Calvin Synod Herald, 1980 (80. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1980-07-01 / 7-8. szám

8

PRESBYTERIAN COMMISSION ORDERS MINISTER RE-EXAMINED

The United Presbyterian Church’s Permanent Judicial Commission has ordered a local presbytery to re-examine a UCC minister who seeks standing within it. He is pastor of a joint UCCPresbyterian congregation.

Mansfield M. Kaseman, co-pastor of the Rockville United Church, MD, was originally granted standing by the National Capital Union Presbytery last March. The controversy began when a dissenting minority of the presbytery filed an appeal. They were dissatisfied with Mr. Kaseman’s response to a question on the divinity of Jesus. The Judicial Commission ruled that Mr. Kaseman’s examination had not been conducted properly, because he had not appeared before the presbytery’s committee on the ministry.

Mr. Kaseman reports that he has now been examined by the ministry committee, which includes one of the complainants, and that it voted unanimously in his favor. In addition, the Rockville congregation issued a press release which expressed full satisfaction with Mr. Kaseman’s qualifications for standing with the presbytery and reaffirmed their commitment to ecumenical ministry and theological plurality.

The examination by the presbytery is scheduled for March 18. Curtis Claire, Central Atlantic Conference minister, feels that Mr. Kaseman’s theological beliefs will cause no problem. “Mr. Kaseman is well within the mainstream Christian framework,” he says. “This will come out when the case is complete.”

Historically, all clergy in UCC-Presbyterian union churches have received standing in both denominations.

KYP 3/1/8Ö

EIGHT CONCERNS BEING TESTED AS POSSIBLE PRIORITIES -ECOLOGICAL JUSTICE to address the complexities of world economics, the just distribution and the quality and styles of human life; to call the church’s members to compassionate and exemplary stewardship.

EVANGELISM

to stimulate the growth of local churches; to enhance the life and ministry of the whole church.

FAITH

to contribute to the spiritual development of persons; to discover and examine the theological and biblical authority of the church’s life and mission. FAMILY LIFE

to respond creativity to changing patterns of family life in today’s society.

HUMAN RIGHTS

to meet basic human needs, including freedom and justice; to secure and maintain the rights of peoples in relationship to economic and political structures.

HUNGER

to sustain and expand programs to alleviate hunger and to remove its root causes.

PEACE

to decrease the militarization of economies and the reliance on military solutions to global tensions; to reverse the proliferation of nuclear armaments and the arms race; to develop policies and programs that establish peace.

YOUTH

to enlist and include youth and young adults, with their gifts and enthusiasm, as a vital part of the life and ministry of the church.

KYP, May 15, 1980

UCC CHURCHES HAVE BEEN GENEROUS TO KAMPUCHEA

UCC churches and members have been “more than generous” in contributing to relief of hunger and agricultural rehabilitation in Kampuchea (Cambodia) , according to Alfred C. Bartholomew, general secretary of UC Board for World Ministries’ world service division. He reported that $485,000 had been received as of the beginning of April.

Dr. Bartholomew cited eyewitness accounts by representatives of Church World Service and other Western relief agencies that food is getting to people in rural areas and signs of massive starvation have diminished. But a new crisis presented itself in April, when the food from the West and the winter harvest in Kampuchea were used up.

Action for Relief and Rehabilitation in Kampuchea, a consortium of seven church relief agencies, mostly financed by Church World Service, is submitting a $12 million 1980 rehabilitation program to the Phnom Penh government. Some money is in hand, but another $3 million needs to be raised, notes Dr. Bartholomew.

Howard Schomer, UCBWM world issues secretary, has revealed that on Feb. 1, Gov. Richard D. Lamm of CO sent $20,000 from the CO Trust for Combodian Refugees to the Board to be

CALVIN SYNOD HERALD

used “to alleviate the suffering of the Kampuchean refugees.” The money is being used by the World Conference on Religion and Peace to “adopt” a community of Kampuchean refugees and provide for their needs, according to Dr. Schomer.

A nine-page report by Dr. Schomer on the refugee work of the Khmer People’s National Liberation Front is available upon request from WCRP, 777 U.N. Plaza, New York, NY 10017.

KYP 5/1/80

UCC-DISCIPLES REPS SET JOINT STUDY TIMETABLE

Goals, objectives and a time-table for study among the UCC and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) were adopted by the twenty-member Steering Committee on Union Conversations, which met April 20-22 in Cincinnati, OH.

The Committee projected joint studies by neighboring congregations and individual study where distance prevents cooperation. Resource materials will be provided.

“This will get us to work right away at the grassroots level,” commented UCC President Avery D. Post and Disciples General Minister and President Kenneth L. Teegarten. The Committee, they said, will also itself study the meaning of the sacraments, nature of the ministry and mission of the church.

On the basis of responses from the churches, the Steering Committee expects to be prepared in 1985 to recommend either entry into formal negotiations or discontinuance of bilateral discussions toward union.

KYP 5/15/80

WEBBER BACKS BILL TO HELP HEARING-IMPAIRED

The hearing-impaired have become “victims of progress,” Helen B. Webber, general secretary of UC Board for Homeland Ministries’ division of health and welfare, told the House Subcommittee on Communications at a recent hearing. Ms. Webber testified in favor of a bill to forbid interstate sale of telephone receivers that are not compatible with hearing aids.

Speaking in behalf of the UCC national committee on church and persons with handicaps, Ms. Webber reported that deaf persons’ current inability to use the telephone has meant “job opportunities are limited, phone use during travel is restricted and emergency protection may not be available when there is danger to life and safety.”