c. 1997 Religion News Service
Greek Orthodox leader seeks Israeli aid in Jerusalem spat with Muslims
(RNS) The head of the Greek Orthodox Church of America has urged Israel’s prime minister and Jerusalem’s mayor to intervene in a dispute between church and Muslim officials in Jerusalem.
The dispute centers on two rooms the church had been using in the Christian Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City. Church officials say the rooms are part of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, the complex of buildings that serves as church headquarters in Israel.
Jerusalem’s Muslim Waqf, the Palestinian Islamic authority in the city, says it owns the rooms.
The situation came to a head Tuesday (April 15) when Muslim workmen, who were renovating a mosque that adjoins the patriarchate _ which is near the Church of the Holy Sepulchre _ allegedly broke into the two rooms, removed their contents and took possession.
In identical letters sent Wednesday to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert, Archbishop Spyridon, who leads the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, said the church”should not be subject to such violent actions.” He urged Netanyahu and Olmert to use their powers to settle the matter so”that peace may once again be restored.” Neither Netanyahu or Olmert immediately responded.
TBN polls viewers on resuming Boone show
(RNS) The Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) is polling its viewers to determine whether singer Pat Boone will resume his TV show on the Christian network.
Boone came under fire in some Christian circles for appearing in biker gear on a televised awards program to promote his new CD,”Pat Boone in a Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy.” The network pulled Boone’s”Gospel America”program after receiving hundreds of calls from opponents of his promotion of the recording.
The poll began during Boone’s first appearance on TBN since the show was taken off the air in February, the Associated Press reported. Boone appeared Tuesday (April 15) on the network’s flagship program”Praise”with host and TBN President Paul F. Crouch.
About 3,800 calls came in by the end of the program, with votes favoring Boone by a 2-to-1 margin, said TBN spokesman Colby May. He predicted that at least 20,000 viewers will vote on the matter before a decision is made by next week.
During the broadcast, Boone apologized to those offended by his appearance on the American Music Awards but said he did not regret it and viewed it as a joke. He also said he had not changed his views on religion or music.
Boone, 62, has traditionally had a clean-cut image, but his latest album combines his mellow voice and big-band orchestrations with heavy-metal lyrics.”I don’t apologize for the music, I don’t apologize for making the appearance on the show, but for whatever negative fallout there might have been, I regret that,”Boone said.
TBN was pleased with the singer’s comments, May said.”We believe that Pat came on and sincerely expressed what we now believe was a mistake of his own judgment,”he said.”He wants to remain true to his original ministry and his original art and keep the `Gospel America’ show … certainly the way his fans want it.”
Boggs said to be favored as new Vatican envoy
(RNS) Outgoing Ambassador Raymond Flynn said Friday (April 18) that 81-year-old former Louisiana congresswoman Lindy Boggs is the leading candidate to succeed him as the United States’ representative to the Vatican.
Flynn, a former Boston mayor who has announced his intention to leave the Vatican post after 3 1/2 years, told the Associated Press the White House is”leaning heavily”toward nominating Boggs, who is a Roman Catholic.
A White House spokeswoman said she could neither confirm nor deny that Boggs, a Democrat who retired in 1990 after nine terms in the House of Representatives, was being considered for the Vatican post.
Boggs, reached in New Orleans, told the New Orleans Times-Picayune she could not comment on the issue until she first checked with the White House.
The widow of Hale Boggs, she won her husband’s House seat in 1973 following his death in a plane crash in Alaska. A strong advocate of civil rights, Boggs was the only white member of Congress representing a majority black district at the time of her retirement.
Relief groups urge Clinton to separate aid, politics in Korean famine
(RNS) A group of 16 relief agencies, most of them religious-based, have called on the Clinton administration to boost its aid to famine-stricken North Korea and to make sure aid is not coupled to political demands on the communist government.”It is clear from the statements (of top Clinton officials) … and from the limited response to the food crisis, it is trying to use famine as a weapon to extract from the North Korean regime concessions which entail fundamental change in its military and economic policies,”the group said in a statement Thursday (April 17).”While these changes are highly desirable, vulnerable groups within the North Korean population should not be held hostage by the U.S. administration to the questionable willingness of the North Korean government to undertake fundamental changes,”the groups said.
The relief groups argued that such demands were not made when previous administrations provided emergency assistance to the people of Ethiopia, Cambodia, Iran, Angola, Mozambique and other nations.
The administration’s tactics, they said,”are not only inconsistent with our recent history but repugnant to a great many Americans.” U.S. relief groups have been pushing the administration to substantially aid North Korea in battling the hunger caused by disastrous flooding and two successive years of bad harvests.
The U.S. earlier had made a $10 million donation to the U.N.’s World Food Program in North Korea and this week announced an additional $15 million contribution specifically directed at aiding the 2.4 million North Korean children considered at risk of malnutrition and starvation because of the famine.
