Worldscan

Lutheran, The, Oct 2004

* Mvume Dandala, general secretary of the All Africa Conference of Churches, appealed to African church leaders to press their governments to act over Sudan's humanitarian crisis in Darfur. At least 1 million people have been displaced, and many face the threat of hunger and disease. Dandala said the Sudanese churches have long talked of gross human rights abuses, massive discrimination, disease and even slavery in Sudan. "As churches, we are in this together," he said. "We must stand in solidarity with the Sudanese people."

* Lutheran World Relief accepted a $500,000 gift from the founders of eBay to help address the Sudanese crisis. Money from the Pierre and Pamela Omidyar Fund at Peninsula Community Foundation of Menlo Park, Calif., is already being used in western Sudan to provide water, sanitation and shelter, said LWR President Kathryn Wolford. The ELCA sent $145,000 to help provide food and other necessities in Sudan, where militia attacks led to a massive displacement of people and the death of as many as 50,000.

* Archaeologists uncovered a cave they believe was used by John the Baptist for ritual immersions. The cave is located on a kibbutz about two miles outside Ein Kerem, the traditional birthplace of John the Baptist that is now part of Jerusalem. Researchers found shards of small jugs used in ritual purifications and uncovered steps leading to the bottom of the cave, where they found niches for holding clothes and what appear to be dispensers for ritual oil.

* Bishop Emmanuel Schanz, head of the 1,170-member Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kyrgyzstan, stated his willingness to remain in office another year. The election of a new bishop was a focal point when the church's 15 congregations met last spring. Schanz rescinded his decision to resign after it became clear that a new bishop could only be inaugurated in the presence of three Lutheran bishops.

* Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, Baltimore, urged Attorney General John Ashcroft to follow the February 2004 recommendation of the Department of Homeland security and grant Rodi Alvarado asylum. Alvarado suffered abuse from her husband in Guatemala for 10 years before fleeing for her life in 1994, said LIRS President Ralston Deffenbaugh. She had repeatedly sought her government's protection but was denied. "LIRS advocates on behalf of ... vulnerable women and girls who flee from domestic violence, trafficking, sexual slavery, rape, honor-killing and other abuse and who seek asylum in the United States," he said.

* At its Sept. 1-7 meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, the Lutheran World Federation Council: * Heard that receipts have decreased and reserve funds are slowly shrinking. LWF's 2003 expenditure was $97.8 million, but its income was $94.8 million. LWF Treasurer Peter Stoll said some Southern Hemisphere churches were actually paying more than their fair membership fee, while some in the north were decreasing their support. Stoll said LWF cost-saving measures could include combining resources with ecumenical partners or reducing LWF goals and staff. * Condemned continuing militia attacks against Sudanese civilians; a massacre of 300 at a school in Beslan, Russia; and violence against civilians in Israel, Palestine, Iraq and Moscow. * Re-elected Ishmael Noko, 60, a theologian from Zimbabwe, for a second seven-year term as LWF general secretary. * Appointed a task force to report on issues of "marriage, family and sexuality," which Noko said, "if we are not careful enough to listen to one another ... might easily become church-dividing, but at the moment it is not a church-dividing issue."

* Resolutions in July by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) General Assembly on Israel and Christian-Jewish relations, including one that calls for "selective" divestment from firms that do business in Israel, triggered a rebuke from U.S. Jewish groups. The resolutions were wide-ranging and included denominational funding for ministries intended for Jewish converts to Christianity. Others called on Israel to stop erecting a security barrier that separates Israelis and Palestinians. The divestment was seen as most controversial.

* Leaders of churches in Jerusalem-Roman Catholic patriarch Michel Sabbah, Lutheran bishop Munib Younan and Greek Melkite archimandrite Mtanios Haddad-visited three predominantly Muslim Palestinian communities to take a stand for interfaith cooperation and peace Aug. 2. The leaders praised the World Council of Churches' Ecumenical Accompaniment Program as demonstrating the positive role churches play in Palestinian society, reported The Christian Post. Younan said the conflict isn't one faith fighting another, underscoring that Christians, Muslims and Jews who work for justice work together.

* Christian and Muslim leaders expressed concern that the August targeted bombings of five Iraqi churches may cause irreparable harm for that country's struggling Christian minority. The attacks left 11 dead and injured dozens more. Prince Hassan bin Talal, moderator of the New York-based World Conference of Religions for Peace, called the militants "the lowest dregs of an irreligious power-crazed gang" who had committed an "obscene blasphemy against the spirit of Islam and the character of Iraq." He vowed to protect the minority Christian population.