ELCA NEWS SERVICE April 20, 2004 ELCA Council Affirms Organ, Tissue, Blood Donations 04-070-FI CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) adopted a social policy resolution on "The Donation of Organs, Tissue and Whole Blood." The 11-point resolution said the ELCA "regards the donation of organs, tissue and whole blood as an act of stewardship and as appropriate means for contributing to the health and well being of other persons," and it urged Lutherans to consider donating organs, tissue and whole blood. The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves as the legislative authority of the church between churchwide assemblies. The council met here April 17-18. Assemblies are held every other year; the next is Aug. 8-14, 2005, in Orlando, Fla. The social policy resolution was based on "Caring for Health: Our Shared Endeavor," a social statement adopted by the 2003 ELCA Churchwide Assembly. The council can adopt resolutions calling for action on matters of social concern in accord with the church's teachings and policies. Background information accompanying the resolution noted "an acute shortage of organs, tissue and, often, whole blood" in the United States and elsewhere in the world. Advances in medical technology increase the need for such donations, it said. The purpose of the resolution was to address concerns that "arise as a consequence of these shortages," such as equitable distribution, high costs, the sale and illegal "trafficking" of organs and tissue, and evaluating proposals to increase supplies of organs and tissue, accompanying information said. The ELCA was formed in 1988 from the merger of the American Lutheran Church, Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches and Lutheran Church in America (LCA). The resolution referred to documents of the former LCA -- a 1982 social statement on "Death and Dying" that encouraged donation as a means of sharing life with others and a 1984 resolution on organ donation. The text of the resolution follows: In light of the situation and the longstanding commitments of this church and its predecessors, the ELCA affirms that it: + regards the donation of organs, tissue, and whole blood as an act of stewardship and as appropriate means for contributing to the health and well being of other persons; + recognizes that the donation of live organs (e.g., a kidney) can be an expression of sacrificial love for a neighbor in need; + recognizes that the donation of whole blood and renewable tissue (e.g., bone marrow) by those who are able can be an expression of care for a neighbor in need; + urgently encourages its members to consider donating organs, tissue, and whole blood; + encourages those willing to donate organs or tissue to communicate their wishes to family members and appropriate professionals such as a pastor or other rostered church leader, physician, or other health care provider; + urges those individuals, as well, to make the necessary legal arrangements, including the use of a signed donor card and other legal instruments such as living wills and durable powers of attorney for health care; + affirms that the human dignity of all donors and recipients should be respected and that all coercion and manipulation be absent from the donation process; + calls upon its pastors and other rostered leaders to become familiar with the moral and legal issues as well as with clinical procedures involved in organ and tissue donations so that they may be prepared to counsel persons and families considering donation; + urges its pastors and other rostered leaders, congregations, synods, agencies, and institutions to initiate and sponsor programs of education and moral deliberation on organ, tissue, and whole blood donation; + calls upon government to: a) maintain or to develop public policies that will encourage voluntary donations; b) discourage coercive donations; c) forbid the buying and selling of human organs, tissue, and whole blood; d) hold accountable those involved in such illegal activities; e) and ensure the efficient, equitable access to organs, tissue, and whole blood for medical procedure; + recognizes the existence of various efforts (presumed consent, xenotransplantation, cloning organs and so forth) to increase the supply of organs and tissue that do not involve buying and selling them. It further recognizes that some of these may represent notable shifts in the economic, moral, social and theological assumptions of current practice. This church calls for continuing deliberation and careful moral assessment of such proposals. -- -- -- "Rostered" leaders of the ELCA are lay and ordained ministers of the church. Lay ministers of the ELCA are associates in ministry, deaconesses and diaconal ministers. "Xenotransplantation" is the transfer of an organ or tissue from one species to another. -- -- -- ELCA social statements are available at http://www.elca.org/dcs/socialstatements.html on the Internet. Social policy actions of the church are listed at http://www.elca.org/dcs/elca_actions.html on the ELCA Web site. For information contact: John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask] http://www.elca.org/news