c. 1997 Religion News Service

Gore criticized for `ridiculing’ church’s teaching on contraception

(RNS) In a sharply-worded letter, Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony has taken Vice President Al Gore to task for”ridiculing”Roman Catholic teachings on contraception during a speech to the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League (NARAL).”I had presumed that in this nation and in this day and age, public officials would not mock religion or religious beliefs for any reason, much less in an unabashed effort to give legitimacy to expanded abortions,”said Mahony in a Feb. 19 letter, which was released by the cardinal’s office on Wednesday (March 5).”Obviously, I was sadly mistaken.” Mahony also criticized Gore for”inappropriately”mentioning the name of the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin in the same speech.”I am deeply disturbed that you would invoke his name repeatedly in a pro-abortion speech, while ignoring the cardinal’s clear, strong and consistent defense of unborn human life and his unrelenting opposition to abortion,”the letter stated.”It is cause enough for sadness when one of the first public acts of this administration is to celebrate legal abortion and the efforts of those advocating its expansion, but it is even more appalling to hear your inappropriate remarks about religious teaching on contraception and then to make references to the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin as if he were condoning your unacceptable positions,”said Mahony.

Gore spoke to a NARAL meeting on January 22, the 24th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe vs. Wade decision legalizing abortion.

In the speech, Gore said that advocates and opponents of abortion could find common goals in working to prevent unwanted pregnancies. But he said people who oppose both abortion and birth control are hindering those efforts. (The Roman Catholic Church opposes artificial means of contraception.)”If they were willing to abandon that aspect of their common front, then there would be much that we could all do together to make abortions rare,”Gore said.

Three times during the speech, Gore referred to Bernardin, a founder of the Common Ground movement that urges Catholics to find places of unity on divisive issues.

However, Mahony, another Common Ground promoter, said Gore’s remarks”misused”Bernardin’s”name and beliefs”in a”flagrant fashion.” In his letter, Mahony said he was”appalled”and”deeply offended”Gore would refer to the late cardinal”as if your thoughts and ideas would have found resonance with (his),”adding that”nothing could have been further from the truth.” Mahony requested a response from Gore, but a statement from the Los Angeles archdiocese noted that so far, there has been no reply.

Bitter late-term abortion battle to resume on Capitol Hill

(RNS) The bitter battle over late-term abortions is returning to Capitol Hill. Congressional Republicans introduced new legislation Wednesday (March 5) to ban the controversial late-term procedure dubbed”partial-birth”abortion by its opponents.

The new legislation comes in the wake of last week’s confession by prominent abortion rights supporter Ron Fitzsimmons that he lied during last year’s debate when he said the procedure was rare and only done to save the life of the mother or when a fetus was severely malformed. In fact, Fitzsimmons said in several media interviews, the procedure is done”for the most part”on healthy fetuses and healthy mothers.”Now the truth is out, and the American people are angry that they were told lies about this heinous procedure,”said Rep. Charles T. Canady, R-Fla., who reintroduced the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act in the House of Representatives.

The ban, which is being re-introduced in the Senate by Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., has more than 160 co-sponsors.

Last year, the ban passed both houses of Congress but was vetoed by President Clinton, who said he believed the procedure was sometimes medically necessary to save a woman’s life or preserve her ability to bear children.

On NBC’s”Meet the Press”Sunday (March 2), Democratic Sen. Patrick Moynihan of New York suggested Clinton would sign the bill this time around if it again clears Congress. However, White House spokeswoman Mary Ellen Glynn said she was not aware of any change in the president’s position.

Contentious debate is once again expected. A joint House-Senate committee hearing being called”Partial-Birth Abortion: the Truth”has been scheduled for March 11. Both opponents and advocates of abortion have promised massive grassroots mobilization on the issue.

House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, said the House will act on the ban before the Easter recess.

Lenten season begins March 10 for Orthodox Christians

(RNS) The Lenten season begins Monday (March 10) for more than 250 million Orthodox Christians around the world and culminates with the celebration of Easter on April 27. “The blessed season of Holy and Great Lent is once again at the doors, coming to bring us an opportunity for spiritual resurgence, a greater devotion to our souls and a more substantive personal participating in the sources of our faith and salvation,”said Archbishop Spyridon, Primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in America, in his Lenten encyclical.

Non-Orthodox Christians began Lent on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 12, and will celebrate Easter on March 30.

Orthodox observances of Easter and Lent dates back to a decree issued by the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. The decree stipulated that Easter must be celebrated on the Sunday following the first full moon of the vernal equinox, but always after the Hebrew Passover in order to maintain the sequence of events in the biblical account of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection.

In another contrast with the Western church calender, Eastern Orthodox Lent always begins on a Monday, which is designated as”Clean Monday”or the day of”cleansing and purification.” On the first Sunday of Lent this year, Orthodox churches from Albania to Russia will commemorate what is known as the”Triumph of Orthodoxy,”when the veneration of icons was officially returned to Orthodox theology in the 9th century. In 730 A.D., Byzantine Emperor Leo III had published an edict forbidding the use of icons.

