ELCA NEWS SERVICE

July 24, 2007  

ELCA Churchwide Assembly to Consider 125 Memorials from Synods
07-133-JB

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The 1,071 voting members of the 2007
Churchwide Assembly meeting here at Navy Pier next month will be
asked to respond to 125 memorials summarized in a 74-page
assembly report.  Memorials are requests from the church's 65
synods asking for action by the assembly on specific topics. The
churchwide assembly, which meets every two years, is the ELCA's
chief legislative authority.  Voting members, staff, visitors and
media will meet Aug. 6-11 in Chicago, where the ELCA churchwide
organization is based.
     A Memorials Committee, appointed by the ELCA Church Council,
the church's board of directors, met here June 29-30.  The
committee categorized the memorials and drafted proposals for the
assembly to consider.  Norma J. Hirsch, Des Moines, Iowa, and the
Rev. Kenneth M. Ruppar, Richmond, Va., both members of the Church
Council, are co-chairs of the committee.
     Hirsch and Ruppar said the Memorials Committee saw its role
as helping to organize the synod memorials and present
recommendations to the Churchwide Assembly to facilitate
discussion and decision-making by the voting members.  Both said
the committee proposed discussion on memorials that voting
members were likely to want to address specifically, such as
matters related to sexuality and the Iraq war.
     "We took very seriously the role we had to help facilitate
the work of the assembly," Ruppar said.
     "We hope that we put the memorials forward in a way that
makes their (voting members') work more effective and efficient,"
Hirsch said.

