c. 1997 Religion News Service
Pope visits Czech Republic stressing Christian, European unity
(RNS) Pope John Paul II began a three-day visit to the Czech Republic on Friday (April 25) by stressing the need for Christian and European unity.
Vatican Radio said John Paul will urge European unity during his visit”in order that the refound liberty will not bring the East of the continent under the rule of anti-Christian economic powers.” Such unity, he said, must be grounded on spiritual, not just economic values.
The visit to the Czech Republic _ the pope’s third _ will be highlighted by a commemoration of St. Adalbert on Saturday. Adalbert, Bohemia’s first bishop, was martyred in 997. The saint is also revered by Poles.
The pontiff has often spoke of his concern of the threat of secularism in Eastern Europe, especially as Western capitalism moves into the void left by the collapse of atheistic communism.
A poll released in Prague on the eve of the pope’s visit showed that just 37 percent of the respondents believed in God. A separate survey said just 6 percent went to church every week and 54 percent never attended a service.
According to Reuters, the Czech Republic, with one of the highest standards of living in the former Eastern bloc, has a long tradition of secularism, dating back centuries to the religious wars between Protestants and Catholics. That secularism has been reinforced by 50 years of communist rule.”There is a tension between the Catholic church and part of the Czech nation,”said Miloslav Fiala, a spokesman for the Czech Catholic Bishops Conference.
John Paul is also expected to touch on the sensitive issue of the return of church property lost when the communists tightened their grip on power after World War II.
Fiala said the issue may come up when the pope holds talks Sunday with Czech Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus.
Thomas Nelson Publishers moves Word to Nashville
(RNS) Word Publishing will move from its longtime Dallas home to Nashville this summer, the company said Friday (April 25).
The move represents another step in the consolidation of Word with its owner and one-time competitor, Thomas Nelson Publishing, headquartered in Nashville.
However, the announcement of the move did little to help the beleaguered Nelson on the New York Stock Exchange, where its shares hit a year low of 9-1/8 this week, down from 15-1/4.
Nelson purchased Word from ABC/Capital Cities in 1992, and publicly promised to keep the competitive Christian publishing houses independent. Soon after the purchase, however, Nelson moved Word’s music division to Nashville, then sold it earlier this year to Gaylord Entertainment Company for a reported $120 million.
Nelson also consolidated such book operations as sales and distribution in Nashville, and the move of the editorial staff had been widely rumored.
In 1995 the publishing divisions of the two companies were organized under one umbrella to form the NelsonWord Publishing Group.
Combined, they formed one of the nation’s top 10 general book publishers. Byron Williamson, Word president, was named head of the new operation and moved to Nashville, still publicly promising Word would stay in Dallas and affirming its autonomy.
Word and Nelson continued to compete for top books in the tightening evangelical market and the smaller Word still had five of the top ten bestsellers on the Christian Booksellers Association (CBA) March list. In 1996 Word published 11 of the CBA’s”Top 20 Books”_ more than any other publishing house in history.
Historically, Word has published such top Christian authors as Billy Graham, Charles Swindoll, Max Lucado and Barbara Johnson.
No company spokespersons were available for comment Friday.
It is unclear how many employees will be affected by the change but many of the top executives of Word are expected to make the move to Nashville.
Southern Baptist church membership continues upward climb
(RNS) Church membership in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), the largest Protestant denomination in the country, increased slightly in 1996.
According to newly released statistics, the number of SBC members is 15,694,050, an increase of 0.17 percent, or almost 26,000 members, from 1995.
The number of Southern Baptist churches rose to 40,613, an increase of 526, or 1.31 percent, over 1995, reported Baptist Press, the official news service of the SBC.
Two categories in the report showed declines in 1996. Baptisms totaled 379,344, a decrease of 14,467, or 3.67 percent, compared to 1995. Also, the number of missions, or fledgling churches operated by larger congregations, decreased by 10.78 percent, from 4,026 in 1995 to 3,592 in 1996.
The report, known as the Annual Church Profile, is compiled by a unit of the Baptist Sunday School Board.
