remains discovered over the Memo- rial Day weekend in the Holy Cross Wilderness of Colorado were those of James Nelson. He was reported missing Oct. 8, 2010, when he didn’t return from a five-day, 25-mile solo hike. Nelson, 31, was director for official roster records in the ELCA Office of the Secretary. “While this resolves uncertainty, it reminds us of our loss and the grief of those who loved James,” wrote ELCA Secretary David D. Swartling to churchwide staff.
Decline in religious donations For the second consecutive year (2010 and 2011) American dona- tions to religious organizations have decreased—this past year by 1.7 per- cent. Despite the drop in religious donations, overall giving was 4 per- cent higher in 2011 than in 2010, according to Giving USA. In a report released in June by the Indiana Uni- versity Center on Philanthropy, it shows individual Americans donated $218 billion, and $96 billion of it was toward religious organizations. Rob- ert Evans, board member of Giving USA, said the decline in charitable donations for religious groups could be due to a fall off in church atten- dance or an increase in competition from non-religious organizations.
Support for prisoners’ kids As Miss America, Laura Kaeppeler, a 2012 graduate of Carthage Col- lege, Kenosha, Wis., is traveling nonstop, wearing stylish new outfits each day and attracting TV crews in every city she visits. But she’s work- ing for an unglamorous cause: kids with incarcerated parents. Kaep- peler, who saw her father hauled off to prison for white collar crime, is using her platform to spotlight the 2.7 million children of inmates. The platform breaks new ground for the 91-year-old Miss America pageant,
Wells campaign wins award A
n animated online video about the ELCA World Hunger 100
Wells Campaign won five bronze Telly Awards (
www.tellyawards. com) for animation, art direction, cinematography, nonprofits and spirituality. While most ELCA videos are designed for adults, the one cre- ated for the 100 Wells Campaign appeals to youth aged 14 to 18, said David Creech, ELCA program director for hunger education. After all, it’s youth who are leading
whose contestants have long cham- pioned issues from ending home- lessness and diabetes awareness.
Cathedral shrinks & swaps
In a building swap, the Crystal Cathedral was to move its congre- gation to a smaller Roman Catholic church after the Protestant mega- church was sold to the Roman Cath- olic Diocese of Orange in Califor- nia. In June the cathedral, plagued by debt and squabbles among fam- ily members of founder Robert H. Schuller, was set to move to a space with less than half of its cur- rent seating capacity—St. Callis- tus Church. Last fall, a bankruptcy judge approved the diocese’s $57.5 million purchase of the larger glass- walled building in Garden Grove.
this effort to raise $250,000 (the cost of 100 wells) for ELCA World Hun- ger water projects. Creech, TV animator Chris Anderson, ELCA digital media man- ager Philip Miller and ELCA market- ing manager Laury Rinker worked on the video. It shows how “you can join your church in doing good work that empowers and respects com- munities around the world,” Creech said. View the video or give to the proj- ect at
www.elca.org/100wells.
ReconcilingWorks Lutherans Concerned/North Amer- ica was renamed ReconcilingWorks, with a new logo and website (www.
ReconcilingWorks.org). Founded in 1974, the organization will con- tinue to work for full inclusion of les- bian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the life of the church. The 2009 Churchwide Assembly opened the ELCA roster to people in com- mitted same-gender relationships. Today the name ReconcilingWorks better describes the ministry, said executive director Emily Eastwood.
‘Mourning 2.0’
Mourning 2.0 refers to advances in funeral home technology that allow the bereaved to digitally remember their loved ones. This includes every-
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