c. 1997 Religion News Service
S.D. bishop named new archbishop of Denver
(RNS) Roman Catholic Bishop Charles J. Chaput, a theological conservative who does his own laundry and likes Tony Hillerman mysteries, has been named the new archbishop of Denver, a post of increasing importance in the U.S. church hierarchy.
Chaput, a Capuchin priest of French and American Indian ancestry, will replace Archbishop J. Francis Stafford, who was promoted to a Vatican post last year.
As head of the Denver archdiocese, Chaput, 52, will lead a flock of 340,000 Catholics in 23 counties of northern Colorado. His Rapid City, S.D., diocese has 35,000 Catholics.
At a Tuesday (Feb. 18) news conference in Denver just hours after his appointment was announced, Chaput made it clear he will continue Stafford’s conservative stances, including banning the liberal We Are Church reform coalition from church property. Like Stafford, Chaput said he opposes the ordination of women as priests and a married priesthood.
However, he said he would be”approachable”to those who disagree with the church, but added,”I can’t give what can’t be given away.”Some of the changes they want concern faith and morals,”he said of the reformers.”Churches shouldn’t be used by those who agitate against it.”
RCA begins debate on universalism
(RNS) The Reformed Church in America has begun a potentially divisive debate on whether to require ministers and congregations in the denomination to specifically declare each year that salvation comes from Jesus alone.
The proposed declaration would amend the 185,000-member denomination’s Book of Order _ its official rule book _ to require that pastors and congregations affirm that”the doctrines of the gospel (are) 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 man.” The proposed change to the Book of Order was adopted by the denomination’s General Synod last year but must be approved by two-thirds of the church’s classes, or regional jurisdictions, before it can take effect.”It would add a litmus test to a list of questions that are presently asked of pastors and consistories (local church leaders),”the Rev. Wayne Atworth, RCA director of communications said in an interview.
Conservatives in the denomination believe that some RCA pastors are teaching”heterodoxy”_ that there are ways to salvation apart from Jesus. Most recently, the denomination, which traces its U.S. history to 1628, severed relations with the Rev. Richard Rhem of Spring Lake, Mich., over Rhem’s alleged acceptance of”universalism,”or the notion that there are other paths to salvation.
Such teaching, the conservatives say, is”disrupting the unity of the RCA by bringing in disruptive heresies.” Atworth said the national office of the denomination is not taking an official stance on the issue.”Debate is healthy,”he said.”We must continue to be reforming.”
With restructuring, SBC reconsiders finances
(RNS) As the Southern Baptist Convention undergoes a major institutional restructuring, its executive committee decided Monday (Feb. 17) to review the denomination’s budgeting process. At the same meeting, SBC President Tom Elliff expressed concerns that congregations are too deeply in debt and do not”certify”the conversions of their members.
The executive committee, which met in Nashville, unanimously approved a motion by chairman Ronnie Floyd to appoint a seven-member committee to study the budget process, which determines the level of funding for the denomination’s various agencies.
The SBC’s agencies are being reduced from 19 to 12 under a restructuring plan that is expected to be in place at the end of the denomination’s annual meeting in Dallas this June.
At the executive committee meeting, Elliff expressed a number of concerns about the state of the 15.6 million-member denomination, some of which related to finances and others to life at the congregational level, according to Baptist Press, the official news service of the Southern Baptist Convention.”I believe every member of the Southern Baptist Convention somehow, some way needs to … certify his or her experience with Christ,”said Elliff, pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Del City, Okla.
He said that more than half of the denomination’s members do not attend church services.
Elliff also said that Southern Baptist churches are preoccupied with a”stranglehold of debt.””I’m just saying we ought to consider making debt not popular, but unpopular,”he said.”Not the norm, but the abnormal way of doing God’s work.” The SBC president also said that Southern Baptist leaders need to”crucify our egos”in order to achieve spiritual revival in the nation.”You could have 175 revivalists in a room and not have revival if every one of them said, `I’m for revival if I can lead it, if I’m the head of it, if it’s my idea and my plan and it goes along with my program,'”Elliff said.
IRS seizes missing atheist’s home for back taxes
(RNS) The Internal Revenue Service on Tuesday (Feb. 18) seized the $231,000 Austin, Texas, home of missing atheist Madalyn Murray O’Hair for back taxes.
