Title: Maryland Advocacy Office Is Ecumenical
ELCA NEWS SERVICE

January 27, 1998

MARYLAND ADVOCACY OFFICE IS ECUMENICAL
98-019-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The state public policy advocacy efforts of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) in Maryland are being carried
out from a very ecumenical office. Four Christian denominations --
Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist and Presbyterian -- are coordinating their
work out of the state's first Ecumenical Advocacy Center located on State
Circle in Annapolis.
     The four denominations may not agree on all issues before the
Maryland legislature, but they are working together on several issues on
which they hold similar positions -- health insurance for the state's
168,000 uninsured children, slots and casino gambling, and hunger-related
issues.
     The Rev. George P. Mocko, bishop of the ELCA's Delaware-Maryland
Synod, sees any differences as having little impact on the center's
ultimate success. "With all the diverse and contradictory views you hear
on every public issue, it should be heartening that on most of these issues
Christians either agree, can agree or find a way agreeably to disagree," he
said. "The Ecumenical Advocacy Center witnesses to this and will be a
place where the fruits of such labor will be increasingly realized."
     The religious community has long viewed advocacy -- pleading the
cause of others -- as an important function of the church in society. The
Ecumenical Advocacy Center's founders are active in the Maryland Interfaith
Legislative Committee, a consensus-based interfaith advocacy coalition.
This collaboration marks the first time these advocacy ministries will
share office space and expenses.


For information contact:
Ann Hafften, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask]
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html