Church Meetings 2007

The Apostolic Catholic Church is being blessed
with dynamic national growth. A well formed
clergy and laity is our continued strength.

Pat was ordained at the Church of the Beatitudes, in Lansdowne, PA during the Fall conference. Pat has been assigned to the Christ Servant parish in Tampa FL.

It is unanimous says
Bishop Chuck Leigh,
"we are the arms
and legs of Jesus Christ."

Rev. Ed Jansen gave us some
Audio Visual presentations
that reinforced that Charism .

Rev.'s Bernie Callahan,
Ed Jansen, Glenn Galtare
and Deacon Suzan
Relax at Ruby Tuesdays.

Is there a better place in the world to discover God in others?
Our group shouts a unanimous "NO!" Thank you, Larry DiPaul, Fr. Bob McDermott, Kevin, Theresa, Jamie, Rosa and all the staff.

"Now God gives us many kinds of special abilities, but it is the same Holy Spirit who is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service to God but it is the same Lord we are serving. There are many ways in which God works in our lives, but the same God who does the work in and through all of us who are God's. The Holy Spirit displays God's power through each of us as a means of helping the entire church."

The special charism of the church is service to the poor and marginalized. We are radically committed to social and economic justice

Planning is well underway for our sem-annual meeting. This
spring we will assemble at the

for discussion, planning, prayer and fun. We will be a mile from the historic sites of Philadelphia and in the heartland of soft pretzels, scrapple and cheesesteaks!

If you would like to attend call Father Bernie Callahan for all the information you need!! We welcome everyone!

Report on the General Assembly of the Latin
American Council of Churches (CLAI)
Buenos Aires, February 19-25, 2007

Report on the General Assembly of the Latin
American Council ofChurches (CLAI) in Buenos Aires, February 19-25, 2007 by the Rev.Fred Morris, Assembly Representative of the Apostolic Catholic Church.

I first went to Latin America in 1964, when I went to Brazil as a missionary of the United Methodist Church. I spent the next eleven years in that country, until October, 1974. I then returned to the U.S., where I spent most of two years in Washington, DC, lobbying for human rights in Latin America.
In June, 1976, I went to Costa Rica, where I founded and directed a small construction company and later the Institute for Central American Studies, which published a monthly newsletter on the region called Mesoamerica. In June of 1988, I returned to the U.S. and pastorates in the United Methodist Church in the Northern Illinois Annual Conference. In 1995 I took formal retirement from the United Methodist ministry and returned to Brazil, with my family, where I taught for nearly two years at the Methodist University in Rio de Janeiro.
In January, 1997, I was invited by the Florida Council of Churches to become its Executive Director and we moved to the Orlando area, where we lived and worked for the next nine years. In June, 2003, I accepted the invitation to become the Director for Latin American and Caribbean Relations of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA, a position I held for nearly two years. During that time I attended a number of events in Latin America and in Cuba sponsored by CLAI.

In 2006, I received an invitation from CLAI to attend their General Assembly in Buenos Aires in February. They extended this invitation in part as a courtesy for our past relationships, and in part because they knew of the work of the Apostolic Catholic Church and wanted to have at least a symbolic representation from the North American Curches.
Thanks to the generosity of the Apostolic Catholic Church, I was able to participate in the General Assembly. The week-long Assembly was held at Methodist Colegio in Buenos Aires, Colegio Ward, located in one of the better-off suburbs of that great city of more than 10 million persons. There were more than 500 persons taking part in the Assembly, about 150 of them being official delegates (with voice and vote) and the other visitors and invited guests.

A brief word about Argentina at this moment in time: after several years of corrupt and inept governments that literally bankrupt the country, the current president Kirchner embarked on a new tack when he took over some three years ago. Repudiating the massive foreign debt that was suffocating the country and had given him a country with more than 40% of the people living in poverty-in a country that in the 70s and 80s was the most prosperous country in all of South America, Kirchner has managed to get the country back on its feet and moving toward a semblance of its former prosperity.

