wfn.org | ALC Noticias October 10 2005 El Salvador Argentina Columbia

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

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

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CONTENT

EL SALVADOR: We need unity rather than playing with human pain, said
Lutheran Synod
ARGENTINA: Scandals in US seminaries are used by enemies of the Catholic Church
MEXICO: Catholics threaten to lynch Evangelicals from San Nicolas if they
don't leave town
COLOMBIA: Colombian evangelical leader wins named 2005 Peacemaker in Action
COLOMBIA: Ecumenical Network presents book about truth, justice and reparation

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EL SALVADOR
We need unity rather than playing with human pain, said Lutheran Synod

San Salvador, Oct. 6 (ALC). The Salvadoran Lutheran Synod said that
Churches should be "light" in these dark times marked by massive flooding
and the eruption of the Ilamatepec Volcano in Santa Ana and it accused
political parties of playing on people's pain to win votes.

We need the unity of all sectors, without lime lighting of any type, said
the Synod in a statement published Tuesday by its president Bishop Medardo
Gomez.

On Tuesday El Salvador's Congress declared a State of National Emergency
due to flooding in rivers and lakes that has caused significant mudslides
and the destruction of highways, bridges, and drainage infrastructure and
contention walls.

According to the Lutheran Synod there are hundreds of injured people and
thousands of collapsed homes. In the area of Santa Ana and Sonsonate alone
significant coffee growing areas have been lost along with corn, bean, rice
and sugar cane crops and farm animals.

The rain has been affected 65% of national territory for 15 days. According
to official figures, there are 50 dead and thousands of destroyed homes in
more than 30 places. Some 10,000 people have been evacuated.

In the departments of Santa Ana and Sonsonate, where the Ilamatepec Volcan
continues erupting, security is a serious problem and the government is
expected to declare a State of Siege to control pillaging and crime, said
the Synod.

The people are cold, hungry, afraid and seek refuge in the only and great
hope of the Love of God, said the Lutheran Synod, while it requested
contributions and prayers for sister Churches and people of good will.

We are conscious that we cannot resolve this catastrophe we are living
through but we also cannot stop responding to our people, coordinating with
the actors where we can and trying to respond to this emergency, with
Evangelical and ecumenical responsibility, said the Synod.

The Emergency Team from the Cristo Rey Lutheran Church with its pastor
Carlos Najera have taken on the commitment of coordinating with shelters in
the city of Santa Ana, carrying our rescue work, evacuating victims and
providing direct attention in the shelters.

Emergency committees have been formed nation wide and shelters have been
built in Churches and public schools.

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ARGENTINA
Scandals in US seminaries are used by enemies of the Catholic Church

By Hilario Wynarczyk

Buenos Aires, Oct. 5 (ALC). The undersecretary of the Pontifical Council
for the Laity of the Holy See, Uruguayan Guzman Carriquiry recognized the
existence of a serious problem in US Seminaries due to the dissemination of
a gay under culture but said the phenomenon is "used by those who hate the
Catholic Church."

The problems related to scandals in the US Church lead to serious financial
problems that leave entire dioceses in ruins, he said.

Carriquiry is visiting Argentina to participate in the Social Pastoral Week
in the city of La Plata, capital of the province of Buenos Aires and to
present his latest book "Una apuesta para America Latina."

He affirmed that 42 percent of the world's Catholics are in Latin America
and so the destiny of the Catholic Church lies in the region, after warning
about the withdrawal of lay Catholics in civil society.

One cause that influenced the limited participation of lay Catholics in
civil society was the hyper-politicization crisis in the 1970s, he said.

According to Carriquiry, the exodus of Catholics toward other movements,
above all Pentecostal, is due to the fact that these movements are able to
meet certain spiritual demands of grassroots sectors that are not satisfied
by the preferential option for the poor, which to a certain extent is
reductionist.

He affirmed that it is necessary to think of a new development paradigm for
South America, which takes into account interaction between civil society,
the state and the market and cooperation between countries. In this sense
he spoke in favor of agreements that strengthen the Southern Cone Common
Market or MERCOSUR.

Carriquiry will present his book accompanied by the Archbishop of Buenos
Aires Jorge Bergoglio and Finance Minister Roberto Lavagna.

Meanwhile, "Toward the Argentina of the Bicentenary" Congress will shortly
be held in the Gran Rex theatre. This event is aimed at initiating a
process to mobilize lay people and encourage constant debate about issues
involving the participation of Catholics in civil society, the economy,
politics and culture over a five year period.

------------ MEXICO
Catholics threaten to lynch Evangelicals from San Nicolas if they don't
leave town

Pachuca, Hidalgo, Oct. 5 (ALC). Tensions continue in Ixmiquilpan, some 270
kilometers north of Mexico DF where Catholics have threatened to lynch a
group of Evangelicals.

