7-28-2010
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Presbyterians Week Headlines
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[3] 200 Women per Year Killed in India after being Accused of Witchcraft
[4] Guest Speaker at PCUSA General Assembly Rouses Delegates by Straying from the Party Line
[5] PCUSA Board of Pensions Directed to Study Providing Domestic Partner Benefits by 2012
[8] Church of Scotland Suggests Harnessing Scottish Saints in Order to Boost Tourism
[9] Crown and Covenant Publications Offers Digital Versions of The Book of Psalms for Worship
[10] Death of Calvin Synod Minister the Rev. Frank Juhasz- Shepherd
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Dr. Charles Wilson published issue number thirty-three of ARPTalk on 24 July 2010, containing two articles.
The first article is titled “The News from Lake Woe-Be-Gone: The Meeting of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church In The United States of America in Minneapolis,” and reports on seven events at the meeting showing that “that any resemblance that now exists between the [Presbyterian Church (PCUSA)] and historic Christianity is only vestigial or accidental.”
The second article titled “The Commission was Right!!! The Lawsuit is Still Active!,” reports on the bad-faith repudiation of the compromise worked out at the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church (ARP)’s June 2010 General Synod meeting so that the lawsuit against the ARP Synod could be dropped. Dr. Wilson reports upon the additional demands being made by attorneys for the plaintiffs, including that the jurisdiction of church courts be taken away from ARP church sessions, presbyteries, and the General Synod for taking action against the plaintiffs for behaviors including their egregious violation of the prohibition of Christians using the secular courts to sue fellow Christians contained in I Corinthians 6.
The article concludes with a factual review of the findings of the Moderator’s Commission on Erskine appointed at the 2009 ARP meeting of the General Synod, showing the findings to be completely factual and thus belying the claims of Erskine supporters that misrepresent the findings of the Moderator’s Commission.
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+ ARPTalk, wilson6114@bellsouth.net
+ Presbyterian Church (PCUSA), 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40202, 888-728-7228, Fax: 502-569-8005
+ Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, 1 Cleveland Street Suite 110, Greenville, South Carolina, 29601, 864-232-8297, Fax: 864-271-3729
+ Erskine College and Theological Seminary, 2 Washington Street, Due West, South Carolina 29639, 864-379-2131, 864-379-2167, norman@erskine.edu
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The United Church of Christ (UCC) Daily Devotional Stillspeaking for 21 July 2010 titled “Is Jesus God?” by UCC minister William C. Green begins “Jesus is not God, but God is like Jesus.”
Green continues: “While the church has debated the doctrine of Jesus’ divinity, the New Testament is not doctrine. And the Bible is not theology: it’s an anthology of stories about God often culminating in twist endings that bring O’Henry to mind. In these narratives we see God imperfectly, “as in a mirror dimly.” But we still see.”
The devotional continues with a mention of Moses meeting God in the Burning Bush, another of the Prodigal Son, another of the Good Samaritan, then a brief application before concluding with prayer: “God, may I find your love in the common bushes of my life and in other strange places. Amen.”
In addition to his being a UCC minister, William C. Green is the Director of Long Looking, a consultancy service specializing in fundraising and education for congregations. His new book, 52 Ways to Ignite Your Congregation: Generous Giving, has just been published.
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+ United Church of Christ, 700 Prospect Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44115, 216-736-2100, ogm@ucc.org
+ Long Looking, Post Office Box 20293, Shaker Heights, Ohio 44120, 216-548-5939, longlooking@gmail.com
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[3] 200 Women per Year Killed in India after being Accused of Witchcraft
A 26 July 2010 article in the Herald Sun titled “200 ‘Witches’ Killed in India Each Year – Report” reports that 200 women in India each year, usually single or widowed with money or land wanted by someone else, in poverty-stricken villages in the states of Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, and Orissa, are accused of witchcraft and then killed. Many more women commit suicide out of shame after being accused, then humiliated by being forced to ingest human excrement and paraded naked through their village.
The charity Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra estimates that in India, 2500 women since 1995 have been killed after being accused of witchcraft.
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+ Herald Sun, Post Office Box 14999, Melbourne City MC, 8001 Australia, 03-9292-2000, Fax: 03-9292-2112, news@heraldsun.com.au
+ Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra, 68/1 Surya lok Colony, Rajpur Road, Dehradun – 248001, Uttarakhand, India, 91-135-2746071, Fax: 91-135-2741931
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[4] Guest Speaker at PCUSA General Assembly Rouses Delegates by Straying from the Party Line
A 21 July 2010 article by Terry Mattingly of the Scripps Howard News Service titled “Religion: Shocking Words to the Presbyterians” describes the scene at the recently-concluded Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) 219th General Assembly in Minneapolis, Minnesota, when guest speaker Father Siarhei Hardun of the Orthodox Church of Belarus delivered a message as “ecumenical advisory delegate,” and shocked the audience by thanking the PCUSA for the aid they provided to rebuild churches after communism was overthrown twenty years ago, and then adding:
“Christian morality is as old as Christianity itself. It doesn’t need to be invented now. Those attempts to invent new morality look for me like attempts to invent a new religion — a sort of modern paganism.
