c. 1996 Religion News Service

Cardinal O’Connor uses Easter sermon to criticize euthanasia ruling

(RNS)-Roman Catholic Cardinal John J. O’Connor of the Archdiocese of New York interrupted his joyous Easter Sunday (April 7) sermon celebrating the resurrection of Jesus to issue a somber warning about the dangers of assisted suicide.

O’Connor, addressing a standing-room-only crowd of 4,500 worshipers in New York’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral, criticized as”unspeakable”last week’s federal court ruling striking down New York state’s ban on doctor-assisted suicide.”What makes us think that permitted lawful suicide will not become obligated suicide?”O’Connor asked.”How frequently will people be told it is their obligation to get out of the way?” On April 2, a three-judge panel of the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan ruled that doctors could legally help terminally ill patients commit suicide in certain circumstances. The ruling would, for example, allow doctors to prescribe drugs that would hasten a patient’s death if the patient is mentally competent and requests such help.

O’Connor, in his sermon, accused the court of taking”divine law into its own hands.”Now we have the right to choose death,”he said.”What makes us think it will stop at this?” The New York ruling was the second federal court decision in less than a month striking down a state law banning euthanasia. On March 6, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco overturned Washington state’s ban on doctor-assisted suicide. The ruling affects nine western states.

Update: Los Angeles Times publishes cartoons after protests

(RNS)-The Los Angeles Times, after protests from readers, published a”B.C.”comic strip by cartoonist Johnny Hart that it had originally refused to print because of the strip’s Christian theme.

The cartoon, originally drawn for Palm Sunday (March 31) comic pages, appeared in the newspaper’s religion section on Saturday (April 6) along with a news story about the dispute.

Two additional strips, which the newspaper said normally would not have been published regardless of content because of the paper’s system of routinely alternating the”B.C.”strip with another cartoon feature, were also printed in the religion section. All of the strips dealt with religious faith, focusing on the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.

Narda Zacchino, The Times associate editor, said the paper decided to run the Palm Sunday”B.C.”cartoon because the issue had become a news story.

Zacchino said the Palm Sunday strip, which featured a poem by one of the strip’s main characters on the theme of Jesus’ atonement for the sins of the world, was placed in the religion section rather than on the comic pages because”that is a more appropriate place for it.” The newspaper’s decision not to run the Palm Sunday strip was first discussed on”The 700 Club,”a television program featuring religious broadcaster Pat Robertson. The Christian Coalition, a political advocacy group founded by Robertson, publicly criticized the newspaper for its decision.

Zacchino said the decision not to publish the”B.C.”strip is not the first time the paper has made an editorial decision not to publish a cartoon strip.”Times editors edit the comic pages as we do the content of the rest of the paper,”she said.

Rock musician Jerry Garcia’s ashes said to be sprinkled in Ganges River

(RNS)-The ashes of U.S. rock musician Jerry Garcia, former leader of the band The Grateful Dead, have been sprinkled into the Ganges River following a lunar eclipse, the Associated Press and Reuters reported Monday (April 8).

According to the reports, Garcia’s widow, Deborah Garcia, and band member Bob Weir waded into the waters of India’s holy river near the sacred city of Rishikesh and released the ashes as dawn broke on April 4.

For centuries, millions of Hindu pilgrims have traveled to Rishikesh to pray in its temples or to immerse the ashes of the dead in the Ganges, the AP reported. Many believe the rite will free the deceased from the endless cycle of reincarnation that is a part of the Hindu belief system.

The wire service accounts were based on a report published by The Independent newspaper of London.

According to the newspaper account, Weir wore a garland of marigolds as he stood bare-chested in the river and uttered a prayer:”May you have peace, Jerry, and travel to the stars.” The ceremony was not made public until after the fact because Mrs. Garcia feared that if word leaked out, thousands of the band’s fans would have flocked to India and spoiled the rite, the reports said.

Garcia died of a heart attack on Aug. 9, 1995. He was 53 years old.

