c. 1997 Religion News Service
After Mother Teresa’s funeral, brickbats for the press
(RNS) Mother Teresa, the nun who captured the world’s attention and accolades with her selfless devotion to the poor, was buried Saturday (Sept. 13) after six hours of multi-lingual, multi-religious rites.
The 87-year-old nun died Sept. 5.
The three-hour state funeral in Calcutta’s Netaji Indoor Stadium climaxed a week of tributes to the nun, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her work among the poor. Dignitaries from more than 50 nations, including a U.S. delegation led by first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, attended the Roman Catholic funeral Mass, presided over by Vatican Secretary of State Angelo Sodano, the personal representative of Pope John Paul II.”Crossing the frontiers of religious and ethnic differences, she has taught the world this lesson: It is more blessed to give than to receive,”Sodano said in his homily.
He also defended Mother Teresa from critics who said the nun, despite her commitment to the poor, did little to change the structures that created poverty.”The beggar, the leper, the victim of AIDS do not need discussions and theories,”Sodano said.”They need love. The hungry cannot wait for the rest of the world to come up with the perfect answer.” For the week prior to the funeral, tens of thousands of people passed by the nun’s coffin as she lay in state at St. Thomas Church in Calcutta.
The funeral rites began with a military escort of 15 vehicles carrying her body on a gun carriage in a procession from St. Thomas to the stadium and then to a private burial at Mother House, the headquarters of the Missionaries of Charity religious order founded by Mother Teresa.
White flowers in the shape of a cross were at the front of the military truck that towed the gun carriage. Flowers were also draped on the barrel of the field artillery piece.
The ceremonies were watched by millions around the world via television but the coverage has sparked a host of criticism.
In one of the most angry criticisms, Cardinal John J. O’Connor, archbishop of New York, lashed out at the news media.”I must confess my deep regret at what I consider the almost unbelievably tasteless manner in which some of the television and radio stations reported on the life and death of Mother Teresa,”the prelate said in his Sunday sermon at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
O’Connor did not name names, but archdiocesan spokesman Joseph Zwilling told the New York Post that O’Connor’s targets included Christopher Hitchens, a British journalist who has written critically of Mother Teresa and who was interviewed during ABC’s coverage of the funeral.
In India, a number of columnists and analysts expressed bitterness over what they said was the media’s excessive attention paid to Diana in comparison with Mother Teresa’s contribution to the world.”Mother Teresa was a landmark. Diana a concerned tourist,”wrote Mukal Kesavan for the Indian magazine Outlook. He wrote that Mother Teresa”didn’t `reach out,’ she didn’t range twinkle-toed from leprosy to land mines, and since all she had were two saris, she had no clothes to spare for auctions.”
Orthodox Christian head to arrive in U.S. Oct. 19
(RNS) Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual leader of the world’s 300 million Orthodox Christians, will arrive at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington, D.C., Oct. 19, to begin a month-long tour of the United States.
Bartholomew _ who is visiting the United States for the first time as ecumenical patriarch _ will visit Baltimore; New York; South Bound Brook, N.J.; Boston; Atlanta; Chicago; Des Moines, Iowa; Dallas; San Francisco; Los Angeles; Santa Barbara, Calif.; Stockton, Calif.; Florence, Ariz.; Pittsburgh and Johnstown, Pa., in addition to Washington.
His schedule, released by Greek Orthodox Church officials in New York Monday (Sept. 15), is a mix of pastoral and public events.
In Washington, Bartholomew will meet President Clinton at the White House, will be honored by Congress at a Capitol luncheon, and will be feted at a State Department dinner by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. He will also address the future of Orthodox Christianity in North America in a speech set for Georgetown University.
In New York, Bartholomew will address the United Nations and preside over ceremonies marking the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.
Bartholomew also will meet with non-Orthodox Christian, Muslim and Jewish leaders while in the United States and officiate at such pastoral events as a visit to the Ukrainian Orthodox Museum in South Bound Brook, N.J. In Santa Barbara, he will attend a symposium on the environment.
As ecumenical patriarch, a post he assumed in 1991, Bartholomew is regarded by Orthodox Christian leaders around the world as the”first among equals.”With headquarters in Istanbul, Turkey, he serves as a link between the various national and ethnic Orthodox churches, as spokesman for the Orthodox world, and the convener of international Orthodox councils. There are about 5 million Orthodox Christians in the United States.
Bartholomew will depart the United States on Nov. 17 from Pittsburgh, returning to Istanbul.
Bartholomew was last in the United States in 1990, when he accompanied the previous ecumenical patriarch, Demetrios, during his visit to North America.
