c. 1997 Religion News Service

Red Cross apologizes for Holocaust silence

(RNS) The International Red Cross said Tuesday (Oct. 7) the organization committed a”moral failure”when it didn’t respond aggressively to the Holocaust.

In a Jerusalem ceremony marking the release of 60,000 pages of Red Cross documents from World War II, Red Cross archivist George Willemin said the organization”kept silent with regard to the Holocaust. And I would say that this is the heart of the moral failure.” The papers, a secret for decades, will be stored at Israel’s Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem.

According to USA Today, Red Cross officials acknowledged the relief group could have done more to save Jews who were murdered and imprisoned by the Nazis. When there was evidence of Nazi crimes against Jews, the Red Cross made no call for international action because officials feared Nazi anger and a German invasion of Switzerland. The Red Cross is based in Geneva.

The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington and the Centre de Documentation Juive Contemporaine in Paris also have Red Cross records from the Holocaust.

Worldwide, organizations including the Roman Catholic Church in France and Switzerland’s major banks have acknowledged failure to help Jews during the war.

U.S. Park Police criticized for ending Promise Keepers rally on time

(RNS) The Christian Defense Coalition, an anti-abortion activist group, is demanding an explanation from the U.S. Park Police for putting what it called”an abrupt and harsh ending”to the Promise Keepers”Stand in the Gap”rally by not allowing it to extend 15 minutes beyond its 6 p.m. deadline.

The Oct. 4 assembly was one of the largest gatherings ever in the nation’s capital.

Organizers of the event had planned a memorable end to the six-hour assembly complete with a pre-recorded video message from the Rev. Billy Graham, musical selections from a men’s choir and a benediction. But a few minutes after 6 p.m., U.S. Park Police pulled the plug on the event.”Everyone noticed the abrupt end of the rally,”said the Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney, leader of the Washington-based CDC.

Mahoney made his criticisms in an Oct. 7 letter to the U.S. Park Police.

Halting the event”reflected poorly on the Promise Keepers,”Mahoney said.

U.S. Park Police spokesman Maj. James McLaughlin said that around 5:20 p.m. organizers of the rally informed the police they were running behind schedule.”At that point we told them that they could have an additional 15 minutes, which would have taken them to 6:15 p.m.,”McLaughlin recalled. But at 6 p.m., McLaughlin said organizers requested an additional 15 minutes.”We had to say no. We had to have a cut-off point. We’ve pulled the plug on other events.”Our policy is that we usually grant a 15 minute grace period. We know that events do run over,”said McLaughlin adding that police were also concerned about the crowd leaving the Mall grounds safely before it grew dark.

Just moments before the crowd was dismissed, organizers had announced the closing lineup of events, but did not offer participants an explanation for the abrupt ending of the program.

Mark DeMoss, a spokesman for Promise Keepers told Religion News Service,”We overran our permit. The park service didn’t flex.”

Lay Catholics criticize bishops

(RNS) A group of lay Roman Catholics are criticizing the National Conference of Catholic Bishops for their recent pastoral statement urging parents to”accept and love”their gay and lesbian children.”Always Our Children,”a pastoral letter issued by the NCCB Oct. 1, says, in part,”Homosexual orientation cannot be considered sinful, for morality presumes the freedom to choose.”The statement does not endorse homosexual behavior, but encourages acceptance of those with gay and lesbian orientations.

On Tuesday (Oct. 7) representatives from Catholics Concerned, Roman Catholic Faithful, Les Femmes, Mothers’ Watch, the newsletter Christ or Chaos, and others gathered outside NCCB headquarters in Washington to criticize the bishops’ call for acceptance of homosexual children.”We love our sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters, brothers and sisters with the unconditional love of Jesus. No matter what sinful decisions they make, we will never abandon them,”said Mary Ann Kreitzer of La Femmes.”At the same time, however, we reject the so-called love of false compassion. We will never lie to our children to gain a bogus peace. We will speak the truth in love, even at the risk of their rejection.” Kreitzer and others said they believe the bishop’s statement represents a hidden agenda.”I as a parent am really suspicious since this was released around `coming out day,'”Kreitzer said. Some gay groups mark Oct. 11 as National Coming Out Day, a time when non-identified gays and lesbians make their sexual preferences public.”It’s a little too coincidental and this creates confusion,”Kreitzer said.”The way this statement is going to be received is that the church has changed it’s doctrine on homosexuality.” William Ryan, spokesman for the NCCB, disagreed.”This document isn’t saying if your son or daughter are homosexuals, congratulations. We fully recognize that the issue of homosexuality is a problem,”Ryan said.”These documents are not done in the abstract. It’s because we hear from parents.” Ryan said the pastoral letter doesn’t contradict the stand of the church because the church has regularly encouraged dignity and respect toward gays and lesbians, while at the same time maintaining that homosexual activity is wrong.

