c. 1997 Religion News Service
Update: Baptist group returns burned-church money to ADL
(RNS) The Anti-Defamation League received a $214,500 check Tuesday (Sept. 16) from the National Baptist Convention, USA, representing the undistributed funds from an ADL/National Urban League donation to the denomination to help rebuild burned African-American churches.
Grady C. Irvin Jr., an attorney for the Rev. Henry J. Lyons, NBCUSA president, said just $30,000 of the total $244,500 donation had been distributed to burned churches, the ADL said in a statement.”We are saddened and disappointed that Dr. Henry J. Lyons, president of the National Baptist Convention, (USA), held onto the money donated by the American people to the ADL/National Urban League Rebuild the Churches Fund rather than disburse it to churches in need,”said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL national director.”We are committed to see that the money contributed to the fund from an outpouring of the American people will indeed reach churches in need.” In a Sept. 12 letter to the ADL, Irvin said $189,500 had been delivered to his Tampa, Fla., office after media reports appeared suggesting much of the money from the joint fund had not been distributed to congregations as Lyons had said.
But in a letter dated Sept. 16, Irvin said the denomination made disbursements of”no less than $55,000″to the rebuilding effort.”It is my understanding that of this $55,000 amount, $30,000 has been posted as an ADL contribution through NBC, while the remaining $25,000 of the amount has been posted as an NBC contribution,”Irvin wrote.”Therefore, NBC is returning to ADL the difference between $244,500 and $30,000 ADL-posted contribution through NBC, or $214,500.” ADL spokeswoman Myrna Shinbaum said Lyons’ denomination has reported different disbursement figures since it received the first donation from the joint fund last November.
Asked about getting more money returned than the ADL originally expected, Shinbaum said”That’s fine because it means we now have this money to go to churches in need.” She said the ADL has begun discussions with the Congress of National Black Churches, which previously distributed $100,000 from the joint fund, about reallocating the money.”Hopefully, they will find churches that are in need and we will turn the money over to them,”she said.
New Era founder’s sentencing hearing begins
(RNS) The sentencing hearing for John G. Bennett Jr., founder of the failed Foundation for New Era Philanthropy, began Tuesday (Sept. 16).
Bennett pleaded no contest in March to 82 counts of fraud and money-laundering in a case that affected numerous non-profit groups, including many evangelical Christian organizations.
Prosecutors reiterated their contention that Bennett financed an extravagant lifestyle with money swindled from more than 500 church groups, colleges, philanthropists and museums.
Bennett’s lawyer, on the other hand, tried to show that his client suffered delusions while running the now-bankrupt organization _ and continues to suffer them. Bennett testified he simply was doing God’s work.”I felt everything I was to do God had called me to do,”he said, the Associated Press reported.
Prosecutors are hoping the sentencing hearing, which may take seven days, will result in a sentence of 19 1/2 to 24 1/2 years without parole. Odell Guyton, Bennett’s attorney, hopes for a lighter sentence due to Bennett’s emotional state.
FBI special agent Brian Cosgriff, the first witness, detailed the history of the nation’s largest charity scam, which promised to double the money of nonprofit organizations with matching funds from anonymous benefactors. In May, Bennett admitted to his staff that there were no such benefactors, the government said.
But Bennett testified Tuesday he held several meetings and conference calls with the”anonymous benefactors.” He also testified that he found finances to be confusing.”I’m just very, very bad at handling details, handling money, handling the record-keeping of it,”he said.”I’m sorry to say I don’t care about it. I’m more interested in creating ideas and visions and letting other people handle that part of it.” Lawyers on both sides of the case offered dozens of letters _ some from Christian ministries _ that either urged a harsh sentence or asked for mercy for Bennett.
Survey: Christian retailers unharmed by Bible controversy
(RNS) A majority of Christian booksellers said that a recent squabble over an inclusive-language Bible had little or no impact on Bible sales, according to a new survey by an association of Christian retailers.
Of the nearly 140 selected retailers surveyed by the Colorado Springs, Colo.-based CBA, 97 percent said Bible sales remained steady. In fact, nearly 40 percent of retailers reported that Bible sales were up or have remained the same. Only 9 percent reported that Bible sales had dropped.
Although the International Bible Society scrapped its plan to publish a New International Version of the Bible that would substitute gender-neutral words for gender-specific words, CBA wanted to know how customers perceived the matter, said Terry Jackson, assistant to the president of CBA.
Retailers reported that most customers _ nearly 70 percent _ did not know that the IBS had dropped plans to publish the revised version, while more than 20 percent thought the controversy was over and 17 percent said the matter could affect other Bible sales, according to CBA Marketplace, a publication that covers Christian retailing.
Among retailers, 79 percent concluded that the controversy was dying or was no longer an issue.
Bocos re-elected general superior of Claretians
(RNS) The Rev. Aquillo Bocos was re-elected to a second six-year term as general superior of the Claretians at the congregation’s 22nd General Chapter in Rome.
Bocos, a native of Spain, will oversee the ministries of 3,000 Claretian priests and brothers working in 55 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and North and South America. The 59-year-old Bocos became provincial superior of the Claretian Castellan Province in 1980. He was elected a general consultor in 1985, and in 1991 succeeded Gustavo Alonso as general superior.
During Bocos’ first term as general superior, new Claretian mission sites were developed around the world.
The Claretian order was founded in 1849 and in 1902 came to the United States, where it has established itself among Hispanic communities and is the publisher of U.S. Catholic, a monthly magazine.
Quote of the day: Rabbi Harold Kushner
(RNS) Rabbi Harold Kushner, author of”When Bad Things Happen to Good People,”during a recent speech at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C.:”Reverence is the encounter with a power much greater than yourself, so that by some magical process you don’t feel diminished being in the presence of a greater power; you feel enhanced that this greater power would take notice of you.”
MJP END RNS