The U.S. donations will allow for the purchase of about 75,000 metric tons of food. U.N. and relief agencies estimate North Korea is facing a 2.3 million metric ton food deficit and that 1.3 million metric tons are needed to avoid a major loss of life.
The relief agencies that signed the statement are the American Friends Service Committee, Catholic Relief Services, Church World Service, Food for the Hungry, Heifer Project International, International Medical Corps, Lutheran World Relief, Mercy Corps International, Operation USA, Relief International, Save the Children, United Methodist Committee on Relief, U.S. Catholic Conference, World Vision, Mennonite Central Committee, and Korean-American Sharing Movement.
San Francisco priest faces 18 months in jail on embezzlement charges
(RNS) A once high-ranking priest in the Archdiocese of San Francisco may be sentenced to 16 months in a California state prison after pleading no contest Wednesday (April 16) to embezzlement charges.
The Rev. Martin Greenlaw had served as the director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, a church organization that raises funds for global mission work.
The embezzlement was discovered in 1993. Last year, the San Francisco District Attorney’s office disclosed that Greenlaw had stolen $150,000 from St. Paul’s Church, where he had served as pastor, as well as $75,000 from St. Robert’s Church in San Bruno, Calif.
The charges were a major embarrassment for former San Francisco Archbishop John Quinn, who also was struggling with publicity over embezzlement and pedophilia charges against another priest, Monsignor Patrick O’Shea.
Greenlaw pled guilty to embezzlement charges in the St. Paul’s case in 1996. In a controversial decision, San Francisco Superior Judge Jack Berman sentenced Greenlaw to a year of electronically monitored detention in his home and three years probation. District Attorney Terrence Hallinan had asked for a prison sentence for Greenlaw.
Greenlaw’s no-contest plea Wednesday came in response to separate embezzlement charges in San Mateo County, where St. Robert’s is located. Greenlaw told the court he has returned the stolen money to both his former churches.
Greenlaw entered the plea after a San Mateo Municipal Court judge indicated the now-retired priest would be sentenced to no more than 16 months in state prison. Without the no-contest plea, Greenlaw was facing up to three years in state prison. He will be formally sentenced June 1.
RCA to vote again on so-called salvation amendment
(RNS) Because of a typographical error, leaders of the Reformed Church in America (RCA) are recommending the denomination’s regional bodies vote again on a proposed amendment to the church’s Book of Order requiring all ministers and congregations to annually reaffirm their belief that salvation is only possible through Jesus.
The proposed amendment was passed last year by the church’s General Synod _ its top policy-making body _ and sent to the classes, as the regional bodies are known.
Two-thirds of the classes must vote in favor of the change in order for it to go into effect. The vote on the amendment was even at 23-23, defeating the proposal.
The amendment would require each congregation and minister to answer the question,”Are the doctrines of the gospel preached in your church in their purity in conformity with … the truth that divine redemption from sin is only by grace through faith in the perfect work of the Lord Jesus Christ alone, the only mediator between God and humankind.” While that view is standard doctrine for the denomination, it has not been required that every minister and congregation swear to it every year.
Subsequent to the vote, it was discovered that the words”by grace”had been inadvertently omitted from the version sent to the classes. The denomination’s General Synod Council voted to recommend that the General Synod, which will meet June 14-20 in Milwaukee, resubmit the proposal to the classes for a new vote.
For Heaven’s Gate Ministries, visibility out of tragedy
(RNS) A charitable organization with the same name as the quasi-religious group whose 39 members committed suicide in California last month has received a windfall from the publicity surrounding the Heaven’s Gate tragedy.
Heaven’s Gate Ministries, a small charity organization based in Jackson, N.J., has received calls from newspapers and radio shows daily since the mass suicide in Rancho Sante Fe, and its normally quiet World Wide Web site has had more than 8,000 hits.
In the two weeks following the suicides, the organization received about $1,500 in donations, a relatively large amount compared to the $12,000 the charity received in all of 1996.
According to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, the cash flow comes at a particularly good time for Heaven’s Gate Ministries. Arsonists burned down its warehouse on Palm Sunday (March 16), destroying about $100,000 worth of items.”God is using the timing of this to take the focus away from something that isn’t his will,”said Robert Meyer, founder and president of the charity.
But Meyer said the publicity has had negative results, including receiving hate mail and phone calls from people who ask,”Why are you killing people?” Meyer said one woman from a private school in Louisiana sent the charity an e-mail message expressing sympathy on the church’s loss of its parishioners and asking if the computers they left behind could be donated to her school.
Quote of the day: Greek philosopher Plato
(RNS) In”Living A Good Life: Advice on Virtue, Love and Action from the Ancient Greek Masters”(Shambala), edited by Thomas Clearey, the Greek philosopher Plato is quoted on truth:”When you attain truth, it blesses you, and when you abandon truth, it curses me. So make truth your own and act on it, and be wary of error; for therein lies God’s satisfaction with you, and my affection for you.”
MJP END RNS
