c. 1997 Religion News Service
Pope stricken by the flu
(RNS) Pope John Paul II was sidelined Wednesday (Feb. 5) by an influenza that his physicians said would require several days of bed rest.
Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said the pope became ill Tuesday evening from an inflammation of the throat and trachea caused by the flu.”Influenza has entered even the pope’s house,”the 76-year-old pontiff said at a brief appearance from his apartment window to pilgrims who had gathered at St. Peter’s Square expecting to see him at his regular Wednesday audience.”The doctor has advised me not to go outdoors,”he said.
In addition to the last-minute cancellation of his Wednesday audience, which usually draws upwards of 10,000 pilgrims, the pope postponed Thursday meetings with Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar of Spain and Australia’s foreign minister, Alexander Downer.
This season’s flu has hit thousands of Rome residents, hospitals and clinics report.
The Vatican, in keeping with its strict policy of withholding details about the pope’s medical treatment, did not divulge whether the pontiff was taking medication for the flu.
John Paul has slowed his active pace since having his inflamed appendix removed last October. At the recommendation of his doctors, the pontiff did not conduct the traditional Christmas morning Mass at the Vatican last year, though he did celebrate midnight Mass on Christmas eve.
In December 1995, a fever caused the pope to cancel his appearance at Christmas Mass. The illness was later attributed to appendicitis.
While he is believed to have fully recovered from the appendix operation, the pope’s continued trembling in his left hand is widely believed to be caused by Parkinson’s disease. The Vatican has never denied reports that he suffers from the degenerative nervous disorder.
Clinton, Watts use religious references in State of Union speeches
(RNS) Religion made an appearance in the State of the Union activities Tuesday (Feb. 4), with both President Bill Clinton and Republican respondent Rep. J.C. Watts, R-Okla., using religious themes in their speeches to the nation.
Clinton quoted a Bible verse from the book of Isaiah:”Thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations, and thou shalt be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of paths to dwell in.” The president said that during his second inauguration ceremony the Bible was opened to that passage as he took the oath of office. He credited the Rev. Robert H. Schuller, pastor of the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, Calif., with suggesting the verse.
At Clinton’s invitation, Schuller sat next to first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton during the State of the Union address.
In his speech, Clinton specifically called on churches and religious organizations to ensure that welfare reform is a success.”Now each and every one of us has to fulfill our responsibility, indeed our moral obligation, to make sure that people who now must work can work,”the president said.”I challenge every religious congregation, every community nonprofit, every business to hire someone off welfare.” The official Republican response, delivered by Watts, was laden with religious references. Watts, an ordained Baptist minister, said one of the Republican Party’s top priorities is to give”spiritual, traditional and family values”and”faith-based institutions”a bigger place in solving America’s problems.
Watts said Americans must”ask God to heal us from within,”and he called on the nation to become a”people of prayer.” The Rev. Joan Brown Campbell, general secretary of the National Council of Churches (NCC), praised Clinton’s emphasis on volunteer service to help the needy.”Volunteering has always been the religious way,”said Campbell, adding that the NCC’s”full attention”will be given”to responding to the president’s challenge.” Gary L. Bauer, president of the Washington-based Family Research Council also praised Clinton’s remarks on community empowerment, as well his pledges to address the issues of crime, drug abuse and unsafe schools. But, complained Bauer,”about the cultural issues of right and wrong, the president was almost totally silent.” Jim Wallis, convener of Call to Renewal, a coalition of moderate and liberal Christians, questioned Clinton’s proclamation that the state of the union is strong.”Strong for whom?”asked Wallis, asserting that the situation is not strong for”poor people, immigrants, workers losing ground and America’s children.” In response to Clinton’s use of the Isaiah passage, Wallis noted:”Quoting the Bible makes you accountable to its message.”
Religious leaders call for `moral principles’ in campaign finance reform
(RNS) A broad-based religious coalition is calling on local, state and national politicians to incorporate”religious and moral principles”in legislative proposals on campaign finance reform.
Representatives of Protestant, Catholic and Jewish groups Wednesday (Feb. 5) released a set of ten principles intended to be a”guide”for any financial reforms.”We as people of faith recognize God as the creator and sustainer of all. We are concerned that the current system of money and politics, which gives control to the few, contradicts that basic truth and must be changed,”said the leaders in the introduction to the document.
The principles included ensuring that reform proposals”serve the common good over special interests”; increase”accountability between candidates and citizens”; and”reinforce honesty in the political process”through expanded public disclosure.
The drafting committee included clergy and lay people representing Reform Judaism, Islam, Roman Catholicism, Orthodoxy, and mainline and evangelical Protestantism. The initiative is part of the Dollars and Democracy Project, which is co-sponsored by the midwest offices of the American Friends Service Committee (Quakers), and the Peace and Social Justice offices of the Archdiocese of Chicago, the Archdiocese of Cincinnati and the Diocese of Cleveland.
