Social Justice Commons^™

The Vanguard (Vol. 30, No. 1), Feb 1983, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

Human problems rising out of changes in laws and shifts in the federal budget over the past two years have been the focus of a series of regional workshops sponsored throughout the U.S. by the Western Center on Law and Poverty in Los Angeles.

The first of these workshops was a Midwest Legal Services Training Conference attracting 190 delegates from six states, held at Madison, WI, under joint auspices of the Wisconsin Nutrition Project and Western Wisconsin Legal Services.

The Vanguard (Vol. 30, No. 6), Sep-Oct 1983, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

Dr. Bernard Lafayette, an associate of the Martin Luther King Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta, Georgia, celebrated the effectiveness of nonviolence in addressing social injustices during a speech to the 1983 Lutheran Human Relations Institute.

Dr. Lafayette, reading the address originally scheduled to be presented by Coretta Scott King, reaffirmed the effectiveness of nonviolence in the 1980s.

Mrs. King was unable to appear at the Institute because of the illness of her mother. Dr. Lafayette was a colleague of Martin Luther King Jr., and a coordinator of the August 27, 20th Anniversary March on Washington, D.C.

The Vanguard (Vol. 30, No. 4), June 1983, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

Dr. Angel Ibarra, Director of Medical Services of Lutheran Social Services of El Salvador, was still imprisoned by Salvadoran National Police as of May 25th.

Dr. Ibarra, along with Pastor Medardo Gomez, was arrested in San Salvador on April 27th. Pastor Gomez was released after three days. Gomez is President of the Lutheran Synod of El Salvador, embracing 24,000 members and affiliated with the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) in the United States. He serves as pastor of the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection in San Salvador.

The Vanguard (Vol. 30, No. 5), July 1983, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

"It's a time to experience· friendship and fellowship," said Ted Gleiter, LHRAA Board member, as he discussed the August 26th gathering in Washington, DC to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of Lutheran Human Relations.

Gleiter, and Richard Fox, Jr., co-organizers of the event, are making plans to CELEBRATE THE STRUGGLE at First Trinity Lutheran Church in the Capital.

Gleiter said he hoped that all the Lutherans planning to attend the August 27th March on Washington for "Jobs, Peace and Freedom'' would also come the evening before to First Trinity to coordinate a visible Lutheran presence at the Saturday march.

The Vanguard (Vol. 30, No. 2), Mar-Apr 1983, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

Citing a variety of activities with individual Indian groups on and off the reservation, and involvement with national Indian organizations, Paul Schultz, President of the National Indian Lutheran Board (NILB) summarized a sampling of involvements by staff, resource persons and board members by saying:

"While we still attempt to address areas of extreme human need through our modest grants program, it has become even more important to invest greater amounts of time and effort in networking with organizations within the church, such as the Office of Governmental Affairs, as well as a number of other state, regional and national organizations …

The Vanguard (Vol. 30, No. 7), Nov 1983, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

Recognizing the relationship between domestic and international oppression of people of color, Cross Lutheran Church in Milwaukee, WI, declared itself a public sanctuary for Central American refugees.

The September service to inaugurate the sanctuary site also commemorated the 20th Anniversary of the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, AL, where four girls died during the height of the civil rights struggle.

The Vanguard (Vol. 29, No. 6), July 1982, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

The Rev. Jonathan C. Nelson, a University of Washington Luther an Campus pastor, who intends to get arrested for his planned protest of the arrival of a Trident nuclear submarine at a naval base near Seattle, plans to resign after he is imprisoned.

When the Trident submarine arrives in Puget Sound later this year, Nelson and other protestors (including Nelson's mother) plan to enter the restricted waters around the base in small boats forming a symbolic blockade to stop the Trident from docking.

The Vanguard (Vol. 29, No. 2), Mar 1982, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

"The National Indian Lutheran Board has finished another busy and very productive year of operation. During this last year our involvement has continued in terms of promoting positive national policy, work with different Lutheran constituencies, participating with other ethnic groups, continuation of the National Indian Lutheran Board (NILB) grant program, and working as a co-worker with other national Indian organizations.''

That's how Paul Schultz began his annual president's report to the NILB board. More than two dozen board members and consultants attended the three day meeting at Cook Christian Training School in Tempe, AZ.

The Vanguard (Vol. 29, No. 8), Nov 1982, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

The church's concern for the equal rights of women did not end on June 30th of this year.

On July 1st, in an act of renew al, the Religious Committee for the ERA (RCERA) adopted a new name and an updated agenda. Called the Religious Network for Equality for Women (RNEW), this revitalized effort represents Protectants, Catholics and Jews. RNEW has about forty member organizations.

The Vanguard (Vol. 29, No. 9), Dec 1982, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

What more is there to say about women in ministry? Plenty. And plenty was said from November 3-5 in Deerfield, Illinois at a conference entitled, ''Women in Ministry- A Conference for Lutheran Bishops and Staff." Thirty-nine bishops and their assistants met with fifteen lay and ordained women, following through on an idea conceived at the Conference of Ordained Women, held in 1980 to mark the tenth anniversary of the decision by three major Lutheran bodies to ordain women.

