c. 1997 Religion News Service
Bosnian faith communities issue statement of solidarity
(RNS) Senior leaders of four religious communities in Bosnia _ Islamic, Serbian Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Jewish _ have issued an unprecedented”Statement of Shared Moral Commitment”aimed at building a durable peace and easing the religious hostilities that fueled the Balkan conflict.”We jointly, in mutual recognition of our religious difference, condemn all violence against innocent persons and any form of abuse or violation of fundamental human rights,”the four religious leaders said in a one-page statement released Monday (June 9).
Specifically, the religious leaders condemned acts of hatred based on ethnicity and expressed special concern at the burning of houses of worship, the desecration of religious buildings and the vandalism and destruction of graveyards.
They also upheld the right of Bosnian refugees, uprooted during the civil war that accompanied the breakup of the former Yugoslavia, to return to their homes and condemned”acts of revenge”stemming from the ethnic conflicts during the war.
Bosnia has approximately 1 million Muslims, 700,000 Orthodox, 190,000 Roman Catholics, and 1,000 Jews.
The statement, more than six months in the making, grew out of informal meetings between Mustafa Ceric, supreme head of the Islamic community of Bosnia; Metropolitan Nikolai of the Serbian Orthodox Church; Roman Catholic Cardinal Vinko Puljic, archbishop of Sarajevo; and Jakob Finci, president of the Jewish community.
In their statement, the religious leaders said they recognized that”our churches and religious communities differ from one other and that each of them feels called to live true to its own faith.”But they also said that their spiritual traditions”hold many values in common.” The document also expressed the religious leaders’ impatience at the”visibly slow and inefficient implementation”of the Dayton Accords, the November 1995 agreement ending the war between the Bosnian government and breakaway Bosnian Serbs.
The statement was the first joint post-war activity by the four religious leaders. The leaders were aided in their drafting of the statement by the World Conference on Religion and Peace, an international organization of more than 100 religious leaders and groups.
Pope John ends nostalgic visit to native Poland
(RNS) _ If you’re Pope John Paul II, you can go home again. And again.
But unlike previous visits, the pontiff’s seventh trip to his native Poland that ended Tuesday (June 10) _ an 11-day sprint by helicopter that included 26 speeches and stops in 12 cities _ may be remembered more for what he did not say than for what he did address in his messages.
Polish church leaders had met with some skepticism when, weeks ago, they predicted that the pope would eschew politics on his trip.
But the 77-year-old-pontiff, on what some saw as a sentimental farewell visit, did give a lesson in how to strike a balance between church and state in a new democracy, meeting with politicians of all stripes, yet endorsing none, news reports noted.
The pope stressed that Poland is a Roman Catholic nation and should hold on to those roots. He appealed for national unity, urging Poles to unite around”values fundamental for every man and woman.”Analysts said the pope’s messages were intended to deepen introspection and avoid politics in a country pummeled by rapid change.
By trip’s end, Prime Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz, a former communist, credited the pope with soothing a country that narrowly adopted a controversial, post-communist constitution _ criticized by conservatives as godless _ last month and is just four months away from parliamentary elections.”I expressed my gratitude to the pope for the fact that there is an atmosphere of calm, which we need so much, during his pilgrimage,”Cimoszewicz said after meeting with the pope in Krakow.
The two did not touch on the most painful issue between the church and the government: a treaty with the Vatican defining church-state relations. The pact has been blocked in parliament since 1993 by leftists, who fear it could give the church too much influence.
As expected, the pope did speak out strongly against abortion, a recurrent issue in Poland. He also repeatedly stressed the importance of the Catholic faith for the nation. He sent an equally clear message to the Polish church not to inject itself in politics, urging the bishops instead to concentrate on their evangelical and spiritual mission.”I am convinced that Poles will find in themselves the wisdom and perseverance necessary for building a just Poland,”the pope said in his farewell address.
The Pope was wildly embraced by his heavily predominant Catholic homeland. It is estimated that six million of the 38 million people in Poland turned out to hear him, many waving banners or wearing yellow scarves, others leaning from windowsills or hanging from trees.
The pope, his step slowed and his left hand trembling noticeably when he prayed, savored these moments.”My years in Rome have not extinguished the love of this land,”he said.
Methodist ordained as Catholic priest surrenders clergy credentials
(RNS) A United Methodist pastor who sought to retain his Methodist clerical status after being ordained a Roman Catholic priest has reluctantly surrendered his Methodist clergy credentials.
The Rev. W. Paul Jones ended his 43 years as a Methodist pastor after the Missouri West Annual Conference _ a local jurisdiction of Methodist churches _ ruled its clergy cannot hold dual ordination in the United Methodist and Roman Catholic churches.
Ordained as a Methodist minister in 1954 and as a Roman Catholic priest in 1996, Jones hoped his dual ordination would help bridge the gap between the two churches, United Methodist News Service, the denomination’s official news agency, reported.
