Presbyterian (PCUSA) News

PC(USA) says gun proposals fall short of common sense solutions

April 17, 2013

Office of Public Witness

WASHINGTON

Yesterday (April 16) was the sixth anniversary of the Virginia Tech massacre.

As our Senate prepares to debate and vote on a new proposal aimed at reducing gun violence, we must evaluate whether this proposed bill honors the integrity of voters’ call for gun laws that save lives 

Today, the Senate will begin consideration of nine amendments to the Safe Communities, Safe Schools Act of 2013 (S. 649). This underlying bill includes provisions for universal background checks, but political calculations show that it will not pass without some changes.

Of those proposed changes, most common in the media and conversations today is a proposed bipartisan amendment offered by Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Pat Toomey (R-PA), which, if approved, would essentially replace the underlying bill.

The Manchin-Toomey amendment, as it is called, requires background checks at gun shows and for internet sales, but not for other private sales.

We thank Senators Manchin and Toomy for their efforts to propose a compromise bill while working in a bipartisan manner. It is not often that we see this type of cooperation across the aisle on Capitol Hill.

However, this amendment fails to go far enough toward achieving legislation that will effectively reduce gun violence.  

Background checks proposed in this amendment are far from universal. The policy approved by the 219th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in 2010, entitled Gun Violence and Gospel Values calls for (a) limiting legal personal gun acquisition to one handgun a month; (b) require licensing, registration, and waiting periods to allow comprehensive background checks, and cooling-off periods, for all guns sold; and (c) closing the “gun show loophole” by requiring background checks for all gun buyers.  

The Office of Public Witness is concerned that the weakened background check proposal in the Manchin-Toomy amendment does not adequately address our denominational policy position. Under the proposed bill, private sales of firearms at gun shows and websites require background checks, but other types of sales are not addressed.

Therefore, unregulated sales can occur in homes, on street corners, among friends and family members, in work places, through newspapers, and other means.

Given the highly favorable polling data that indicate that nearly ninety percent of persons in the United States support universal background checks, it is appalling that our political leaders feel that a compromise on this important issue is needed at all.  

Some proposed amendments, however, would strengthen the bill, including one offered by Senator Feinstein (D-CA). Her amendment would ban certain assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines, while trying to close some of the loopholes in the now-expired assault weapons ban, which was in effect 1994-2004.

Another amendment, offered by Senators Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Blumenthal (D-CT), is a slimmed down version of Senator Feinstein’s assault weapons ban, and would ban magazines that hold more than ten rounds of ammunition.

To read about all nine of the proposed amendments, see this blog post by the Washington Post. 

All nine amendments, including Manchin-Toomey, will require 60 votes to pass, and the likelihood is very high that the bill will be weakened, not strengthened through the amendment process.

There comes a time, in evaluating a bill, when we have to decide about compromise ― is this the best we can do and should we accept it? This may be the best that Congress thinks it can do, but it is not. Barring major and unexpected amendment votes, this bill will not be the bill the country needs. It is not adequate nor is it just. 

We are calling upon members of the PC(USA) to send a loud message to our Senate that the Manchin-Toomey proposal is not adequate to address the epidemic culture of violence that leads to more than 30,000 gun deaths per year in the United States.  

Yesterday, Director for Public Witness, J. Herbert Nelson said, “My last visit to Virginia Tech was less than two months before the Newtown shooting. I engaged in discussions with three campus ministry groups regarding the then upcoming Presidential election. Before leaving the campus, my wife and I visited the memorial dedicated to the students and faculty members killed in the April 16, 2007, campus shooting. It was a sobering moment. Prayerfully, I thought of the parents, as I remembered the deaths of children who were sent to college for an education, but instead lost their lives in a senseless massacre. Tears came to my eyes as I stood over the memorial space dedicated to Liviu Librescu, a 76-year-old professor who lost his life while barricading the classroom door to save the lives of his students. He survived the Holocaust, but could not escape an angry kid with a gun on a university campus in the United States. The personal stories of tragedy continue for the families of the thirty-three people killed that day, including the family of the gunman. There are no words to fill the void or heal the pain that the families of these persons and others feel.

“Even now the killing continues. Over 30,000 persons are killed by guns each year in the United States. Since the Newtown shooting in December, 2012, over 3,000 persons have been killed in the United States due to guns. Our culture of violence permeates every facet of our society. Despite these gun deaths our political leaders choose to water down legislation, catering to the perceived power of pro-gun lobbyists, including the National Rifle Association. We need common sense gun laws in this nation. We need courageous political leaders. It is time that we begin to hold these elected officials accountable for the promises they make to serve the best interest of the country.  

“I encourage you to write, call, email, tweet and/or text your Senators and tell them to pass strong legislation that will include 1) truly universal background checks, 2) stiffer federal gun trafficking laws and 3) a ban on assault weapons.”

Click here to write them now.      

April 17, 2013

Religion News Service

Daniel Burke

WASHINGTON

Over the past 150 years, Seventh-day Adventists have built one of Christianity’s most inventive and prosperous churches — while praying for the world to end as soon as possible.

A small band of believers has mushroomed to more than 17 million baptized members, including 1.2 million in the U.S. Nearly 8,000 Adventists schools dot dozens of countries. Hundreds of church-owned hospitals and clinics mend minds and bodies around the world.

You might expect Adventists to celebrate their success while marking their church’s 150th anniversary this May. There’s just one problem: the church wasn’t supposed to last this long.

Back in the 1860s, the founders of Seventh-day Adventism preached that Jesus would return — and soon. That’s why they called themselves “Adventists.” By Second-Coming standards, the church’s long life could be considered a dismal sign of failure.

“If you took a time machine and visited our founders in May 1863, they’d be disconcerted, to say the least, that we’re still here,” said David Trim, the church’s director of archives and research.

Current Adventists aren’t exactly excited about the anniversary, either.

“It’s almost an embarrassment to be celebrating 150 years,” said Lisa Beardsley-Hardy, the church’s director of education. “But it’s also an affirmation of faith in Christ’s return.”

Adventist leaders have slated May 18 — the Saturday before the 150th anniversary — as “a day of prayer, remembrance and recommitment to mission.” On May 21, Adventists will hold a small ceremony at church headquarters in Silver Spring, Md. Don’t expect balloons or birthday cake.

“In one kind of way it really is a sad event,” said Michael Ryan, a vice president at the church’s General Conference, its top governing body.

“We’re a church that by its name believes in the Second Coming of Christ, and we have been hopeful that long ago Christ would have come and taken the righteous to heaven and this world would have ended.”

But Jesus told Christians to occupy themselves until he returns — advice that Adventists take to heart.

Ryan, the church’s director of strategic planning, said he eagerly anticipates projects to open health centers in poverty-stricken communities and a 26-story hospital in Hong Kong. Besides worshipping on Saturday — the biblical seventh day when God rested — Adventists may be best known for their healthy lifestyles. Studies show they live about 10 years longer than their neighbors.

Of course, most Christian churches preach the Second Coming, and nearly half of Americans believe Jesus will return in the next 40 years, according to a 2010 poll conducted by the Pew Research Center. But few American churches have been built on the ashes of apocalyptic dreams.

Adventism was founded in the aftermath the Great Disappointment, which dashed the hopes of some 50,000 followers who expected Jesus to arrive in 1844. Some had sold their possessions and let their fields lie fallow. The celestial letdown drove a few insane, crushed under the weight of what social psychologist Leon Festinger would later call “cognitive dissonance.”

But the movement did not disintegrate, as Festinger argued. Instead, early Adventists like James and Ellen White adjusted their beliefs. Something of divine import had happened in 1844, even if it wasn’t the Second Coming, they taught.

Meanwhile, Adventist leaders brought dejected believers together, feeding the hungry and bonding over their shared disappointment. While keeping watch for Jesus coming in the clouds, Adventists also turned an eye to earthly time, setting Saturday as their Sabbath and preaching the value of healthy living.

