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Lutheran bishops: The state’s “reliability has failed”

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Illinois

* A letter to pastors and church members from the state’s Lutheran Bishops…

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

As you may know by now, Lutheran Social Services of Illinois (LSSI) has announced a very significant reduction in both its workforce and its program portfolio for the delivery of essential human services to the people of Illinois. The cuts will eliminate 758 jobs, and a number of ministry programs, including those that serve senior adults, prisoner and family ministries, drug and alcohol rehabilitation, and community counseling services.

The announcement issued directly by LSSI does an excellent job of describing the nature of these reductions and the reasons for them. As your bishops, however, we felt it necessary to address you from a pastoral perspective and to emphasize several important points.

To begin, we can reassure you, as members of the LSSI board, that the process of evaluation, planning, praying and listening, though painful, was extraordinarily careful, considerate, and responsible. As with many expressions of the common good in Illinois, we have been placed in an untenable position by the paralysis of state government. Our Christian faith commitment to providing the highest quality of care to the state’s neediest citizens at the lowest possible cost also makes us vulnerable and highly dependent upon the reliability of our partners in civic leadership. That reliability has failed. We are owed more than $6 million by the state for services already delivered, with no foreseeable prospect of prompt reimbursement. We have exhausted all credit options available to us to sustain our ministries. The costs of these programs far exceed our current donative capacity to absorb the losses and continue the work. And even with frugal and expert stewardship, the financial margins in providing these services are far too thin to sustain us over long periods of uncertainty and non-payment. To continue without adjustment would threaten the security and well-being of all our employees, and might ultimately endanger the future of all our ministries.

Secondly, we want to emphasize our continued confidence and commitment with respect to the mission that remains strong–providing mental health services, affordable senior housing, services for at-risk families, residential support for adults with developmental disabilities, foster care, home care, and programs that help children maintain connections with incarcerated parents.

These services continue to be exemplary expressions of our common call to serve our neighbor in need, in Christ’s name and on Christ’s behalf.

Finally we encourage everyone to work and to pray in response to these developments. We ask you to work in your local communities and in the general society for justice, for responsible and compassionate government, and for fair and universal access to health and opportunity. And we ask you to pray, now, for the dedicated staff of LSSI who are losing their jobs, for courage and joy among those who continue to work, for wisdom among the board and the executive staff entrusted with the stewardship of this mission, for clarity and courage among our political leaders caught in the deadlock of the state’s financial crisis, and above all we ask you to pray for consolation and hope among the thousands upon thousands of children, families, vulnerable and invisible individuals who will be deeply affected by these changes.

It is a hard time for us. But we continue, as we always have, with complete confidence in the promise that God’s grace is sufficient for us, and that we will be restored and lifted up again to share Christ’s abundant love with even greater joy.

In Christ,

Bishop S. John Roth, Central Southern Illinois Synod
Bishop Gary Wollersheim, Northern Illinois Synod
Bishop Wayne N. Miller, Metropolitan Chicago Synod

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 11:01 am

Comments

Think of the outcry by the Republicans if a for-profit business was laying off 750+ people. It would automatically be recognized that it is bad for families and communities. The loss of services is devastating. The loss of jobs is just as devastating and has a tremendous ripple effect.

Comment by Montrose Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 11:04 am
The war on Christianity continues.

Comment by 47th Ward Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 11:07 am
I heard on NPR thus morning that even if LSSI got the money they are owed, they are past the tipping point and can’t recover to save the services that will be lost.

Comment by Huh? Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 11:07 am
47th - I am not sure that religion has anything to do with the problems that LSSI is having. The problem is a governor who is single minded in the destruction of unions. The second problem is the wealth of the governor. I have heard numerous stories about the lack of empathy by those people who are grossly rich and inherited money.

Comment by Huh? Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 11:14 am
Over the weekend, I was talking with the board chair for a large counseling agency. Of course, they are facing the same devastation.