The Deerfield event was the first of three such meetings; one will be held in Philadelphia in December and one in San …

The Vanguard (Vol. 29, No. 7), Sep-Oct 1982, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

A memorial service of Thanksgiving and Celebration was held for Margaret Schulze on Sunday evening, August 8, at St. James Lutheran Church in Richmond, California. She had died at home in her sleep Thursday morning, August 5, 1982, at the age of 80; 4 months and 3 days after her husband Andrew, the founder of FLHRAA, had been laid to rest.

On July 18, Margaret had suffered a broken hip from a nocturnal fall. Following successful surgery, she experienced a stroke on the left side of her body, from which she never recovered.

The Vanguard (Vol. 29, No. 1), Feb 1982, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

How can we participate in the vision of a transcultural church? How do individuals and families overcome the survivalism mentality that is spreading across the land? Can we be attuned to the realities of a North/South global church?

The prophet Joel tells us that God's Spirit will lead us: Then we will dream dreams and see visions. Then we will proclaim God's message.

The Vanguard (Vol. 29, No. 5), June 1982, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

"Within the last ten days, there have been five suicide attempts in the Krome detention center," said Leticia Godoy, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS) staff person in Miami concerning Haitian refugees imprisoned by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). "That just gives you some idea of how bad the situation is."

At last report, more than 2,000 Haitians have been languishing in detention as advocacy continues for their release - and as controversy rages on over their legal status here.

The Vanguard (Vol. 29, No. 4), May 1982, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

In an interview published in The Atlantic, budget director David Stockman contrasted the powerful forces possessing "weak claims " to federal funds with the ' 'weak clients" having powerful claims to public support. The current state of the economy has intensified the competition between these two groups. Those who lack the power to press their strong claims for just treatment - the elderly poor, the handicapped, the disabled , children and their low income mothers - are being asked again this year to bear more than their share in the drive to cut back federal spending.

The Vanguard (Vol. 28, No. 9), Nov 1981, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

Concordia Lutheran College of Austin, Texas, has begun a program to equip laypersons for serving in their respective congregations or areas in various forms of ministry

The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, in its 1977 Dallas convention instructed the college to develop a program that could aid the Hispanic Lutheran congregations in the United States in carrying out their Christian mission by better utilizing the ministry of laypersons interested in serving their Lord, but not able to leave their homes for various reasons, in order to seek preparation for such ministry. The goal of the program is to prepare people without any …

The Vanguard (Vol. 28, No. 6), July 1981, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

On Friday, Oct. 3, 1980, the South Dakota Council of LHRAA died ... and was reborn as a part of the new South Dakota Peace and Justice Center. State LHRAA Coordinators, Bea Friesth and · Ruth Jones, joined with other members to create a Biblically-based ecumenical instrument to work with and for the churches of · South Dakota. (See November 1980 VANGUARD)

Primarily a membership organization, the Center depends largely upon individual support. For 1981, the three priorities determined by a membership poll are: the nuclear issue (arms race, uranium mining, nuclear power); Native American concerns;. and poverty and hunger. …

The Vanguard (Vol. 28, No. 5), June 1981, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

What is the meaning of work? That's the question explored by the participants in the New Wine Exchange conference, "The Working World - What is Good Work?" May 1-3, in Chicago.

Kim Zalent, the coordinator of NWE, planned the conference with the help of several local groups.

The conference's approximately 40 participants heard a presentation by the Rev. Stanley Hallett of Garret Theological Seminary (Evanston, Illinois). Hallett said that the basic assumptions about work need to be reexamined: unlimited population growth, unlimited resources, and access to unlimited land are no longer accurate assumptions. He insists that work can no longer …

The Vanguard (Vol. 28, No. 4), May 1981, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

Lutheran individuals and organizations have joined the thousands of other. civic and religious leaders in expressing dismay at the deaths of 26 black young people in Atlanta.

In early April, the standing committee of the Lutheran Council's Division for Mission and Ministry issued a statement urging Lutheran congregations to "increase their efforts for an end of racial violence in their communities, states, and the nation."

The Vanguard (Vol. 28, No. 2), Mar 1981, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

Repeating an action of two years ago, the Missouri Synod board of directors, meeting the last weekend in February, resolved to notify the Lutheran Council that the synod will discontinue its support of the Council's Indian desk and withdraw its participation from the National Indian Lutheran Board (NILB) as of March 1982.

In taking this action, the board "approved in principle" the recommendations of the synod's Board of Missions-recommendations based on a report of the synod's American Indian Advisory Council (

The Vanguard (Vol. 28, No. 1), Feb 1981, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

"There is some relief that Secretary of Interior James Watt promised to honor the commitment made by Ronald Reagan to respect self-determination and tribal sovereignity. It is a matter of record from his confirmation hearings that as Secretary of Interior, he will uphold the trust responsibility the federal government has with American Indians. This is encouraging."