Over time, Adventists’ social bonds and distinctive doctrines “led to the creation of a church which survives and prospers today as one of the fastest-growing denominations in Christendom,” writes Stephen O’Leary, a scholar at the University of Southern California.

When those doctrines sail against cultural winds — as when Adventists are forced to work on Saturday, or famous members back Creationism — church solidarity strengthens, scholars say.

Adventist growth is especially intense in Latin America and Africa, where people are attracted to the faith’s blend of ethereal optimism (Jesus is coming soon!) and earthly education (Eat your vegetables until he does.)

“It’s a religious movement whose belief system compensates for both human needs and human longings,” said Edwin Hernandez, a research fellow at the University of Notre Dame’s Center for the Study of Latino Religion.

But some Adventists worry that the church’s modern success may bring Adventism full circle: a movement haunted by the hereafter becomes preoccupied with the present.

Adventism thrives because of the urgency of its message, argues church historian George Knight. Countless missionaries have crossed the earth to warn of Jesus’ imminent arrival. “When that vision is gone,” Knight writes, “Adventism will become just another toothless denomination that happens to be a little more peculiar in some of its beliefs than others.”

But Adventist leaders say the apocalyptic pull is still strong at church headquarters, especially during planning sessions. “I see that in our education system,” said Beardsley-Hardy. “Not wanting to over-invest in building because Jesus is coming.”

Beardsley-Hardy said she feels the same tension in her personal life. Should she sock away extra money in her retirement account, she wonders, or gratify immediate needs?

As a child, Beardsley-Hardy said she was convinced that every passing thunderstorm heralded the Second Coming. Now 54, with two children and two grandchildren, she said that sense of urgency is returning.

“I’m getting back to waiting,” Beardsley-Hardy said. “But I’m kind of glad the Lord has tarried.”

Una declaración de Gradye Parsons, Secretario Permanente de la Asamblea General

April 17, 2013

Stated Clerk Gradye Parsons

Office of the General Assembly

Gradye Parsons

Stated Clerk

Louisville

Si bien la conferencia de prensa para que el Grupo de los 8, un grupo bipartidista de ocho senadores que se nombraron para elaborar una propuesta de reforma integral de inmigración, presentara oficialmente su proyecto de ley* al pueblo estadounidense fue pospuesta debido a la tragedia en Boston el pasado lunes, se ha dado a conocer un resumen de la llamada «Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013» (Legislación del 2013 acerca de la seguridad fronteriza, las oportunidades económicas y la modernización de inmigración).

El grupo de los 8 ha negociado y se ha comprometido a llegar a un acuerdo sobre esta legislación propuesta. Su cooperación y el arduo trabajo que han realizado para arreglar nuestro fragmentado sistema de inmigración es encomiable. Aplaudimos sus esfuerzos y nos unimos a ellos en el llamado a reconocer que este es el momento para la reforma. Este es el año para que haya justicia y un plan de inmigración que tenga sentido común.

El memorando de 17 páginas que se publicó deja muchas preguntas sin respuesta, y de las cláusulas que si son explicadas hay muchas que no son perfectas. Sin embargo, es un buen comienzo hacia la modernización de nuestras leyes de inmigración. La Asamblea General de la Iglesia Presbiteriana (EEUUA) ha establecido los elementos que deben incorporarse en una reforma integral y justa. Esos elementos incluyen un camino hacia la ciudadanía para las 11 millones de personas que viven y trabajan en los Estados Unidos sin autorización, la eliminación de los atrasos en la inmigración basada en la familia o en el empleo, el mantenimiento de la unidad familiar como la base de nuestra política de inmigración, la creación de un acercamiento viable al flujo futuro de inmigrantes que tenga sentido común, y el mantenimiento de las fronteras de nuestra nación de una manera que respete el proceso debido y la dignidad humana. Estos son sólo algunos de los elementos aprobados por la Asamblea General. Los demás se pueden ver en nuestra página de Internet.

Algunos de estos objetivos se encuentran en el memorando de los senadores, pero el estatus de los demás no está claro. En las próximas semanas, el personal de la Oficina de Asuntos de Inmigración trabajará con otras denominaciones interreligiosas para analizar la legislación. Debido a que el personal estará compartiendo detalles en la medida que estos salgan a la luz, les invito a visitar frecuentemente nuestra página de Internet.

Ahora comenzamos la ardua tarea de movilizar a nuestras comunidades y de trabajar para que nuestra voz sea escuchada en el Congreso. Muchas personas de nuestra comunidad presbiteriana se verán directamente afectadas por esta legislación. Por tanto, depende de nosotros/as el poder mejorar el proyecto de ley y el velar porque no se añadan enmiendas que socaven el éxito del mismo. Usted puede ayudar educándose a usted mismo/a y educando a su comunidad sobre la necesidad de la reforma y sobre la difícil situación de nuestros hermanos y hermanas que sufren directamente los efectos de un sistema de inmigración injusto.

Únase a mí para orar por una reforma que reconozca las contribuciones de las personas que aspiran a ser ciudadanas y que son americanas en todos los sentidos, menos en papel. Luego, únase al trabajo para garantizar que nuestra oración sea escuchada por el Congreso. Nuestra iglesia y nuestro país han sido levantados por nuevos/as inmigrantes que han trabajado en colaboración con las personas que ya están aquí. Queremos continuar con este legado para que otras personas puedan ser bendecidas como lo hemos sido nosotros/as.

* El proyecto de ley, que no estaba disponible cuando se escribió este comunicado, está ahora en línea en la página de Internet del Senador Schumer (PDF).

Read this article in English.

April 17, 2013

Taking the journey of seminary education at Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary, which ultimately leads to service to the church and the world, is very much done in concert with the administration, faculty, and staff of the seminary and consortium to which the institution belongs.

“The heartbeat of the staff of Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary . . . is our understanding of the call and passion of our students,” Leslie Essien, the seminary’s development officer, said in a video on the seminary website. “We also understand that this call and passion is what we are here to support.” 

The seminary, the only historically black theological seminary of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), has roots dating back to 1867. Today it is part of the Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC), a consortium of seminaries in Atlanta.

The support that Essien cites was particularly significant to the seminary experience of 2012 graduate Lauren Moaten, whose concentration was philosophy and theology. 

She said one of the “most impactful people here while I was on my journey” was her mentor, the late Edward L. Smith. Smith, who died in 2012, was associate professor of systematic theology at the ITC. His disciplines were philosophy and theology.

He “really helped to shape me and mold me, not only as a theologian and as a preacher, but as a scholar,” Moaten shared on the seminary website. 

Yet another faculty member who has worked hand-in-hand with students through their formation process is Margaret Aymer, associate professor of New Testament at the ITC. 

She instructs a range of students in classes such as New Testament, Greek, and exegesis. “The idea (at ITC) is there is one faculty for the whole center, and we have all sorts of kinds of persons there,” the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) minister said.

Johnson C. Smith Seminary President-Dean Paul Roberts echoed the theme by saying his “greatest joy in being there for students is watching them wrestle.”

“Seminary is hard, and the spiritual journey of a seminary career is extra hard. It’s not what we expect. . . . It’s personal,” he said.

April 17, 2013

One only need peruse the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary website to see the significant ways in which its students, graduates, seminary leaders, and others in the institution’s community are being change agents in the broader world.

Take, for example, Bruce Berry, who earned a master of divinity degree in 1972. “I am called to administrative ministries, even in retirement. Louisville Seminary prepared me for my life’s work by providing a variety of field placements that enabled me to see how not-for-profits functioned or didn’t function.”

“From working in (Louisville’s) Smoketown (neighborhood) to the prison system, I experienced how effective administration allows mission to happen,” he said. Berry is highlighted on the seminary website’s Alums & Friends page. 

Then there’s first-year student Chelsea Guenther-Benham, who is earning a master of divinity degree. She was recently selected to participate in a two-week FASPE (Fellowships at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics) program in New York, Germany, and Poland this June.

