c. 1999 Religion News Service
Christian leaders react with sorrow to church shooting
(RNS) Officials of Christian organizations have reacted with sorrow and sympathy to the shooting spree at a Fort Worth, Texas, church that left eight people dead Wednesday (Sept. 15).”A prayer meeting interrupted by violence and bloodshed sends our country to its knees,”said Janet Parshall, chief spokesperson for the Washington-based Family Research Council.
She and others responded to the tragedy in which 47-year-old Larry Gene Ashbrook killed adults and teen-agers gathered at the Southern Baptist church before turning a gun on himself.
Ashbrook shouted anti-Baptist rhetoric and opened fire during a Christian music concert at Wedgwood Baptist Church. Many of the youth there had celebrated”See You at the Pole”at local schools earlier in the day, affirming their faith and concern for their communities on school campuses. They gathered at Wedgwood Baptist for a celebration rally.”The rally was a follow-up event of Wednesday morning’s See You at the Pole, a worldwide student-led prayer movement that has encountered no violence in its 10-year history,”wrote several youth ministry leaders in a statement.”Our only hope to reverse this tragic pattern of violence is for our country to turn to God for help.” Some Christian leaders worried that the shooting might be a sign of an increasing anti-Christian sentiment.”I believe there is a growing climate of hostility that is directed against Christians … who find themselves as the targets of a great hostility in this culture,”William Merrell, a spokesman for the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee told The Washington Times.
Others questioned whether such a sentiment exists.
The Rev. C. Welton Gaddy, executive director of the Interfaith Alliance, told the newspaper he doubts there is a climate of violence directed at religious groups.”I don’t think we’re seeing a concerted effort of attack on people of faith,”said Gaddy. Instead, he blamed”a high level of anger, frustration and mental illness among people in our society who have a ready accessibility to weapons.” Senior Pastor Al Meredith of Wedgwood Baptist issued a statement on the church’s Web page expressing grief over the shootings and thanks for the support the congregation has received.”We want to praise our sovereign Lord for His gracious protection on those hundreds of people who were not injured as scores of bullets flew,”Meredith stated.”Our God is a very present help in time of need.”
Judge temporarily blocks Missouri abortion ban
(RNS) A federal judge temporarily blocked enforcement of a new Missouri law that prohibits a late-term abortion procedure.
The order issued Friday (Sept. 17) by U.S. District Judge Scott O. Wright lasts for 10 days, when a trial date will be set in a lawsuit filed earlier Friday by Planned Parenthood challenging the law.
The state’s largest abortion provider, which suspended performing abortions in the state, said the law is”so broadly and vaguely worded as to put plaintiffs at risk of criminal prosecution for virtually any abortion they perform, regardless of the stage of pregnancy.” State legislators approved the ban on so-called”partial-birth”abortions Thursday, overriding a veto by Democratic Gov. Mel Carnahan, the Associated Press reported.
The law is a”direct attack”on the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which legalized abortion nationwide, said Gloria Feldt, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.”Missouri has outlawed virtually all abortion procedures,”she said in a statement issued on the day the challenge was filed in federal court.
The ban imposed Thursday creates a specific felony crime titled”infanticide”and subjects anyone who causes”the death of a living infant … by an overt act performed when the infant is partially born or born”to charges equivalent to murder.
State Sen. Ted House, a Democrat, said Missouri’s approach was different from other states’ because the prohibition on late-term abortions is written into the criminal code of Missouri.
Critics and supporters predicted the Missouri law eventually will be considered by the Supreme Court. Some critics have said it could be used to challenge the 1973 decision legalizing abortion.
The sponsor of the legislation said he was not surprised by the judge’s delay of enforcement.”Ultimately, the only court that really matters is the U.S. Supreme Court,”said State Rep. Bill Luetkenhaus.”In time, whether it’s a federal court, a court of appeals or ultimately the U.S. Supreme Court, their review will give the bill the validity we have said it has had all along.”
Vatican revises the doctrine of indulgences
(RNS) Revising the doctrine of indulgences to bring the medieval concept into the 21st century, the Vatican said Friday that Roman Catholics can win remission of punishment for sins by simple acts that proclaim their faith in public.
A factory worker who crosses him or herself in response to a co-worker’s blasphemy or a group of friends who meet informally to recite the rosary together can qualify for a partial indulgence in Holy Year 2000, Vatican officials said.
