the
nursery and Bishop Medardo Gomez was kidnapped together with Dr. Angel
Ibarra and released three days later thanks to international pressure. The
Church was attacked for its social work, its commitment to the Gospel and
the Salvadoran people.

Vilma Rodrmguez, a psychologist, tells how difficult it was at first for the
children and the elderly to share their traumatic experiences and to grieve.
As a result, a crisis intervention program and post-traumatic therapy for
the refugees was developed.  The Salvadoran Lutheran Church was a
therapeutic community, a healing community.

OTHER TESTIMONIES

Don Alfronso Carranza, age 88, still shudders when he remembers that his
children died in combat and the body of one, a community leader, was dragged
by soldiers through the streets of San Sebastian, to terrify the local
population. He arrived at Faith and Esperanza, a refuge where he was able to
rebuild his life.

Vladimir Martinez remembers that many Salvadoran young people could not live
with their families, for fear of being accused of being suspects. As a
result, he was forced to leave his loved ones. During the war his parents
and brothers were killed and he lost a leg. Today, he is dedicated to
organizing war veterans and demanding that their rights be respected.

Matmas Antonio Dmaz took his family to Faith and Hope. He was cruelly
tortured by the army, and said his strength always came from his faith in
God. He has been a Lutheran pastor since 1984.

When the talks began among sectors of civil society, with international
support and the government, the doors to the Faith and Hope Refuge were
opened to facilitate the return of the displaced to their places of origin
and it concluded its role as a shelter in 1988. Today, it houses a Lutheran
congregation.

Today, the Lutheran Synod continues to carry out its pastoral and social
work. It continues to speak out about social problems, poverty and exclusion
that are provoked and perpetuated by economic globalization. Bishop Medardo
Gomez seeks out communication media (an unusual case among Evangelical
Churches in Latin America) and every Monday offers a press conference to
address timely issues and offer a pastoral word.

Loved by some and considered controversial by others, Bishop Gomez is a man
of God who knew how to carry out his task at a crucial time in the history
of the country. For this, Bishop Mark Hanson's visit to El Salvador from
September 11 to 16 constitutes support for his work. Hanson asked him to
continue exercising his prophetic voice in the country.

Perhaps the testimony of Cecilia Alfaro, like other Salvadorans who survived
the war, can be the voice of those who are no longer with us to tell their
story.

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CHILE
Pentecostal Movement celebrates five years of presence and testimony
By Sara Ossa

SANTIAGO, Sept. 13 (alc). Seventy thousand people filled the National 
Stadium in Santiago on September 12 while hundreds of choirs sang songs of 
praise to God.

Bishops and pastors from all Evangelical denominations in the country were 
present, participating in the Pentecostal celebration.

September is the month when Chile celebrates its national holiday and the 
beginning of spring.  It is also the month of the Bible and for the 
Evangelical Pentecostal movement the commemoration of the so-called Creole 
Pentecost

September marks the anniversary of the great revival in Valparamso in 1909, 
which was marked by the new experience of the baptism of the Holy Spirit 
and the manifestation of spiritual gifts.

The main event is held in Santiago in the National Stadium and is attended 
by government authorities and parliamentary representatives. At the same 
time, similar activities are held in 34 other public establishments across 
the nation, celebrating 95 years of Pentecostalism in Chile.

The central message was given by the new bishop of the Methodist 
Pentecostal Church, Bernardo Cartes Venegas, who said We are here, because 
thanks to the immense love of God we have moved from death to life. Far 
from Israel, thanks to the divine plan, the gentile world was given the 
blessed opportunity to receive Christs Gospel.

At the end of the meeting, Bishop Cartes expressed his satisfaction because 
we have been very blessed because we have had an extraordinary response, 
for the glory of the Lord. From the extreme north to the extreme south of 
the country, the meetings have been well attended and very blessed by the 
Lord.

With this example of unity we have opened a new page of Evangelism in 
Chile, said Cartes.

The event was organized by the Chile for Christ movement. This new 
organization plans to hold similar activities each year until the 
Centenary of Pentecostal Revival in Chile celebration planned for 2009.

The Pentecostal movement in Chile has given rise to more than 1,500 
Churches across the country, producing two apparently contradictory effects.

First, a broad range of Evangelical denominations that makes joint work 
within society difficult and their insertion into the 
political-administrative area challenging.