The fellowship is one of four FASPE programs, each of which uses the history of the Holocaust as a way to engage students in an intensive study of contemporary ethics in their field.

“I want to learn from history in order that I might become a person of solid ethics and integrity who is not afraid to act for what is right,” Guenther-Benham said. “This experience will make me a better minister.” A story about Guenther-Benham and her fellowship is also on the seminary’s website, situated under News.

Louisville Seminary President Michael Jinkins is spotlighted as well, via his regular blogs, which can be accessed via the seminary site. Through “Thinking Out Loud,” Jinkins reflects on leadership, discipleship, theological education, and contemporary culture. 

Titles among his entries include “Prophetic Voices,” “Was Jesus an Extrovert?” and “Is Tolerance a Christian Virtue?” At times in this blog space, and also on his president’s page, Jinkins invites the larger public to be in conversation with him.

“I hope you will share with me your hopes and dreams for the future of the church and your ideas regarding the role of Louisville Seminary in preparing women and men for leadership in the church and in the world,” he says to readers. “You can share your thoughts with me by email at presidentlistening@lpts.edu.”

A Statement from Gradye Parsons, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly

April 17, 2013

Stated Clerk Gradye Parsons

Office of the General Assembly

Gradye Parsons

Stated Clerk

Louisville

While the press conference for the release of the Gang of 8—a bipartisan group of eight Senators who were appointed to craft a proposal for comprehensive immigration reform—to officially introduce their proposed legislation* to the American public has been postponed due to the tragedy in Boston on Monday, an outline of the “Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013” has been released.

The Gang of 8 has negotiated and compromised to come to agreement on this proposed legislation.  Their cooperation and hard work to fix our broken immigration system is commendable. We applaud their efforts and join them in the call that this is the time for reform. This is the year for justice and a commonsense immigration plan.

The 17-page memo that was released leaves many questions unanswered, and of those provisions that are explained, many are not perfect. However, it is a start toward the modernization of our immigration laws. The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has set forth elements that should be incorporated into a comprehensive and fair reform.  Those elements include a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million people now living and working in the U.S. without authorization, eliminating the backlogs in family and employment-based immigration, maintaining family unity as the foundation of our immigration policy, creating a commonsense workable approach to future flow, and maintenance of our nation’s border in a way that respects due process and human dignity.  These are just a few of the elements endorsed by the General Assembly, others can be viewed at our website.

Some of these goals are shared in the Senators’ memo but the status of others is unclear. In the coming weeks the staff of the office of Immigration Issues will work with our interfaith partners to analyze the legislation. Because staff will be sharing details as they come to light, I invite you to monitor our website.

Now we begin the hard work of mobilizing our communities and working to have our voice heard in Congress.  Many Presbyterians will be directly impacted by this legislation and it is up to us to ensure that we improve the bill and that amendments that will undermine the bill’s success are not added. You can help by educating yourself and your community about the need for reform and the plight of our sisters and brothers who suffer most directly the effects of an unjust immigration system. 

Join me in the prayer for a reform that recognizes the contributions of the many aspiring citizens who are Americans in every way but on paper. Then join the work to ensure that our prayer is heard by Congress. Our church and country have been built by new immigrants who have worked in partnership with those already here. We want to continue this legacy so that others may be blessed as we have.

* The bill, which was unavailable when this statement was written, is now online at Senator Schumer’s website (PDF).

Colloquium on Ecclesiology to focus on missional, liturgical nature of the Church; event is free and open to all

April 16, 2013

Presbyterian News Service

Bethany Daily

LOUISVILLE

Presbyterians are invited to attend — either in person or virtually — an upcoming series of conversations about what it means to be the Church shaped and formed missionally and liturgically.

The Colloquium on Ecclesiology will be April 23-25 at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. It will include will include presentations and conversation starters on the nature of the Church and Q&A for those gathered at Austin and via the live web stream, teleconference and Twitter feed (see below for more details).

“Christ’s enduring call upon the Church for all generations in every place is to continually be about gathering around Spirit, Word, and Sacrament; then to be sent out to be Christ’s witnesses; then to re-gather; and then to be sent, ad infinitum,” said the Rev. Neal Presa, moderator of the 220th General Assembly, in a column. “This will be a focused conversation on just that: our Christ-given identity of being the Church of Jesus Christ, Christ’s ‘gathered-sent community.’”

Presenters include:

• Darrell Guder, Henry Luce Professor of Missional and Ecumenical Theology, Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, N.J.
• David Stubbs, professor of theology and ethics, Western Theological Seminary, Holland, Mich.
• Heidi Worthen Gamble, mission advocate for Hunger, Poverty and Peacemaking Concerns, Presbytery of the Pacific, Los Angeles
• Teresa Stricklen, associate for Worship, Office of Theology, Worship and Education, Presbyterian Mission Agency, Louisville
• Marney Wasserman, pastor, Trinity Presbyterian Church, Tucson, Ariz.
• Allen Permar Smith, pastor, Kenilworth Presbyterian Church, Asheville, N.C.
• Thomas Smith, pastor, Presbyterian Chapel of the Lakes, Angola, Ind.

The colloquium is a partnership between the Presa, Austin seminary and the Committee on Theological Education.

The event is free and open; participants are asked to register in advance at: pcusa.org/colloquium.

How to participate via technology:

• On Twitter:  follow #ModCE
• Live Teleconference:
• Dial (610) 214-0000
• Passcode: 116604
• Followed by pound key “#” then the number 1
• The live stream for this event will be broadcast here.

April 16, 2013

Religion News Service

Alessandro Speciale

VATICAN CITY

Nearly a year after the Vatican announced a makeover of the largest umbrella group for American nuns, Pope Francis has directed that the overhaul of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious continue.

The decision, while not entirely unexpected, could nonetheless bring an end to Francis’ honeymoon with the many American Catholics who had viewed the crackdown on nuns as heavy-handed and unnecessary.

Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Mueller, who heads the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, met on April 15 with the LCWR’s leadership for the first time since Francis’ election March 13.

According to a Vatican statement, during a recent discussion of the case with Mueller, Francis “reaffirmed the findings” of the Vatican investigation and the “program of reform” for LCWR that was announced April 18, 2012.

In what was seen as one of the defining acts of Pope Benedict XVI’s papacy, the Vatican’s doctrinal office issued a “doctrinal assessment” that criticized the LCWR for not speaking out strongly enough against gay marriage, abortion and women’s ordination.

The Vatican also chided the women for “serious doctrinal problems” among many LCWR members, and said LCWR conferences suffered from “a prevalence of certain radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith.”

Seattle Archbishop J. Peter Sartain was appointed to overhaul the group’s practices and perceived theological ambiguities.

Monday’s meeting was Mueller’s first with the LCWR since Benedict appointed him to the post last summer, and he thanked the nuns for their “great contribution” to the Catholic Church in the U.S., especially “in the many schools, hospitals, and institutions of support for the poor” that were founded and staffed by religious sisters.

But the Vatican’s doctrinal chief also emphasized that organizations such as the LCWR remain “under the direction of the Holy See,” and that their task is to promote “cooperation” with local bishops and bishops’ conferences.

The LCWR, which represents most of the 57,000 Catholic sisters in the U.S., had called the accusations “unsubstantiated” and expressed “deep disappointment” with the Vatican makeover. In a statement issued after Monday’s meeting, LCWR leaders called the meeting “open and frank.”

“We pray that these conversations may bear fruit for the good of the Church,” it added.

LCWR had congratulated Francis on his election for his “great dedication to the mission of the church during his leadership in Argentina.” The group said it looked forward to “working with him in carrying forward the Gospel message.”

Some Catholic observers said Francis’ background in a religious order — the Jesuits — could impact his views of women in religious orders, both in the U.S. and around the world.