An IRS spokesman said O’Hair, who has been missing for 18 months, owed $250,000 in taxes for 1986, 1987 and 1988, according to an Associated Press report. The house and its contents will be auctioned off within 45 days to cover the debt unless O’Hair emerges to make settlement.
O’Hair, who won the landmark 1963 Supreme Court case banning school-sponsored prayer in public schools, disappeared in August 1995 along with her son, Jon Murray, and her granddaughter, Robin Murray-O’Hair.
William Murray, O’Hair’s estranged son and the father of Robin, had filed a missing person’s report with Austin police and earlier this year abandoned court attempts to seize control of his mother’s assets.
Police said there is no evidence of foul play in connection with the trio’s disappearance.
McKeehan of dc Talk garners record Dove nominations
(RNS) Toby McKeehan, the leader of Christian rock group dc Talk, has received a record-breaking 13 nominations for the Gospel Music Association’s 1997 Dove Awards. He has been nominated in performer, songwriter, illustrator and producer categories for dc Talk and other Christian musicians.
The Dove nominations were announced in Nashville Tuesday (Feb. 18) and will be awarded April 24 in a ceremony to air live from on The Nashville Network from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. EDT and 6 to 8 p.m. PDT.
In addition to nominations for his musical work with dc Talk and the Gotee Brothers, a newer rap/hip-hop group, McKeehan also was nominated for his role in illustrating dc Talk’s last album,”Jesus Freak.””No one’s ever had that many,”said GMA spokesman Eric Davis.”He’s a guy who has invested a lot of time in … not just one thing but a variety of things and it’s paid off well this year.” Singer/songwriter Steven Curtis Chapman had held the previous record with eight Dove nominations.
This year, Chapman received seven nominations, as did McKeehan’s producing and songwriting partner, Mark Heimermann. Anointed, Point of Grace, Michael W. Smith and CeCe Winans each received five nominations.
Other nominees among the 37 categories are:
Artist of the Year: 4Him, Steven Curtis Chapman, dc Talk, Jars of Clay, Point of Grace.
Male Vocalist of the Year: Bob Carlisle, Steven Curtis Chapman, Gary Chapman, Bryan Duncan, Jonathan Pierce.
Female Vocalist of the Year: Crystal Lewis, Rebecca St. James, Kathy Troccoli, Jaci Velasquez, CeCe Winans.
Group of the Year: 4Him, Anointed, dc Talk, Jars of Clay, Point of Grace.
Song of the Year:”Between You and Me,””Butterfly Kisses,””Crucified With Christ,””Flood,””Healing Hands,””I’ll Lead You Home,””In the Light,””Keep the Candle Burning,””Lord of the Dance,”and”People Get Ready … Jesus Is Comin.'” New Artist of the Year: Scott Krippayne, Sarah Masen, Jamie Slocum, Third Day, Jaci Velasquez.
Songwriter of the Year: Steven Curtis Chapman, Mark Harris, Don Koch, Toby McKeehan and Michael W. Smith.
High Court rejects former TV evangelist’s libel plea
(RNS) Former TV evangelist Robert Tilton has failed in an attempt to get the U.S. Supreme Court to hear his libel case against the ABC television network.
On Tuesday (Feb. 18), the Court, without comment, let stand lower court rulings refusing to hear his charge that an ABC News report falsely portrayed him.
Tilton claims that a 1991 ABC PrimeTime Live report on his TV ministry portrayed him as an insensitive fraud and resulted in several lawsuits against him by donors to the ministry, the AP reported.
The PrimeTime program quoted people who said Tilton kept donations from mail sent to him while tossing prayer requests without money unread into the Dumpster behind his Tulsa, Okla., church. Tilton’s direct mail campaign pulled in more than $80 million a year.
After the report, Tilton sued ABC for libel, but a judge threw the case out, ruling Tilton had not proved malice of intent nor had he proved the report false.
Quote of the Day: Revival historian Richard Owens Roberts
(RNS) Revival historian and author Richard Owens Roberts spoke to students at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Mo., on Feb. 13 about how congregations can suffer under the leadership of unconverted ministers. According to Baptist Press, the official news service of the Southern Baptist Convention, Roberts said:”In this world there are millions and millions of people who are dying for want of the water of life. And millions of them will be in the house of God yearning for a refreshing drink, but they will sit under the ministries of dry clouds.”
MJP END RNS
