c. 1998 Religion News Service

Religious leaders urge Clinton to confront China on religious freedom

(RNS) As President Clinton prepares to leave for China and a summit meeting with President Jiang Zemin, more than 350 U.S. religious leaders _ including Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and others _ have urged him to add religious freedom to the list of issues he will discuss with Chinese leaders.

The religious leaders expressed their concern in an open letter to Clinton circulated by the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, IFCJ president, said Monday (June 8) he hoped to meet with Clinton in advance of the China trip, which begins June 24, to present him with the letter.

The China summit, said the letter,”will certainly have great benefits for future economic and trade relations between the United States and China. As important as these issues are, however, human rights, and religious liberty in particular, must not be ignored.” The letter asks Clinton to put pressure on China’s leaders to release religious prisoners, rescind rules requiring religious groups to register with the government and to open negotiations with the exiled Dalai Lama on the future of Buddhist Tibet, which is currently occupied by China.

Clinton’s scheduled visit to China will be the first by a sitting American president since the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators that reportedly left hundreds dead.

Some American religious and human rights leaders _ joined more recently by Republican politicians _ have long criticized China’s heavy-handed treatment of religious believers and political dissidents. They also have dismissed as ineffectual Clinton’s declared policy of seeking to rectify the situation through trade and other means of engagement.

Some religious leaders and Congressional Republicans have urged Clinton to postpone his upcoming trip _ a notion flatly rejected by the White House.

Among those who have signed the letter are Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, Roman Catholic archbishop of Philadelphia; the Rev. Richard Cizik of the Washington, D.C., office of the National Association of Evangelicals; the Rev. David Engelhard, general secretary of the Christian Reformed Church of North America; Roman Catholic Archbishop Patrick Flores of San Antonio; E. Brandt Gustavson, president of the National Religious Broadcasters, and the Rev. James D. Kennedy of Florida’s Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church.

Also, Cardinal John O’Connor, Catholic archbishop of New York; Sayyid M. Syeed, secretary general of the Islamic Society of North America; Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the (Reform) Union of American Hebrew Congregations; Atif Harden, executive director of the American Muslim Council, and the Most Rev. Philip Saliba of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America.

Canadian church preparing document on anti-Semitism

(RNS) After a decade of work, the United Church of Canada _ Canada’s largest Protestant denomination _ is nearing completion of an arduous process of issuing a theological statement condeming anti-Semitism.

In August, the church hopes to begin circulating a study paper to accompany its previously released preliminary document on the issue, according to the Rev. Peter Wyatt, UCC general secretary for theology, faith and ecumenism. The preliminary document is titled,”Bearing Faithful Witness: United Church-Jewish Relations Today.” Canadian Jewish leaders have praised the UCC effort.

Rabbi Reuven Bulka, chairman of the Canadian Jewish Congress’ interreligious affairs committee, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency news service that the document being prepared”is deserving of the highest of accolades … This is the way to redress the past.” The UCC has been in the process of writing a document on anti-Semitism ever since a petition was presented at its 1988 General Council meeting urging such action.

Wyatt, who is based at the 700,000-member denomination’s Toronto offices, said Monday (June 8) the goal of the process”is to make a statement from the standpoint of United Church of Canada theology on Jews and Judaism in such a way as to repudiate anti-Semitism and anti-Judaism.” Wyatt said the final document is expected to reject the doctrine of supercessionism, the historical Christian claim that, through the birth and resurrection of Jesus, the church has come to replace the people of Israel in God’s plan for human salvation. It will also urge Christians to stop interpreting scripture in ways that may foster anti-Semitism.

Wyatt said the study paper will allow non-theologians to better understand the”very big theological issues”raised in the 60-page preliminary document, which has been in limited circulation within the church for nearly a year.

Once the study paper is out, the church will begin gathering feedback about the preliminary document. While no firm date has been set, Wyatt said he hopes all feedback will be in by Easter 1999, at which time a church committee will prepare a final document on the issue.

Wyatt said the church’s 400-member General Council, the denomination’s highest policy body, could render a decision on a final document as soon as its next biannual meeting, which is set for 2000. If not by then, he added, the document will be approved at the following meeting in 2002.

The UCC is a combined church with Methodist, Presbyterian, Congregational and Evangelical United Brethren roots.

The UCC action is in line with that of several other Christian groups who in recent years have sought to repudiate past church teachings now seen as anti-Semitic.

Openly gay candidate loses in Episcopal Church election

(RNS) The Episcopal Diocese of Newark, N.J., has bypassed an openly gay candidate in choosing a successor to Bishop John S. Spong, a strong supporter of gay rights who has announced his retirement.

Diocesan delegates, meeting Saturday (June 6) selected the Rev. John Croneberger, rector of the Church of the Atonement in Tenafly, N.Y., to succeed Spong when he retires in 2000.

Among the six candidates for the post was the Rev. Gene Robinson, who is openly gay. Had he been selected, Robinson would have been the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church.

Neither Croneberger or Robinson commented following the balloting.

Married Filipino priest asks pope to end ban on married clergy

(RNS) The Rev. Hector Canto, who recently broke church rules by getting married, has asked Pope John Paul II to rethink the Roman Catholic Church’s 800-year-old ban on married priests and its requirement that priests take a vow of celibacy.