Beyond the Monday meeting, the Vatican appears to be getting down to business as Francis crossed the one-month mark of his papacy. On Saturday, he named an informal cabinet of eight cardinals to advise him on running the church and on reforming the scandal-ridden Roman Curia, the church’s central administration.

The group, which includes Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston, will meet for the first time in early October in Rome, but the Vatican stressed that the pontiff “is already in contact with the cardinals.”

In the run-up to the conclave that elected Francis, several cardinals had voiced concern about the mismanagement and infighting in the Curia, which is mostly staffed by Italian churchmen.

According to a Vatican press statement, the pope decided to create the cardinals’ cabinet in order to follow up on a “suggestion that emerged during the General Congregations,” the cardinals closed-door meetings that preceded the conclave.

Only one of the eight cardinals chosen by Francis comes from Italy, Giuseppe Bertello, who currently oversees the Vatican City State.

The other seven lead in different regions of the world. They are:

• Francisco Javier Errazuriz Ossa, archbishop emeritus of Santiago de Chile, Chile;
• Oswald Gracias, archbishop of Bombay, India;
• Reinhard Marx, archbishop of Munich and Freising, Germany;
• Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya, archbishop of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo;
• Sean O’Malley, archbishop of Boston;
• George Pell, archbishop of Sydney, Australia;
• Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga, archbishop of Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

Maradiaga will coordinate the group’s work, while Bishop Marcello Semeraro of Albano, Italy, will have the role of secretary.

In a brief meeting with journalists on Saturday, the Vatican’s chief spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, stressed that the group will in no way “diminish the role” of the Curia or its responsibilities.

He said that while the Curia remains in charge for the day-to-day task of “helping the pope in the running of the church,” the eight cardinals will “advise” the pope when they are requested to do so.

According to Lombardi, the creation of the cardinals’ group is a “signal of the pope’s reflection and attention on the issues facing the organization of the church.”

April 16, 2013

For information on how to join with other Presbyterians in responding to the acts of violence at the Boston Marathon or for worship resources (PDF) for use in times of disaster, visit the website of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, which was invited to send—and is preparing to deploy—an experienced team of first responders.

April 16, 2013

Office of the General Assembly

Emily Enders Odom

Communications Coordinator

Louisville

“하나님은 우리의 피나처시요 힘이시니 환난중에 만날 큰 도움이시라.

그러므로 땅이 변하든지 산이 흔들려 바다 가운데 빠지든지

바닷물이 흉용하고  뛰놀든지 그것이 넘침으로 산이 요동할지라도 우리는 두려워 아니하리로다.

(시편 45:1-3)

은혜로우신 주님, 주님은 우리의 피난처시요 힘이시며 환난날에 만날 큰 도움이십니다. 우리의 가슴에 사뭇치는 슬픔과 질문에도 불구하고 주님께서는 이 시간 우리로하여금  보스톤에서 일어난 비국적 참사에로 고통당하는 형제자매들을 위해 기도하게 하십니다. 오직 주님께서만이 주실 수 있는 은혜로 오늘 폭탄 폭발로인해 사랑하는 사람들을  잃은 사람들, 사랑하는 사람들의 소식을 듣기를 안타깝게 기다리는 사람들 , 그리고 부상을 입고 고생하는 사람들을  위로하여주시고  치로하여 주옵소서소. 이 폭발사건에 기꺼이 응답하는 사람들, 의료진들, 그리고 여러 당국자들이 밤낮으로  많은 사람들을 돕기위해 일하때 그들에게 새 힘을 주옵소서. 이처럼 무자비한 폭력의 행동을 일으킨 침투자들의 가슴과 영혼을 찔러서 그들이 행한 일이 얼마나 잘못된 일인지 모르는 사람(들)을 용서하옵소서.

사랑의 주님, 우리에게 귀를 기울이시고 주님을 찾는 우리에게 오셔서 우리를 도우시며 평화를위한 우리의 탄원과 호소를 들으소서. 주님, 이리와 어린양이 함께 누으며, 더이상 폭탄이 없는 세상 , 더이상 상실과  피흘림이 없는 세상을 소원하는 우리의 탄식과 기도를 드러주옵소서. 이웃이 서로 사랑하고 서로가 연결되고 관계하는 일이 공포나 폭력이 아니라 우리가 살고, 거동하며 우리의 존재자체를 가지는 주님안에서 누리는  삶을 통해 이루어지는  인간 공동체로  우리를 연합시켜 주옵소서.

주님,당신의 강한 사랑으로 우리를 당신의 가슴에 품어주옵소서. 우리로 하여금  당신의 사랑에 닻을 내리게하시고  모든 지식을 초월하는 당신의 평화로 우리를 안전하게 지켜주옵소서. 주님의 사랑과 평화는 우리가 살고있는 성금요일의 세상에서도 우리는 다시 사신 당신의 아들 우리 주 예수 그리스도의 능려과 가능성과 약속을 가진 부활의 사람들임을 온전히 믿게합니다. 

우리 주 예수 그리스도의 이름으로 기도합니다. 아멘.

보스톤 마라톤에서 일어난 폭력적 행동에 응답하는 장로교인들과 연대하고 이에 필요한 정보를 얻기원하거나 이 재난의 때를위한 예배자료(PDF)를 얻기원하면 장로교재난지원 웹사이트를 방문하시기 바랍니다.

Neal D. Presa, 미국장로교 220차 총회 총회장
Gradye Parsons, 미국장로교총회 서기장
Linda Bryant Valentine, 미국장로교 총회 장로교선교부 사무총장

Read this article in English.

Read this article in Spanish/Encuentre esta declaración en español.

Two new debt-assistance programs—including the Agnes and Dorothy Marschner Fund—will enable students to more freely discern their call to serve.

April 16, 2013

Presbyterian Mission Agency

by Emily Enders Odom,
Associate, Mission Communications

Financial Aid for Service

LOUISVILLE

At its meeting on April 12, the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board approved a proposal from the office of Financial Aid for Service to expand the usage of currently budgeted student-loan funds to provide debt assistance to young adults pursuing opportunities for Christian service.

In presenting the proposal to the board’s Leadership Committee on April 11, Rob Fohr—the young adult catalyst for the Presbyterian Mission Agency—emphasized its relevance to the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s directional goal to “inspire, equip, and connect the church to engage and join with young adults in reforming the church for Christ's mission.”

“Eliminating barriers for service for young adults falls right in line with our directional goal for young adults,” Fohr told the committee. “Our goal here is to use certain funds that have been previously restricted to undergraduate education to provide debt relief to young adults seeking to do a season of service.”

The board’s action further reinforces the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s shift from an emphasis on education purely for the sake of education to education for a life of discernment and service.

“Study is a means, and service is the desired end for all Christians,” said Laura Bryan, associate for Financial Aid for Service in the Theology, Worship, and Education ministry area. “While this office will continue to serve Presbyterian students by awarding them money to go to school, our goal is also to encourage students to discern who God created them to be through such opportunities as mission service. Because of the board’s affirmative vote, we now have greater flexibility to honor that commitment to young adults.”

The proposal presented to the board was designed to expand a 2010 initiative which added loan forgiveness for service to the existing theological-student loan program, a move that eventually resulted in renaming the program Transformational Leadership Debt Assistance. TLDA forgives loans to teaching elders who are called to serve in temporary and/or part-time pastoral positions in Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) congregations of 150 members or less or in emerging new worshiping communities.

The April 2013 board action extends the concept of debt assistance for service to students who have completed or interrupted their college education and are not teaching elders. Awards will be capped at no more than $250 of repayment assistance per month for a period not to exceed 12 months.

“I’m excited about this,” said Nancy Ramsay, a member of the board’s Leadership Committee from Fort Worth, Texas, who serves as professor of pastoral theology and pastoral care at Brite Divinity School.

