c. 1996 Religion News Service
Lutherans delay joint theological declaration with Vatican
(RNS) Lutherans have delayed for a year a long-awaited joint declaration with the Roman Catholic Church on a crucial doctrinal issue that would have marked a major breakthrough in ecumenical relations.
Both Lutheran and Roman Catholic church officials had hoped the declaration, which says that the Lutheran”doctrine of justification”is no longer a divisive issue between the two churches, would have been issued in 1997 _ the 450th anniversary of the Roman Catholic Council of Trent that condemned the Lutheran doctrine.
The issue involves Martin Luther’s belief that human beings are declared by God to be”justified”not on the basis of their own”strength, merits or works,”but by faith alone.
The”doctrine of justification”has been a principal point of contention between Lutherans and Roman Catholics since the 16th century. But it has also been the focus of the theological dialogue that has unfolded over the past 30 years between the two faith families.
The basic thrust of the proposed text says that while differences remain between Catholics and Lutherans on understanding justification, the consensus among theologians of the two bodies is so far-reaching and fundamental that”the remaining differences are not church-dividing.” But the Council of the Lutheran World Federation, the international body of Lutheran churches, which met in Geneva Sept. 30, said that the proposed joint declaration must be revised again and then forwarded to LWF member churches for their response and approval.
Originally, the declaration was to be issued next year at the Lutheran World Federation’s Assembly in Hong Kong.
Lutheran World Information, the news agency of the LWF, said the purpose of the revision”is to devise clear formulations regarding the Lutheran understanding of sin in the light of justification.” LWF officials said the revised text, to be drafted by a Lutheran-Roman Catholic writing group, will be submitted to LWF member churches and the Vatican, with the Lutheran churches’ responses expected by June 1, 1998.
Double-edged priest scandal hits St. Petersburg Catholics
(RNS) The Roman Catholic Diocese of St. Petersburg, Fla., was hit with a double-edged scandal Tuesday (Oct. 1), when Bishop Robert Lynch revealed that one priest in the diocese has been married for 15 years and that another diverted $225,000 of church funds to pay off a former male lover.”My sorrow is for my church, for the two priests themselves, for the people of the two parishes they have served and for all the priests who … will once again wonder if they, too, will be painted with the brush of infidelity,”the Associated Press quoted Lynch as telling a news conference.
According to Lynch, the Rev. Patrick Clarke, 52, was suspended from the priesthood five weeks ago after Lynch received a copy of the priest’s marriage license in the mail from an anonymous source. Although church law forbids married clergy, Clarke married Barbara Rominger, then 31, in a 1981 civil ceremony.
Clarke continued to live in the rectory of his church in Safety Harbor, near Tampa, while his wife, a nurse, lived about five miles away.
Lynch refused to say whether the couple had any children but said Clarke could resume his vocation if he decides to end his marriage.
In the other incident, Lynch said the Rev. Simeon Gardner, pastor in the Tampa suburb of Lutz, resigned last weekend after being confronted by church officials.
Gardner admitted he was using church funds to pay”another adult male with whom he had improper and impermissible sexual conduct,”Lynch said.
Lynch said the other man had originally come to the parish for help and the priest initiated a sexual relationship with him.”As time went by, the person with whom he was involved decided he wanted reimbursement,”Lynch said.
The case has been turned over to state authorities for possible prosecution and is auditing Gardner’s parish accounts, Lynch said.
Clinton gives Mother Teresa honorary U.S. citizenship
(RNS) President Clinton signed legislation Tuesday (Oct. 1) granting honorary U.S. citizenship to Mother Teresa, the Roman Catholic nun famed for her work among the poor.”She has brought hope and love into the lives of millions of orphaned and abandoned children the world over,”Clinton said in signing the congressionally passed resolution.
The 86-year-old nun, who has undergone a series of health difficulties in recent weeks, founded the Missionaries of Charity religious order. The order operates 517 facilities for the dying, orphans and AIDS patients around the world.
Honorary U.S. citizenship, which is symbolic and does not confer the right to vote or any other privileges, has been granted only three times before: to British wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill; Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, credited with saving at least 20,000 Jews from the Nazis; and to William and Hannah Penn, the Quaker couple who founded Pennsylvania.
Los Angeles street named after Scientology founder
(RNS) The Los Angeles City Council has voted to re-name a one-block stretch of Berendo Street in Hollywood after L. Ron Hubbard, the science-fiction writer and founder of the controversial Church of Scientology.
The Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday (Oct. 2) that despite passionate protests from a handful of residents, the council voted 8 to 3 in favor of the name change.
The one-block stretch is the site of the Church of Scientology’s international headquarters. It owns more than half the property on the block.
The protesting residents, citing passages from some of Hubbard’s writings, accused the deceased founder of the church of being a bigot, a charlatan, and a cult leader who was biased against homosexuals.
But the Rev. John Woodruff, executive director of Scientology’s Los Angeles branch, told the Times the vote was a”fantastic victory.””This is a kind of small thing in a sense,”he said.”We’re talking about 250 yards of street, but it’s an acknowledgment of what we’ve done and what Mr. Hubbard has meant.”
Catholic bishops threaten court action on South Africa abortion bill
(RNS) The Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference (SABC) will take the government of South African President Nelson Mandela to court if parliament adopts a controversial bill liberalizing the nation’s abortion law.
According to Ecumenical News International, the Geneva-based religious news agency, the bishops conference has already asked lawyers to prepare its case in the event the bill is adopted by the parliament.
Hearings on the proposed legislation are scheduled to begin Oct. 14.
If adopted, the law will permit abortion on demand up to the 12th week of pregnancy. It also allows minors to have abortions without their parents’ consent and requires medical workers who oppose abortion to refer patients to other doctors.
Mandela’s African National Congress, the majority party in the government, officially supports legal abortion but has been divided on whether to make the issue a matter of party discipline or to allow a”free”vote in which party members in parliament can vote their conscience.
Quote of the day: Sister Doris Gottemoeller on inclusivity and religious vocations:
(RNS) Sister Doris Gottemoeller, a Sister of Mercy and prominent Roman Catholic theologian and writer, addressed the church’s recent National Religious Vocations Conference. In her speech, Gottemoeller used the symbol of a tent as covering those who enter religious vocations and compared the church’s tent language to the way it is used by political parties as a symbol of inclusivity:”What meaning does the symbol of a tent have for us? Inclusivity is frequently touted as a value in discussions of religious life, but sometimes our use of the term is ambivalent and confusing. … Some of our members … use `inclusivity’ to mean incorporating men and women, married and single, temporarily and permanently committed, full-time and part-time, Catholics and non-Catholics, Christians and non-Christians into membership in the same congregations. They seem to envision religious life along the lines of a social movement in which people participate in various ways and with varying degrees of intensity, dropping in and dropping out as opportunities present themselves or as their commitment waxes and wanes. … I would suggest that that type of inclusivity erodes clarity about the central meaning and purpose of life within the `tent’ of religious life and will ultimately destroy a religious congregation.”
MJP END RNS