Seven categories of memorials recommended for assembly discussion
     The committee categorized all of the memorials and
recommended seven specific categories for discussion by
Churchwide Assembly voting members: support for congregations
assisting returning military veterans; criminal justice; Israeli-
Palestinian conflict; Iraq war; blessing of same-sex
relationships; standards for professional leaders; and referrals
to the task force for ELCA Studies on Sexuality (about half of
the 125 memorials addressed topics and issues related to
homosexuality, standards for sexual conduct of ordained
ministers, same-sex relationship blessings and discipline):
     + Assisting returning veterans: The ELCA Saint Paul Area
Synod asked the 2007 ELCA Churchwide Assembly "to encourage all
congregations of this church to support returning military
personnel and their families."  The Memorials Committee
recommended that the Churchwide Assembly urge the ELCA to provide
a welcoming and supportive environment for returning military
personnel, and it recommended that the ELCA Conference of Bishops
and ELCA Bureau for Federal Chaplaincy Ministries explore ways
that the ELCA "might effectively provide healing ministries to
military veterans and their families."
     + Criminal justice: Three synods asked the Churchwide
Assembly to ask ELCA Church in Society to prepare a social
statement on criminal justice; two also asked that the social
statement address prevention programs for at-risk families and
youth, and inmate restoration.  The Memorials Committee
recommended that the assembly direct the ELCA Church in Society
program unit to develop the social statement for possible
consideration at the 2013 ELCA Churchwide Assembly.
     + Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Three synods adopted similar
memorials asking the Churchwide Assembly to support efforts for a
just two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and
that members recommit and financially support the Churchwide
Strategy for Engagement in Israel and Palestine, which the ELCA
adopted in 2005.  Three other synods offered memorials on related
topics.  The Memorials Committee recommended the Churchwide
Assembly acknowledge the churchwide strategy and called on the
ELCA to recommit to the strategy.
     + Iraq war: Six synods addressed memorials to the Churchwide
Assembly on the Iraq War, commenting on pre-emptive military
strikes, opposing escalation of the war and seeking nonviolent
conflict resolution.  The Memorials Committee recommended the
assembly reaffirm a 2005 Churchwide Assembly resolution,
"Opposition to War," oppose any escalation of the Iraq war, and
urge the U.S. government to work with the international community
to support peacemaking and nation-building operations in Iraq.
It also recommended the assembly urge members to pray for peace,
support armed forces personnel and their families, study ELCA
social statements and messages on peace and terrorism, discuss
the war and policies of the U.S. government and communicate their
views to elected representatives.
     + Blessing of same-sex relationships: Three synods adopted
similar memorials discouraging blessing of same-sex
relationships, pending decisions to be made at the 2009
Churchwide Assembly. The ELCA Metropolitan Washington, D.C.,
Synod asked for liturgies for the blessing of "same-gender
unions." The Memorials Committee recommended referring these
memorials and a record of the Churchwide Assembly's discussion to
the Task Force for ELCA Studies on Sexuality, and urged that "it
consider this information in its ongoing discernment and
deliberation."
     + Standards for professional leaders: There were 23
memorials in this category.  The ELCA Metropolitan Washington,
D.C., Synod asked the Churchwide Assembly to remove language from
church policy that precludes people who are gay or lesbian and in
a homosexual relationship from serving in an official leadership
role in the church.  The ELCA Northeastern Iowa synod asked the
assembly not to change its policy documents for ordained
ministers.
     Twenty-one synods adopted nearly identical memorials
concerning a response to a discipline hearing committee that was
formed to consider charges filed by the Rev. Ronald B. Warren,
bishop of the ELCA Southeastern Synod, Atlanta, against a former
ELCA pastor, Bradley E. Schmeling, Atlanta.
     The hearing committee agreed with Warren and said Schmeling
should be removed from the clergy roster on Aug. 15, 2007.  It
also criticized church policy regarding sexual conduct for
ordained ministers, and suggested that synods call on the
churchwide organization to change those policies.  Recently, the
ELCA Committee on Appeals upheld the original decision but
reversed the date Schmeling was to be removed from the roster,
making it effective July 2.  It also said the discipline hearing
committee exceeded the authority granted to it by the ELCA
constitution when it suggested there be changes in ELCA clergy
policies.
     In general these 21 synod memorials would direct specific
churchwide units to develop amendments to ELCA clergy standards,
permitting people who are gay or lesbian and in committed
homosexual relationships to serve as ordained and professional
lay leaders in the church.  The memorials also ask for
reinstatement of people -- without the current requirement of a
five-year waiting period -- who were removed or resigned from the
official leadership rosters of the church. The Memorials
Committee recommended the Churchwide Assembly refer all of these
memorials and the verbatim record of the assembly's discussion
about them to the Task Force for ELCA Studies on Sexuality,
urging that the task force consider this information in its
ongoing discernment and deliberation.
     + Referrals to the Task Force for ELCA Studies on Sexuality:
Four synods adopted similar memorials asking the Churchwide
Assembly to refer all memorials and resolutions regarding
blessings of same-sex unions and ordination of people who are gay
or lesbian and in committed relationships to the Task Force for
ELCA Studies on Sexuality.  Four synods called for the church to
wait until the 2009 Churchwide Assembly to re-open the ordination
question; three other synods asked that the Churchwide Assembly
not consider any policy changes, or asked that proposals for
policy change be forwarded to the Task Force for ELCA Studies on
Sexuality as it prepares to present a social statement on human
sexuality for consideration at the 2009 Churchwide Assembly.
     The Memorials Committee recommended that all of these
memorials and the verbatim record of the Churchwide Assembly's
discussion be forwarded to the Task Force for ELCA Studies on
Sexuality and urged that the task force consider this information
in its ongoing discernment and deliberation.
     Other synod memorials addressed topics such as ministry
funding, global climate change, HIV and AIDS, genocide in Darfur,
immigration, hunger, health care, Lutheran-Muslim dialogue, the
purpose of the church and reparative therapy.  The Memorials
Committee proposed that most of its recommendations on these and
other memorials be approved "en bloc," in which responses are
adopted in one action.  Proposed responses for some memorials
call for referral to a unit of the churchwide organization or
legislative body for study and possible action.
     Also recommended for en bloc action are similar memorials
from 14 synods encouraging the church to refrain from
disciplining candidates for professional leadership in the church
and those already serving, who are gay or lesbian and in a
committed same-sex relationship.  The Memorials Committee
recommended that these memorials be referred to the ELCA
Conference of Bishops, since responsibility for most disciplinary
matters in the ELCA resides with synod bishops.
     The ELCA Conference of Bishops is an advisory body of the
ELCA consisting of the church's 65 synod bishops, presiding
bishop and secretary.
     Voting members may ask that memorials recommended for en
bloc action be removed for discussion by the assembly.
---
     Information about the 2007 ELCA Churchwide Assembly is at
http://www.ELCA.org/assembly/ on the ELCA Web site.
     The Memorials Committee report to the 2007 ELCA Churchwide
Assembly is linked at http://www.ELCA.org/assembly/votingmatters/
on the ELCA Web site.

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