Bryan envisions a broader debt-assistance program growing in 2014 and 2015 that will be presented primarily to congregations and other Presbyterian organizations as an option for incentivizing service and eliminating financial barriers. “As the ‘Season of Service’ concept is further defined and expanded, Financial Aid for Service will work to identify a reporting methodology that will protect the assets of the church while providing flexibility to incentivize service, accommodate innovation in local models of ministry, and educate Presbyterians burdened with educational debt,” she said.

In a related matter, the Leadership Committee also previewed a new debt-assistance program for Presbyterian women called to serve as practicing physicians in the mission field.                

Charles Wiley, coordinator of the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s office of Theology and Worship, introduced the Agnes and Dorothy Marschner Fund, which will provide up to $35,000 annually to one or two Presbyterian women serving as practicing physicians in the mission field. In addition to mission work under the direction of or in participation with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), eligible positions might also include service with a medical humanitarian organization or in a Health Professional Shortage Area, as defined by the US Department of Health and Human Services.

When first asked to develop a proposal for the use of the fund, Financial Aid for Service proposed a debt-assistance approach. “Because the donor is very clear about the fund’s restriction to Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) women serving as physicians, we concluded that the best way we could respond would be to address the burden of student-loan repayment,” Bryan said.

The fund is named in memory of Dorothy Marie Marschner, who died in February 2010 at the age of 83, and her mother, Agnes Marschner. Dorothy Marschner, a former insurance underwriter at the American Insurance Company in Newark, New Jersey, was a trustee and Sunday school teacher for 35 years at Sanford Heights Presbyterian Church in Irvington, and later a member of New Providence Presbyterian Church. The Presbyterian Foundation was a beneficiary of 20 percent of her estate.

Because of the size of the Marschner Fund and the nature of its restrictions, Financial Aid for Service anticipates making one or two awards per year for 10–15 years before the fund is fully expended.

April 16, 2013

Office of the General Assembly

Emily Enders Odom

Communications Coordinator

Louisville

1 Dios es nuestro refugio y nuestra fuerza;
nuestra ayuda en momentos de angustia.

2  Por eso no tendremos miedo,
    aunque se deshaga la tierra,
    aunque se hundan los montes en el fondo del mar,

3  aunque ruja el mar y se agiten sus olas,
    aunque tiemblen los montes a causa de su furia.

Salmo 46: 1-3 (DHH)

Señor de gracia, tú eres nuestro refugio y nuestra fortaleza, nuestra ayuda en momentos de angustia. Con tristeza y preguntas en nuestros corazones, tu Espíritu nos impulsa en esta hora a orar por nuestros hermanos y hermanas a causa de la tragedia en Boston. Consuela con tu gracia abundante, como sólo tú sabes hacerlo, a aquellas personas que han perdido a seres queridos en las explosiones del día de hoy, a aquellas que están tratando de comunicarse con sus seres queridos, y a aquellas que están lesionadas. Fortalece a los/as socorristas, al personal médico, y a otras autoridades mientras trabajan día y noche para ayudar. Penetra el corazón y el alma de la persona o personas que perpetraron este acto de violencia. Perdónales porque no saben lo que hacen.

 

Señor amoroso, inclina tu oído a nosotros/as, porque te buscamos, porque pedimos que vengas a ayudarnos, porque te suplicamos y pedimos la paz; porque anhelamos y gemimos que llegue el día en donde el lobo y el cordero se echen a descansar juntos, el día en el que no existan más bombas, ni pérdidas. ni el derramamiento de sangre. Únenos como comunidad humana, en donde el prójimo ame a su prójimo, en donde nuestras relaciones mutuas no estén fundadas en el miedo y la violencia, sino en una vida compartida, porque en tí y por medio de ti es que vivimos, nos movemos y somos.

 

Abrázanos a tu corazón con tu fuerte amor. Ánclanos en tu amor y mantennos en la seguirdad de tu paz, que sobrepasa todo entendimiento, que es lo que nos da la verdadera confianza de que aun viviendo en un mundo de Viernes Santo, somos un pueblo de resurrección, que vive en y con poder, y en las posibilidades y la promesa de tu Hijo resucitado, Jesucristo. En su nombre y por Él oramos. Amén.

 

Para conseguir información sobre como unirse a la comunidad presbiteriana que está respondiendo a los actos de violencia en el Maratón de Boston o para conseguir recursos de adoración (PDF) para utilizar en tiempos de desastres visite la página de Internet del programa Presbiteriano de asistencia en casos de desastre, que ha sido invitado a enviar—y está preparandose para ello—a un equipo de socorristas con experiencia en estos casos.

 

Neal D. Presa, Moderador de la Asamblea General 220 (2012)
Gradye Parsons, Secretario permanente de la Asamblea General
Linda Bryant Valentine, Directora ejecutiva de la Agencia de misión presbiteriana

Read this article in English.

April 15, 2013

Office of the General Assembly

Emily Enders Odom

Communications Coordinator

Louisville

1 God is our refuge and strength,
   a very present help in trouble. 
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,
   though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; 
3 though its waters roar and foam,
   though the mountains tremble with its tumult.

-Psalm 46:1-3 (NRSV)

Gracious Lord, you are our refuge and strength, our very present help in trouble. With sadness and questions in our hearts, your Spirit prompts us in this hour to pray for our sisters and brothers in the wake of the tragedy in Boston. Comfort with your generous grace in a way only you can, Lord, those who lost their loved ones in the bomb explosions today, those who are trying to connect with their loved ones, and those who are injured.  Strengthen first responders, medical personnel, and other authorities as they work through the day and night to come to the aid of many. Pierce the heart and soul of the perpetrator(s) of this act of violence. Forgive that individual(s) for they know not what they do.

Incline your ear to us, loving Lord, for we seek you, we plead to you to come to our aid, to hear our pleas and petitions for peace, for we long and groan for the day when the wolf will lay down with the lamb, where there will be no more bombs, no more loss, no more blood. Unite us as a human community, where neighbor loves neighbor, where our relating to each other is not through fear or violence, but through our common life, for in you and from you we live, and move and have our being.

In your strong love, hold us close to your heart. Anchor us in your love and secure us in your peace which surpasses all our understanding but which gives us the very confidence that in a Good Friday world, we are an Easter people, living in and with the power, possibilities and promise of your risen son, Jesus Christ.  In his Name and for his sake, we pray. Amen.

For information on how to join with other Presbyterians in responding to the acts of violence at the Boston Marathon or for worship resources (PDF) for use in times of disaster, visit the website of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, which was invited to send—and is preparing to deploy—an experienced team of first responders.

Neal D. Presa, Moderator of the 220th General Assembly (2012)
Gradye Parsons, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly
Linda Bryant Valentine, Executive Director of the Presbyterian Mission Agency

As it closes, one church continues to give

April 15, 2013

Special to Presbyterian News Service

Toni Montgomery

STATESVILLE, N.C.

For many people, the decision to close a church brings sorrow and pain. But sometimes, members can use this ending as a chance to bring new life.

That is the case for Jeffersontown Presbyterian Church in Jeffersontown, Ky.

Organized in 1861, the church grew over the next century, adding a sanctuary, classrooms, nursery and kitchen. But in the 1990s, membership started to decline. By the time the Rev. Ellen Marie Kratch arrived in 2006, her main role was to help the remaining 20 or so members merge with another local church.

“I expected a short assignment as I helped them with this journey of transition into a new merged church, but it wasn’t,” said Kratch, who stayed with Jeffersontown for more than six years.

With the merger on the horizon, the members of Jeffersontown decided to stay put. They felt they were called to be in Jeffersontown, and a merger would have meant moving.

Although the congregation felt called to stay, members struggled to discern what they were called to do.

“‘We know we’re supposed to be here — we just don’t know why we’re supposed to be here because we’re not growing,’” Kratch heard again and again.

In 2011, the church again confronted its future.

“They (could) continue on as they are and last man turns out the lights, but they didn’t think that was very faithful to stewardship and the call to do ministry because all of the finances and human resources are being tied up in maintaining buildings,” Kratch said. “There was no energy or money left over after bills, maintenance, to do the Lord’s work in community, and the Lord clearly told them to stay in Jeffersontown and do ministry.”

