Title: Iraq, Middle East, Sexuality Studies Top 2002 ELCA Stories
ELCA NEWS SERVICE

January 8, 2003

IRAQ, MIDDLE EAST, SEXUALITY STUDIES TOP 2002 ELCA STORIES
03-001-JB

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Uneasiness about the possibility of war with
Iraq, a continuing crisis between Palestinians and Israelis, and studies
on sexuality were among the top news stories involving the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) in 2002, according to the ELCA News
Service, a component of the ELCA Department for Communication.
     ELCA News provides news about the church's mission and ministry to
the public and religion media. Staff members include John R. Brooks,
director; Frank F. Imhoff, associate director; Melissa O. Ramirez,
associate director; and Brenda G. Williams, editorial assistant for
production and media relations. Amy E. Wineinger, student intern from
Wartburg College, an ELCA higher education institution in Waverly, Iowa,
and Diana Mavunduse, who volunteered with the ELCA News Service.
Mavunduse is now a communicator with Action by Churches Together, a
worldwide organization of churches and related agencies involved in
emergency response, Geneva, Switzerland.
     The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop, drew considerable
attention when he questioned Bush Administration officials' public
statements suggesting the United States might launch a pre-emptive
strike against Iraq aimed at removing Saddam Hussein from power.  In an
Aug. 30 statement, Hanson called for stepped-up diplomatic efforts and
U.S. cooperation with the international community to control weapons of
mass destruction that may be in Iraq.
     "While we are fully aware of the potential threat posed by the
government of Iraq and its leader, I believe it is wrong for the United
States to seek to overthrow the regime of Saddam Hussein with military
action," Hanson said.  "Morally, I oppose it because I know a war with
Iraq will have great consequences for the people of Iraq, who have
already suffered through years of war and economic sanctions. I do not
believe such a war can be justified under the historic principles of
'just war.'"
     Several boards of the church issued similar statements of concern,
as well as the ELCA Church Council, the legislative authority of the
ELCA between churchwide assemblies.
     After a unanimous vote in the U.N. Security Council and weapons
inspections were reinstituted, Hanson said he welcomed the action in a
Nov. 26 statement.  He also said churches around the world encouraged
him to continue to raise questions "about the impact of war on Iraqi
civilians and the potential destabilizing effects of a war within the
region."
     Hanson visited the White House twice in 2002.  He joined other
religious leaders who met President Bush just before the one-year
anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.  He later joined
the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church and the leader of the
National Conference of Catholic Bishops in a meeting with National
Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice about the Middle East and Iraq.
     Conflict in the Middle East between Palestinians and Israelis was
a significant concern within the church early in the year.  Terror
attacks on civilians in Israel, as well as Israeli occupations of a
Lutheran school and Lutheran church in the West Bank, drew comment from
the ELCA Conference of Bishops, meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia,
in March.  They deplored the increasing violence in the Middle East and
said they could not remain silent while fellow Lutherans in the region
suffered as "innocent victims."
     "We appeal to President George W. Bush to take immediate action to
seek a cessation of violence in the Middle East and to protect the lives
and property of all those who are suffering from unjust attacks," the
ELCA bishops said.
     Later, Hanson said the ELCA welcomed President Bush's call for an
independent Palestinian state, and his call on Israel to remove military
forces from Palestinian-controlled areas and to stop building Israeli
settlements in the West Bank and Gaza.
     In January the ELCA named the Rev. James M. Childs Jr. to direct a
four-year study on homosexuality. Childs is Joseph A. Sittler Professor
of Theology and Ethics and director of academic development, Trinity
Lutheran Seminary, Columbus, Ohio. He took a leave of absence from the
seminary to assume the role of directing the study.
     The next month the boards of the ELCA Division for Church in
Society and Division for Ministry appointed a task force to assist
Childs.  An interim report on their work is expected at the 2003 ELCA
Churchwide Assembly in Milwaukee, and a final report with
recommendations is due at the 2005 ELCA Churchwide Assembly in Orlando,
Fla.
     Other stories related to the ELCA that made a significant impact
in 2002 were (in no particular order):
     + Two exceptions to ELCA ordination policy granted: The Rev.
Daniel D. Shaw and the Rev. Matthew Kuempel were ordained by ELCA
