Civic and Community Engagement Commons^™

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.

The Vanguard (Vol. 17 [27], No. 5), June 1980, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

Turning back a proposal from its board of pensions, the executive council of the Lutheran Church in America has declined to settle the issue of health plan coverage of seriously handicapped children.

Earlier the LCA's Court of Adjudication had ruled that the handicapped adopted children could be excluded from the church body's Ministerial Health Benefits Plan only if all seriously handicapped persons were-spouses, natural children, the ministers themselves

The Vanguard (Vol. 27, No. 10), Dec 1980, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

Susan Ruehle and Charles Ruehle were named directors of the Lutheran Human Relations Association of America (LHRAA) by the Association's board of directors at the board's special meeting, December 13, in Philadelphia.

Susan and Charles Ruehle were elected to the Association's top professional staff position after interviews with three candidates from among the almost 40 persons who applied for the job.

The Vanguard (Vol. 26, No. 10), Dec 1979, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

A national assembly to address women's concern and an inter-Lutheran commission on women will have to wait-or perhaps remain just a fond dream.

hat's because of action taken at the regular fall meeting of the church body presidents and top executives who govern the Lutheran Council in USA. The meeting indicated that a proposal from the standing committee of the Council's Division for Mission and ministry (DMM) represented "new work" that could not be pursued unless requested by the four church bodies in the Council.

The Vanguard (Vol. 26, No. 1), Feb 1979, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

Just when many had come to think Custer was the name of a state park and the spirit of Native Americans caught in tourist attractions, the dust began to stir on reservations. American Indians, seemingly divided by tribal distinctions and geographic distances, were unanimously calling the country to account for its outrageous dealings with Indians over the years.

South Dakota became a focal point, and it was there in 1971 that Indians helped Lutherans develop a unique ministry in a structure called the National Indian Lutheran Board (NILB). NILB and other Lutherans were to play a key role as the …

The Vanguard (Vol. 26, No. 6), July 1979, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

"We see no theological rationale for revising the church's traditional teaching that homosexual erotic behavior violates God's intent."

That comment is part of a 16-page draft statement, "Human Sexuality and Sexual Behavior," approved in mid-June by the American Lutheran Church's Standing Committee for the Office of Research and Analysis (ORA). The statment's one-page treatment of homosexuality is actually a revision of a draft statement adopted by the ORA's standing committee in March 1977.

The Vanguard (Vol. 26, No. 5), June 1979, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

"No insurance company can write insurance on burning buildings and stay in business very long."

The burning buildings in this case are severely handicapped children, and the insurance company is the Lutheran Church in America's Board of Pensions.

Dr. Edwin Wang used this analogy to explain the LCA's decision, beginning in 1976, to deny health and pension plan coverage to children adopted by LCA professional church workers-if those children have pre-existing severe handicaps. Any severely handicapped person who wants to enter the ministry in the LCA would also be ineligible for health and pension coverage.

The Vanguard (Vol. 26, No. 4), May 1979, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

Winter clobbered the midwest with heavy snow and high winds even though Spring was supposed to be here. Yet 65 people from all across Wisconsin traveled to Madison for the March 24 conference of Lutheran Human Relations Association-Wisconsin (LHRAA-Wisconsin).

They heard the state's immediate past governor, Martin Schreiber, describe how "tax laws work to the advantage of those with more money." He pointed out, however, that ever since 1911 Wisconsin has been a leader in progressive, more equitable tax policies.

The Vanguard (Vol. 26, No. 3), Apr 1979, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

Richard Hatcher, mayor of Gary, Indiana, will be the speaker for the Saturday evening supper of the 1979 Human Relations Institute, July 27-29, at Valparaiso University.

Hatcher was one of the first black persons to be elected mayor of a major city. He is frequently mentioned for top posts in the Carter Administration but has chosen to fulfill his commitment to urban America as Gary's mayor.

The Vanguard (Vol. 26, No. 2), Mar 1979, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

Fortunately, the annual conference of the National Indian Lutheran Board (NILB), was filled with exceptions. From Veronica Murdoch, executive director of the National Congress of American Indians, and from other respected Native Americans, they heard the bad news:

Indians are still feeling the sharp sting of racism and injustice. Poverty and despair have left lasting wounds. And the church and government seem to persist in their apathetic and inadequate response.

The Vanguard (Vol. 26, No. 8), Oct 1979, Lutheran Human Relations Association Of America

The Vanguard

In mid-September-coinciding with National Hispanic Week-church workers and lay people involved in Hispanic ministry met in Los Angeles for the Missouri Synod's second annual Hispanic conference.

The participants took advantage of their Southern California setting by hearing from one of the state's Representatives, Congressman Edward Roybal. They also visited the barrios and Lutheran congregations in the Los Angeles area.