Another embezzler charged Robert D. Larson, 61, a former bookkeeper for the Northwestern Minnesota Synod, was charged with felony theft and check forgery in Clay County [Minn.] District Court March 1. Larson was terminated in January 2012 after he confessed to embezzling synod funds from 2004 to 2011. Synod staff discovered the embezzlement in December 2011, and a forensic audit established that Larson took $760,000 from the synod, said Bishop Lawrence Wohl-
rabe. The synod received a payment of more than $590,000 (what could be verified that Larson pocketed for himself) from insurance pro- vided for synods through the ELCA. Larson’s predecessor, Rosemarie Johnk, was terminated in May 2004 for using the synod’s credit to make nearly $24,000 in unauthorized purchases.
Quebec loses status A poll suggests Quebecers are no longer among the least religious resi-
dents of Canada. The reason? Que- becers are now slightly more likely to feel an “attachment to religion” than they have in previous years, while other Canadians are less likely to feel attached to religion, according to a Leger Marketing poll for the Asso- ciation for Canadian Studies. While Quebecers have tended to be “more averse to organized religion,” the recent data suggest their “antipathy to religion may have bottomed,” the survey concluded.
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A roof over their heads Albert Shambale and his two daughters take shelter under a plastic tarp the Lutheran World Federation provided after
flooding displaced 70,000 people, destroying their homes in Mozambique’s Gaza Province. The ELCA has contributed $100,000 for the LWF to provide water, sanitation, food security, livelihood restoration, shelter and more. Give via Lutheran Disaster Response, 39330 Treasury Center, Chicago, IL 60694-9300; 800-638-3522;
www.elca.org/giving.
April 2013 9
MELANY MARKHAM
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