pastors other than bishops.  The Shaw and Kuempel ordinations were made
possible under provisions of an exceptions bylaw adopted by the 2001
ELCA Churchwide Assembly.  The bylaw was proposed after the ELCA entered
into full communion with the Episcopal Church, thus requiring a bishop
to preside at all ordinations.
     + Sept. 11 anniversary: The church was involved in a variety of
ministries during its continuing response to the 2001 terrorist attacks.
Most prominent among these efforts were those conducted through Lutheran
Disaster Response-New York.  Beside the solemn one-year anniversary,
significant events included Camp New Ground, a ministry aimed at
children affected by trauma as a result of the attacks, and "Solidarity
Weekend."  During that weekend, some 200 ELCA pastors -- including at
least 32 of the church's 65 synod bishops -- went to New York April 6-7
in a show of support for ELCA pastors, congregations and ministries.
The visiting pastors preached in most New York-area ELCA congregations
April 7.
     + Program reductions and closures: Due to declines in income tied
to lower investment earnings and drops in bequests, the ELCA churchwide
organization, based here, announced a mid-year spending reduction of
$2,415,000.  Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, Baltimore, cut
staff and reorganized. Lutheran Social Services of Illinois reduced
staff and spending, and Lutheran Social Services of Kansas and Oklahoma
closed its doors.
     + Lutheran cyclists hit the road: The Rev. Walt Wangerin Jr.,
speaker for Lutheran Vespers, the radio ministry of the ELCA, and staff
toured the Midwest for two-and-one-half months beginning Aug. 17 to
promote the ministry and raise funds for an endowment. Wangerin began by
riding from stop-to-stop on his bicycle, but fell off his bike and broke
his hip Sept. 9 near Alexandria, Minn.  Following surgery, he resumed
the tour 10 days later -- traveling by car or truck -- and completed it
Oct. 21 when he arrived at Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, Ind.,
where he teaches.
     Meanwhile, the Rev. Lars J. Clausen, an ELCA pastor on leave from
call, rode his unicycle from coast-to-coast and back, concluding his
trip by unicycling in Hawaii Nov. 16.  The trip was intended to raise
funds for the Seward Peninsula (Alaska) Lutheran Endowment Fund and to
raise awareness of the Inupiat Lutheran Eskimos.   The unique trip also
put Clausen into the Guinness Book of Records.
     + "Davey" is back, "This Holy Night" a hit:  In addition to the
Lutheran Vespers tour, the ELCA Department for Communication was
involved in two other significant projects, both involving television.
It made a commitment to fund production of a new Christmas holiday
special for 2003 featuring Davey and Goliath, a popular stop-motion
animated children's series produced by the Lutheran church that aired
regularly on commercial television from the 1950s to the 1980s, and
still airs on cable television today.  The possibility of reviving the
series put the church into the secular media several times in 2002.
     "This Holy Night" was a Christmas Eve special produced by the
department that aired nationally on CBS-TV and the Hallmark Channel.
Partners in the project were the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Saint
Luke, Chicago, where the service was taped, and the ELCA Metropolitan
Chicago Synod.
     + Key appointments announced: The ELCA churchwide management team
welcomed several new executive appointments in 2002.  Appointed were
Linda Post Bushkofsky, executive director, Women of the ELCA; the Rev.
Rebecca S. V. Larson, executive director, Division for Church in
Society; the Rev. Randall R. Lee, director, Department for Ecumenical
Affairs; Beth A. Lewis, president and chief executive officer, Augsburg
Fortress Publishers, Minneapolis; and the Rev. Stanley N. Olson,
executive director, Division for Ministry.  In addition, the Rev. Bonnie
L. Jensen, executive director, Division for Global Mission (DGM),
announced she will retire in mid-2003.
     + Obituaries: The tragic death of the Rev. Will Herzfeld, DGM
associate executive director, and presiding bishop of the former
Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches (AELC), an ELCA predecessor
church body, from cerebral malaria  made news throughout the world.
Other notable obituaries included Roger C. Gutmann, president and chief
executive officer, Lutheran Social Services of Iowa; the Rev. John S.
Kendall, former president of Gustavus Adolphus College; the Rev. Frank
W. Klos, Jr., church editor and developer of Davey and Goliath; Clark D.
Morphew, syndicated columnist and former Lutheran pastor; the Rev.
Samuel S. Roth, president of Evangelical Lutherans in Mission, an AELC
predecessor organization; the Rev. Albert P. Stauderman, former editor
of The Lutheran magazine; the Rev. Henry F. Treptow, former Board of
Pensions executive director; Willmar L. Thorkelson, journalist and
author; and the Rev. Ralph R. Van Loon, former worship and church
architecture leader.


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