The congregation finally decided to sell the property, with proceeds from the sale going to other ministries.

“It didn’t surprise me that they chose to give life to others in the midst of a very sad time,” said the Rev. Betty Meadows, general presbyter for Mid-Kentucky Presbytery. “This is a very faithful congregation. They had really started living Christ in so many ways and in their death they have brought tremendous life to others.”

Indeed, Jeffersontown has a history of benevolence. Even with limited membership, the church gave to all of the PC(USA) Special Offerings, supported local ministries and participated in activities like the Hunger Walk.

Because of their conscientious stewardship of the property, Jeffersontown was debt free when it was sold. The result was more than $376,000 that members divided among 18 groups. 

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance was one of the benefitting ministries, receiving more than $16,000.

“Presbyterian Disaster Assistance is deeply honored that Jeffersontown Presbyterian Church considered us as they said farewell to the faith-home that held good and treasured memories for so many,” said Laurie Kraus, director of PDA. “I believe this gift shows Jeffersontown’s passion for mission, and their profound understanding of the church and its members as stewards of God’s gifts.”

Members of Jeffersontown are still grieving their loss, but have begun to worship at other area churches. And Kratch think she might see why the church had felt so called to stay.

The building was bought by the Korea Saehan Church of Louisville, a 20-year-old congregation that has been steadily growing.

“Every time (Jeffersontown) had one of those moments when they could have walked away from the situation, taken the easy way out and closed the doors and gone to another church, they stayed and worked through the problems,” Kratch said. “They’d listen to the Lord, and every one of those times coincided with the growth spurts or something significant happening in the Korean church that bought the property, so I think the Lord was preparing one congregation and keeping the Jeffersontown congregation maintaining the property because if they’d sold the property it would not have been ready for this other congregation that has grown.”

Toni Montgomery is a freelance writer in Statesville, N.C., where she is also secretary for First Presbyterian Church.

Trustees vote to uphold, advance university’s mission amid changing church landscape

April 15, 2013

Presbyterian News Service

SPOKANE, Wash.

The Whitworth University Board of Trustees adopted a statement last week that affirms and expands Whitworth’s historic relationship with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and elevates the university’s theological identities.

The statement is the culmination of a yearlong inquiry a board-appointed Task Force on Denominational Relationships conducted in anticipation of the June 2013 expiration of the university’s current covenant agreement with the Synod of Alaska-Northwest and the concurrent cessation of the synod’s functions.

The task force’s charge was to assist the board in studying the range of possible relationships between Whitworth the PC(USA) and to examine whether that relationship should be broadened to include other expressions of Christ’s church.

After deliberating over the comprehensive work of the task force, the board of trustees has adopted the following actions:

• Whitworth will continue in a mutual but nonexclusive partnership with the PC(USA);
• The university will explore and establish other Presbyterian partnerships; and
• The university will emphasize its Reformed, evangelical and ecumenical identities.

“This is an important day in the life of Whitworth University,” said Whitworth President Beck A. Taylor. “The Board of Trustees once again affirmed the importance of Whitworth’s church relatedness, and it communicated unequivocally Whitworth’s Christ-centered mission. I know the board looks forward to working closely with the university’s administration, students, faculty and staff to better clarify how these decisions will be lived out.”

To read the full background and summary of the board’s statement, please visit Board of Trustees Statement on Denominational Relationships. For answers to questions related to the statement, please visit Denominational Relationships Frequently Asked Questions.

For 123 years, Whitworth has affiliated itself formally and exclusively with the Presbyterian Church. The historic mission of the university is profoundly important, and the university’s historic relationship with the mainline Presbyterian denomination gives rise to compelling reasons to maintain a current and active partnership with the PC(USA). According to the board, those relationships will most likely continue to emphasize supportive projects with specific congregations, presbyteries and synods.

Trustees also concluded that the university should explore other ecclesiastical relationships within the broader Presbyterian tradition, and likely with other expressions of Christ’s global church. This response recognizes the current realities of the university’s growing partnerships with other Presbyterian and non-Presbyterian denominations and entities, and more and more of the university’s students, staff and faculty are identifying with other traditions within Christian orthodoxy, including a rise in unaffiliated (nondenominational) church affiliation.

Two task-force-commissioned surveys of Whitworth faculty, staff and students show that less than one in five Whitworth students claim Presbyterianism as their ecclesiastical home. Additionally, just 25 percent of Whitworth’s faculty and staff attend a Presbyterian church. (It should be noted that these percentages of students, staff and faculty do not delineate between PC(USA) congregations and other Presbyterian churches, so the percentages of students, staff and faculty who affiliate with the PC(USA) may be lower than reported here.) These percentages have been declining for years, and this decline is indicative of national trends within mainline church membership and identification.

While Whitworth has shared a deep and meaningful relationship with Presbyterianism since the institution’s founding in 1890, the university also elevates other theological identities that shape its educational mission and ethos. The board determined that Whitworth’s Reformed, evangelical and ecumenical identities are inherently more stable and potentially less ambiguous, and they more comprehensively inform how Whitworth carries out its mind-and-heart mission.

“It was important for the board to have a deliberate and effective process for examining our relationship with the current and future identities of the church,” said Walt Oliver, chair of the board.

Whitworth is carrying out the adopted statement through the following actions:

• In light of the reduced function of the Synod of Alaska-Northwest, Whitworth will enter into functional partnerships with various PC(USA) entities, including churches, presbyteries, synods and the Association of Presbyterian Colleges and Universities, an independent, non-profit organization in a covenant agreement with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) that seeks to strengthen the mission of colleges and universities related to the denomination.

• Whitworth will maintain its Presbyterian identity in the broadest sense through forming relationships across the Presbyterian tradition. The forms of those relationships could range from simple ad hoc projects to more formal partnerships. Such expansion in the university’s stated identity within Presbyterianism is already a reality: many of Whitworth’s most historically supportive PC(USA) congregations are moving to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) and the Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians (ECO), and the university desires to maintain those relationships.

• The university’s identity statements will be revised to emphasize Whitworth’s other important theological identities. In fall 2013, Taylor will lead conversations among the Whitworth community about the theological identities that shape the institution’s mission, in particular what it means for the university to be Reformed, evangelical and ecumenical.

Information for this story furnished by Whitworth University.

April 15, 2013

Religion News Service

Adelle M. Banks

WASHINGTON

Fifty years after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. challenged white church leaders to confront racism, an ecumenical network has responded to his “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”

“We proclaim that, while our context today is different, the call is the same as in 1963 — for followers of Christ to stand together, to work together, and to struggle together for justice,” declared Christian Churches Together in the USA in a 20-page document.

The statement, which is linked to an April 14-15 ecumenical gathering in Birmingham, Ala., includes confessions from church bodies about their silence and slow pace in addressing racial injustice.

“The church must lead rather than follow in the march toward justice,” it says.

In April 1963, King scribbled his letter on newspaper margins in a cell in Birmingham, responding to an open letter from eight white clergymen — one Catholic priest, six Protestants and a rabbi — who had called on the civil rights movement to opt for negotiations rather than demonstrations. King had been jailed for helping organize nonviolent protests.

In the letter King said that he was disappointed with white moderates who “see my nonviolent efforts as those of an extremist.”

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” the Baptist preacher and civil rights icon wrote in one famous passage.

Five decades later, CCT leaders are releasing a response that elaborates on specific passages of King’s letter, calling for partnerships to confront societal inequities in the nation’s neighborhoods, schools and prisons.

“Sunday morning remains the most segregated time in our nation,” they acknowledged.

Experts say it may be the first time an organization has directly answered King’s letter.

Jonathan Rieder, author of the new book “Gospel of Freedom: Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Letter From Birmingham Jail and the Struggle That Changed a Nation,” said many reporters initially ignored the letter.

