Calvin Synod Herald, 1978 (78. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1978-01-01 / 1-2. szám
6 CALVIN SYNOD HERALD WHEREAS, President Carter in his United Nations speech of March 17, 1977, and elsewhere has declared human rights to be of high priority for his administration in its foreign policy, and WHEREAS, The Congress of the United States has attached to many bills dealing with military assistance, aid, trade and loans what has become known as “the Harkin Amendment” and the “Fraser Amendment” (that assistance in these forms by the United States shall be withheld to nations where there is evidence of “consistent patterns of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights, or torture, or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, prolonged detention without charges and trials, and other flagrant denial of the human rights of life, liberty, or the security of the person” unless it can be shown that the assistance will “directly benefit needy people”). THEREFORE, because of these overwhelming concerns for the human rights of all of God’s children, the Eleventh Genera] Synod makes the following resolutions for action: RUMANIA RESOLVED, that the 11th General Synod of the United Church of Christ supports the legitimate strivings of minorities in the Socialist Republic of Rumania with respect to the freedom to exercise their fundamental human rights and cultural freedom and urges the World Council of Churches and the World Alliance of Reformed Churches to continue to assert the facts in regard to human rights and cultural freedom violations of minorities in Rumania (including the recent earthquake damages of the Reformed Church in Transylvania) and to assure the implementation of their constitutional rights with respect to fundamental human rights and cultural freedom, and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Eleventh General Synod of the United Church of Christ urges the government of the United States to follow its stated policy of monitoring the human rights practices of nations while reviewing the most favored nation status, and that if the Socialist Republic of Rumania continues to restrict the freedom of its minorities and does not respond to the specific actions stated above, then the llh General Synod of the United Church of Christ urges the government of the United States to terminate 1975 United States/Rumanian Trade Agreement and the most-favored nation status of the Socialist Republic of Rumania. MINUTES, 11th General Synod, U.C.C. Washington, D. C., July 1-5, 1977., Pp. 71-73. ■> NEW YEAR, 1978 Renouncing henceforth all thought of looking back, and joyful with infinite gratitude, never fear to precede the dawn to praise to bless and sing CHRIST YOUR LORD. — From the Rule of Taizé Taizé, France. CONSULTATION ON CHURCH UNION PRINCETON, N.J. — A projected timetable calling for responses in the mid-1980s by the top legislative bodies of 10 U.S. churches to a proposed plan for their union has been approved by the executive committee of the Consultation on Church Union. Preceding such a consideration will be delegated assemblies of COCU, known as plenary sessions, in 1979, 1981 and 1983 to complete work on the revised plan of union. The movement toward union of the churches began in 1960. The 1976 COCU plenary accepted most of the document before it which was a redrafting of the theological section of a plan first submitted in 1970. However, the 1976 delegates referred the chapter dealing with ministry to the participating churches for further study and debate at a future plenary. This debate will take place at a plenary set for March 5-9, 1979, at the John Marshall Hotel in Richmond, Va. Basis for the Richmond discussions will be the work of a theology commission which between now and 1979 will receive the results of the churches’ studies on ministry and sharpen the issues. Dean Lewis Mudge of McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, 111., has been named head of the commission. He is a member of the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. After the Richmond meeting the chapter on ministry will be revised in light of the debate there and will be submitted to a plenary in 1981. The 1981 session also will receive the experiences and findings of a commission studying the regional structures of the participating churches; another sponsoring experimental clusters of congregations; and a third promoting eucharistic fellowship at the local level. After the 1981 plenary a drafting committee will prepare another revision of a possible plan of union for submission to a plenary in 1983. If it is received favorably by that body, it will go to the top legislative bodies of the participating churches for response. The Rev. Dr. Gerald F. Moede, general secretary of COCU, said the exact nature of the response to be sought in the mid-1980s will be determined later. Setting the timetable for the next steps in the union process was a major action of the COCU Executive Committee when it met in New Orleans, La., Sept. 18-20. In addition to approving the timetable, the executive committee also gave approval to a new anthology of eucharistic services developed by the COCU Commission on Worship and presented by Prof. Keith Watkins of Indianapolis, Ind., a member of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). The work, entitled “Word Bread Cup,” will be published in the spring of 1978. It will provide a variety of prayers and texts in eucharistic settings. The first COCU eucharistic service, published in 1968 and authorized for experimental use in all participating churches, has received substantial favorable response. In another action at their New Orleans meeting, the COCU executive committee approved publication of a Lenten study book for 1978 on the theme “Liberation and Unity,” the third such release in a series begun in 1976. The African Methodist Episcopal Zion publishing house will be responsible for the 1978 edition. Dr. Rachel Henderlite of Austin, Texas, a minister of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, is president of the Consultation.
