c. 1998 Religion News Service
Vatican defrocks convicted pedophile priest
(RNS) The Vatican has defrocked convicted pedophile priest Rudolph”Rudy”Kos, returning him to lay status and preventing him from serving in any church ministry.
The Catholic Diocese of Dallas had requested the Vatican take the rare action against Kos, the Associated Press reported.
However, the Vatican did not take the additional step of nullifying his ordination, which would mean Kos never was a validly ordained priest.
As it stands, Kos can no longer be called father or reverend, but he remains a Catholic, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.
Kos, 53, is serving a life sentence for molesting altar boys. The scandal led to a record $119.6 million verdict against the Dallas diocese, the largest award related to clergy sexual abuse in the nation’s history.
The suit was filed by 10 former altar boys and the parents of an 11th who committed suicide. Three plaintiffs have settled for $7.5 million and the remaining parties are nearing a settlement, the newspaper reported.
In a later criminal trial, Kos was convicted of indecency and sexual assault for molesting four boys more than 1,350 times between 1987 and 1992 while he was assigned to Catholic churches in Irving and Ennis.
Kos was suspended from his priestly activities and benefits in 1993, soon after the accusations came to light. He pleaded guilty to some indecency and assault charges.
Robertson’s relief group delivers aid to fire-weary Florida
(RNS) Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson’s humanitarian aid organization is donating supplies and money to fire victims in Florida _ an effort that began shortly after he made controversial comments about divine punishment on Central Florida.
A truck from Operation Blessing International delivered a $25,000 check and 40,000 pounds of food to the Human Crisis Council in Orlando on Tuesday (July 7).
In addition, several weeks ago, another truck from the Virginia-based ministry delivered snacks and drinks to firefighters at the Flagler County Fairgounds, said Lew Petzold of Operation Blessing.
A third truck is expected to make more deliveries, the Associated Press reported.”We want to do whatever we can to assist these people,”Petzold told The Orlando Sentinel.
A Robertson spokeswoman said Tuesday the donations were not related to Robertson’s comments about Orlando.
Last month, the city was the scene of the annual Gay Days celebration. During the event, sponsored by gay groups, rainbow-striped flags flew from utility poles in the city’s downtown section.”I would warn Orlando that you’re right in the way of some serious hurricanes, and I don’t think I’d be waving those flags in God’s face if I were you,”Robertson reportedly said June 8 on”The 700 Club,”a news and talk program on his Christian Broadcasting Network.
Robertson issued a statement a week later declaring his comments had been taken out of context and that he said,”If you’re going to have one month dedicated to waving the flag of the homosexuals, it isn’t a very wise thing with the hurricane season coming up to wave a flag under God’s nose.” The greater Orlando area has had some fires, but the worst of the blazes and evacuations were to the east and northeast of the Central Florida city, in Flagler and other counties on the Atlantic coast.
Bills to draft Israeli ultra-Orthodox Jews defeated
(RNS) The Israeli parliament has rejected two bills that would have drafted ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students into that nation’s army.
A rare coalition of ultra-Orthodox, Arab and right-wing Knesset members came together to defeat two conscription bills Wednesday (July 8).
The ultra-Orthodox say religious study, not military might, is responsible for the survival of the Jewish people and so they should not be required to enter the army. Arab politicians were concerned that Arab men _ who are also currently exempt from Israel’s draft _ would be next. Right-wingers voted against the bills to satisfy the ultra-Orthodox and keep them part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government.
Since Israel’s creation a half-century ago, ultra-Orthodox Jews have been exempt from serving in the military. The exemption was part of a political deal fashioned by Israel’s early secular Zionist elite to gain ultra-Orthodox support for the fledgling state.
In recent months, however, Israel’s growing religious conflict between Orthodox and non-Orthodox Jews has prompted left-wing and moderate secular politicians to propose drafting ultra-Orthodox seminary students. About 30,000 seminary students of draft age currently have military exemptions.
Unless exempted for physical or similar reasons, Israeli Jewish men are expected to serve three years in the active military, beginning at age 18. They are also subject to several weeks of reserve duty each year until their mid-40s. Most women spend 20 months on active duty.
The two bills defeated Wednesday lost by margins of 53-45 and 53-41.
New study backs Jewish link to temple priests
(RNS) New evidence linking some contemporary Jews to Judaism’s historic priestly class has been reported.
The current issue of the journal Nature reports that a study by Israeli and British scientists found that most members of the presumed priestly class included in a new study had the same or nearly the same Y chromosome variation. The Y chromosome is passed from father to son, making it useful to trace male lineage.
Jewish priests, traditionally said to be descendants of Moses’ brother Aaron, were primarily responsible for offering sacrifices at the Jerusalem temples. Although the class lost its role with the second temple’s destruction nearly 2,000 years ago, the designation continued to be inherited and could be identified by surname.
Jewish priests were known in Hebrew as”cohanim.”Today, many Jews with surnames such as Cohen, Kohn, Kahn, Kane and Kahane trace their lineage to the cohanim.
A study released last year by Israeli scientists _ who also relied on the Y chromosome _ produced the first scientific evidence that today’s Cohens might be history’s cohamim. The new study, which sampled the blood of 306 Jewish men from Israel, Canada and Britain, re-enforced the first study’s findings.
United Methodist membership decline continues, but at slower rate
(RNS) Membership in the United Methodist Church is continuing its long-term decline, but the rate of the decrease has slowed significantly, according to the denomination.
An unofficial tally of denominational membership concludes there was a loss of 42,000 members in 1997, the most recent year for which statistics are available.
The tally was made from reports by recent regional conferences by the official news agency and a weekly newsletter of the church.
If the figure is officially confirmed by the denomination’s General Council on Finance and Administration this fall, it would be the smallest decrease in 10 years. The church lost 49,000 members the previous two years.
The denomination has seen a steady decrease in numbers since it was established in 1968 with the merger of the Methodist and Evangelical United Brethren churches. Membership in 1997 was 8.5 million, compared to 11 million in 1968.
While the church has declined in the United States, it is seeing rapid growth in other parts of the globe, especially in the Philippines and regions of Africa.
The slowing in the U.S. membership decrease can be attributed in part to evangelism and church outreach efforts in some annual, or regional, conferences, said Steve Zekoff, a staff executive in the office of records and statistics at the General Council on Finance and Administration.
Quote of the Day: Educator and producer Camille O. Cosby
(RNS)”God and most Christian holy people artistically have been recreated in images of whiteness. This shrewd propaganda undeniably lessens the worthiness of most of the Earth’s people. Because of those visual constructs, the churches have a deep problem with race.” _ Camille O. Cosby, educator, producer and wife of comedian Bill Cosby, writing about racism in America in USA Today’s July 8 edition. (Her op-ed column appeared the day after Mikail Markhasev was convicted of killing her son, Ennis, in January 1997.)
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