At a Wednesday (Feb. 5) news conference in Chicago, project leaders also announced plans to hold”town hall forums”and dialogue groups in Illinois and Ohio to give citizens at the grassroots level the opportunity to discuss and evaluate campaign finance reform proposals.”The debate on the role of money in elections has involved politicians, commentators and reporters, but rarely citizens and people of faith,”said Tom Choquette, director of the Social Action and World Peace Office at the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.”Our goal is to re-focus the campaign finance debate away from strictly political considerations and back on moral and democratic ideals,”he added.
CBF faces mid-year budget cuts
(RNS) The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF), a moderate Southern Baptist group, has been forced to cut its budget by 10 percent because of an unexpected drop in revenue.”Where we expected some $14 million in revenue (in the 1996-97 fiscal year), we are probably going to get some $12.5 million in revenue,”Ed Vick, the fellowship’s finance committee chairman, reported to the group’s Coordinating Council Jan. 31.
The shortfall surprised fellowship officials, who had to dip into reserves and cut expenses to deal with the problem, reported Associated Baptist Press, an independent Baptist news service.
As a result of the cutbacks, two support staffers at the fellowship’s Atlanta office will be laid off and three other jobs that had been approved but had not yet been filled will be frozen, said David Wilkinson, CBF spokesman.
The fellowship, which began in 1991 as a protest movement of moderate Southern Baptists opposed to the conservative leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention, has experienced rapid growth in annual contributions. Fellowship officials expected the growth to peak at some point, but hadn’t expected it to occur yet.
Some fellowship leaders wondered if a lengthy leadership transition had contributed to the financial difficulties.
Daniel Vestal, a former Houston pastor, began his new post as the fellowship’s new coordinator in early January. Cecil Sherman, his predecessor, retired last June.”Though at present we are facing some hard decisions and some tough challenges, I have great, great enthusiasm about the future of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship,”Vestal said in his first report as coordinator.
Filipino government pledges to find murderers of Catholic bishop
(RNS) Government leaders in the Philippines have vowed to”exert all efforts”to track down the killers of a Roman Catholic bishop who was shot near his cathedral in the southern Philippines Tuesday (Feb. 4).
Bishop Benjamin de Jesus was shot six times outside Our Lady of Mount Carmel cathedral on the southern Jolo island.
The island is part of the Mindanao region, which has been plagued by violence from rebel groups seeking an independent Muslim state. Bishop de Jesus was the highest ranking among several religious leaders killed in the ongoing violence.
In his weekly news conference, Philippines President Fidel Ramos condemned the murder. “The government will exert all efforts to ensure that the perpetrators of the senseless killing are apprehended,”said Ramos, according to the Reuter news agency.
Ramos told reporters that exploratory peace talks with a splinter rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, would not be hindered by the murder. Police have not yet identified the killers or established a motive for the shooting. Church officials said two assailants attacked the bishop. One was described as a boy who could be as young as ten years old.
Quakers nominate Carter for Nobel Peace Prize
(RNS) The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) Wednesday (Feb. 5) nominated former President Jimmy Carter for the Nobel Peace Prize. It is the second time the Quaker group has forwarded Carter’s name for consideration.
The committee cited Carter’s”selfless public service on a global scale”and his work to promote peace, justice and human rights.”Jimmy Carter is willing to listen to the legitimate concerns of both sides in a conflict, refusing to limit blame to one party no matter the prevailing world opinion,”said Kara Newell, executive director of AFSC.
In its Nobel nomination, the AFSC highlighted Carter’s work with the Atlanta Project, a community-wide program in Atlanta addressing the problems of urban poverty. It also recognized the Carter Center at Emory University in Atlanta as an institution that promotes worldwide peacekeeping and negotiation efforts.
In January 1996, Carter led a team to monitor the Palestinian elections. He has also played a role in conflict mediation in several other countries, including Bosnia, Haiti and North Korea.”President Carter continues to demonstrate how a former president can make a unique contribution to ending armed conflicts and building the foundation for a peaceful world,”Newell said.
AFSC, a Quaker organization that works on social justice, peace and humanitarian issues, won the Nobel Peace Prize 50 years ago in 1947. As a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, AFSC is entitled to nominate individuals or groups for the prestigious prize. The committee has nominated three Peace Prize winners, including Martin Luther King Jr.
Quote of the Day: Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League
(RNS) Secretary of State Madeleine Albright discovered this week that her Czech Jewish parents converted to Catholicism to avoid Nazi persecution. Abraham Foxman, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League who came from a Polish Jewish family that hid him with a Catholic family so that he might survive the Nazi-era, told The New York Times about how, more than 50 years after the Holocaust, the event still produces repercussions:”In Poland, every single day, Jews surface who thought they were Catholics all their lives. … People did all kinds of things to protect their children, to protect themselves, to protect their sanity. What I find so distressing and perplexing is how long the tentacles of the Holocaust are. I think the haunting thing is it’s still out there, it still impacts us.”
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