ELCA Department for Communication, News & Information
8765 West Higgins Rd, Chicago, IL 60631 800/638-3522 ext. 2963
HEADLINES FOR ELCA NEWS RELEASE ISSUE #02, February 1, 1996
-- LUTHERAN AIDS NETWORK FORMALIZES
-- MINNESOTA COURT WILL NOT REVIEW PENSION SUIT
-- ELCA EXTENDS STUDY OF ECONOMIC LIFE
February 1, 1996
LUTHERAN AIDS NETWORK FORMALIZES
96-02-004-FI
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Lutheran AIDS Network (LANET) has been a part of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America (ELCA) and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) for years. A series of decisions have
formalized the organization and given it new energy.
A national gathering in St. Louis on Sept. 30, 1995, elected LANET's first board of directors. Participants
also approved the mission statement: "The ministry of Lutheran AIDS Network is HIV/AIDS prevention, caregiving
and advocacy in the Lutheran community."
At its first meeting here Jan. 26, the LANET board elected the Rev. Michael Pozar, retired ELCA pastor,
Pacifica, Calif., president; the Rev. Bruce Davidson, ELCA chaplain, Betak hospice, Doylestown, Pa., vice
president; Dr. Kristine Gebbie, professor of public health, Columbia University, New York, and first director of the
White House Office on AIDS, secretary; and the Rev. Gerald Garret, Christ Victor Lutheran Church (LCMS), Foster
City, Calif., treasurer.
The board gave preliminary approval to articles of incorporation, "establishing a structure for the Lutheran
AIDS Network that will enable it to fulfill its mission and its ministry in better ways for the coming years," said
Pozar.
The Rev. H. George Anderson, ELCA bishop, met with the board. Pozar said the group "gave him our
support and encouraged him to speak out more forcefully and to give greater exposure to issues around the AIDS
pandemic."
LANET received a grant from the Centers for Disease Control to design several models for
congregation-based HIV/AIDS prevention programs. The Rev. Tom Carlson, LANET board member and retired
LCMS pastor, Washington D.C., reported to the board on the project's progress.
Another grant from Aid Association for Lutherans, a fraternal benefits society based in Appleton, Wis., will
establish an HIV/AIDS clearinghouse for information about such programs. The ELCA's AIDS steering committee is
coordinating that work.
"Worship and study resources continue to be created by congregations, synods and regional committees,"
said Ruth Reko, ELCA director of leadership development and LANET board member. "To ensure that the widest
distribution possible is effected this clearinghouse will identify contacts in each synod and as many congregations
as possible."
The ELCA's 1995 Churchwide Assembly adopted a resolution outlining eight steps "to give strong
leadership in response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic." LANET plans to help various ELCA units address those steps,
which include "encouraging the establishment of an AIDS ministry committee or task force" in each of the church's
65 synods.
LANET is a member of the National Council of Religious AIDS Networks sponsored by the AIDS National
Interfaith Network, chaired by the Rev. Sherman Hicks, First Trinity Lutheran Church, Washington, D.C., and former
bishop of the ELCA's Metropolitan Chicago Synod.
Other members of the LANET board are: Loretta Horton, ELCA director of congregational social ministry,
Chicago; the Rev. Joyce Lindh Moore, ELCA pastor, Reidsville, N.C.; and Robert Smith, assistant dean of students,
LaFayette College, Easton, Pa.
Pozar was one of 130 to participate in "the first ever White House Conference on HIV and AIDS' on Dec. 6.
U.S. President Bill Clinton called the meeting "an opportunity to examine and consider the impact of HIV and AIDS on
our people, our institutions, our communities, and our society as a whole."
##########
February 1, 1996
MINNESOTA COURT WILL NOT REVIEW PENSION SUIT
96-02-005-AH
MINNEAPOLIS (ELCA) -- The Minnesota State Supreme Court Jan. 25 denied a request to review the case
of a suit brought against the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and its Board of Pensions. In
November the Minnesota Court of Appeals dismissed a suit brought by a group of pastors and others accusing the
church of basing the investment policy of its pensions funds on religious grounds rather than financial interest.