However, this same diversity has allowed them to sow the Word of God, to 
spread the Gospel to all cities and corners of the country. Through 
different means, methods or forms Evangelical Churches in Chile have worked 
selflessly to expand the Kingdom of God.

Aware of both the wealth and limitations implied in this diversity, 
leaders, bishops and pastors have made efforts to create organizations that 
coordination the action of the Evangelical Movement. They have also 
achieved the necessary recognition on the part of Chilean authorities 
regarding equity and equality.

One of the first joint manifestations of the Evangelical people took place 
12 years ago when they constituted the National Committee of Evangelical 
Organizations  COE  to promote Law 19.698, the so-called Equality of 
Worship Law.

The law was approved in 1999, and dozens of Evangelical leaders filled the 
Congress, located in the city of Valparamso when the vote took place.

Once the law was approved, the Evangelicals raised their hands to the sky 
saying Glory to God! an expression of praise that characterizes the 
Pentecostal movement.

A similar spirit moved scores of faithful across the country on September 
12 when Evangelicals from all traditions (historic, missionary and Creole 
Churches)  filled public spaces in every region.

The celebrated the day of Evangelical Christian unity, recalling the 
Creole Pentecost, that gave rise to this second largest religion in the 
country.  It was a great celebration, said Bishop Francisco Anabalon.

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ECUADOR
Cardinal affirms that market logic does not serve Christians

  By Manuel Quintero

QUITO, Sept. 17 (alc).	Honduran Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodrmguez Madariaga, 
one of the Latin American Catholics who has most consistently spoken out 
against the neoliberal system, affirmed that the implacable logic of the 
market cannot serve Christians.

The Cardinal made the comments during the inaugural conference at the 
symposium of Bishops, priests, lay people from Latin America, Germany and 
Spain, who met from September 13  17 in Casa Bethania in Quito.

The symposium, the third of its type, was organized by the German Bishops 
Action Adveniat, the Latin American Bishops Conference (CELAM), the 
Ecuadorian Bishops Conference (CEE) and was geared toward reflecting on 
the political and economic reality of the continent in the light of 
Catholic social doctrine.

In reference to a CELAM document, Rodrmguez Madariaga affirmed that in a 
context of globalization, marked by a culture that looks for efficiency and 
economic success at any cost, Christians have the challenge of recalling 
the dimension of gratuity, as what is the most human cannot be bought nor 
sold, it has value but it has no price.

  In essence Christianity is the religion of gratuity, for this 
Christianity is the Gospel, from there the excluded heard from Jesus Christ 
that God truly loves them unconditionally, that they do not have to prove 
that they are good. He loves them first with a love that they receive as a 
gift, he said.

The critical analysis of the Honduran prelate marked the tone of the 
debates and presentations at the symposium that included the participation 
of renowned economists from different countries in the continent and 
politicians from the host country.

This critical mood was also reflected in the final document of the event 
that emphasizes the concern of participants about the increase of poverty 
levels in Latin America and the Caribbean, the increase of unemployment, 
social exclusion and migrations.

This concern also extended to political instability, the lack of political 
will to apply social policies, the fact that free trade agreements are 
being negotiated behind peoples backs and in unfavorable conditions for 
our countries.

The declaration warns that the foreign debt continues to be paid at the 
cost of bread, health and education and that it continues to wrack all 
the countries on the continent, in particular among the most marginalized 
sectors.

It criticized the emergence of a consumer mentality which sustains the 
market economy, an economy that does not seek to produce goods and 
services to satisfy human needs, but to produce artificial needs and 
merchandise to satisfy them.

Regarding the impact of globalization it affirms that global 
transformations of the world economy are modifying the parameters of social 
development in all countries and some threats to human wellbeing are being 
globalized, in particular environmental risks.

On the political front, the document recognizes the predomination of 
democratic government systems and the strengthening fundamental freedoms, 
but at the same time it indicates a loss of leadership and a weakening of 
political parties.

The text recalls that ethics, economics and politics are three disciplines 
with their own rationale and therefore their own purposes but underscores 
that ethics has the mission to illuminate the economy and politics so that 
their actions have the human person at the center.

Recalling that every man and women are the image of God with the right to a 
dignified life it establishes that growth and development, seen 
integrally, should be complementary processes aimed at favoring all people 
without discrimination.

Here solidarity plays and important role, it stated. Solidarity open to 
change, to the promotion of self-esteem, to self development and equity.

It concluded with a quote from John Paul II who defines this solidarity as 
a firm and perseverant determination to insist on common good.
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