“When people say that they are led and guided by the Holy Spirit to do it, I wonder if it is the same Holy Spirit that inspired the Bible, if it is the same Holy Spirit that inspires the Holy Orthodox Church not to change anything in Christian doctrine and moral standards. But if it is the same Spirit, I wonder … if there are different spirits acting in different denominations and inspiring them to develop in different directions and to create different theologies and different morals?”
Father Harden then closed by citing Romans 12:2: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
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+ The Republic, 333 2nd Street, Columbus, Indiana 47201, 812-379-5769, Contact Page
+ Scripps Howard News Service, 1090 Vermont Avenue Northwest, Suite 1000, Washington DC 20005, 202-408-1484, Fax: 202-408-2062, copelandp@shns.com
+ Presbyterian Church (PCUSA), 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40202, 888-728-7228, Fax: 502-569-8005
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[5] PCUSA Board of Pensions Directed to Study Providing Domestic Partner Benefits by 2012
At the July 2010 meeting of the Board of Directors of the Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) Board of Pensions (BoP), BoP management was encouraged to carefully and thoroughly consider the recommendation of the July 2010 219th General Assembly that the BoP provide domestic partner benefits. The BoP was directed to bring proposals for discussion to the directors’ meeting in the summer of 2011 with the intention of making formal recommendations in the fall of 2011. The BoP board hopes to implement initial changes in 2012.
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+ Presbyterian Church (PCUSA), 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40202, 888-728-7228, Fax: 502-569-8005
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A 23 July 2010 article by Ann Jungen in the La Crosse Tribune titled “Former Church Bookkeeper Charged with Embezzling [US]$360,000” reports that an audit of the books of North Presbyterian Church in La Crosse, Wisconsin, determined that former bookkeeper Ann Carson, since 2000, wrote US$364,418.12 in checks to herself from six church accounts. Carson was charged 23 July 2010 with one count of theft from a business setting over [US]$10,000, and is scheduled to be arraigned 29 July 2010 in the La Crosse County [Wisconsin] Circuit Court.
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+ La Crosse Tribune, 401 North Third Street, La Crosse, Wisconsin 54601, 608-782-9710, 608-782-9723, rusty.cunningham@lee.net
+ Presbyterian Church (PCUSA), 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40202, 888-728-7228, Fax: 502-569-8005
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Reformed Church in America (RCA) General Secretary the Rev. Wes Granberg-Michaelson announced 19 July 2010 that he will complete his service in the fall of 2011.
Granberg-Michaelson has served as RCA general secretary since 1994.
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+ Reformed Church in America, 4500 60th Street Southeast, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49512, 800-968-6065, questions@rca.org
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[8] Church of Scotland Suggests Harnessing Scottish Saints in Order to Boost Tourism
A 26 July 2010 article by George Mair in The Scotsman titled “Scotland’s Saints Begged to Perform Miracles for Tourism” reports that the Church of Scotland, in an editorial in the Kirk’s Life and Work magazine, has suggested using the religious significance and fascinating history of Scottish saints in order to draw more tourists to Scotland.
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+ The Scotsman, Barclay House, 108 Holyrood Road, Edinburgh EH8 8AS, Scotland, 131-620-8620
+ Church of Scotland, 121 George Street, Edinburgh EH2 4YN, Scotland, 0131-225-5722
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[9] Crown and Covenant Publications Offers Digital Versions of The Book of Psalms for Worship
Crown & Covenant Publications has completed preparation of digital versions of The Book of Psalms for Worship that can be obtained for a yearly license fee for churches that do not have pew copies of the publication.
Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America congregations that have purchased The Book of Psalms for Worship can get free access to the digital versions by contacting Josh Wisley at josh@crownandcovenant.com.
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+ Crown & Covenant Publications, 7408 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15208, 412-241-0436, info@crownandcovenant.com
+ Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA), 7408 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15208, 412-731-1177, Fax: 412-731-8861
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[10] Death of Calvin Synod Minister the Rev. Frank Juhasz- Shepherd
After 55 years of Christian ministry the Rev. Frank Juhasz Shepherd was taken by our Creator, Redeemer, and Comforter God. Frank was ordained by the Presbyterian Church (PCUSA), and was affiliated with the United Church of Christ, the Western Reserve Association, and the Calvin Synod Conference.
For the last several years, Juhasz-Shepherd preached the Gospel at the East Side Hungarian Lutheran Church of Cleveland, Ohio, and was available for pulpit supply for Hungarian Reformed Churches in the Cleveland vicinity.
He was a musician and composer, and he was educated in psychology and counseling.
In 1956 he was working for the Hungarian Refugee program in California.
Frank’s funeral service will be at the West Side Hungarian Reformed Church of Cleveland, Ohio, at 11:30 a.m. EDT on Friday, 30 July 2010.
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+ Calvin Synod, C/O Rt. Rev. Koloman K. Ludwig, General Secretary, 7319 Tapper Avenue, Hammond, Indiana 46324, 219-931-4321, kkludwig@aol.com
+ Presbyterian Church (PCUSA), 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40202, 888-728-7228, Fax: 502-569-8005
+ United Church of Christ, 700 Prospect Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44115, 216-736-2100, ogm@ucc.org
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