Other steps on the road to salvation may include giving up smoking or eating meat for a day, fasting and listening by radio or television to the pope celebrate the Way of the Cross on Good Friday or recite the Angelus on Sunday, the officials said.
Presenting the church’s revised manual on indulgences at a Vatican news conference, Cardinal William Baum, the Vatican’s penitentiary major, acknowledged that indulgence is”one of many words not welcome to our partners”in ecumenical dialogue.
It was the sale of indulgences by corrupt clergy and the conviction that faith, not works, lead to salvation that prompted Martin Luther to post his 95 theses on the church door at Wittenberg, Germany, in 1517, setting off the debate that led to the division of Catholics and Protestants in the Reformation.
Anglicans and Lutherans privately have expressed dismay at the emphasis Pope John Paul II gave to indulgences in his statement on the Holy Year, calling them one”of the signs that belong to the tradition of jubilee celebrations.” The Vatican issued its new set of norms for indulgences just six weeks before Catholics and Lutherans are scheduled to sign an agreement on the doctrine that”grace alone”leads to salvation, considered a landmark in ecumenical dialogue.
The new manual on indulgences _ called in Latin Enchiridion Indulgentiarum _”does not in any way compromise the success already achieved,”Baum said.”I invite our friends, our partners in dialogue, to a careful reading of our full doctrine.” Baum heads the Apostolic Penitentiary, the tribunal dealing with issues involved in penitence that prepared the revised manual.
Monsignor Dario Rezza, an expert on canon law attached to the Apostolic Penitentiary, noted the rules on the doctrine of indulgences have”changed across the centuries in relation to changing social and cultural situations.” The 115-page book, presently available only in Latin, defines an indulgence as the reduction or elimination of a punishment deriving from having committed a sin, obtained under determined conditions in order to be”in a state of grace.”First the sinner must confess, take communion, pray and have a”conversion of heart.” The book lists 33 steps for indulgences, down from the 74 in the previous edition issued in 1967 during the papacy of Paul VI, who had modernized the doctrine.
Monsignor Luigi De Magistris, a Vatican expert on indulgences, said in the past, piety, humble faith, charity and penitence were requirements for a partial indulgence, but the revised manual also allows Catholics to qualify by giving”a public testimony to their own faith in determined circumstances of everyday life.” The granting of indulgences has been a feature of holy years since the 12th century. During a holy year, which the church normally celebrates every 25 years, the pope may grant a plenary indulgence to pilgrims who visit the patriarchal basilicas of Rome.
A plenary indulgence is the remission of temporal punishment for all sins, and the 13th century Italian poet Dante Alighieri commented in”The Divine Comedy”that many more souls arrive in paradise during holy year than in other years.
The church no longer sells indulgences, but during the Middle Ages, it was the practice to build bridges, hospitals and churches with payments made by people seeking them. Later, indulgences also were granted to those who aided the poor families of people kidnapped by the Ottoman invaders and wealthy families who built private chapels.
Southeastern Methodist bishops denounce `scourge’ of gambling
(RNS) United Methodist bishops in nine Southeastern states have issued a statement condemning what they call the”scourge of gambling spreading like a plague”across the region.”Casino gambling has grown in Mississippi like malignant tumors,”the bishops said in the statement that was dated Sept. 3 and is currently being sent to United Methodists throughout the region.
The bishops noted that Georgia’s financially successful lottery has become a”rallying point”for pro-gambling forces in other states and both South Carolina and Alabama have elected pro-gambling governors.”The tragic consequences of gambling are devastating,”the statement said.
Saying that gambling has reached”crisis proportions”in the region, the bishops called on all United Methodists to uphold the official position of the church that gambling is a”menace to society, deadly to the best interests of moral, social, economic and spiritual life, and destructive to good government.” The church’s Social Principles say Methodists should”abstain from gambling”and minister to those victimized by gambling.
Anglican Eames outlines church role in Northern Ireland peace effort
(RNS) The church’s role in Northern Ireland is to encourage people along the path of reconciliation while reminding them it is a costly path, Anglican Archbishop Robin Eames of Armagh, Ireland said Friday (Sept. 17).
Eames was interviewed by RNS at the Anglican Consultative Council meeting in Dundee, Scotland.