What he told me next, absolutely shocked me. He said that the majority of their counseling was for gambling addiction!

Comment by Downstate Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 11:14 am
The pastors are confusing Christian ministry with the government-funded welfare state. Practicing Christian acts of charity doesn’t require a check from the government.

Comment by Muscular Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 11:15 am
–Finally we encourage everyone to work and to pray in response to these developments. We ask you to work in your local communities and in the general society for justice, for responsible and compassionate government, and for fair and universal access to health and opportunity. And we ask you to pray, now, for the dedicated staff of LSSI who are losing their jobs, for courage and joy among those who continue to work, for wisdom among the board and the executive staff entrusted with the stewardship of this mission, for clarity and courage among our political leaders caught in the deadlock of the state’s financial crisis, and above all we ask you to pray for consolation and hope among the thousands upon thousands of children, families, vulnerable and invisible individuals who will be deeply affected by these changes.-

That there is what we call in the trade “pastoral”. Great example. And perfect “charge” to the reader.”Work” and “Pray”, I can do that. I am doing that. I will continue to do that.

Comment by Honeybear Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 11:16 am
Fair and universal access is going to have to come from the feds…state and local governments may occasionally show creativity in programming, but it’s large-scale federal programs like Medicare, the ACA, food stamps, and Social Security that stick. Much needed are universal long-term care insurance managed by the feds and a nationally managed defined benefit program to supllement Social Security, not to mention the expansion of mandatory ACA coverage in certain areas such as substance misuse and behavioral medicine.

The US govt isn’t perfect. But it is far more reliable than individual states with their political ups and downs and uneven quality of governance.

Comment by Cassandra Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 11:17 am
Huh, I made a poorly articulated comment underscoring how conservatives who decry the commercialization of Christmas and seek to find other ways in which they have been victimized by the liberal media have been noticeably silent when a Republican Governor pulls the funding for those doing Christ’s work in Illinois.

Comment by 47th Ward Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 11:18 am
The extremely wealthy may lack empathy but the general public appears to be absolutely clueless about the vast gap between their lives and the lives of the one percent. I guess that’s why the revolution will be a long time a-coming.

Comment by Cassandra Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 11:19 am
Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart teamed up with LSSI
last week on this … Dart told the City Club of Chicago that as we cut social services on the front end we pay in prison costs later in a grossly unjust system …

Comment by NW Illinois Dem Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 11:20 am
Practicing Christian acts of charity doesn’t require a check from the government.

No one disagrees with you, its just that you completely miss the point. Christian acts of charity also shouldn’t be politicized by you or anyone else either.

Church-based charities do more than government work, they provide it through Christian based services. Citizens not only receive the help they need, they get that help through the most effective way. If you are really a Christian you would recognize that.

You have blinded your faith with your politics.

Comment by VanillaMan Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 11:21 am
Until services stop for the “general public”; they simply do not care. Shutting SOS offices will have the biggest impact…

Comment by Nobody_Cares Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 11:24 am
Publicizing one’s own charitable acts has always bothered me.

Comment by My New Handle Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 11:25 am
Is it safe to assume that when Bruce went to church yesterday, it wasn’t a Lutheran church.

Comment by Cheswick Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 11:26 am
What we know, because he was quoted as saying so - is that Bruce Rauner is deliberately starving state services so that the Democratic party would have to choose between the poor and the working middle class.

Rauner wants this to happen because he wants to see if Democrats will choose one over the other. Rauner believes that Illinois cannot support both, especially if, as governor, he completely denies funding for either.

Rauner is depending upon the Christian conscience of the Democratic Party because - well - because Bruce Rauner has no Christian conscience enough to prevent him from doing this.

This is really the problem. It isn’t the graft, fraud or waste of these social programs - it is the lack of having the moral character necessary to be a governor so that compromise and bipartisanship can find doable solutions to our problems.

If Rauner had a Christian conscience, he wouldn’t be doing this at all.

