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Hoosier United Methodist News Archives
| Hoosier United Methodists together |
October 2005 |
Letters to the Editor
Thank you
Thank you for all of your prayers, cards, flowers, notes of encouragement while Leroy (Hodapp, a retired bishop of the church) was in the hospital. He was hospitalized for three months and had a defibrillator implanted. He is now at home, having home therapy and a visiting nurse fives times a week. He continues to improve for which the family and I are very grateful. I give our thanks to each and everyone as he continues on the road to returning good health.
Peace and love, Polly Hodapp
Evansville, Ind.
Reaction to liberal bias
I wanted to counteract the recent Letter to the Editor and add my support to your previous articles entitled, "Emerging Church...," "Church Agencies..." and "South Asians..." The writer of the letter found them to be too liberal; I found them to be very informative and totally unbiased. Please continue to report these activities and to remind us that we are a diverse Church and part of a larger, diverse community. I also found it a little ironic that in the same issue (V35, N7) you reported that Christians, Jews, and Muslims were fasting together (p 11). I hope the letter writer was not too shocked or appalled!
Karl Schnelle
Indianapolis
Arizona mission trip
I wanted to thank you for running the story about Central United Methodist Church and our mission trip to Arizona. I've had many in our congregation who have seen it and commented. One correction though, the woman who is reading in the photograph is Judy Redmyer, not Polly Wilde. Sorry about the confusion.
Polly Wilde
Richmond, Ind.
Smoke free
As a resident of Indianapolis, I appreciate the short drive to Greenfield and find it to a delightful. I will visit Greenfield more often if your City Council passes a smoke-free workplace ordinance which will be introduced on October 13. It's difficult to find a smoke-free restaurant in Greenfield and I can't enjoy dinner when I am forced to breath secondhand smoke. If it's a nuisance for me the daily exposure to restaurant employees can be devastating. Evidence shows that secondhand smoke can cause health problems in non smokers, the same that are seen in smokers, such as lung cancer and heart disease. I hope Greenfield will join its neighbor Indianapolis, and many other Hoosier cities in passing a smoke-free workplace ordinance.
Paul C. Messplay
Indianapolis
Church and its retired
I received my notice that my health insurance premiums would be increasing from $199 per month to $455 in January 2006 the same day that I received a letter from my local church asking me to raise my pledge 30 percent for the coming year. I suddenly wondered if what has been happening to other people in growing numbers, who are losing their benefits because of cost, was happening to retired clergy and spouses, friends and fellow workers of the past.
I found myself thinking about something else: whether the Annual Conference thought of us as beloved carriers of the Gospel in the past, were not so cherished after all. Has the Church become indifferent, and thinks of us as statistics rather than Saints in Caesar's Household?
I was taken back by the conference action on increasing premiums by 120 percent. I remember how hard I worked on the Old Preacher's Aid Society to secure sufficient funds for our beloved retired. Moreover, I know how hard all of us worked to establish a sound pension fund and how hard we worked to secure health benefits for clergy. If as I think what might have happened, I wonder what our priorities are in placing a limit on how much we are to spend for benefits for the superannuated (retired), in the light of expenditures for other things such as real estate.
This kind of action on the part of the annual conference reminds me of the arguments made by the local churches, when I was a district superintendent. In talking about the budget for the upcoming year, how often did one hear the argument: "Reverend, we would like to give our preacher a raise this year, but the costs of utilities are going, and we can't afford to do both." Never once did I ever here a local church say, "We can't afford a raise for the preacher and the higher costs of utilities also, so folks just be prepared to wear your overcoats to church on Sunday because the preacher is more important."
I am fully aware that one of the reasons for the higher costs of health insurance is the obesity and indigence of some clergy couples. This is a problem which must be confronted, like giving breaks to those who exercise and diet. But even, so the moral imperative for the conference is a strong one for finding a way to do it.
I will not labor the point, but I cannot help but wonder whether there are other funds which might help tide over the cost of support until more permanent solutions can be found. I can afford to pay the higher premium, but I know that there are some superannuated people who may not be able to afford the higher premium. I hope they will not have to forego health insurance just because they cannot afford the increase or else cut their pledges to the local churches. What would be gained in that exchange?
James F. Morin, superannuated
Lafayette, Ind.
Last updated on 25 Apr 2008