The prelate said the current impasse in reaching peace in the troubled six counties that make up northern Ireland was created by uncertainty among all parties that had not yet surfaced at the time of the 1998 Good Friday agreement.”I felt from Good Friday on that the omens were good but I feared that people hadn’t really taken full stock of whether they were prepared to pay the price to make it work,”Eames said.
He said that to a large extent his fears have become reality.”The crucial thing is, how do we move on from this transitional period of questioning?”he asked.
In the new situation brought about by the Good Friday agreement, he said, the church’s role is changing.”Not all problems in northern Ireland are going to be answered by the parties, or by government, or by agreement,”he said.”The church has got to say to the people: `You will never bring about reconciliation through legislation alone. You will never bring peace and stability to northern Ireland through party politics alone.'”Reconciliation will take place in northern Ireland when the people feel it is in their interest to have it, when they feel the time has been reached to put the past behind them,”he said.”I still have hope that the situation at this minute, though it is fraught with difficulty and confronted with almost impossible questions, is a transition period, and that if we can get over the present obstacles, accommodation is possible.” Eames said the church”must encourage patience and the listening to each other which is not a hallmark of Northern Ireland life, and we must encourage courage on the part of the political leaders.” But the real role of the church is to be prophetic, he said.”It has got to say to society: `If you go down that road, these are the consequences we believe will follow,’ and from a Christian point of view we have got to show that it is possible to agree to disagree and yet live with each other in a way which makes reconciliation possible.” Southern Baptist church in Georgia could face ouster
(RNS) A Southern Baptist church in Decatur, Ga., that welcomes gays could become the first congregation ousted from the Georgia Baptist Convention if delegates to the group’s annual meeting approve an executive committee recommendation.
The committee voted Sept. 14 to recommend the removal of the Oakhurst Baptist Church, which has been known for its acceptance of homosexuals.
The committee’s recommendation will be considered by the state convention when it meets Nov. 15-16 in Macon.”This is not the kind of decision we make without a broken heart,”said the Rev. Gerald Harris, president of the convention.”… For me, it’s like sending a child away from home.” The vote marks the first action on the issue since the Baptists voted last year to exclude churches that approve of homosexuality from the state convention, the Associated Press reported.”Even if you believe that homosexuality is a sin, it’s wrong to pick on this particular group,”said the Rev. Lanny Peters, pastor of the church.”I think my question would be, would they be equally adamant in kicking out a racist church?”
Pope to make quick visit to ex-Yugoslav republic of Slovenia
(RNS) Pope John Paul II will make a 9 1/2-hour visit to Slovenia on Sunday (Sept. 19) to preside at the former Yugoslav republic’s first beatification and to call on the Balkans to help build a more peaceful Europe in the new millennium.
The trip will be the 88th John Paul has made outside Italy in his 21 years as Roman Catholic pontiff and his second to predominantly Catholic Slovenia, which he first visited May 17-19, 1996.
John Paul is returning to the young republic to beatify Anton Martin Slomsek, who served as bishop of Maribor from 1846 to 1862. A noted scholar, teacher, writer and poet, Slomsek promoted Slovenia’s national identity but also worked for ecumenical dialogue and a peaceful, multiethnic Europe.
Slomsek will be the first Slovenian to be beatified, the last step before sainthood.
Some 300,000 people, coming from neighboring Croatia, Hungary, Austria and Italy as well as Slovenia, are expected to attend the outdoor Mass in a meadow at Betnava, just outside the medieval city of Maribor.
Vatican sources said they expected the pope to speak of the delicate situation in the Balkans following the bitter ethnic conflicts in Bosnia and Kosovo, the future of the continent of Europe and the role of Catholics in uniting Christians of the East and West to build a lasting peace.
Slovenia’s population of 2 million is 88 percent Slovenian and 82 percent Roman Catholic. It declared independence from Yugoslavia June 25, 1991. After fighting off invading Yugoslav troops in a conflict that lasted four months, Slovenia has become an oasis of peace in the region.
Quote of the day: Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold of the Episcopal Church
(RNS)”The unfolding tragedy in East Timor is yet another sad and agonizing example of the human family’s inability to live in harmony. … There will need to be reflection on this latest episode of genocide and the ways it might have been prevented. Also, the call by Roman Catholic Bishop (Carlos) Belo of East Timor for a tribunal to punish those responsible should be supported. But for the moment, all attention must be on providing protection and relief for the citizens of East Timor.” _ Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold of the Episcopal Church in a Sept. 14 statement on the situation in East Timor.
DEA END RNS