The big item on the agenda at the beginning of the week-long meeting was the election of the new president, who will serve for the next five years. Things heated up quickly, as there were four principal candidates: Bishop Julio Murray, of the Episcopal church in Panama; Rev. Oscar Bolioli, president of the Methodist church in Uruguay and for more than 20 years the Latin American person for the NCC in New York; Rev. Felipe Adolfo, an Argentine who has lived for many years in Ecuador (and who was the General Secretary for CLAI for many years and Noeymi Espinoza of Honduras, who has been the head of that country's ecumenical aid agency for more than 25 years.
Conventional wisdom was the Bishop Julio would not be elected because the out-going president is an Episcopalian bishop from the Dominican Republic. Noeymi was considered a long shot, as they have never elected a woman, and the Mesoamerican region had already indicated its preference for Bishop Julio, which sort of left her without the support of her own region. Bolioli is widely criticized because of his reputation for having been very high-handed in his administration of NCC and Church World Service funds in the region when he was responsible for those agencies. But he seemed to feel that a lot of people "owed" him, just for that reason. Many were supporting Felipe Adolfo because the current General Secretary, Israel Batista, a Cuban Methodist who worked for the World Coundil of Churches for some 10 years before taking his current position, had made it known that if Felipe were elected, he would resign. As there a a number of delegates who are impatient with what they perceive as Israel's "autocratic" administration, they were campaigning for Felipe in an effort to unseat Israel, who has 2-3 years to go on his current contract. (As you can perceive by now, the "debate" was running wide and deep at the General Assembly.)

The final result was a surprise to everyone, as Bishop Julio led on the first two ballots and won on the third, by 80-66 over Felipe. There was general rejoicing over this and Julio made a strong acceptance speech in which he observed with a great deal of pride that this is the first time that an Afro-descendant has ever been chosen for such a position in Latin America-and that it was about time. He clearly has a progressive agenda and promises to bring strong leadership to CLAI. Every day began with a time of worship and Bible study. The liturgical aspects were uniformly splendid throughout the week. The Rev. Elza Tamez, a Mexican Methodist who has lived in Costa Rica for many years and was for several years the President of the Biblical University of Latin America, provided outstanding inspiration with her Bible studies on two days; The Rev. Nestor Miguez gave two outstanding studies and the Rev. Elizabeth Salazar, a Pentecostal theology professor from Chile, also provided inspiring leadership. Following the worship and study, each day one of the five regional groupings of CLAI (Mesoamerica, Brazil, Andian group, River Platte and the Caribbean) presented a document of theological reflections from their regions. These documents were a sort of consensus from each region and because of that were a bit bland and generalized. The expected comments were made by all about the need for more concern for justice, peace and efforts to eliminate poverty. It would have been more helpful if the documents had been more specific and even somewhat controversial. After the theological presentations, there was an extended period of discussion in small groups of 15-25. These were much more specific and produced some conflicts-and thus were more creative. The most surprising thing about this gathering was that there was nothing on the agenda about this historical moment in Latin America. No mention of Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, Lula of Brazil, the progressive presidents elected in Bolivia, Chile, Uruguay, Ecuador and, of course, Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua. No mention of human rights, imperialism, globalization. Poverty was mentioned in a paternalistic way (we need to "help" the poor, but no mention of how we might do that as churches). There were a number of people working to get something put on the agenda to discuss all of this, feeling, as I did, that this should be a central part of the agenda of CLAI. However the agenda was never changed and a great opportunity was missed. One of the incredible realities of 2007 is that for the first time in the history of Latin America, there is a widespread feeling of solidarity among the peoples of the region. Since the days of the Conquest, the ruling powers (Spain and Portugal, followed by Great Britain and now the U.S.) have been successful in "dividing and conquering." The peoples of every country in Latin America and the Caribbean know all about the United States and what is going on there, but until very recently, have known very little (and cared less) about their neighbors in the area. The main impact of Hugo Chavez of Venezuela has been to get the peoples of the area to come to understand that they are all "in this together." The idea of a Bolivarian Revolution, which is what Chavez is promoting, not a Venezuelan one, has caught on. In over-simplified terms, what that means is simply the understanding that if the peoples and countries of Latin America and the Caribbean are to gain any independence from the imperial powers (currently the US) they must join together. And since about 2003, when Chavez won his fourth election since 1999 by defeating an effort supported by the US to "recall" him and his government, that message of Latin American and Caribbean solidarity has been catching on. In 1990, when the Sandinistas lost their effort at reelection because of the Reagan-Bush Contra war against their people, very few people in all of Latin America even paid attention to what was going on in Nicaragua.