Jones cited”the eucharistic centrality and the sacramental approach to life”as the reason for his decision to retain his Roman Catholic standing rather than remain United Methodist.
The annual conference officially accepted Jones’ resignation from the clergy on May 27, the news agency reported Monday (June 9), and returned his Certificate of Ordination to him stamped”honorably dismissed.” Leaders in both the Methodist and Catholic churches spent months seeking resolution of Jones’ dilemma. But it was finally agreed that”at this point in history it is not possible for Paul to have membership in both churches,”stated a joint statement by Bishop Michael McAuliffe of the Jefferson City Catholic diocese and Missouri Area Methodist Bishop Ann Sherer.
Jones has been appointed to serve as the ecumenical liaison between the Missouri West Annual Conference and the Roman Catholic diocese of Jefferson City, Mo., to”foster understanding between the two traditions.”
Stripping of Benjamin Chavis Muhammad’s ministerial standing approved
(RNS) The termination of civil rights activist Benjamin Chavis Muhammad’s ministerial standing has been approved by the board of directors of a regional association of the United Church of Christ (UCC).
The 24-member board of the UCC’s Eastern North Carolina Association made the decision at its June 6 meeting. Board members followed the April 24 recommendation of the association’s Church and Ministry Commission, which met with Chavis Muhammad before stripping him of his clergy standing.
The ruling means that Chavis Muhammad may not perform clergy functions in the UCC, such as administering the sacraments.
The action against Chavis Muhammad came after he announced in February that he had joined the Nation of Islam.
The Rev. Rollin O. Russell, conference minister of the UCC’s Southern Conference, which includes Eastern North Carolina, said Chavis Muhammad did not appeal the commission’s recommendation or ask to meet with the association’s board.
Chavis Muhammad, former NAACP executive director and primary organizer of the 1995 Million Man March, was ordained by the Eastern North Carolina Association in 1980. He previously served in a number of positions with the UCC’s racial justice unit.
Executive director of Congress of National Black Churches resigns
(RNS) The Rev. H. Michael Lemmons has resigned as executive director of the Congress of National Black Churches.
Lemmons said he has decided to explore other opportunities in the religious and secular communities.
Lemmons, the senior staff officer of the congress for the past eight years,increased the congress’ membership from five to eight denominations and expanded the variety of programs sponsored by the organization.
Sullivan Robinson, deputy executive director of the congress, will serve as interim executive director until a national search process for Lemmons’ successor is completed.
Sunday admission fee set for England’s Canterbury Cathedral
(RNS) British Anglican Church officials will resort to a time-tested way of attempting to deter overcrowding on Sundays in Canterbury Cathedral _ charge an entrance fee.
Cathedral authorities said their concerns were prompted by safety and not economics, according to Reuters, which did not report what the fee might be.
They want to avoid what was described as”disruptive and dangerous crowding”in the cathedral, one of the most famous landmarks in the world. It attracts more than 1.7 million visitors annually.
This year marks the 1,500th anniversary of the arrival in Canterbury of St. Augustine, who brought Christianity to England. A sharp increase in visitors is expected.
The fee is not without precedent. The church, spiritual home of the worldwide Anglican Communion, initiated a weekday admission fee two years ago.
Mississippi lawyer named Presbyterian Church in America moderator
(RNS) Samuel J. Duncan, a Mississippi lawyer who led the opposition in the American Bar Association against its stand in support of abortion rights, was elected Tuesday (June 10) as moderator of the Presbyterian Church in America at its 25th General Assembly in Colorado Springs, Colo. He ran unopposed.
Duncan, a ruling elder at First Presbyterian Church in Hattiesburg, Miss., practices law in the areas of commercial and construction litigation.
He replaces the Rev. Charles McGowan, pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Tenn.
When the ABA, despite Duncan’s efforts, refused to repeal its support for legal abortion, he withdrew his membership. He is the great nephew of Dr. C. W. Grafton, who was moderator of the General Assembly of the Southern Presbyterian Church in 1916.
The 1,500 members and delegates attending the denomination’s June 10-13 General Assembly were also scheduled to hear reports on multicultural church planting, the growing ministry on college campuses, and the church’s increasing force of overseas missionaries, which now numbers 1,200, a 6 percent increase from 1996.
Quote of the day: William J. Bennett, former education secretary
(RNS) William J. Bennett, former education secretary in the Reagan administration, testified before Congress on Tuesday (June 10) in an effort to generate interest in persecuted Christians in countries ranging from China and North Korea, to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan:”We are not talking about persecution as many Americans think of it, as … unfavorable news coverage or ridicule of conservative Christians. We are talking about unspeakable acts of horror, including the imprisonment, slavery, starvation, torture and murder of many thousands of people.”
END RNS
