c. 1997 Religion News Service

Defrocked Methodist pastor ordered to pay sexual misconduct damages

(RNS) A Texas jury has ordered the defrocked pastor of one of the nation’s largest United Methodist churches to pay $3.7 million in sexual misconduct damages.

Jurors on Friday (Jan. 17) instructed Barry Bailey, the former pastor of the 10,500-member First United Methodist Church of Fort Worth, to pay the money to seven women and one of their husbands, the Associated Press reported.

During the first of three pending sexual misconduct civil trials against Bailey, three plaintiffs testified that they had sexual relations with the former minister. Five other plaintiffs, most of whom were affiliated with the church, said Bailey had fondled them and made lewd comments and other inappropriate advances. The man argued that Bailey’s behavior had damaged his marriage.

Bailey, 70, has denied the charges, asserting that he did not abuse his position as a counselor and a clergyman. However, a Fort Worth jury found him guilty of inflicting emotional distress on the women, invading their privacy and breaching the trust relationship between counselor and patient.

In 1994, the allegations forced Bailey’s departure from First United Methodist Church, the third largest Methodist church in the country.

After slayings, relief workers urged to reduce Rwandan effort

(RNS) A senior United Nations official is urging international aid agencies to reduce their activities in northwestern Rwanda after three Spanish doctors were killed Saturday (Jan. 18) in an attack on their compound.

U.N. resident coordinator Omar Bakhet organized a crisis meeting Monday (Jan. 20) where aid agency officials discussed the recent attacks on foreign workers.

Four Spaniards with the charity group Medicos de Mundo (Doctors of the World) were shot to death Saturday by suspected Hutu militiamen during an attack on the Ruhengeri compound they shared with the group Save the Children. An American doctor, Nitin Madhav, was also wounded. “These people were executed. Clearly these attacks were aimed at aid workers and expatriates generally,”U.N. Human Rights Operation director Javier Zuniga told Reuters.

The attack was the latest in a series of violence against aid workers near the Rwandan border with Zaire.

Relief agencies, including several religious groups involved in humanitarian efforts, are considering suspending activities in certain areas of Rwanda. In the mean time, Bakhet’s office recommended that all aid workers take new security precautions, including not staying overnight in Ruhengeri.”I’d rather not put people in danger and if this violence continues, then I have no option but to suspend operations in some areas,”Bakhet told Reuters.

Russian Orthodox declare 1997 year of the `apostle of Alaska’

(RNS) The Russian Orthodox Church has proclaimed 1997 the”Year of St. Innocent”in honor of the saint who spent much of his ministry last century as a missionary in”Russian America”_ known today as Alaska.

The proclamation comes at a time when many Orthodox leaders in Russia are seeking new legislative curbs against foreign missionaries, and especially American missionaries, who have been flooding the former Soviet Union since the fall of communism.

1997 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of St. Innocent, the former Metropolitan of Moscow who spent 10 years from 1823 until 1833 working with indigenous people in Alaska, which was then part of the Russian empire. In 1840, he became the first bishop of the new northern Pacific diocese.

This is only the second time that the Russian Orthodox Church has dedicated an entire year to a saint, according to Ecumenical News International (ENI), a Geneva-based church news agency.

Innocent was jointly canonized in 1977 by the Russian Orthodox Church and the Orthodox Church in America. His work earned him the nickname”Apostle of Alaska.””We want to publish (St. Innocent’s) message, so that everybody knows about the mission of the Orthodox Church,”said Metropolitan Yuvenali in launching the Year of St. Innocent.

Missionary activity has been a controversial topic in Russia in recent years. Many in the Russian Orthodox hierarchy have been critical of Protestant and Catholic missionaries, as well as representatives of a number of religious groups now working inside Russia.

Alexander Boulekov, spokesman of the Russian Orthodox Church, told ENI the difference is that his church has only sent missionaries to nations where Christianity was unknown or where there are large numbers of ethnic Russians.”Otherwise, the mission was done in coordination and cooperation with local Christian churches. But we never conducted mission in Italy or France,”he told ENI.

British Baptist elected to head European ecumenical group

(RNS) The Rev. Keith Clements, a leading British Baptist clergyman, has been elected the next general secretary of the Conference of European Churches (CEC), Europe’s leading ecumenical organization.

Clements, current secretary for international affairs of the Council of Churches for Britain and Ireland, told a Geneva news conference last week that he was optimistic about the future of the church unity movement.”It has become common to speak of an ecumenical winter,”Clements said.”I do not detect this in (the) Conference of European Churches. Perhaps it’s not too much to speak of an early spring.” Clements was born in 1943 in China, the son of missionary parents. Before taking on his duties with the British council, he held several academic posts and has written several books. He is a member of the World Council of Churches’ commission on faith and order.

The CEC has 123 member churches _ Orthodox, Protestant, Anglican and Old Catholic _ throughout Europe.

Clements told Ecumenical News International, the Geneva-based church news agency headquartered in Geneva, that he would work to continue the conference’s longstanding cooperation with the Roman Catholic Church in Europe.”There are many things that the churches can only do properly if they do them together,”he said.

Bombs explode outside Oklahoma abortion clinic

(RNS) Two bombs exploded outside a Tulsa, Okla., abortion clinic Sunday (Jan. 19), four days before the 24th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe vs. Wade decision that legalized most abortions.

The bombs caused slight damage to the clinic, but no one was in the building at the time of the explosions, the Associated Press reported. No injuries were reported.

The clinic, Reproductive Services, was also hit by two firebombs on New Year’s Day. Police said the Jan. 1 bombs were thrown into windows at the back of the clinic, causing minor damage.

Last week, two bombs exploded at an Atlanta building that housed the Northside Family Planning Services abortion clinic. Six people were injured in the second of those explosions.

Authorities are still investigating the motive of the Atlanta bombings.

Quote of the day: Pope John Paul II

(RNS) Pope John Paul II on Sunday (Jan. 19) initiated the annual week of prayer for Christian unity, declaring that relations between various Christian bodies are improving but that more must be done as the world nears the new millennium:”One notes better reciprocal knowledge, a more careful respect and also a growing collaboration oriented toward reinforcing the understanding and the brotherhood. Nevertheless, doctrinal and practical differences remain that impede full communion. Dialogue must thus be intensified and the commitment to prayer further developed.”

MJP END RNS