c. 1997 Religion News Service

Bomb attack injures priest at ecumenical patriarchate in Istanbul

(RNS) A priest was”severely injured”early Wednesday (Dec. 3) when a bomb exploded on the roof of the compound of the Orthodox Christian ecumenical patriarch in Istanbul, Turkey.

It was the third attack on the compound since 1994. Turkish police believe the two previous incidents were the work of Islamic militants who want the ecumenical patriarch out of Turkey, a secular Muslim nation that recently has seen an upsurge in support for fundamentalist Islam.

The ecumenical patriarch heads the Greek Orthodox Church and historically acts as a spokesman for other, autonomous Orthodox Christian churches. The patriarch has been headquartered in Istanbul for some 1,600 years, ever since the city was known as Constantinople and was the center of Byzantine Christianity.

The current patriarch, Bartholomew, who recently completed a monthlong tour of the United States, was not at the compound at the time of the blast.

In New York, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America said in a statement that the explosion”shattered part of the roof, damaged metal gutters, hurled shrapnel around the courtyard and shattered numerous windows.” The archdiocese said the injured priest, the Rev. Kektarios Nikkolou, was”severely injured by shrapnel and glass shards that penetrated the windows”of his office. Nikkolou was reported in serious condition,”but he is expected to recover.” Reuters news agency said the bomb was a grenade hurled into the compound by unknown assailants shortly after midnight.

S.C. Baptists withdraws aid from group seeking Confederate flag removal

(RNS) The South Carolina Baptist Convention has withdrawn its financial support from the state’s Christian Action Council after the council was involved in efforts to encourage the removal of the Confederate flag from the state capitol.

During the annual meeting of the state’s Southern Baptists, delegates to the convention approved a budget amendment that transferred $15,000 from the interdenominational council to the state convention’s Christian Life and Public Affairs Committee, reported Associated Baptist Press, an independent Baptist news service. The meeting took place Nov. 11-12 in Columbia.

The amendment was proposed by Bobby Eubanks, pastor of Ridge Baptist Church in Summerville. Eubanks wrote in a letter to the editor published in the Baptist Courier newspaper that he learned South Carolina Baptists supported the council when its members joined Gov. David Beasley in a call to remove the flag from the dome of the statehouse in Columbia.

News accounts reported Eubanks and more than a dozen other clergy objected to the council’s silent vigil and march in January that supported the governor’s attempt to move the flag. They accused the governor of creating a division among churches by making the flag controversy a moral issue.

Eubanks and the other clergy issued a paper titled”The Moral Defense of the Confederate Flag: A Special Message for South Carolina Christians.” Eubanks said the Christian Action Council is”too theologically diverse”to represent South Carolina Baptists. He thinks the state convention’s committee is better able to represent Baptist stands on moral and social topics.”My intent was to distance ourselves from an ecumenical group that cannot speak for us as Southern Baptists,”he said.

Methodist minister McKay Brabham of Columbia, in another letter to the editor in the same issue of the Baptist Courier, voiced”dismay and profound sadness”at the decision, citing the longstanding relationship between South Carolina Baptists and the council.

The council, which was started in 1933 as a temperance organization, represents 16 denominations in South Carolina on religious and civic issues.

Christian singer Jaci Velasquez fast-selling solo debut artist

(RNS) Contemporary Christian singer Jaci Velasquez has become the fastest-selling solo debut recording artist in the history of Christian music.

By mid-November, her recording”Heavenly Place”had been on the Billboard Heatseekers chart for 65 straight weeks, with close to 450,000 units sold, according to her record label, Myrrh Records of Nashville. Her debut project, which was released in May 1996, also was in the top position of the SoundScan charts 67 weeks after its release.

Velasquez, named the 1997 New Artist of the Year at the Gospel Music Association’s annual Dove Awards, has been on an 80-city tour with contemporary Christian singer Clay Crosse. Their”Stained Glass”Tour, which began this fall, will continue in February, reaching a total of 39 states across the nation.

Update: Boggs takes over as U.S. ambassador to Holy See

RNS _ Few ambassadors to the Holy See are older than Pope John Paul II, who is 78. And few if any are believed to be great-grandparents, let alone a woman.

Into this male bastion on Wednesday (Dec. 3) walked 81-year-old Lindy Boggs, President Clinton’s second ambassador to the Holy See.

The former congresswoman, who was coaxed out of retirement by Clinton for the post, arrived at Rome’s Fiumicino airport, reminding a small gathering of Vatican and U.S. officials, and journalists, of her seasoned past.”My first visit to Rome was in 1948,”she said. The New Orleans native, who served 18 years in Congress, said she had traveled with her late husband, the U.S. Rep. Hale Boggs, to 52 countries on five continents.

As for the future, she said,”I look forward to working with the Holy Father in the coming years, especially to help usher in a new millennium during a great jubilee year.” Despite the differences separating the Vatican and the United States government _ on issues ranging from abortion to the banning of land mines _ the new ambassador, who awaits word on when she can present her credentials to the pontiff, stressed areas of solidarity.