The Grateful Dead was one of the longest-lasting rock ‘n’ roll bands, enduring for more than 30 years and attracting a devoted following of fans known as”Deadheads.”The band broke up shortly after Garcia’s death.

Southern Baptist officials regret lottery role of new consultant

(RNS)-Southern Baptist Convention leaders have expressed concern that Coopers & Lybrand, their new consultant for restructuring the denomination, has business ties with the Texas lottery.”We regret that there is the connection, however minimal, between Coopers & Lybrand and the lottery, and we regret that we did not know about it when the contract was signed,”said David E. Hankins, vice president for convention policy for the denomination’s Executive Committee.

Baptist Press, the official news service of the Southern Baptist Convention, reported that the international firm served as the auditor for the Texas lottery from 1992 to 1994. The firm now assures the accuracy of lottery drawings, and its name appears on television when results of the lottery are announced, Hankins said.

Coopers & Lybrand officials have assured the Executive Committee that the firm does not endorse participation in the lottery, Hankins said.

Morris H. Chapman, president and chief executive officer of the Executive Committee, said,”In no way do we excuse, justify or defend any business relationship with the lottery. The Executive Committee and Southern Baptists remain staunchly opposed to all forms of gambling, illegal or legal.” At the recommendation of the task force working on the restructuring of the Southern Baptist Convention, the Executive Committee signed a $495,000 consulting contract with Coopers & Lybrand in March.

William Merrill, spokesman for the Executive Committee, told Religion News Service that he is not aware of any discussions about rescinding the contract.”Our agreements are based on good faith,”he said Monday (April 8).”In my opinion, it is unlikely we’re going to tear up the contract.” Update: Catholic bishops urge new land-mine policy

(RNS)-Two top Roman Catholic Church officials have asked the Department of Defense to allow the church to contribute its views on anti-personnel land mines as the department reviews its policy on the weapon.

The request was contained in an April 4 letter to Secretary of Defense William Perry from Bishop Daniel P. Reilly of Worcester, Mass., chairman of the U.S. Catholic Conference’s International Policy Committee, and Archbishop Joseph T. Dimino of the church’s Archdiocese of the Military Services.

In February, the Defense Department said it had begun reviewing its policy on the use of anti-personnel land mines. In the past, the department has supported continued U.S. use of mines as a defensive weapon that protects troops and installations.”We hope this review will lead to a new policy that will enhance the U.S. leadership role in negotiating a total ban on these indiscriminate weapons,”the bishops’ letter said.

The bishops acknowledged the role mines play in reducing risks to a nation’s armed forces, but said that military goal must be placed alongside the rights of civilians.

An estimated 26,000 people, mostly civilians, are killed or injured each year by land mines.”Military necessity and the need to protect one’s troops, therefore, are not the only or even the overriding considerations in judging the morality of the continued use of anti-personnel land mines,”the two bishops wrote Perry.

Last week, a dozen retired U.S. generals and an admiral signed a full-page ad in The New York Times calling for a”permanent and total international ban”on the production, stockpiling, sale and use of anti-personnel mines.

On April 26, a United Nations-sponsored conference will begin considering amendments to international laws governing the production, trade and stockpiling of the weapon.

Quote of the day: Bernice Powell Jackson, executive director of the United Church of Christ’s Commission for Racial Justice.

(RNS)-In her weekly column,”Civil Rights Journal,”Bernice Powell Jackson, executive director of the United Church of Christ’s Commission for Racial Justice, wrote about the refusal-which has since been reversed-of a church in Thomasville, Ga., to allow a biracial infant, Whitney Johnson, to remain buried in the church cemetery:”Segregated cemeteries are still a way of life in some parts of America it seems. Not only can we still not live together, we still cannot die together. Many Northerners are often surprised to hear that segregation followed African Americans after death. In most instances that has changed. But little Whitney Johnson, who lived less than one day, shows us that racism is still alive and well in cemeteries and in churches in this country.”

MJP END RNS