Christian Coalition draws GOP leaders
(RNS) A host of Republican Party notables addressed the Christian Coalition’s annual”Road to Victory”convention, held Friday and Saturday (Sept. 12-13) in Atlanta.
Among them were several viewed as leading possible candidates to head the GOP presidential ticket in 2000, including Jack Kemp, the party’s 1996 vice presidential candidate, Sen. John Ashcroft of Missouri, and Rep. John R. Kasich of Ohio.
Steve Forbes, Alan Keyes and Lamar Alexander, all of whom sought the 1996 party nomination, were also on hand. House Speak Newt Gingrich was a featured speaker.”America, we are still here, and we are going to be here for years to come,”Donald P. Hodel, the coalition’s new president, told the 1,000 supporters attending the event.
Hodel’s comment was a reference to the departure of Ralph Reed as executive director of the organization earlier this year. Reed, now a political campaign consultant, is generally credited with turning the Christian Coalition into the nation’s premier advocacy group representing religious conservatives.
Political observers have speculated that without Reed the Christian Coalition may lose some of its clout.
Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson, who founded the organization, dismissed such speculation during his talk in Atlanta.”We can double everything that we have been doing in the next five years,”he said.”We want to double our budget. We want to double our grassroots infrastructure.” The Christian Coalition currently claims about 1.9 million members and supporters. Based in Chesapeake, Va., its annual budget tops $26 million.
25 injured by blast at Christian bookstand in Turkey
(RNS) More than two dozen people were injured Sunday (Sept. 14) when a bomb exploded next to a stand selling Bibles and Christian audiotapes at a trade fair in Turkey.
Two of the 25 persons injured were in serious condition, according to Turkey’s Anatolian news agency. The incident occurred in Gaziantep in southeastern Turkey. Reuters said no group has claimed responsibility for the blast.
Although predominantly Muslim Turkey is a secular republic, Islamic fundamentalists have sought to gain political power. Earlier this year, former prime minister Necmettin Erbakan was forced by the Turkish military to resign from office because of his fundamentalist views.
Editors: Juli in fourth graph and Leonel in sixth graph are cq.
Dallas Morning News writer wins top religion writing award
(RNS) Deborah Kovach Caldwell, a reporter for the Dallas Morning News, was named the John R. Templeton Award winner for excellent religion reporting in the secular press.
Caldwell received the award on Saturday (Sept. 13) during the annual meeting of the Religion Newswriters Association.
Laurie Goodstein, formerly of the Washington Post, came in second for the Templeton and Julia Lieblich of Newhouse News Service came in third.
Carol McGraw of the Orange County (Calif.) Register won the James O. Supple Award for excellent religion writing in the secular press. Diego Ribadeneira of the Boston Globe came in second and Juli Cragg Hilliard of the Sarasota (Fla.) Herald-Tribune came in third.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune won the Harold Schachern Memorial Award for Excellence in Religion Pages or Sections in the secular press. The Dallas Morning News came in second and the Salt Lake Tribune came in third.
Rebekah Scott of The (Toledo) Blade was the winner of the George Cornell Award for excellent religion reporting at a newspaper with a circulation between 50,001 and 150,000. Leonel Martinez of the Bakersfield Californian came in second and Kelly McBride of the Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Wash., came in third.
Kimberly Winston of the Fremont (Calif.) Tri-Valley Herald was awarded the Louis Cassels Award for excellent religion reporting at a newspaper with a circulation of 50,000 and below. Cheryl Wittenauer of the St. Joseph (Mo.) News-Press came in second and Karen Owen of the Owensboro (Ky.) Messenger-Inquirer came in third.
The Religion Newswriters Association, founded in 1949, has about 200 members and an additional 100 associate members.
Dallas pastor named new Southern Baptist Annuity Board head
(RNS) O.S. Hawkins, pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas, has been elected as the next president of the Southern Baptist Convention Annuity Board.
Hawkins, 50, was elected in a special meeting of Annuity Board trustees on Friday (Sept. 12) in Dallas. He will begin his post on Oct. 1, succeeding Paul Powell who has been president of the board since 1990.
Based in Dallas, the Annuity Board has assets in excess of $6 billion and more than 400 employees, reported Baptist Press, the official news service of the Southern Baptist Convention. It manages retirement accounts for more than 80,000 Southern Baptist ministers and other employees of agencies, institutions and churches.
Quote of the day:
(RNS)”I have a museum in my mind and in my heart. I live with it every hour of the day. But others need this building to learn.” Faina Ryzhikova, a Holocaust survivor who lost her mother, a brother and two sisters in the Holocaust, quoted in The New York Times on Friday (Sept. 12) on the dedication of the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York.
MJP END RNS