The Christian Century, a prominent mainline Protestant magazine, published it and included an address for readers to send donations to King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference, he said.

“As far as most people know, this is the first institutional response that seems to be trying to answer the letter in some sense,” said Rieder, a professor of sociology at Barnard College, Columbia University.

The Rev. Carlos Malave, executive director of CCT, said one of the key parts of the new document is its appendix, which includes confessions from several “families” of churches — evangelical/Pentecostal, Catholic, historic Protestant and Orthodox.

 “The churches are taking responsibility for their inability to really ... step up throughout the last few years to the challenge and the call that Dr. King and the letter places to the Christian leaders,” he said.

The evangelicals’ confession notes they have taken “far too long” to acknowledge and repent for “pervasive racism in our midst,” and often do not understand structural racism. Catholics lamented that racism has hindered leadership development and “full participation in parish life.” Historic Protestants confessed to “unwelcoming pews.” And Orthodox Christians acknowledged slighting “the liturgy after the liturgy” that involves transforming society.

“It wasn’t the historic African-American family that really called for the response,” said the Rev. Stephen Thurston, president of the CCT subgroup of black denominational leaders. “It came out of the collaboration with other families and their real concern about a real transparent response to the King letter.”

The Rev. Virgil Wood, a longtime Baptist minister who worked with King for 10 years on the SCLC’s national board, gives the leaders credit for what they’ve done so far.

“It’s an excellent start but it’s only a start,” he said, “because it does not address some of the critical things that now have to be done.”

Wood said churches must now address the root causes of poverty and use King’s principles to improve the global economy.

“I applaud the distance these groups are willing to go but there is no reconciliation without restitution and I don’t hear the note of restitution being sounded enough,” he added.

One of the catalysts for the document was CCT’s meeting in Birmingham in 2011, when members visited the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute and viewed the bars behind which King sat and wrote the letter.

The CCT will hold a symbolic signing of its response to King during a two-day symposium in Birmingham that includes speeches from clergy and civil rights leaders about “the way forward.” It concludes on Monday (April 15), the day before the date placed on King’s letter.

CCT leaders, including Evangelicals for Social Action founder Ron Sider, who chaired the committee that drafted the response, expect that their work to address King’s call will continue after the anniversary.

“Our words will remain cheap and empty,” Sider said in remarks he has prepared for the Birmingham program, “unless we allow God to move us to new, more vigorous action.”

A Chatham University student hopes to make a career of her passion for helping others.

April 15, 2013

Presbyterian Mission Agency

by Toni Montgomery

Financial Aid for Service

LOUISVILLE

Tasha Jordan is like many young people—eager to learn, full of ideas, and excited about the possibilities that lie ahead in life. She can also be a bit reserved and shy, except when you talk to her about things she has a passion for. The great thing about Jordan is that those things—the ones she’s eager to talk about and is enthusiastic about—always come back to one theme. They always involve helping others in some way.

“My caring spirit and my love for giving to others is something that I’m good at,” says Jordan. “Giving is something that I’ve always enjoyed and makes me feel even more inspired.”

A junior at Chatham University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Jordan is a recipient of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Student Opportunity Scholarship for the 2012–13 academic year. She found out about the scholarship from her pastor, Saleem Ghubril, of Mosaic Community Church, and it was exactly what she needed to cover her remaining tuition expenses for this year.

“I remember I was worried about it for a very long time, and when I stopped worrying was when I found out I had received this scholarship, so it was definitely a blessing,” she says.

When she was 14, Jordan got involved with a local Christian outreach called the Pittsburgh Project and volunteered there for the next six years, tutoring local students, working in the kitchen, and helping with projects for the disabled and elderly in the neighborhood. It was here that she met Ghubril and started attending Mosaic.

She credits her pastor with being someone she sees as a mentor. Ghubril has helped her prepare for some of her volunteer work.

“He was making sure I read my Bible in order to reconnect with my faith. He’s just been really great in helping me keep my faith growing and helping me make good decisions and act Christlike,” says Jordan.

It initially appeared that Jordan would follow an artistic path. She attended the Pittsburgh School for the Creative and Performing Arts, graduating in 2009 with honors. She played the flute, and while she enjoyed sharing the gift of music with others, she didn’t feel she had the natural ability to turn that into a life, so she directed her energy elsewhere.

After high school, Jordan went to the Community College of Allegheny County and got an associate degree in science. It was the first step in her dream of working in the medical field, and she has since focused that dream on becoming a surgeon. For Jordan, being a surgeon would not just fulfill her personal desire; she also sees it as an opportunity to continue sharing and giving back to others, a vision that became particularly clear after a mission trip last month.

“I just went to Guatemala for spring break for a week on a mission trip with Shadyside Presbyterian Church. We helped with teaching kids and building houses for people,” she explains.

Yet Jordan saw another need while she was there. She saw a genuine need for better medical care in Guatemala and realizes this is a need that exists in many places throughout the world.

“If you had asked me about a year ago what I wanted to be, I’d have told you I wanted to be a surgeon. Now, after my trip to Guatemala, I have a new outlook on life. I still do want to be a surgeon, but in the missionary field,” she says. “One of my biggest focuses in becoming a surgeon is I want to work abroad and be a mission doctor and travel with a church to different countries and serve the people of the world.”

Like many young people, Jordan struggled a bit with what exactly she wanted to do. She knew she wanted to be involved in medicine, and she knew she wanted to help other people. She had many ideas and many gifts to share but needed to find a way to focus them and serve not only herself but God as well.

“Tasha is intentional about following Christ, growing in grace, and serving her community,” says Ghubril. “While achieving professional success is one area of focus, her primary focus is to be found faithful and to live purposefully.”

Whether or not Jordan realizes her dream of becoming a surgeon, it’s clear that she will end up finding a path that allows her to share and to help others.

“I thank God for giving me such an open heart, and knowing I am doing something that satisfies him makes me very happy,” Jordan says. “I believe that one life means nothing if that life isn’t dedicated to improving the lives of others.”

# # #

Applications for the Student Opportunity Scholarship are due June 1 for the 2013–14 academic year. Visit the website to download an application.

Toni Montgomery is a freelance writer who lives in North Carolina and also serves as secretary of First Presbyterian Church of Statesville.

 

‘Myth of scarcity is danger to our souls,’ fair food entrepreneur tells SFTS audience

April 12, 2013

Nathan George, Faith & the Common Good lecturer at SFTS. —Eva Stimson

Presbyterian News Service

Jerry L. Van Marter

SAN ANSELMO, Calif.

Nathan George freely admits that his life “can look like that of a loser, not an obedient servant of God.”

A successful software entrepreneur in his native Britain, George told a crowd of about 100 listeners here April 11 at San Francisco Theological Seminary’s annual Faith & the Common Good lecture that he increasingly “became disturbed by God, dislodged from my life of ambition and consumption and bothered by the excess of my life.”

And so, seven years ago, George and his family moved from the UK to northern California where he founded “Trade as One,” and online fair trade company that seeks to use consumer spending to create jobs for some of the most disadvantaged people in the world.

The Faith & the Common Good Lecture, endowed by retired SFTS Professor John S. Hadsell and his late wife, Virginia, features “a person of faith who exemplifies both excellence and service in their vocation.

Trade as One’s hallmark program is a “subscription” service. Each subscriber receives a quarterly box of 12-15 food items ― at $99 per box ― plus producer interviews, product history, recipes and more. Trade as One contracts with producers to ensure all food items are natural, organic and fair trade.

“I realized by reading the Bible and theology that I was completely missing the good news to the poor of the gospel and that good news has to be tangibly demonstrated. I began to ask what business practices have to do with that.”

George offered his resignation to his UK employer, but the company’s CEO, moved by George’s faith and determination, retained him as an employee and agreed to bankroll Trade as One.  “I am learning to trust in a God who loves me and will protect me because He knows the path to true life,” George said. 