The crisis between the Catholic majority and a minority group of
Evangelicals broke out last weekend when Catholic residents in this
community of 8,000 agreed to throw the Evangelicals out of town and
confiscate land where they said they were going to build an Evangelical Church.

According to the magazine Proceso, after Catholics threatened to carry out
a new lynching in the San Nicolas community, federal authorities called on
them to respect the rights of the Protestant minority.

The federal government's board of Religious Associations of the Governance
Secretariat ordered the State under secretary of government to act as
mediator in San Nicolas.

Moreover, government official Francisco Javier Fernandez Perroni called on
Francisco Gonzalez Vargas, Under Secretary of Government to respect the
rights and constitutional guarantees of the members of the Bethel Church.

Mayor Carlos Felipe Hernandez affirmed he would call the police, who have
surrounded the area, while the state government under secretary is trying
to resolve the conflict by forming a dialogue commission.

The Catholics have called on Evangelicals to leave town in 30 days or run
the risk of being "detained and hung."

The Protestants accuse the Catholics and the authorities of violating the
Constitution and the Religious Associations and Public Worship Law that
establishes that every individual has the right to freely adopt their own
religious beliefs.

Last August 22 Catholics did not allow Evangelical leader Ponciano
Rodríguez to be buried in the San Nicolas cemetery. The coffin was exposed
for 2 days in the public square until the neighbouring Cerritos community
allowed him to be buried in their cemetery.

Religious conflicts are nothing new in San Nicolas where a peace agreement
was signed between Catholics and Evangelicals in 2001. The state of
Hidalgo, where the town is located has been the site of a notable increase
in converts to the Protestant faith, the majority indigenous people.

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COLOMBIA
Colombian evangelical leader wins named 2005 Peacemaker in Action

By William Delgado

Bogotá, Oct 5 (ALC). The Tanenbaum Center for Inter-religious Action named
Colombian lawyer and Evangelical Pastor Ricard Esquivia the 2005 Peacemaker
in Action. Esquivia is member of the Commission to Restore Life and Peace
of the Colombian Evangelical Council (CEDECOL).

The award was in recognition of his exceptional personal commitment to
peace, reconciliation and human rights, according to the jury.

The awards ceremony took place in New York city at the end of September and
was attended by award winners from previous years as well as the World
Peace Council representative and the Dalai Lama.

For more than 10 years Esquivia was director of the Justapaz Conciliation
Centre of the Mennonite Church of Colombia and has staunchly defended peace
and human rights in this country, particular the rights of the most
vulnerable e groups.

The Tanenbaum Center was established in 1982 and is named after Rabbi Marc.
H. Tanenbaum, a recognized pioneer in inter-religious understanding and a
prominent social justice and human rights activist. The Centre works to
facilitate the efforts of religiously-motivated individuals who struggle
for peace.

The "Peacemakers Prize" identifies and calls attention to individuals who
have dedicated their lives to peace, motivated by religion.

Other award leaders in previous years include the Rev. Benny Giay, an
Evangelical minister who works for justice, human rights and peace in
Papua, Indonesia; Sakena Yacoobi, a Muslim woman from the Afghan Institute
of Learning who risked her life to educate women under the Taliban regime
and continues her work with some 2,800 children and Abuna Elias Chacour, a
Melkite Catholic who works for peace among Israelis and Palestinians.

Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, a member of the Society of Friends in South
Africa, a leader on women's issues, development, peace and security who was
involved in the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa is included in the
list.

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COLOMBIA
Ecumenical Network presents book about truth, justice and reparation

BOGOTA, Oct 3 (ALC). In the midst of the conflict God continues to reveal
himself today and so we can affirm that evil does not have the last word,"
affirmed Biblical expert Alicia Winters, during the presentation of the
book "Un Grito de Dios: ¡Verdad, Justicia y Reparación", of the Ecumenical
Network of Colombia.

The scholar maintained that the work is an important beginning point that
encourages new ideas and new perspectives. Members of local Churches,
social organizations and human rights activist attended the act held
September 22.

Three representatives of communities that were the victims of violence in
Colombia carried a light symbolizing Truth, Justice and Reparation and
raised their voices to denounce 5,000 disappeared people, 22,000 crimes
against humanity and 5 million hectares of land taken by paramilitary groups.

The Rev. Milton Mejia, executive secretary of the Presbyterian Church of
Colombia and coordinator of the network said that the book is the
collective fruit of a team of theologians from different Churches that
attempt to offer a Biblical-theological reflection about the Justice and
Peace law. The aim is to apply this law in the process to demobilize
paramilitary groups that are currently operating.

Catholic theologian Fernando Torres said that today more than ever in
Colombia "we cannot carry out contextual theology if it does not begin with
the cry of the victims."

Claudia Giron of the National Movement of the Victims of State Crimes that
brings together more than 200 social organizations in the country said that
the moral force of the body resists giving into "in the face of the process
to legitimize paramilitary groups."
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