Today, we present our ELCA Advocacy Update for the month of July. Please read below for important information on ELCA Advocacy efforts in Washington, across the country and throughout the world. Please also visit our blog for more information on advocacy efforts from our Lutheran State Advocacy offices.
ELCA Advocacy Update – July 2015
ELCA Advocacy, Washington D.C.
Vatican Encyclical “Laudato Si”: On June 18 Vatican officials released “Laudato Si,” an
encyclical letter on caring for creation. In the encyclical, Pope Francis I places a special emphasis on our moral obligation to address the growing threats to our world caused by climate change. Arriving shortly before the upcoming global climate summit in Paris, the pope’s encyclical affirms that climate change is largely a man-made dilemma, and is a principal challenge facing humanity today. Immediately after its release, ELCA
Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton, praised the encyclical noting parallels to our own social statement “Caring for Creation.” Bishop Eaton also called for action to help less-privileged nations that must now face the most brutal effects of climate change.
Smarter Sentencing Act: ELCA Advocacy took action earlier this month to support The Smarter Sentencing Act, now in the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, as part of our ongoing effort to address mass incarceration and racial justice in our communities. The bipartisan Smarter Sentencing Act makes modest reforms to our justice system by alleviating overcrowding in our prisons, restoring the ability of federal judges to determine fairer and more realistic sentences, and creating more transparency about how federal laws and regulations are applied. You can
take action now at the ELCA Action Center.
Mexico and Central America: This month, members of ELCA Advocacy and the churchwide organization staff traveled to Mexico to learn about the detainment and treatment of migrant children and families from Central America. Staff met with civil society leaders and government officials to learn more about the ongoing crisis. This visit came in the wake of the Obama administration’s ongoing foreign policy discussion that continues to focus on encouraging increased border security measures by the Mexican and Central American governments without acknowledging the immediate need to protect migrants who are forced to flee. ELCA Advocacy continues to urge lawmakers to
support the protection and human rights of all God’s children and will be releasing a full report on the findings in Mexico within the coming weeks.
Mother Emanuel AME in Charleston, S.C.: Presiding Bishop Eaton and leaders of the ELCA offered their prayers to the victims of the Mother Emanuel AME tragedy earlier this month. Two of the victims, including the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, were graduates of the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary, an ELCA seminary in Columbia, S.C. Bishop Eaton, who later attended Pinckey’s funeral,
reaffirmed in a statement the immediate urgency to address racism as a society and as a church. ELCA Advocacy recognizes that we cannot truly seek justice and peace through advocacy without being committed to ending racism. We commit ourselves to working toward this goal and ask that you join us in this effort. Follow our Advocacy efforts and
ELCA Racial Justice Ministries to learn how you can join in the conversation.
The Endangered Species Act: On June 25, ELCA Environmental Policy Director Mary Minette was on a panel of experts about our moral obligation to care for creation by protecting endangered species. The event was attended by Senate and coalition-partner staff. In her message, Mary reaffirmed our religious calling to be stewards of nature by caring for creatures and the environments around them. To protect God’s creation, we must make environment-friendly choices as well as advocate for continuing the Endangered Species Act, which is, as Mary put it, “a modern-day Noah’s ark.”
Lutheran Office for World Community, New York, N.Y.
Ministerium meeting at LOWC: On May 12, LOWC welcomed the Lutheran pastors from Manhattan to the Church Center for the United Nations. The meeting of the ELCA Manhattan Ministerium Conference started with worship on social justice under the heading “Sing a new song to the Lord.” Afterward the ministers had an opportunity to learn about the work of the Lutheran office and discussed possible areas of cooperation. The LOWC staff also expressed their offer to visit congregations that are interested in our work to the United Nations.
Peace Not Walls gathering: About 30 members of the Peace Not Walls network gathered in mid-June at Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio to discuss recent activities and future work plans. They shared ideas for synod engagement, heard reports on advocacy activities, proposed teleconferences with speakers from the Holy Land, heard updates about future young adult trips to the region, discussed the intersections of work between Peace Not Walls and racial justice and received an update about staff efforts to explore “positive investment” in connection with the 2013 Churchwide Assembly request.
Lutheran World Federation Council meeting: Dennis Frado served as staff for several of the committees of the annual meeting of the Lutheran World Federation Council when it met last month in Chavannes-de-Bogis, near Geneva, Switzerland. The council adopted four public statements and four resolutions. The public statements were on climate justice, protracted conflicts and over-stretched humanitarian response, the situation in Tanah Papua (West Papua, Indonesia) and the sin of racism (in response to the shooting in South Carolina). The
four resolutions covered the Middle East, Migrants, the post-2015 Development Agenda and the recent Nigeria elections.
Unaccompanied and migrant children consultation: Following a number of conversations with synodical bishops, the ELCA Church Council and others, the churchwide organization called together a consultation last month to provide input for a proposed churchwide unaccompanied and migrant children initiative. Dennis is serving on the writing team to prepare the document related to the initiative with Alaide Vilchis Ibarra of the ELCA Advocacy office and Megan Brandsrud, program interpreter for Lutheran Disaster Response. It is expected to be reviewed by the Conference of Bishops later this year and be considered by the Church Council at one of its future meetings.
Lutheran State Advocacy Efforts Across the Country
Find out all about the vast and incredibly important work of Lutheran advocates across the country by visiting our ELCA Advocacy Blog.
Our ELCA advocacy initiatives are made possible through support from ELCA World Hunger. Please donate now to ensure that we can continue to work for systemic change that truly supports our brothers and sisters facing poverty and hunger.
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