sex and public drinking. An online campaign called “Save Our Shorter” says the lifestyle pledge was adopted in fall 2011 along with a statement of faith. On May 18, Donald Dowless, president of Shorter, confirmed that 36 faculty had resigned and at least 25 cited disagreement with either the personal lifestyle statement or the faith statement.
NCC hires change consultant Peg Birk, a nationally known change management consultant, is serving an 18-month position as transitional general secretary for the National Council of Churches, a U.S. ecu- menical body to which the ELCA belongs. Birk, CEO of Minneapolis- based Interim Solutions and a United Church of Christ member, brings “exceptional experience leading organizations through a process of building upon their strengths while making significant changes in order to more effectively carry out their mission,” said ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson, chair of the search committee. Birk will help the group restructure and clarify its mission.
Drought-stricken in W. Africa Niger, Mauritania, Chad, Mali, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Nigeria and Cameroon are in the midst of a food crisis as drought continues to affect 15 million people in the West Africa Sahel region. ELCA partners are help- ing farm families who have no har- vest, food or income. The Lutheran Church of Senegal is providing relief to more than 10,000 people in Fangad and is offering training in the cultiva- tion of drought-resistant crops. To help, send checks (write “West Africa Sahel Drought” on the memo line) to ELCA Disaster Response, 39330 Treasury Center, Chicago, IL 60694- 9300; or give by credit card at 800- 638-3522 or
www.elca.org/disaster.
Pope pushes doctrine Pope Benedict XVI called on Roman Catholic colleges and universities in the U.S. to do more to affirm their “Catholic identity,” particularly by ensuring the doctrinal orthodoxy of their faculty and staff. Speaking in May to American bishops, Benedict said there has been a “growing recog- nition” on the part of Roman Catho- lic colleges of the need to “reaffirm their distinctive identity.” But “much remains to be done,” he said, singling out church law that Roman Catholic theology teachers “have a mandate from the competent ecclesiastical authority,” usually the local bishop.
Latvian leader dies Vilis Varsbergs, 82, president of the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church in America from 1984 to 1999, died April 22. Ordained by the United Lutheran Church in America, an ELCA predecessor, he
served Grace, Albion, Mich.; Mes- siah, Constantine, Mich.; Zion Lat- vian, Chicago; and St. Peter Latvian, Wood Dale, Ill. After the fall of com- munism, he returned to Latvia to re-establish the Department of The- ology at the University of Riga.
Crisis affects churches Amid Greece’s economic crisis, “heavy taxation, high unemploy- ment and all our other difficulties are fast-forwarding [churches] to collapse,” said Dimitrios Boukis, general secretary of the Greek Evan- gelical Church. Unlike the majority of Greek Orthodox churches, “we receive no state support,” Boukis said, and “we’re already short of pas- tors because we can’t afford them.” Church income, he added, has fallen 30 to 40 percent each year, making it difficult to meet pension funding requirements.
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PLU women win World Series Kaaren Hatlen (left) from Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, Wash., swaps out for
COURTESY OF MARK HATLEN/PLU
pinch runner Spencer Sherwin. PLU later went on to win the 2012 women’s softball World Series in May, beating Linfield College, McMinnville, Ore., 3-0. Three ELCA schools—PLU; Roanoke College, Salem, Va.; and Luther College, Decorah, Iowa— progressed to the NCAA Division III National Softball Championships, held at Moyer Stadium in Salem. It was the Lutes’ first trip to the series since 2002, Roanoke’s first since 2001, and Luther’s third consecutive appearance.
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