TIAA-CREF, the world's largest private pension system, has sold its shares in Talisman Energy amid pressure from students and religious leaders. Activists say oil profits from Talisman, a Canadian company, are helping to finance Sudan's internal war against Christians, animists, and moderate Muslims (CT, Nov. 15, 1999, p. 20).

The United Methodist Church has agreed to reinstate its funding of the National Council of Churches. The denomination had suspended funding of the fiscally troubled NCC until it was satisfied with the ecumenical organization's plans to address its debt and future spending (CT, Dec. 6. 1999, p. 21). The NCC made sharp staff reductions and agreed to set aside 10 percent of its projected income in a reserve fund.

Some Lutheran critics of the concordat establishing full communion between the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Episcopal Church have formed their own organization, Word Alone. The ELCA approved "Called to Common Mission" (CCM) in August. CCM's critics say it creates a new hierarchy by recognizing the historic episcopate and by requiring that only bishops ordain pastors. St. Paul Lutheran Church in Napoleon, Ohio, has voted to leave the denomination. St. Luke Lutheran Church in Bay Shore, New York, has declared itself a "non-CCM congregation."