Comment by VanillaMan Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 11:30 am
It’s a bit surprising the church was either not willing or maybe not able to help the charity through this with a loan or other assistance until the charity gets paid.

Comment by Anonymous Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 11:30 am
Right on, Muscular. No one will stop anyone on this thread from donating to this group. This work is too important to be dependent on government.

Comment by Bass Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 11:30 am
== Practicing Christian acts of charity doesn’t require a check from the government. ===

No. You’ve got it backwards. LSSI and the other faith-based not-for-profits have been providing essential human services under contract with state government, usually at less cost than if the state agencies provided them in-house. Now that the state is welshing out on its end of the deal, they can no longer pay their operating costs.

Comment by olddog Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 11:30 am
No one will stop anyone on this thread from donating to this group. This work is too important to be dependent on government.

They take donations now, and many have given to this group because of the work they do. If you believe that government shouldn’t do this work, you aren’t living in a modern world. Charity failed to handle this a century ago. Your statement is flat-out foolish and ignorant.

Comment by VanillaMan Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 11:34 am
I missed the part of the new testament where Christ spoke out against the Roman government directing Caesar’s funds to helping the poor and the elderly. Years of Christian education failed me, I guess.

Comment by AC Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 11:39 am
If a politician helped land 750 jobs, he would break his arm patting himself on the back. Instead, rauner kills 750 jobs, and damages 4,700 lives. Hardly a whisper.

Shameful

Comment by Langhorne Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 11:45 am
Why why why does my tax money wind up in the coffers of tax exempt religious organizations that I do not support. Churches increasingly involve themselves in secular issues and seperation to them is meaningless so why cant we seperate them from the public’s cash box?

Comment by twg Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 11:45 am
The ELCA provides significant support to LSSI for delivery of the services, however, the church does not have the resources (ie. an extra 6 million sitting around) to carry the costs of continued staffing for these programs. Wish we could, but the money just isn’t there.

Comment by burbanite Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 11:51 am
TWG - my mom has helped out with the Catholic Charities in our home area. They provide services - and that is all. No ministry and no proselytizing. So form the “religious” aspect, the church or area organization provides a service in a normal fashion. The only thing “religious” about it is the name.

Comment by Team Sleep Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 11:56 am
The State signed contracts with these organizations- religious and non-religious alike. Outside of CWLP’s massive unpaid utility bill, what other vendors in the State are owed so much money (this goes to the other thread currently opened by Rich concerning Catholic Charities). And, DON’T point fingers that this was the past administration’s doing. The State, as have others in this country, made decisions over decades to “outsource” social services to save money. I imagine, CWLP will get ALL of its money, and willing to bet the social service providers won’t.

Comment by Anon221 Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 11:57 am
So much for the separation of Church and State.
Many polar groups want it or don’t want it as it affects their desires on any particular issue(s).

Comment by Federalist Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 12:01 pm
>It’s a bit surprising the church was either not willing or maybe not able to help the charity through this with a loan or other assistance until the charity gets paid.

It’s only surprising to those who don’t understand that’s what they’ve been doing since July 1.

Comment by Earnest Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 12:07 pm
=== It’s a bit surprising the church was either not willing or maybe not able to help the charity through this with a loan or other assistance until the charity gets paid. ===

It wouldn’t be surprising if you knew anything about church finances.

http://www.ncccusa.org/news/120209yearbook2012.html

Comment by olddog Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 12:18 pm
In March 2013, the SJ - R reported that Illinois owed LSSI nearly twice as much as now.

==Since 2008, the amount the state owes the agency has skyrocketed from $5 million to as much as $11 million, or 10 percent of its $112 million total annual revenues.==

How were they able to avoid such large closures and layoffs then, but not now? What changed?

Comment by Formerly Known As... Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 12:32 pm
James 5:4

For listen! Hear the cries of the field workers whom you have cheated of their pay. The wages you held back cry out against you. The cries of those who harvest your fields have reached the ears of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies

Comment by Honeybear Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 12:37 pm
You know LSSI and Catholic Charities provide services to those of ALL faiths. I love the people questioning why can’t the church carry this, why now? etc. 2008 hit the church coffers just like everyone else. My church has been subsidizing the state for years, not the other way around.

