c. 1996 Religion News Service
Dissident Catholics to press reforms in pilgrimage to Rome
(RNS) Dissident Catholic groups that have irked the Vatican with demands for women priests, gay rights and other progressive notions are preparing to become more nettlesome for the Roman hierarchy.
Organizers from 10 countries, including the United States, announced on Monday (Nov. 25) a pilgrimage to Rome in October 1997 to press their case for reforms of the Second Vatican Council that they contend the church has stymied in recent years.
After three days of meetings in Rome, the loose coalition gave itself a name _ the International Movement of We are Church _ and adopted a shared set of principles. Chief among the complaints is that Rome has imposed a rigid and uniform orthodoxy by naming conservative and often unpopular bishops and cardinals.”In the spirit of Vatican II we demand dialogue to bring about authentic renewal and substantial reform,”the leaders said in a statement released at a news conference.
The groups, which have organized petition drives in their respective countries, also are seeking optional celibacy for priests, the ordination of women priests, inclusive treatment of gays who they say have been marginalized and a reverse of the church’s ban on artificial birth control.
The organized dissent began last year in Austria, where Catholics were angered by charges of pedophilia against Vienna’s archbishop, Cardinal Hans Hermann Groer, who retired. A petition drive calling for reforms, including the rights of priests to wed and women’s ordination, gathered 500,000 signatures, five times the organizers’ original estimate.
Germany followed with a referendum that produced 1.5 million signatures among Catholics. The device to express opposition is now being employed by Catholics in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, Canada, the United States and Nicaragua.
Catholics in England, a small minority, are set to launch a petition drive Dec. 7, and Portugal is also planning a similar appeal.”The petition is only the first step. Now we must have a dialogue within the church,”said Thomas Plankensteiner, an organizer from Austria.
He said several bishops in Austria have made overtures to the dissident leaders but that the response from Rome has been tepid.
In other countries, such as the Netherlands and Italy, most bishops have bristled at the demands for reform, contending that the Vatican and Pope John Paul II have continued to promote the teachings of social justice and morality enshrined by Vatican II.
The pilgrimage to Rome, entitled”Meeting of the people of God,”is set for Oct. 11, 1997, the 35th anniversary of the opening of Vatican II.
The 10 signatories to the meeting are Catholic reform groups in Austria, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, England and the United States.
Organizers said they expect Catholics in other countries to form groups that will join the international movement.
Mother Teresa stable, but heart problems persist
(RNS) Mother Teresa was in stable condition Monday (Nov. 25), but doctors treating the Nobel Peace Prize winner say her heart problems persist.
The 86-year-old nun suffered left ventrical heart failure twice over the weekend and was having mild chest pain early Monday, doctors said.”At the moment her condition is stable,”said Dr. S.K. Sen, the medical director at Woodlands Nursing Home in Calcutta.”But her condition can turn bad any moment. She is not out of danger.” Sen said doctors were considering possible surgery, the Reuter news agency reported. One possibility is angioplasty, a procedure in which doctors insert a balloon into blood vessels to clear obstructions. Mother Teresa has been reluctant to have any invasive cardiological procedure, he said.
Long known for her work among the world’s poor, Mother Teresa was admitted to the hospital Friday (Nov. 22) with an irregular heartbeat, marking the third time she had been admitted for emergency care since August.
Mother Teresa, who has had a pacemaker since 1989, has been hospitalized with various ailments including heart disease, bacterial pneumonia, malaria, broken ribs and lung problems.
State Southern Baptist groups oppose abortion, gambling, same-sex unions
(RNS) Southern Baptists, meeting at state conventions across the country in November, have passed resolutions decrying abortion, gambling and same-sex marriage.
Baptists in 10 state conventions adopted anti-abortion resolutions, reported the Associated Baptist Press, an independent Baptist news service. Many of the statements focused on disapproval of President Clinton’s veto of a ban on a controversial late-term abortion procedure opponents call”partial-birth”abortion.
Eight state conventions expressed concerns about the growth of legalized gambling.
