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Program on hold 40 Days of Giving


This Lent, ELCA World Hunger released 40 Days of Giving—a chal- lenge for all ELCA members and con- gregations to “encourage giving spiri- tually, intellectually and financially” (with a $2 million goal) by Easter. The challenge was issued as part of the ELCA’s five-year comprehen- sive campaign, Always Being Made New: The Campaign for the ELCA, which in 2016 is focusing on hunger and poverty alleviation. Sign up for a daily Lenten email devotion at www. ELCA.org/40days.


Cuts at LSSI


On Jan. 22, Lutheran Social Services of Illinois announced program and staff reductions due to the state’s inability to pass a budget for the past seven months. Thirty programs and more than 750 staff positions will be eliminated, ending agency support to approximately 4,700 Illinois resi- dents. The organization reports it is owed more than $6 million in gov- ernment grants for services already delivered, with “no foreseeable pros- pect of prompt reimbursement.”


Women of the ELCA announced that its grants program is being reassessed and will be on hiatus in 2016. “The grants program has helped to change lives for nearly 30 years,” said Linda Post Bushkofsky, the group’s execu- tive director. “The review will allow us to consider the program’s effec- tiveness, reach, funding, etc., and it gives us space and time to make any adjustments that might come from the review.” In 2015, Women of the ELCA awarded nearly $50,000 in grants to 18 domestic and nine international programs to “promote women’s complete and total health,” staff reported. Grants are issued from designated endowments.





I’m carried by the profound conviction that by working toward reconciliation between Lutherans


and Catholics, we are working toward justice, peace and reconciliation in a world torn apart by conflict and violence.


Martin Junge, general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation,





regarding Pope Francis’ October trip to Sweden to mark the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation.


Raheb awarded


The Olof Palme Memorial Fund in Stockholm awarded its 2015 Olof Palme Prize jointly to Mitri Raheb (above), pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church, Beth- lehem, and Israeli journalist Gideon Levy, columnist for Haaretz, Israel’s oldest daily newspaper. Long engaged in local, regional and international efforts on behalf of Palestine, Raheb is president of Dar al-Kalima Univer- sity College in Bethlehem.


Church suspended


The Episcopal Church, the U.S. branch of the Anglican Communion, was suspended from participating in the life and work of the commu- nion during a meeting in Canter- bury, England, in mid-January. The vote passed by a two-thirds mar- gin and included prominent voices among African bishops who have condemned the U.S. church for its liberal stance on gays. Presiding Bishop Michael Curry said the sanc- tion would be painful for many in the Episcopal Church to receive. “Many of us have committed ourselves and our church to being ‘a house of prayer for all people,’ as the Bible says, when all are truly welcome,” he said.


Joint commemoration


Roman Catholics and Lutherans made another step toward joint com- memoration of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017 by issuing common liturgical guidelines for ecu-


8 www.thelutheran.org


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