c. 1997 Religion News Service
Cuban Catholic cardinal visits Florida
(RNS) Cuban Roman Catholic Cardinal Jaime Ortega y Alamino visited Florida this past weekend (Aug. 2-3) to rally support for Pope John Paul II’s trip to Cuba next January among the state’s large Cuban population, which usually opposes anything that might benefit Fidel Castro.
Ortega, Cuba’s most prominent clergyman, said the church _ constantly walking a political and diplomatic tightrope in the Caribbean island nation _ was growing.”I think that the church is growing, especially among the young people,”Ortega said in an interview with USA Today.”The faith is going to flourish.” While in Florida, Ortega celebrated Mass for 1,000 worshipers at St. Paul’s Church in Tampa.”Ortega’s presence is the presence of Cuba’s Catholic church here,”said the Rev. Ramon Hernandez Serralta, St. Paul’s pastor.”This is a union of people of both countries.” John Paul’s planned visit to Cuba in January is creating expectations across the divide of Cuban politics.
The Cuban government and its supporters hope the pontiff will use the visit’s expected high visibility to call for an end to the U.S. economic embargo of Cuba that has left the nation’s economy in tatters since the collapse of the Soviet Union, its primary economic benefactor.
Anti-Castro Cubans hope John Paul will use the visit to press Castro to allow democratic reforms and give the Catholic church more room in which to operate.
Southern Baptist mission board dumps Coca-Cola stock
(RNS) The Southern Baptist International Mission Board has announced that it has sold all of its stock in Coca-Cola after a Wall Street Journal article reported the soft-drink maker owns 10 percent of a brewery in Brazil.
The sale of the stock totaled about $6.5 million, Baptist Press, the official news agency of the Southern Baptist Convention, reported Thursday (July 31).
The International Mission Board, formerly the Foreign Mission Board, said it had contacted Coca-Cola about the issue and the company did not deny the accuracy of the Journal report.
The Journal article identified Kaiser as the Brazilian brewery connected with the U.S. soft-drink maker.
Mission board policy prohibits investments in companies involved in tobacco, alcohol, gambling, pornography or abortion.”Though Coca-Cola may be only a minority partner in Kaiser, (Coca-Cola’s) influence in the crucial distribution side of the business helped Kaiser amass its 16.2 percent share of the Brazilian beer market,”the Journal said.
World Vision staff evacuated from southern Sudan
(RNS) Five World Vision staff members working in the southern Sudan town of Yambio have been evacuated from the strife-torn African nation following a midnight attack on the relief group’s compound last Thursday (July 31).
The attack _ a three-hour robbery by an estimated 10-15 bandits _ left the aid workers, all from Kenya, shaken.”This armed robbery has left the staff very shaken up and unable to work,”Abraham Hadato, the project manager, said Saturday (Aug. 2).”The robbery was particularly frightening as the team members were all isolated … and unable to support each other throughout the ordeal.” According to World Vision, the robbers took a computer and printer as well as personal valuables and documents.
Several of the aid workers were beaten, according to reports, and one narrowly missed being shot. The workers said about 30 bullets were fired during the three-hour robbery.
The aid workers were flown to Nairobi, Kenya, where they were met by a World Vision doctor and trauma counseling specialist.
According to World Vision, two of three Catholic Relief Service workers were also evacuated as a result of the attack, but three UNICEF workers elected to remain in Yambio.”Our first concern is for staff safety. We will be closely monitoring the security situation on the ground in the coming days,”said Dave Finely, acting director of World Vision Sudan.”Obviously, our long-term goal is to get back in and continue our ministry there.” World Vision is engaged in health and construction work in the Yambio area, a part of southern Sudan controlled by the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, which is engaged in a civil war with the central government in Khartoum.
Morality in Media mounts petition drive to force action on pornography
(RNS) Morality in Media, a conservative watch-dog group that monitors the film, television and print media, announced Monday (Aug. 4) a national petition drive to urge President Clinton to act aggressively to enforce federal laws against pornography.
The petitions will be delivered to the White House in early November at the end of the group’s annual White Ribbon Against Pornography Campaign (Oct. 26-Nov. 2), the group said in a statement.”Obscenity is neither a First Amendment right nor a `victimless crime,'”said Robert Peters, president of the group.”Obscenity is a crime, period. The bulk of the multi-billion dollar obscenity trade is attributable to organized criminal enterprises that operate without regard to state borders.” The New York-based nonprofit group said President Clinton’s 1992 campaign included a commitment to”aggressive enforcement”of federal obscenity laws.”But in the five years since then, arrests and convictions for obscenity law violations are down sharply from previous years,”the group said in its statement.
With travel ban lifted, Baptists look to send missionaries to Lebanon
(RNS) The State Department’s action to lift the 10-year-old travel ban on Americans going to Lebanon has created new opportunities for Christian mission, according to the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Although a number of Americans, including missionaries, have been quietly returning to Lebanon in the years since the nation’s bitter civil war trailed off in the early 1990s, lifting of the ban effectively legalizes their presence in the country, Baptist Press, the official SBC news agency said. The State Department announced its action last Wednesday (July 30).
Lifting of the ban also means the International Mission Board can formally send missionaries into Lebanon.”We’re ecstatic,”Baptist Press quoted Raouf Ghatta, the Arab-born field reprsentative for the IMB told Baptist Press.”It’s a new day in Lebanon. Now, Southern Baptists can openly join in the work that has already been taking place in Lebanon for about the past four years, since the end of the Lebanese civil war,”he said.
Lebanese Baptists already have their wish list, including a youth worker, teachers, an athletics coach and teacher trainers.
There are currently 23 churches in the Lebanese Baptist Convention.
Quote of the day: John Whitehead, president of the Rutherford Institute
(RNS) John Whitehead, a lawyer and president of the Rutherford Institute, a conservative legal defense organization, wrote in the August issue of Jerry Falwell’s National Liberty Journal that judges appointed to the United States Supreme Court by Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush have dashed the hopes of many conservative Christians:”The underlying message in (their) labyrinth of decisions is clear: the Supreme Court will not revive American society. It will not lead religious people, unborn children and concerned parents into a bright new millenium. It will not fulfill any `conservative’ dream.”
DEA END RNS