Moscow protest comes amid reports of religion crackdown

(RNS) About 500 protesters rallied in Moscow on Tuesday (Oct. 7) against the new Russian law regulating religious expression amid reports the law already is having a negative effect on religious freedom.

Lawrence A. Uzzell, Moscow representative of the Keston Institute, a London-based group that monitors religious freedom in the former Soviet republics, called the turnout a”setback”because the demonstration had been billed as a”mass rally.” Organizers said holding the rally on a work day and rumors the protesters might be attacked were responsible for the small crowd, according to Uzzell. There were no incidents, however.

The law _ signed by President Boris Yeltsin in late September and supported by former communists and ultra-nationalists _ gives special protection to the Russian Orthodox Church, which in recent years has lost members to evangelical Protestant groups and other, mostly Western, religious organizations.

To further protect Russian Orthodoxy, the law also gave lesser status to Roman Catholicism and other Christian churches that have long been in Russia, even if only unofficially.

In a report from Moscow, Uzzell said a Lutheran congregation in the Siberian Republic of Khakassia has been ordered closed, with local authorities citing the new law as the reason for their action.

Congregation members have been accused of being American spies, Uzzell reported.

The church is affiliated with the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church but, according to Uzzell,”has received substantial help”from the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.

Lauren B. Homer, president of the Vienna, Va.-based Law and Liberty Trust, which also monitors religious freedom in the former Soviet Union, said”hundreds of recently established churches”across Russia have received similar orders to close.

She also said a Ukrainian Orthodox church on Moscow’s outskirts has been ordered turned over to Russian Orthodox officials and that services were disrupted at a St. Petersburg congregation of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, which is independent from the Moscow Orthodox patriarchate.

In addition, said Homer, there have been reports in Russia of Jehovah’s Witnesses being assaulted and”as many as 90 percent of all foreign missionaries working in Russia could lose their visas.” Miami Catholic officials proceeding with Cuba papal cruise

(RNS) The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Miami has begun accepting applications for a four-day cruise to Cuba to coincide with the January visit there of Pope John Paul II _ even though official approval for the trip is still lacking.

At a Tuesday (Oct. 7) news conference, archdiocese representatives said applicants must provide letters from their pastor or another”bona fide Catholic official”certifying their”pilgrim status.” Those traveling on the 528-cabin Norwegian Majesty cruise ship must also send a $200 deposit, which will not be refunded if the trip is”cancelled due to political decisions by either the Cuban or U.S. governments.”If that happens, church officials said, the ship will simply cruise to another destination.

Although they have received preliminary approval for the cruise, the archdiocese has yet to obtain an official OK from either Havana or Washington, which has a trade embargo in place against Cuba.

New York archdiocese officials, who hope to bring a chartered flight to Cuba during the pope’s scheduled Jan. 21-25 visit, are also awaiting official approval of their plans.

To comply with U.S. embargo limitations on the amount of money Americans can spend in Cuba, cruise participants will sleep and eat aboard the ship. Cabin prices range from $599 to $1,399.

Update: Kentucky Baptist church withdraws association membership

(RNS) A Southern Baptist Church in Kentucky has voted to remove itself from its local association of Baptists after been given an ultimatum concerning the association’s position against women’s ordination.

David Flack, pastor of First Baptist Church of Drakesboro, said the church voted Sept. 24 by an 83 percent majority to leave the Muhlenberg County Baptist Association.

The church made its decision one month after the eastern Kentucky association voted at its annual meeting to remove the name of the pastor’s wife from its official list of ministers. The association also voted to give the church one year to agree with its position against women’s ordination or be ousted from the group.

Angie Flack is an ordained pastoral counselor and a member of the Drakesboro church. She was ordained elsewhere and holds no official position within the church.”The church felt it was an issue of integrity, with the action the association took at the annual meeting,”said Mr. Flack, according to a report by Associated Baptist Press, an independent Baptist news service.”We reported Angie’s ordination in good faith on our annual profile. The association should in good faith report that. An alteration of our church record speaks of the integrity of what the association is willing to do.”

Ivory Coast cardinal dies

(RNS) Cardinal Bernard Yago, retired Roman Catholic archbishop of Ivory Coast in West Africa died Sunday (Oct. 5) of kidney failure in an Abidjan hospital, the Associated Press has reported. He was 81.

Yago was the first and only Ivorian priest to become a cardinal.

He was ordained a priest in 1947 and in 1960 became a bishop. Pope John Paul II made him a cardinal in 1983.”Cardinal Bernard Yago was a monument who made a mark on the history of the church in Ivory Coast,”said Archbishop Bernard Agre of Abidjan in marking the death.

Quote of the day: actor Gary Busey

(RNS)”My boss, my savior now, my manager now, is Jesus Christ.” _ Actor Gary Busey, who has battled cocaine addiction and survived a near-fatal motorcycle crash, in USA Today, which reported the actor is making a Christian album”Forest of Angels.”

MJP END RNS