c. 1997 Religion News Service
Georgian Orthodox to quit WCC
(RNS) The Georgian Orthodox Church in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia has decided to withdraw its membership from the World Council of Churches (WCC), saying the international ecumenical body fails to take Orthodox interests into account.
The decision, taken at an emergency meeting of the church’s synod May 20, suggests a deep division within the Georgian Orthodox Church but also could strengthen anti-ecumenical sentiment among other Orthodox church bodies.
It is the first time since the 1948 founding of the WCC that an Orthodox church has left the 330-member Geneva-based ecumenical agency. The Georgian church said it was also withdrawing from the Conference of European Churches, a regional European body that mirrors the WCC.
The decision to leave the WCC follows strong pressure from Georgia’s leading Orthodox monasteries, according to Ecumenical News International (ENI), the Geneva-based religious news agency.
Earlier this month, in an open letter to Patriarch Ilia II, the church’s leader, Archimandrite Georgi, the father superior of one of the church’s most influential monasteries, said his monastery was suspending”communion”with the patriarch because of the patriarch’s”ecumenical heresy.”Ilia II has been an active participant on the international ecumenical stage and served as WCC president from 1979 to 1983.
The archimandrite was supported in his decision by leaders of other main monasteries in Georgia and on May 19, according to ENI, a group of parish priests also called on the patriarch to withdraw from the WCC.
The suddenness of the synod’s decision shocked even those calling for the withdrawal.”We expected a long struggle (and) thought that the synod would create a special commission which would slowly consider this issue,”Archimandrite Ioann Sheklashvili told Metaphrasis, a religious news agency based in Moscow.”The synod’s decision was absolutely unexpected for us and we do not think that this is the best decision in the current situation.” The WCC has long been criticized by Orthodox denominations for what the churches say are the WCC’s”vague”concepts on church authority and organization, and their concern over developments in”Western Protestantism,”including the ordination of women as priests, the revision of conventional views on homosexuality and the use of inclusive language in Bible translations.
A spokesman for the WCC said the organization would have no comment on the withdrawal until the agency’s central committee meets June 5-6.
Pope meets with German bishops on abortion counseling rift
(RNS) Pope John Paul II’s ironclad opposition to abortion is meeting resistance in some potentially embarrassing corners _ among his own bishops.
In what appeared to be an attempt to put a lid on the brewing differences, the pope held a private meeting Tuesday (May 27) with Germany’s bishops over a German abortion law that some clerics favor.
The Vatican said in a statement that no decisions were made at the session that it called a”fraternal”gathering”to discuss and explore in an in-depth way how Catholic family counselors can be correctly involved”in a process the church opposes.
A 1993 German law permits abortion on demand after a woman seeking to terminate a pregnancy has received counseling.
Some clerics, like Bishop Karl Lehmann, president of the German Bishops’ Conference, contend that at a minimum the church should be involved in counseling. Other bishops say abortion should be an option of last resort to some women.
Several prominent Vatican officials, notably German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, have called on the bishops to resist being drawn into a discussion with the government over how Catholics can observe the law and remain faithful to their religion.
Last year, on the eve of the pope’s trip to Germany, Chancellor Helmut Kohl, a Roman Catholic, called on the church to ease its absolute ban on abortion.
But the pope has repeatedly said abortion is murder and no law can legitimize it.
The Vatican said the German bishops reaffirmed their fidelity to the pope’s views, which have been laid out in numerous papers and encyclicals.”The question concerns the concrete application of the doctrine of the church in the current situation, in the context of a pluralistic society,”it said.
Four books about Jesus published every day
(RNS) More than 65,000 books about Jesus or with Jesus as a main theme have been written worldwide and an average of four more are published each day, according to a researcher.
Missionary researcher David Barrett told”idea,”the information service of the German Evangelical Alliance, that publication statistics show there is a”global boom”in books about Jesus.
In 1996, some 1,500 new books about Jesus appeared in print, Barrett said.
Barrett, editor of the World Christian Encyclopedia, said information from libraries around the world show there are a total of 65,571 books with Jesus as their main subject and 53,094 have the word Jesus in the title.
A large proportion _ 25,077 _ have been published since 1970.
NCC makes more grants to burned churches
(RNS) The National Council of Churches (NCC) has announced it has made a new round of $464,200 in grants to 17 burned churches.
The new round of grants from the Burned Churches Fund makes a total of $4,654,323 that has been given to 82 churches, most of them African-American churches in the southeast United States.
The new round of grants completes the first phase of the church rebuilding effort in which the NCC and its secular and religious partners worked with 124 burned churches, providing cash, volunteers, in-kind goods and services.
In addition to the cash awards, the NCC said some 15,000 volunteers from across the United States have volunteered to help rebuild burned churches and 7,800 of them have already been placed on a rebuilding site. NCC officials estimated the value of volunteer labor to date at $780,000, based on a $5 an hour wage and 20 hours per volunteer.
Other contributions to the fund include $2 million in wood products donated by the International Paper Company; modular units valued at $350,000 from G.E. Capital; and Bibles, hymnals, pews, robes and office equipment valued at $250,000.
The next phase of the rebuilding effort will begin June 8 when 80 to 90 pastors of burned churches, other religious leaders and U.S. government officials will meet in Washington, D.C., for a”National Convocation of Religious Leaders Addressing Racial Justice and Domestic Tranquility.”
Hybels calls on Clinton to sign abortion ban
(RNS) The Rev. Bill Hybels, pastor of the 17,000-member Willow Creek Community Church and one of President Clinton’s spiritual advisers, has urged the president to sign a bill banning a controversial late-term abortion procedure.
Hybels faxed a one-page letter to Clinton May 21 urging the ban, according to The Washington Times. The bill, called the”Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act,”was passed by the House in March and by the Senate on May 20. The White House has indicated Clinton is likely to veto the measure because it does not contain a safeguard for the health of the mother.
Hybels meets monthly with Clinton for an hour-long session but does not raise policy issues unless the president does.
The Rev. Lee Strobel, an assistant pastor at Willow Creek, told the Times he helped draft the letter to Clinton.”I argued as forcibly as I could that he should sign the bill, because the ban is morally, ethically, and medically appropriate and constitutionally defensible,”Strobel said.
Quote of the Day: Ravi Ravindra
(RNS) The Buddhist magazine Tricycle recently asked Ravi Ravindra, professor of comparative religion and physics at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, whether he had ethical concerns about breakthroughs in the cloning of higher life forms. He said, in part:”I am not worried about these new developments. But we need the development of conscience among the scientists and political leaders. As our knowledge grows, it is not accompanied by conscience or compassion, and I think this is a serious need. … So sooner or later, this will blow up in our faces. It is knowledge without conscience. There are, of course, exceptions _ some scientists have great consciences. But spiritual training of the scientist, in general, is what we need.”
MJP END RNS