In 2005-6, virtually everyone in the continent was watching the elections in Chile, Uruguay, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Venezuela. The election in Ecuador this year was observed anxiously by everyone. This is something totally new in the hemisphere and bodes well for the future. One of the reasons that CLAI ignored all of this is that the leadership of CLAI has been leaning over "sideways" to cultivate and please the Pentecostal and Evangelical branches of Christianity in the region in recent years. This has meant seeking to avoid anything that might be considered to be controversial. And, I suspect, this was one of the reasons why Bishop Julio was elected to be the new president, as it is clear that he will not avoid controversy "at all costs." This also bodes well for CLAI.

On a personal level, it was wonderful for me meet people I have known over the years in the region and have them embrace me with genuine enthusiasm. There is a genuine puzzlement throughout the area over the absence of the NCC. What the current leadership of the NCC in New York simply does not know or understand is that the NCC has a wonderful and glorious history in Latin America and the Caribbean. During the 70s, 80s and into the 90s, it played an heroic role in defending human rights against the incredible violations of those rights by the dictatorial regimes that ruled the region. As many, if not most, of those regimes had been put in place by the US, often by the efforts of the CIA, the clear opposition to those regimes expressed by the NCC's defense of human rights, was a beacon of hope. In addition, Church World Service was instrumental in many pioneer efforts to aid people, such as the Street Children ministries in Brazil and grassroots developmental projects throughout the hemisphere. In addition, there is a widespread and genuine longing on the part of the churches of Latin America and the Caribbean to have close and warm relations with the churches of North America. Most of the churches in the area had their origins in the missionary efforts of North American churches, and still have relationships with the "mother church." But they long for a broader kind of relationship with more than than their own denomination. There is a basic kind of ecumenical feeling that would like to see the new solidarity movement in Latin America and the Caribbean include the churches and peoples of the US as well.

One final note: there is a clear and universal repudiation among the leaders of the churches of CLAI, whether from the traditional churches, Pentecostal or Evangelical, of President Bush and his policies. I have never seen such complete unanimity on any topic in my 43 years in Latin America.

Submitted by the Rev. Fred Morris
Apostolic Catholic Church
Calle de los Caballeros, #49
Coronado, Republic of Panama

TO THE CHURCHES AND ECUMENICAL ORGANIZATIONS OF LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN

We met in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, more than 500 delegates and guests of the member churches of the Andean, the Caribbean and Greater Colombia, Brazil, Río de la Plata , and Mesoamerican regions that make up the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI) in the framework of the 5 th General Assembly of the said ecumenical agency. A chorus of voices, colors, smells, rhythms, songs, and flavors has celebrated the diversity of our spiritualities and identities, in intimate communion and challenge toward new times and hopes. It is the confidence in the living God, the one that has upheld us forging the resistance to continue on during the difficult times and the one that inspires us in this "new moment" of advancing for God's Kingdom.

We celebrate with joy and hope the new signs that are given in Venezuela , Nicaragua , Bolivia , Ecuador , and Chile , countries in which efforts are made to elevate the dignity of those less favored, in concrete actions for the integral development of our societies. From theological and biblical reflection we feel the movement of Grace and the Spirit that frees us for life and that made us to respire and aspire together in the context of new breezes and fresh air in the integration of the peoples of our Indo-Afro-Latin American continent. Likewise, we have assumed the challenge of the construction of a new justice and a Culture of Peace, starting with the formation and the decolonization of our minds and realities in the social, economic, political, and religious environment. As the Peruvian congresswoman María Sumire, special guest to our Assembly, said, "It makes it necessary for us to give of ourselves for the other, to serve our brothers and sisters, and to try to work for the welfare of our peoples."