That's the assessment of Eugene Crawford, director of the National Indian Lutheran Board (NILB) as he looks forward to the operations of the Bureau of Indian Affairs under the Department of Interior.

The Vanguard (Vol. 28, No. 8), Oct 1981, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

"There's a need to break the isolation of the students on campus."

Citing that goal, Professor Albert Jabs of Voorhees College in Denmark, South Carolina, described the program he's developed which. involves students in contemporary social issues. Jabs, an LHRAA volunteer, states that a major component of last semester's program included a trip to the state capitol in Columbia.

The Vanguard (Vol. 28, No. 7), Sep 1981, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

In May of this year I attended two important Inter-Lutheran meetings. At the first, a Transcultural Seminar, people representing five ethnic groups (Euro-Americans, Blacks, Hispanics, Orientals and Native Americans) met at Cincinnati to share strategies for a better understanding and relationship between these groups in the

At the second meeting, in St. Louis, members of an Inter-Lutheran Committee for Consultation on Theological Education met to discuss ideas to adapt theological education to the needs of our modern society.

The Vanguard (Vol. 28, No. 10), Dec 1981, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

Divestment. Namibia. Haitian refugees.

Those are three of the topics acted upon by the Association of Black Lutherans (ABL) at its biennial conference in Fort Worth Texas.

The conference voted to support divestment from financial institutions and companies that continue to engage in business in South Africa. The 1980 LCA convention in Seattle rejected apartheid and all other forms of racial discrimination but did not ask for divestment. Instead it asked for criteria which would help determine whether total divestment or active shareholder objections were "most effective" strategies.

The Vanguard (Vol. 17 [27], No. 6), July 1980, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

"My conviction is that if we want to be honest and ask where is God and his church in this pluralistic society, then we have to say the city is the major frontier for the church's mission today."

With those words, Dr. James Berquist, the new director of the American Lutheran Church's Division for Mission and America, addressed the 12th annual convention of the ALC's Conference on lnner City Ministries. More than 50 delegates from 11 regions had gathered in Milwaukee in mid-June for the four-day convention.

The Vanguard (Vol. 27, No. 7), Sep 1980, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

Missouri Synod congregations should seek to sponsor Haitian refugees and expand their ministry with handicapped parishoners.

Those were just two of literally dozens of recommendations and resolutions passed at the third biennial convocation of black Missouri Synod congregations. Delegates and visitors from more than half of the synod's 200 black congregations participated in the four-day meeting in mid-July in Chicago.

The Vanguard (Vol. 27, No. 3), Apr 1980, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

"It is a fact that the poor carry the greatest fiscal burden of inappropriate energy decisions."

This concern for the economically disadvantaged and the developing countries takes up a major section of a newly recently released statement, ''Nuclear Energy-Problems and Promises." The American Lutheran Church's Office of Research and Analysis is sending the study resource to its almost 5000 congregations ''to stimulate thinking, promote discussion, and motivate informed Christian response.''

The Vanguard (Vol. 17 [27], No. 4), May 1980, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

By only a one vote margin, in a secret ballot, the national board of American Lutheran Church Women (ALCW) declined to renew the contract of ALCW executive director, Julie Stine.

Most board members did not wish to have their names attributed to their comments. Stine is portrayed by some as "less traditional, more wholistic" in her view of women's role in the church. According to others, her feminism was threatening to some women and men in the church.

The Vanguard (Vol. 27, No. 2), Mar 1980, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

Lutherans have been asked to conduct a series of 15 workshops for 750 employees of the city of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The city government made this request because of the success of "Grace and Race" workshops sponsored by Lutherans in South Dakota over the past several years.

These "Grace and Race" workshops sought to help Lutherans overcome racism and sexism in their day-to-day relationships as well as in the larger context of social justice in American society. The presence of a large number of Indians in South Dakota gave special urgency to these workshops.

The Vanguard (Vol. 27, No. 9), Nov 1980, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

"The bill does not call for a large increase in overall aid funding but rather stresses reforming and redirecting aid.''

Passage of such legislation is the ambitious aim of this year's Offering of Letters, sponsored again by Bread for the World, a Christian citizenship movement directed by Lutheran pastor Art Simon.

Entitled "Hunger and Global Security," the offering of letters (letters sent to elected officials) will encourage Congress to redirect U.S. foreign aid to poor nations committed to meeting "basic human needs" in their countries-rather than funding arms build-up or elaborate redevelopment schemes.

The Vanguard (Vol. 27, No. 8), Oct 1980, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

"We have to be assertive, straight about our feelings, but we're not in a battle zone.''

That's how Joyce Peltzer described the new opportunities and the new openness for disabled persons in the church at the first National Consultation of Disabled Lutherans.

The late-August event in Kansas City, Missouri, was sponsored by the American Lutheran Church, where Peltzer is a program specialist in ministry with persons with handicapping conditions.