Baptist Press, the official news service of the Southern Baptist Convention, reported that Hawaii Baptists adopted a resolution opposing same-sex marriage. It states:”As private citizens we exercise our freedom to speak out in opposition to those who promote same-sex marriages as acceptable lifestyles.”The Hawaii Supreme Court is considering legalizing same-sex marriages.
The Baptist Convention of Maryland-Delaware also passed a statement opposing same-sex marriages. Three other state conventions passed resolutions criticizing homosexuality.
Other resolution topics included condemnation of assisted suicide and arson attacks against African-American churches.
Some resolutions dealt with issues of particular concern in individual states.
The Georgia Baptist Convention adopted a resolution that called on R. Kirby Godsey, president of Mercer University in Macon, to reconsider theological views in his recent book,”When We Talk About God … Let’s Be Honest.” Godsey’s book rejects the view that the Bible is infallible, a belief held by many conservative Southern Baptist leaders. At the Georgia meeting, Godsey said the resolution was about politics more than doctrine.
The California Southern Baptist Convention passed a resolution voicing”extreme disappointment”with the Burbank-based Walt Disney Company for corporate policies that include extending benefits to the partners of homosexual employees. But the convention rejected an attempt to use stronger language, as passed by the 1996 national meeting of Southern Baptists, that threatened a Baptist boycott of Disney if corporate policies do not change.
French Scientology official convicted of manslaughter in member’s death
(RNS) The former head of the Church of Scientology in Lyon, France, has been convicted of manslaughter and fraud in connection with the suicide of a 31-year-old industrial designer who prosecutors said was desperate because he did not have the money to pay for church counseling courses.
Jean-Jacques Mazier was sentenced Friday (Nov. 22) to 18 months in jail and fined $100,000. He was also sentenced to an additional 18 months of probation.
Fourteen other Scientology officials or supporters were also convicted of fraud, attempted fraud or aiding and abetting fraud, while another eight Scientologists were acquitted. Among those convicted was Louis-Michel Brolles, a Roman Catholic priest, found guilty of abetting fraud, The New York Times reported. All 14 convicted received suspended sentences.
Mazier was accused of pressuring Patrice Vic, who jumped to his death from his 12th floor apartment in March 1988, to come up with $6,000 to pay for a church”purification”course. The day previous to his suicide, Vic was accompanied by Mazier when the victim went to ask his wife to lend him the money.
Mazier’s harsher than expected sentence was hailed by Marie Geneve, president of the Paris-based Center Against Mental Manipulation, which views Scientology as a cult and business masquerading as a bonafide religion.”It’s proof that the magistrates are beginning to grasp the importance of the problem,”she said.
Heber Jentzsch, president of the Los Angeles-based Church of Scientology International, said he was”pleased”that the church’s national leaders in France were among the eight acquitted Scientologists.
Both French and German officials have in recent months launched fierce attacks against Scientology. Church officials have labeled the attacks politically motivated and violations of freedom of religion.
China’s state-run church ordains 50 priests
(RNS) The state-controlled Catholic Church in China has ordained as priests 50 graduates of one of the nation’s biggest seminaries in Beijing, the Associated Press reported.
The new crop of priests, five of whom were ordained Sunday (Nov. 24), is the largest group of clergy ordained since 1991, according to officials of the National Catholic Seminary.
Catholics in communist China are allowed to worship publicly only if they belong to the state-sponsored Catholic Patriotic Association, which appoints its own bishops and does not recognize the pope as spiritual leader.
Though the state-controlled church claims at least 4 million members, unknown numbers of other Catholics are aligned with the underground church in China, which does recognize the pope’s authority.
The Washington-based Human Rights Watch-Asia says the Chinese government has stepped up persecution of unauthorized Catholic and Protestant groups.
Quote of the Day: Columbia University law professor Patricia J. Williams
(RNS) Patricia J. Williams, a black professor of law at Columbia University, was quoted in a Sunday (Nov. 24) New York Times story about the flood of mostly European tourists who include Sunday morning worship services at Harlem churches among their must-see destinations:”People don’t just go there for the religion. They go for a show; there’s this sense of whites being on safari. All that’s missing is the hats.”
MJP END RNS