She said the administration sought to work with the Holy See on international issues, such as peace, cultivating democracy, protecting human rights, promoting religious freedom and seeking ways to apply technology and science that benefit human beings.

Boggs replaces the embattled Raymond Flynn, whose blunt political pronouncements irked the State Department and conservatives. He also faced embarrassing ethical charges that were eventually settled.

Like most former U.S. envoys to the Holy See, Boggs is a Roman Catholic opposed to abortion. But she has said her personal views will not impede her duties on behalf of the administration.

Pope moves controversial bishop out of Switzerland

(RNS) Pope John Paul II, in an effort to defuse a simmering crisis between the Vatican and the Swiss government, has appointed a controversial bishop to head a newly created archdiocese of Lichtenstein.

The Vatican announced Tuesday (Dec. 2) that John Paul is transferring Bishop Wolfgang Haas, who has headed the diocese of Chur, Switzerland, to his native Liechtenstein, the Associated Press reported.

During his tenure as bishop of Chur _ a diocese that before Tuesday’s announcement covered Liechtenstein, Zurich and a large mountainous area in eastern Switzerland _ tensions mounted between Haas, a conservative, and other leading Swiss Catholics, as well as with the Swiss government. The number of Catholics leaving the church during his tenure doubled.

Haas, 49, angered liberal Catholics because he opposed moves to allow lay preachers and enhance the role of women in the church.

Some Swiss Catholics said John Paul imposed Haas on the diocese in violation of a Vatican pledge to let Chur clergy make their own choice. The 3.5 million Catholics in Switzerland have a history of independence from Rome.

The Swiss Foreign Ministry, in a statement, said it”notes with relief and satisfaction that Rome has cleared the way for a change at the top of the diocese of Chur.”

Australian Jews, Anglicans hold first official dialogue

(RNS) The first official meeting between representatives of Australia’s Jewish and Anglican communities recently took place in Sydney.

The daylong session covered issues between the two groups as well as”Jewish and Christian Perspectives on Aboriginal Reconciliation,”the independent Jewish Telegraphic Agency news service reported Monday (Dec. 1). Aborigines are Australia’s native people.

Nearly one-fourth of Australia’s more than 18 million people are Anglican church members. Some 100,000 Jews live in Australia.

Polish primate criticizes radio priest’s defiance of the law

(RNS) Cardinal Josef Glemp, Poland’s highest-ranking Roman Catholic primate, has criticized a prominent radio cleric for ignoring a prosecutor’s summons.

Glemp, in a letter released in Warsaw on Monday (Dec. 1), urged the Redemptorist Fathers religious order to monitor the activities of the Rev. Tadeusz Rydzyk.

On one of his programs, Rydzyk called members of Parliament who support legal abortion”murderers”and has since refused to obey a summons for questioning by a Polish prosecutor investigating him on suspicion of”insulting state organs,”Reuters reported.”Despite the great popularity of the Rev. Rydzyk, he cannot demand privileges for himself nor stand above the law,”Glemp said.”The summoning of Father Rydzyk by a state office is not a persecution of the Church.”I myself have listened to Father Rydzyk’s utterances and felt humiliated by the haughtiness with which he spoke of the interior minister and the government administration,”Glemp added.

Glemp wrote to the head of the Redemptorist order because diocesan bishops do not control priests in monastic orders. Radio Maryja, the station which airs Rydzyk’s commentaries, also broadcasts inspirational messages, prayers and right-wing political commentary.

Two provincial church leaders accused of corruption in China

(RNS) Two Protestant leaders have been dismissed from their positions in China’s Guangdong region near Hong Kong following allegations of corruption.

Yang Wenteng, a church chairman in the city of Yingde and Luo Yuzhen, a preacher, were fired from their posts after other church leaders accused them of embezzlement, Ecumenical News International, a Geneva-based religious news agency, reported Monday (Dec. 1).

According to ENI, a public notice posted outside the Yingde church in October, accused Luo of”corruption”and”serious violation of the accounting system”because of missing funds. The note demanded that Yang and Luo return money they allegedly embezzled.

The Chinese Christian Council, a government-approved nondenominational body linking China’s 10 million Protestants, said churches carry out their own investigations and don’t use outside law enforcement agencies for church problems.

Two seminary graduate students will replace Yang and Luo.

Nigeria bans politicians from wearing magic charms in pre-election period

(RNS) Politicians in Nigeria were told they would be arrested if they displayed magic charms to improve their chances in Saturday’s (Dec. 6) election, the state-owned Daily Times reported from Lago on Monday (Dec. 1).

In an effort to restore civilian rule next year, the military government is holding elections for members of assemblies in Nigeria’s 36 states.

Magic is commonly used in parts of Nigeria to bring good luck and help determine the outcome of events, Reuters reported.

Quote of the day: United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan

(RNS)”Given the pressure from the people, from the grassroots, I really do not think any government can sit out this movement for long.” United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan as representatives from some 120 nations gathered in Ottawa to sign a treaty intended to rid the world of anti-personnel land mines.

DEA END RNS