Canto was married May 31 by another priest, the Rev. Jesus Siva, sparking a fierce controversy in the Catholic Church in the Philippines, Asia’s only predominantly Roman Catholic country. Both priests have been suspended and will probably soon be dismissed from the priesthood. “We do not have the intention to rebel against the church,”Canto said Sunday (June 7), Reuters reported.”The only thing we want is to be heard by the Holy Father on this issue. We want (him) toâÂ?¦ do something about this law … probably allow optional celibacy in the church.” Although both Canto and Siva have been suspended and told to stop performing priestly duties, they have yet to stop celebrating the Mass.

In a Mass celebrated by Siva, he asked the pope to show compassion.”Holy Father, nowhere in the Scriptures is celibacy made mandatory,”he said.”Shall we allow a man-made law … to ruin our priestly ministry? … Your Holiness, save the priesthood.” Siva reportedly also has a girlfriend whom he plans to marry.

A major Manila television news station filmed Canto’s ceremony, which he attended wearing his priestly vestments. Critics said that wearing his cassock to his wedding pushed the event to being sacrilegious. But, Canto said he wore his priestly apparel to send the pope a message that the time had come to change the celibacy law.

The Rev. Pedro Quitorio, a church spokesman, said Canto”has been suspended and I think they are moving towards dismissing him from the priesthood …. He is living in sin.” Canto said he has had girlfriends before his current wife and he and Siva believe that many of the 6,700 Catholic priests in the Philippines pastors are having sexual relationships with women.”We are (supposed to be) celibate, but we have some secrets,”Siva said.”We cannot control human nature.”

Kevorkian broadens crusade to include organ `harvesting’

(RNS) Dr. Jack Kevorkian’s self-styled crusade to help the dying help the living took a major step Sunday (June 7) when Kevorkian offered the kidneys of a man whose death he oversaw.

Kevorkian told a news conference his latest patient, a 45-year-old quadriplegic man, requested his kidneys be used for transplant after his death. But, the chances of these organs being used are slim, the Associated Press reported.

Kevorkian’s announcement was immediately denounced by an official from the Roman Catholic diocese of Detroit.

Tom Beyersdorf, executive director of the Gift of Life Agency of Michigan, an organ donor organization, said Kevorkian’s methods of organ recovery”are unknown to us and do not meet our protocol, therefore we cannot accept nor are we interested in his offer.” The national organization for organ transplants, United Network for Organ Sharing, also said that the kidneys most likely will not be used.

Kevorkian, who said that the kidney removal was done according to all protocols, acknowledged the organs are unlikely to be used, but said it is because of opposition to his assisted suicide work. “They’re calling this unethical, just like they call everything unethical,”he said.”The chances of this being used are nil.” In its statement, the Catholic archdiocese said Kevorkian is”perpetrating what should be called consensual homicide. And claiming that organs have been harvested from their latest victim doesn’t make it any more justifiable or ethical or compassionate.”

Israel unveils millennium logo; pope visit still unclear

(RNS) Israeli officials Monday (June 8) unveiled an official logo that will be used in the upcoming celebrations for the year 2000 _ a semi-circle design bearing the motto”2000 _ Holyland Israel,”followed by the word”peace”in English, Hebrew and Arabic.

In a ceremony outside of Jerusalem’s Old City walls, Tourism Minister Moshe Katsav predicted as many as 4.5 million tourists would visit Israel for the 2000 year celebrations, double the number of tourists who now arrive annually.

Katsav also said, as he has in the past, that he expects Pope John Paul II to visit the holy land for the millennium.”Two months ago I met with the pope and he informed me of his intention to come here in the year 2000,”said Katsav.”The Israeli authorities are ready. We are going to be prepared.” Earlier however, Tourism Ministry director general Shabtai Yishai said Vatican plans for a papal visit were still unclear. “They (the Vatican) promised over a year ago to provide us with a list of events, but so far the church has not been able to agree on the events they want to organize,”said Yishai.”So far, one and one-half years before the year 2000, we have not been able to get this list from the Vatican, which makes our lives very difficult.” Yishai said Israel is reluctant to initiate events for the year 2000 on its own since the date is a Christian, rather than a Jewish, milestone.

Even requests for authorization of private cultural events such as music and theatre performances connected with the millennium have been put on hold until the major churches come up with a clear program, Yishai said.

Israel has, however, gone ahead with infrastructure improvements to ease the flood of expected tourists, said Katsav.

Most of the effort has been in upgrading facilities around Nazareth, the Galilee town where Jesus grew up, as well as in improvements in lighting, archeological parks and facades in and around Jerusalem’s Old City.

Israel’s international airport near Tel Aviv can only accommodate about 3.5 million travelers annually, added Yishai. But many pilgrims will be able to arrive via overland routes from Jordan and Egypt, or by boat from Greece and Russia.

The biggest tourist bottleneck, however, will be at the Christian holy sites themselves, Yishai said, adding that Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where Christians believe Jesus was buried, currently accommodates only about 700,000 pilgrims a year.

Special efforts will thus have be made to extend the hours of holy sites _ perhaps through the night _ as well as to create alternative sites pilgrims can visit, such as new archaeological parks.

Quote of the day: Mohammed Rashid, Palestinian Authority economic adviser.

(RNS)”To attract tourists, you don’t only take them to see where Jesus was born. You have to give them attractions.” _ Mohammed Rashid, Palestinian Authority economic adviser, explaining why he is planning construction of a gambling casino in Jericho and an international beauty pageant and world class soccer tournament in Bethlehem to coincide with the celebration of the 2,000th anniversary of Jesus’ birth in the year 2000.

DEA END RNS