In 1989 the ELCA placed restrictions upon investment in companies doing business in South Africa. Robert
H. Rydland, attorney for the ELCA, Minneapolis, said the court's action "affirmed the appellate court's decision that
it properly applied Minnesota law when it dismissed the suit for lack for jurisdiction." The court stated at the time,
"The forum best suited to review the pastors" grievance is the churchwide assembly. As the highest legislative
authority in the ELCA, the churchwide assembly's determination on this issue is final."
John G. Kapanke, president of the Board of Pensions, said, "The ELCA and Board of Pensions are pleased
that the courts refused to intervene in church policy and doctrine. We remain committed in our fiduciary
responsibilities to plan members and to the basic tenets of the ELCA." The Board of Pensions lifted restrictions
against South Africa investments in 1993 in response to multiracial elections in South Africa.
Rydland explained, "The most important part of the whole case is that the appellate court recognized that
churches can apply their religious principles in the administration of their pension plans. Once our church adopted
the position that the sin of apartheid should be opposed, it was only natural that the principle be applied." He
added, "We are Lutheran 24 hours a day. I am a Lutheran lawyer, not just on Sunday in the pew but also when I
come in to work. I'm still a Lutheran. Similarly trustees of the pension board, elected by the churchwide assembly,
seek to carry out Lutheran principles in their assigned task."
The Rev. Thomas L. Basich, Advent Lutheran Church, St. Paul, Minn., led the group that opposed the
divestment policy. It is "disgusted and angered" by the court's decision, he said Jan. 29. The group has "no
intention whatsoever of accepting the Supreme Court's abdication of their duty as the final word in this struggle.
We absolutely will not give up the fight. We will immediately consider all options, including an appeal to the
Supreme Court of the United States."
##########
February 1, 1996
ELCA EXTENDS STUDY OF ECONOMIC LIFE
96-02-006-FI
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America will vote on a statement about economic
life in 1999 instead of 1997, as previously planned. The action gives the ELCA's 5.2 million members almost a year
to study issues related to economic life before they begin looking at possible drafts of the statement.
The two-year extension was a recommendation of the ELCA Conference of Bishops, which includes the
church#s 65 synod bishops, and was approved by the ELCA Church Council at its fall meeting. The bishops
wanted the best possible statement and said other major issues to be considered in 1997 may distract the church.
The 16-member Economic Life Task Force that is developing the study and drafting the statement met here
Jan. 26-28. "I think it's good that we're waiting," said Dr. David Krueger, task force chair and professor of
business and economic ethics at Baldwin-Wallace College, Berea, Ohio. "We can devote our energies to the study
guide, which needs continued work."
At this meeting the task force reorganized the study materials in their four chapters: faith and economic life,
economic perspectives and moral tensions today, critical social challenges we face, and arenas of institutional
responsibility. The task force will consider final revisions to the study when it meets here in June and will turn its
attention to the statement in Spring 1997.
The Rev. Juan Cobrda, bishop of the ELCA's Slovak Zion Synod, Niles, Ill., is a member of the task force and
argued against the extension in the Conference of Bishops' fall meeting. After hearing many of the other task
force members express relief that they had two more years to complete their work, Cobrda said he was "much
happier" with the decision.
With the early time line, Lutherans would have had Fall 1996 to consider both the study volume and first
draft. Now they will have most of 1997 for study and much of 1998 to consider the statement's first draft.
"Our goal is to invite the reader to reflect on issues of economic life," said Krueger. "The theology we are
developing is very interesting. It's comprehensive, global in its scope and inviting creativity among our members."
"The whole scope of economic life that we're treating is very complex," he said. "We're focusing on the
money economy -- the ways money is exchanged. So, it's really traditional concerns of the private sector, work,
unemployment, money."
The ELCA Division for Church in Society first assembled the task force in May 1994. The division helps the
church study social issues and prepares social statements for the ELCA's consideration and action. Churchwide
assemblies, which are held every other year, must approve ELCA social statements.
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