c. 1996 Religion News Service

Cathedral dean retires with tribute from a daredevil

(RNS) From high above the altar of Manhattan’s Cathedral of St. John the Divine, a high-wire artist plans to pay a special New Year’s Eve tribute to the Rev. James Parks Morton, the church’s retiring dean.

Philippe Petit is scheduled to perform”Crescendo”from three wires, the highest of which is 90 feet above the high altar, the Associated Press reported.

Petit, the artist-in-residence at the Episcopal cathedral, admits that it’s a bit surreal to perform a high-wire act in the sacred space.”A steel cable with a human being on it does not belong in a church,”he said.”But this is not a daredevil act. It is an act of poetry and art that reflects what a living cathedral should be.” The performance, which includes mime, dance, music and light, is in a setting that has deep meaning for the artist.

When construction of the unfinished cathedral resumed in 1982 after a 41-year break, Petit carried the first stone on a wire across Amsterdam Avenue, placing it into the hands of Morton, who retires today (Dec. 31).

Petit’s studio is located in a cathedral gallery. The ashes of his 13-year-old daughter, who died in 1992 of a cerebral brain hemorrhage, are buried in the church’s columbarium.”My heart is here, my life is here,”Petit said.”It is my precious place.” Morton has overseen the largest cathedral in the world, welcoming worshipers of many faiths and artists with various messages.

The retiring dean says he is moved by Petit’s plans to perform on the wires as the cathedral choirs sing and saxophonist Paul Winter plays.”Of course my heart is in my mouth every time I watch him perform,”said Morton.”But I don’t view it as Philippe putting his life on the line for me. This is his art form. It is like a great opera; everyone’s heart is in their mouths for the performance. It will be a deeply, deeply moving experience.”

Catholic bishops named for Yakima and Bismarck

(RNS) New Roman Catholic bishops have been named for the dioceses of Yakima, Wash., and Bismarck, N.D.

The Rev. Carlos A. Sevilla, auxiliary bishop of San Francisco, was named bishop of the Diocese of Yakima, and the Rev. Paul A. Zipfel, auxiliary bishop of St. Louis, was named bishop of the Diocese of Bismarck.

The announcements were made Tuesday (Dec. 31) by Archbishop Agostino Cacciavillan, the apostolic pro-nuncio, or envoy, to the United States.

Sevilla, 61, a member of the Society of Jesus, was ordained a priest in 1966, and became auxiliary bishop in San Francisco in 1988. He formerly taught at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.

More than 15 percent of the 461,000 population of the Diocese of Yakima is Roman Catholic.

Zipfel, also 61, was ordained a priest in 1961 and served in a number of parishes in the St. Louis area. He also taught in Catholic secondary schools. He was named auxiliary bishop of St. Louis in 1989.

Nearly 27 percent of the 261,307 population of the Diocese of Bismarck is Catholic.

Cardinal Jubany Arnau, foe of Franco, dies at 83

(RNS) Cardinal Narcis Jubany Arnau, the retired archbishop of Barcelona who resisted the Fascist dictatorship of Spanish leader Francisco Franco, has died at age 83.

Jubany Arnau died Thursday (Dec. 26) following a long illness, the Associated Press reported.

As archbishop during the waning years of Franco’s regime, Jubany Arnau distanced himself from the dictatorship by staying away from official functions interpreted as shows of support for Franco. In 1975, he declined to excommunicate a priest who joined the Communist Party and became mayor of a Barcelona suburb.

Following Franco’s death in 1975, Jubany Arnau promoted Spain’s peaceful transition to democracy by supporting dialogue among various political factions.

Jubany Arnau, who retired in 1990 after 19 years as archbishop, was buried Saturday (Dec. 28).

Viggo F.E. Rambusch, `dean’ of church architects, dead at 87

(RNS) Viggo F.E. Rambusch, recognized by the Catholic University of America as the”dean of American church architects,”has died at age 87 in White Plains, N.Y.

Rambusch, the son of a Danish immigrant, was also a staunch supporter of the Roman Catholic Church in Iceland, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. For more than 60 years he was president of St. Ansgar’s Scandinavia Catholic League.

In 1994, Pope John Paul II named Rambusch a Knight of St. Gregory in recognition of his efforts on behalf of the church.

Rambusch was an architect who, according to The New York Times, coordinated the decorating, lighting and furnishing of more than 1,000 churches, synagogues and other public places, such as theaters and hotel ballrooms.

During World War II, he helped the American military camouflage airfields by painting them with sketches of orchards and farm buildings to confuse enemy pilots.

Quote of the Day: Denzel Washington

(RNS) Actor Denzel Washington, who plays an angel named Dudley in”The Preacher’s Wife,”spoke recently about the film and his experiences as a real-life preacher’s son in an interview in Movieguide, a bi-weekly publication of Good News Communications:”Many years ago, I met a member of our church who prophesied that I would become a preacher and travel all around the world preaching the Gospel. Well, I did not become a preacher, but in a way I do travel all around the world, and this is my pulpit (“The Preacher’s Wife”) to preach the `Good News’…”We should all feel a responsibility to make our world better. This story appealed to me because it’s about the fundamental things we seem to have gotten away from in society _ hope and faith in our fellow man and in God, and the sense that family and church are the foundations of a community.”

MJP END RNS