Reformátusok Lapja, 1969 (69. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1969-06-01 / 6-7. szám
Calvin Synod Meeting — Ligonier, Pa., April 14-16, 1969 NEWS SPANISH CHURCHMAN TO VISIT U. S. A. — The General Secretary of the Spanish Evangelical Church, the Rev. Umberto Capo, has been invited to undertake a six week lecture tour of the Southern States by the Presbyterian Church U. S. Prior to going to the States, Mr. Capo will travel through Mexico, visiting churches and attending consultations with Reformed church leaders. —RPPS ★ PROTESTANT PREACHES IN BRUSSELS BASILICA — During the week of prayer for Christian unity a service of the reformed pattern was held in the basilica of Koekel- berg, largest Roman Catholic church in the Belgian capital. A two-thousand strong Roman Catholic/Protestant congregation heard Dr. André J. Pieters, dean of the Protestant faculty of Brussels, preach a sermon in French and Dutch. It was the first time that a Belgian Protestant had occupied the basilica pulpit. RPPS * The Church of England has been asked by its Liturgical Commission to canonize the founders of the Quaker and Methodist movements. In addition to asking for sainthood for George Fox and John and Charles Wesley, the report suggested canonization for John Bunyan, author of “Pilgrim’s Progress,” and 31 others including the missionary- explorer David Livingston. S. C. Clipsheet Wine and cheese parties have been substituted for Sunday Evensong at St. Mary’s Anglican Church, Peterborough, England. The gatherings will be used to encourage discussion. “I feel sure,” the vicar says, “they will talk more freely after a glass or two of wine.” S. C. Clipsheet ★ Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller has contributed $50,000 to the Citizenship Education Program of the United Church of Christ, it was announced by the Rev. Howard E. Spragg, executive vice president (chief executive officer), of the United Church Board for Homeland Ministries. UCC Office of Communication ★ FIRST WOMAN-MINISTER DIES IN LONDON — The first woman in Great Britain to be ordained by any denomination has died at the age of 79. She was the Rev. Claud Coltman, ordained to the Congregational ministry in 1917. Among the pastorates held by Mr. and Mrs. Coltman was that of the famous King’s Weigh House Congregational Church in London. FRENCH UNION PLANS POSTPONED Strasbourg — Plans for a “Union of the evangelical churches” in France, in which two Lutheran and two Reformed Churches would have been involved, have been shelved. The Reformed Church of France, and the Reformed Church in Alsace-Lorraine had approved the union scheme; the Lutheran churches have now turned it down, mainly on the grounds that the draft foresees as a first stage a form of union, on the pattern of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), in which the two traditions would work closely together but exist separately, side by side. They also pointed out the danger of centralization and against the tendency of solving problems of disunity by mere organizational means. THE CHURCH AND THE NEAR EAST REFUGEES Behind the diplomatic and political issues at stake in the current Near East crisis is the not too well-known story that the World Council of Churches has raised $1.6 million through world-wide related agencies and churches and through relief programs of the Lutheran World Federation and the YMCA/YW- CA. The West Jordan Committee of the Near East Council of Churches has four Medical clinics operating for 23 villages and has implemented a road and building construction program. In Syria, a joint Government-World Council of Churches housing project is creating a new town outside the ancient city of Damascus for 2,000 families who are refugees from Quneitra. The construction of 1,200 single family prefabricated shelters for the more than 1,600 families in tents in Amman is a relief project of the Near East Council of Churches and the WCC. According to Richard Bulter, the Near East emergency secretary of the WCC, “these projects have been welcomed by the Israeli Government.” “As the delegates at the United Nations Assembly discuss the problems,” commented Mr. Butler, “the daily task of feeding the hungry and homeless and clothing the poor continues.” UCC Herald