George’s search led him to hear stories of human trafficking. “It completely blew me away,” he said. “I learned that the absence of good work is itself a theological issue and to see the difference dignified jobs ― as opposed to the demeaning slavery of human trafficking ― can make in a community.”

George got involved in the fair trade movement in the UK, where fair trade is far more prevalent in the U.S. “Because of my business travels in the U.S., I wondered why the same isn’t happening in the States,” he said.

George was told, he said, “Americans are consumers first and Christians second.” This only steeled George’s resolve to advance fair trade in the U.S.

“The first few years were an abject failure,” George conceded. Many times he was just days or weeks from running out of money, but supporters continued to come to his aid. “Church after church slammed its door in my face,” he said. But five years ago “one of the largest megachurches in the country invited me to teach their members what fair trade is all about and things really started happening.”

Trade as One’s financial road is still rocky “but God has been with us through it all and I’ve gotten to know God much more intimately,” George said, conceding that he’d “still like to see more signs of success.”

George said he’s learned three important lessons in his work as CEO of Trade as One:

• There is no contract for success apart from God’s faithfulness.
• The promise is only that we will have God with us ― “not necessarily His gifts, but certainly his presence.”
• The gospel is a call to examine the enormously privileged life we live ― “God’s intent is that no one should live in poverty.”

Once Christians ― and others ― start to make sacrificial action, “consumer culture loses its grip on us for the sake of Jesus’ gospel,” George said.  “The myth of scarcity creates fear, but the gospel affirms that there is abundance and myth of scarcity is actually danger to our souls.”

To learn more about Trade as One and its subscription service, visit www.tradeasone.com.

April 12, 2013

Religion News Service

Alessandro Speciale

VATICAN CITY

Wading into one of the most controversial fields of modern medicine, the Vatican is pushing adult stem cell research as ethical and scientifically more promising than embryonic stem cell research.

That’s despite assertions from many in the scientific community that that it’s important to pursue all types of stem cell research, including embryonic, to maximize chances of finding cures for diseases.

Harvesting embryonic stem cells requires the destruction of fertilized embryos -- which are considered nascent human life in Catholic doctrine. Adult stem cells can be safely taken from adult human beings.

The Vatican started promoting adult stem cells in 2011, when its Pontifical Council for Culture launched a collaboration with U.S. bio-pharmaceutical company NeoStem.

The Council will host its second major conference on the issue at the Vatican this week (April 11-13), with the aim of publicizing recent research and shedding the Catholic Church’s anti-science reputation.

“People don’t have to choose between life and science,” said Robin Smith, CEO of New York-based NeoStem and president of its nonprofit arm, the Stem for Life Foundation.

“We want to correct the misunderstanding in public opinion on adult stem cells. People need to understand how far we are with research.”

A decade ago, embryonic stem cell research attracted big-name support, from Nancy Reagan to Michael J. Fox, even as it attracted strong opposition from some religious leaders and prompted tight restrictions on federally-funded research by the Bush administration. The Obama administration has loosened those restrictions.

But Smith argues adult stem cell research has been more successful; she says there are around 4,300 treatments based on adult stem cells which are now in clinical trials, and only 26 based on embryonic stem cells.

Religiously-motivated restrictions on embryonic stem cell research, however, have reduced scientists’ ability to pursue it.

Doug Melton, co-director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute told Forbes magazine in January that all types of promising stem cell research should be pursued, but embryonic remains the “gold standard against which we measure other types.”

The U.S. National Institutes of Health’s position is that all lines of stem cell research should continue, because even with advances in adult stem cell technology, problems persist.

“Adult stem cells are often present in only minute quantities and can therefore be difficult to isolate and purify,” according to the NIH’s website.

“There is also evidence that they may not have the same capacity to multiply as embryonic stem cells do. Finally, adult stem cells may contain more DNA abnormalities-caused by sunlight, toxins, and errors in making more DNA copies during the course of a lifetime.”

Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, president of Pontifical Council, told reporters on Tuesday (April 9) that the upcoming meeting wanted to show that the Catholic Church did “not intervene only negatively” in the debate on stem cell research, and its commitment to finding cures was more than just “words.”

Several leading world scientists will attend the Vatican-sponsored conference, including Britain’s John Gurdon, winner of the Nobel Prize for Medicine last year.

Ravasi stressed that research can “respond to the cry of those who suffer,” especially those of families who have a relative affected by a degenerative illness.

According to proponents, adult stem cells promise to radically change medicine by enhancing the body’s own capacity of healing itself.

Among them will be Jonathan Sackner-Bernstein, a vice-president of NeoStem, who will present his research on patients that have suffered severe heart attacks.

Patients who survive an attack, he said, usually can’t expect to live long lives.

But he hopes his research -- currently in clinical trials -- will improve life expectancy by using stem cells to “make the heart heal itself” and repair the damage done by the stroke.

Sackner-Bernstein said that adult stem cells draw on the body’s own self-repair mechanisms, and “could enable patients to heal, perhaps as if they had never had the disease.”

Vatican sponsorships of adult stem cells is not without controversy within the Catholic world itself.

In 2012, the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy for Life was forced to cancel a conference on “Responsible Stem Cells Research.” While the cancellation was officially caused by low registration, some members of the academy had complained that the lineup included researchers who had worked with embryonic stem cells, and called for a boycott of the conference.

“We don’t want to stigmatize those who do research on embryonic stem cells,” said the Rev. Tomasz Trafny, who heads the science department of the Pontifical Council for Culture. “It is much more useful to focus on the results and the progress of adult stem cells.”

For Sackner-Bernstein, the argument for adult stem cells is scientific rather than ethical, as research has shown that embryonic stem cells are often unpredictable and can even provoke tumors.

“I don’t want to trade a disease for another disease. It would be disingenuous to say we can control (embryonic stem cells), these cells are much smarter than us.”

Receive $35,000 each to further Presbyterian mission in their local communities

April 12, 2013

Louisville

Recognized for their excellence in furthering Presbyterian mission, three new worshiping communities have been named winners of the 2013 Sam and Helen R. Walton Awards.

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• Bare Bulb Coffee is a vibrant, growing, multicultural new church development in Warner Robbins, Georgia, in Flint River Presbytery. One of the flagship projects of the 1001 new worshipping communities initiative of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Bare Bulb serves hundreds of individuals who have no connection to a church, many of whom have become engaged in this community of faith. Bare Bulb engages in weekly mission projects that include a seven-day-a-week shelter for homeless individuals and providing weekend meals to more than 60 children who live in conditions of chronic poverty. 

• Iglesia Presbiteriana Nuevas Fronteras continues to be transformed as it serves a growing number of immigrant families in Plainfield, New Jersey. This missional worshiping community, which became a chartered congregation of the Presbytery of Elizabeth in March 2013, has grown from 35 to 145 and represents 16 countries of North America, Central and South America, and the Caribbean. Working to share the love of Christ with the homeless and marginalized, Nuevas Fronteras recently partnered with the Guatemalan consulate to serve more than 1,000 immigrant families over a two-day period.

• The primary mission of New Vision, in the Presbytery of Western North Carolina, is to reach out to those who have left the institutional church and help them find their way back to faith. When Iglesia Emanuel congregation joined them last year, it became a bridge between the Anglo and Latino communities in Conover, North Carolina. New Vision now has 97 covenant members. It celebrated four adult baptisms and added 34 new members, 17 from the Latino community, in 2012.

The Mission Development Resource Committee selected each winning community for its excellent work of furthering Presbyterian mission in its community. The Presbyterian Mission Agency endorsed the committee’s recommendations at its recent board meeting.

The Walton Awards were established in 1991 as part of a $6 million gift from the late Sam and Helen R. Walton through the Presbyterian Foundation. This gift included an endowment of $3 million. The earned interest is to be used by outstanding new church developments for site acquisition and capital improvements.

For more information, contact Mission Program Grants, a ministry of Evangelism and Church Growth in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).