In a Lenten message to all Orthodox congregations, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, based in Istanbul, said the season is a reminder that the church can transform sorrow into joy.”She leads us into the true life of the Spirit, where apparent sufferings, misfortunes and trials are revealed to be blessings, which soothe our pain and render us sympathetic and merciful,”the patriarch said.

Update: RCA classis ratifies salvation amendment

(RNS) A Southwest Michigan classis (regional body) of the Reformed Church in America (RCA) has become the first classis to approve a controversial amendment to the denomination’s rule book requiring pastors and churches to affirm each year that salvation is from Jesus Christ alone.”The affirmation was that the issue of salvation through Christ alone is at the very heart of our theology and we don’t want to compromise that,”said the Rev. Rich Oppenhuizen, classis vice president. “People felt that this was at the very core of what the RCA stands for and to compromise that salvation can come apart from Jesus Christ was to compromise what we stand for,”Oppenhuizen said.

The proposed amendment to the Book of Order was adopted by the church’s General Synod _ highest decision-making body _ last year, but still must be approved by two-thirds of the 185,000-member denomination’s classes and for a second time by the General Synod before it can take effect.

The proposed amendment has drawn fire from a number of progressive RCA leaders.”They’re (conservatives) becoming increasingly intolerant in the way they want to run the church,”said the Rev. Don Van Hoeven, a pastor in the Southwest Michigan classis.”They seem to think the church can do what it wants without the sunlight of inquiry by the community.” Van Hoeven has been formally rebuked by the classis for supporting the Rev. Richard Rhem of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Mich., who believes salvation does not depend on affirming Jesus Christ.”They’re attempting to be brokers of God’s mercies and as I understand the life of Jesus that’s what he lived to oppose,”Van Hoeven said.

Black Jesus sparks death threats, cancelations

(RNS) A black actor who was hired to play the role of Jesus in a Union City, N.J., Passion Play has received death threats and cancelations from people who want to see a white man play the role.

Desi Arnaz Giles acted the part of Jesus in the play Sunday (March 2) in the Park Theater Performing Arts Center. The play tells the story of Jesus’ final days.

According to the Associated Press, word spread quickly that a black actor was playing Jesus, a part Giles shared with a white actor.”The first call that I got, the woman asked me, `When is the white actor playing because I don’t want to see the black thing,'”said Eric Hafen, artistic director for the performance.

Giles called the part”the most important role of my life. … I will never do anything more important than this.”He said he will continue to play the role despite receiving death threats.”I have led a very complete life,”Giles said Tuesday (March 4).”Should somebody clip me during a performance, don’t cry for me, just rejoice because I’m ready to go home.” At least two groups have canceled tickets for a performance featuring Giles, and another group rescheduled for a day when the white actor is scheduled to perform. Hafen said he expected his casting a black man as Jesus would get a few telephone calls, but he said he was surprised to see such”blatant racism.” This weekend, Giles will take the part of the devil in a musical in Plainfield, N.J.”We’ll see how many people object to a black man playing him,”he said.

We Are Church to cardinal: Don’t stop discussions

(RNS) The British group of reform-minded Roman Catholics who launched the”We Are Church”petition drive in England, which seeks to change church teachings on the ordination of women and priestly celibacy, among other things, says Cardinal Basil Hume should not seek to stop discussion of the issues.

The petition drive is similar to those that began in 1995 in Austria and Germany and has now spread to the United States, Canada, Holland and other nations.

Shortly after the British began their drive in December, Hume criticized some portions of the group’s reform agenda. He said the call for women to be admitted to the priesthood”should have no place”in a Catholic document.

In their response, We Are Church organizers, known as the Jubilee People, said Hume’s attempt to prevent discussion of the ordination issue”was not Christ-like.””When Catholic women have been ordained as priests in Czechoslovakia and when more and more people are aware of the ministry of women priests in the Anglican Communion … to declare the proposition unthinkable is to question the intelligence of the faithful,”said the response.

Hume’s criticism, the organizers said, implied that the hierarchical church has never erred or modified its position _ despite evidence to the contrary. It named slavery and relations with other Christian denominations as examples.

Quote of the day: German Research Minister Juergen Ruettgers

(RNS) News reports of the cloning of a sheep in Scotland sent shock waves around the world and nowhere did it touch as raw a nerve as in Germany, where the cloning effort was compared to the Nazi way of thinking. German Research Minister Juergen Ruettgers called for a worldwide ban on cloning and criticized American scientists who defend the research for medical reasons.”That shows how perverse this process would be. Humans would then be bred for spare parts and then later carved up. That is exactly the same thinking that drove the Nazis to their research on human breeding.”

MJP END RNS