Postal Service honors Wallenberg for World War II role in saving Jews
(RNS) Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who helped thousands of Hungarian Jews escape the Nazis during World War II, was honored Thursday (April 24) with a new postal stamp at a ceremony at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington.
Among those attending the stamp’s unveiling ceremony were Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., and Postal Service Governor S. David Fineman.
The stamp depicts Wallenberg on the telephone with Holocaust survivors looking over his shoulder in the background.
Lantos, one of the Jews Wallenberg helped save, called the stamp a tribute to the values the diplomat embodied _ courage and helping others.”The ultimate message of Raoul Wallenberg to all of us is that as individuals, we not only can, but we must act,”he said.
Wallenberg went to Nazi-occupied Hungary in 1944 after the United States asked him to organize the rescue of that nation’s Jewish community.
While in Hungary, Wallenberg gave Swedish passports to Jews who otherwise would likely have faced deportation and death. He is credited with saving more than 20,000 Jews.
The Soviet army arrested Wallenberg in January 1945 when they occupied Budapest. Soviet documents released in 1991 show he died in July 1947 in a Moscow prison.
The stamps went on sale across the nation on Friday.
Virginia pastor likely to head new Baptist mission board
(RNS) The senior pastor of a Norfolk, Va., Southern Baptist church has told his congregation he expects to be the new leader of his denomination’s North American Mission Board.
Robert Reccord, pastor of First Baptist Church of Norfolk, was the chairman of the task force that has been overseeing the restructuring of the Southern Baptist Convention, which includes reducing its agencies from 19 to 12. Those structural changes, first approved in 1995, include the creation of the new mission board, which will merge three SBC agencies _ the Home Mission Board, Brotherhood Commission and Radio and Television Commission.
Reccord’s nomination for the presidency of the new mission board must be formally considered by the board’s trustees on June 19.
But he has strong support, illustrated by the presence of Morris Chapman, president of the SBC’s executive committee and C.B. Hogue, president of the search committee, at the April 20 service at which Reccord made his announcement to his congregation.”I know I must be obedient to what God is saying to me at this point,”Reccord said, according to the April 21 Virginian-Pilot newspaper, published in Norfolk.”Tonight I would just ask you a big favor: please love us enough to grant us a release to take that step, because we feel like it’s a step we must take.” The new mission board will oversee the denomination’s U.S. evangelism efforts and the starting of new churches in the United States and Canada.
Shroud of Turin to make public appearance
(RNS) The Shroud of Turin, rescued earlier this month from a fire that badly damaged the Turin cathedral chapel where it was kept, will go on public display next year as planned, Catholic church officials said Thursday (April 24).
The controversial shroud, which some people believe is the burial linen of Jesus, has been removed from the chapel while officials investigate the cause of the April 11 fire. The Rev. Guiseppe Ghiberti, vice president of the exhibition commission, said the shroud is being kept in a secret location.
The chapel sustained heavy damage, described by Cardinal Giovanni Saldarini, the custodian of the shroud, as”difficult to calculate.”The Italian government has allocated $60 million for restoration of the chapel.
The shroud, which is rarely shown in public, was last open for viewing in 1978. During its six week showing, 3 million people viewed the linen.
Before the fire, the shroud was kept in a long silver box displayed in the chapel behind four layers of bullet-proof glass.
Scientists disputing the authenticity of the shroud have dated it to the Middle Ages, but church officials say carbon dating may be inaccurate due to a possible fire in the 16th century that would have affected the reliability of the carbon dating process.
The Roman Catholic Church does not call the cloth a holy relic, but treats it with reverence.
Quote of the day: Former Sen. Paul Simon, D-Ill.
(RNS) Former Sen. Paul Simon, D-Ill., in a speech to members of Associated Church Press, a group of editors and writers for religious magazines, newspapers and news services in the United States and Canada, told the journalists they need to unite to ensure that social justice is more respected in the U.S. political process:”Ending welfare as we know it is a political slogan. Ending poverty as we know it is a moral slogan, and it makes sense.”
DEA END RNS