Causes for concern for this Assembly were the war perpetrated in the Middle East, the situation of armed conflict in Colombia, as well as the crisis in the relations between Uruguay and Argentina in relation to the construction of pulp mills, the violation of Human Rights in the Guantánamo Prison, Cuba, as well as the confinement of the five Cuban political prisoners in United States prisons. This has all been fundamental for reflection, prayer, and a challenge for action. Nevertheless, hope is renewed in seeing the success of the initiatives on behalf of the formation and training in the mediation of conflicts, the promotion of peace in the familial, social, and structural context, which is a fruit of the Latin American Campaign for the Decade to Overcome Violence. The presence of the Nobel Peace Laureate, Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, as well as governmental authorities, NGO's, representatives of the Roman Catholic Church, and prophets of our times, impress and inspire us daily. In that way, we maintain the balance between the memory of resistance and the defense of life, and the hope to see fulfilled in these times the promise of the Psalmist, "Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other" (Psalm 85:10).

During this Assembly, we had the presence of churches and cooperating agencies of North America and Europe , who brought us close to their own struggles and hopes. These have presented the invitation to renew shared mission in conviction and joint action, to mutually accompany and support each other. Also we have highlighted the presence of those who came before us. Remembering those beloved brothers and sisters, who made the path by walking, reaffirmed our commitment of giving continuity to their labors. In the same way, we affirm the new horizons of the Assembly in receiving greater participation in the decision-making processes of the Council from the youth, indigenous peoples, and women, maintaining the validity of their respective programs without renouncing their wide-ranging importance to the rest of CLAI's work.

We warned on the risk that faces churches in accommodating themselves to systems that are opposed to the values of a Theology of the Kingdom of God . It is therefore urgent to continue exercising our prophetic voice in denouncing injustices, violations of human, economic, social, cultural, and environmental rights, thus announcing a liberating theology that practices a communal, educational, and transforming ethic.

We need to deepen our commitment in affirming full and abundant life in matters vital to the reality of our peoples such as the annulment of the external debt, illegitimate and odious, of the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, the decolonization of those peoples that have not yet exercised their right to self determination, the affirmation of the rights of native peoples, African descendents, women, children, youth, people with disabilities, and other social subjects. Ethical challenges still continue for a stewardship of creation that helps to awaken a responsible awareness to stop and to pull back growing environmental contamination, global warming, and the tendency towards privatization of natural resources. Similarly, we assume the challenge of a contextual mission and evangelization that is inclined towards the conversion of lives and structures in favor of abundant life. (Juan 10:10)

In view of the reality that our peoples live in, we have been witnesses of the Grace of God, touching God's people. Grace that acts in unexpected ways, surprising us on the path, "writing straight with crooked lines." It invites us to further spread this grace in the celebration of God's mercy and love that are made present today and that last for ever in the fulfillment of the justification of God's Grace for liberation and for life.

We leave you with a blessing that we shared in one of our worship services and that faithfully reflects the Spirit that accompanies us daily:

"May the love of Tata God,
More immense than the plains
Cover you as with a shawl,
Blow as the wind or shine as the sun.

May the great mercy
Of the Son who frees us
Change within and without
Heart and history.

And may your Eternal Spirit
Who guides and consoles
Continue showing the path
Until your Reign triumphs."

(F. Pagura)

Are you a priest with a ministry? A priest looking to start a ministry? A lay person with a possible vocation? Someone interested in the Apostolic Catholic Catholic Church? Call Father Bernie at 484-477-5834 and see what all the excitement is about! Maybe you'll want to attend. Are you for real? Do you seek authentic ministry? Well we may be just what you are looking for.