Comment by burbanite Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 12:46 pm
I live in a small Southern Illinois community that houses a church based social services organization ( not LSSI or Catholic Charities ) that provides services to developmentally disabled and at risk youth. Last I checked, over 90% of their operating budget was being paid pursuant to contracts they had with the State.

Tried to find out of their current situation with the State, only to find out that the only one who could answer my question will not be back in his office until Wednesday, yet I was told that so far no programs have been eliminated or staff laid off.

And the money they rely on is twice what is owed LSSI and about equal to what is owed Catholic Charities.

Should be interesting to watch this!

Comment by illini Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 12:58 pm
illini- I think that has more to do with the Liga decision in the courts-

http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20160121/news/160129698/

Comment by Anon221 Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 1:18 pm
Prayers may be helpful. But suggest adding: “Contact your GA members, by phone (immediate) or letter(more impact).”

How long can this continue? Until IL is destroyed?

‘Crimes against humanity’ are certain acts which are committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population or an identifiable part of a population which includes statement: …other inhumane acts may reach the threshold of crimes against humanity if they are part of a widespread or systematic practice.

Comment by sal-says Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 1:41 pm
Olddog - you are accurate, I agree

Comment by Team Katniss Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 2:00 pm
–So much for the separation of Church and State.
Many polar groups want it or don’t want it as it affects their desires on any particular issue(s).–

Who knew LSSI was a “polar group” just jonesing on its “desires?”

You know very well these are private sector contractors for programs and services that used to be performed by public employees.

And you’re a very sad man for playing “church and state” now when you’ve supported this hostage strategy all along.

Now, you’re just another Raunerbot who can’t take the heat, and is grasping at straws, after the fact, to justify a misanthropic strategy that is blowing up in your two faces.

But enough about you and your faces. You’re hurting a lot of real people based on economic and fiscal assumptions that wouldn’t make it out of smoke-filled dorm room.

How, in your mind, are you justifying it now?

Take your time.

It took many months for the governor to release his economic and fiscal rationale for his turnaround agenda — and only days to disown it.

Comment by wordslinger Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 4:35 pm
A response I would expect from an ideologue such as yourself. If anyone happens to have views that transcend a particular agenda you don’t like you lambast out against them. Nothing new there.

I voted for Quinn. Ruaner is a disaster. Indeed he wants to destroy all unions in the state and let the business elites run everything. He is just the opposite of a Sanders who I also can’t stand.

Madigan and Cullerton are also disasters and have been in the GA for 45 and 25 years respectively.

Yes, LSSI is a state contracted provider. I oppose all state religious based providers using tax dollars. The LSSI also has their own little political agenda and they will use whatever means they can to advance it. They preach it from the pulpits and their publications. My wife is a member of the ELCA so I know what I am talking about. And if a religious group was using state dollars to try to stop abortion rights I would be opposed to that as well.

I have also, on this site as well as to my State Rep, advocated a 3 year 1.25% income tax increase to pay off back bills and allow the present 3.75% to pay existing operations. Perhaps I am wrong but I have not seen a specific proposal that YOU have made in this regard. If you have, please cite it and prove me wrong.

But continue to have fun in your little snarky ‘wordslinging.’

Comment by Federalist Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 6:00 pm
Federalist wins comment on the day.

Comment by Anonymous Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 10:10 pm
Federalist, spin yourself silly.

Now that your hostage-taking political strategy is destroying the state’s social service infrastructure, you all of a sudden discover a 1st Amendment rationale — “separation of church and state” — for your vandalism.

Like it was the plan all along, and for good reasons.

Run through the cuts outlined by LSSI and point out the “polar” ones that offend your Constitutional sensibilities.

Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Jan 26, 16 @ 7:38 am