c. 1999 Religion News Service

Church of England warns on House of Lords reform

(RNS) The Church of England on Tuesday (May 11) warned that government efforts to reform the House of Lords must not weaken the chamber to such an extent that the United Kingdom ends up with the equivalent of a unicameral legislature.”The Church of England believes that, while the (House of) Commons must remain dominant, it will be undesirable to rebalance the respective powers of the chambers to the extent that the second chamber (Lords) is deprived of an effective legitimacy of its own,”the church said in a statement submitted to the panel considering the government’s reform proposal.”Worst of all outcomes would be a legislature which, though in theory and appearance bicameral, was in practice unicameral,”it said.

The church said it saw the functions of a reformed House of Lords as primarily scrutinizing government action, revising legislation, and providing a forum for informed discussion of issues facing the nation.”A reformed second chamber that truly aspires to serve the nation must be seen to take full account of the nation’s growing ethnic and cultural diversity,”it said.

Given that to a significant degree such diversity is reflected in different religious traditions, the church statement called for as wide a range of representation as possible so that Parliament might reflect the diversity of the nation’s life.

Court again rules against special school district for Kiryas Joel

(RNS) New York state’s highest court ruled Tuesday (May 11) that the creation of a special school district for disabled Jewish children is unconstitutional.

In its 4-3 decision, the Court of Appeals found that the 1997 law created by Gov. George Pataki and the state legislature establishing the Kiryas Joel school district”has the primary effect of advancing one religion over others and constitutes an impermissible religious accommodation.”

The decision was the latest in a series of judicial defeats for Kiryas Joel, an ultra-Orthodox and politically powerful community 45 miles north of New York City.

The community first asked the legislature for a special district in the late 1980s saying it wanted to educate its disabled children in a Hasidic setting, not local public schools.

The state School Boards Association has lobbied against the district as an illegal accommodation solely for the benefit of the religious Kiryas Joel community. Both the Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court agreed.

A 1994 law re-establishing the district also was thrown out by the Court of Appeals, again citing the separation of religion and state. Dissenters today said the 1997 law had removed the constitutional problems, but the majority of the Court of Appeals said the latest law remains too exclusive.

The American Jewish Congress, which has long opposed the school district and submitted a friend-of-the-court brief to the Court of Appeals, hailed the ruling for sending an”unambiguous message to legislative supporters of the district: Stop defying the Constitution.””Legislation enacted for the purpose of reestablishing the district is nothing more than a sham, a legislative subterfuge and a merger of religion and political power,”said Phil Baum, AJC executive director.”Courts on all levels have repeatedly agreed: The district is unconstitutional.” One proposed solution, recommended by one of the judges, is based on a 1997 U.S. Supreme Court decision making it legal for school districts to send teachers into parochial schools to provide remedial education.

Baum said his group supports that alternative as a way to”deliver high quality services to the learning disabled children of Kiryas Joel.” Czech cardinal threatened after expressing support for NATO bombing

(RNS) Cardinal Miroslav Vlk, head of the Czech Republic’s Catholic Bishops Conference and president of the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences, has been given police protection after receiving death threats for expressing sympathy with NATO’s actions in Yugoslavia.

A spokesman for the Czech Republic’s bishops conference said the letters, written in Czech, had been mailed from Great Britain, reported Ecumenical News International, the Geneva-based religious news agency.”The authors were trying to change the church’s stance on Kosovo _ they wanted the church to condemn NATO’s air raids outright,”the spokesman said.”But the Czech bishops have said there are situations where all peaceful means of negotiation have been exhausted, and where it is unacceptable to stand by when people are left at the mercy of unjust rulers.” Daniel Herman, the Czech bishops’ spokesman, said the letters”threatening physical violence”had been arriving since late April. On April 26, the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences, which represents 800 bishops in 34 nations, issued a statement over Vlk’s name calling for a diplomatic end to the Yugoslav violence against the Kosovars, expressing particular concern for the Kosovo refugees and a measure of support for the NATO campaign.

Meanwhile, the Dalai Lama, expressing rare agreement with China, called Tuesday (May 11) for a halt to the NATO air strikes.

NATO’s”original intention, purpose was the humanitarian basis,”he said. It was done”out of genuine concern and sympathy for human rights violations on the Kosovo people … to try and stop the ethnic cleansing policy.”But once you have committed violence, the very nature of violence is unpredictable. Once committed, the chain reaction, counter-violence (begins),”he said, Reuters reported.

The Tibetan Buddhist leader’s comments came a day after a meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, described by British officials as”spiritual, not political.

He made his comments on Kosovo after being asked whether he agreed with China’s call for a halt to the NATO bombing campaign in Yugoslavia.”The counter-violence becomes harder,”he said.”This is exactly what is happening here. I think it has become a difficult situation. So basically I’m against the use of violence anytime, anywhere.”

Bishops of Ethiopia, Eritrea appeal for an end to yearlong hostilities

(RNS) The Vatican issued an appeal Tuesday (May 11) by the Roman Catholic bishops of Ethiopia and Eritrea for an immediate end to the yearlong hostilities between the neighboring countries on the Horn of Africa.”The approaching new millennium calls for a new style of leadership and political and economic models in the African continent where war and oppression should no longer dominate the lives and destiny of our peoples,”the bishops said.”It becomes an important responsibility to set an example for a better African future of peaceful coexistence, regional cooperation and an open support for human rights,”they said.

The 10 bishops and one apostolic prefect, who make up the church hierarchy in the two countries, met at the Vatican on April 27 with Pope John Paul II, who urged them to act.”Every alternative to war must be pursued,”the pontiff said.

Noting that both Ethiopia and Eritrea have accepted a”Framework of Peace”proposed by the Organization of African Unity as a starting point for negotiations, the bishops urged”an immediate cessation of hospitalities.” The territorial dispute shattered a period of cooperation between the two countries following the overthrow of Ethiopian strongman Mingistu Haile Mariam in 1991 and Eritrea’s peaceful proclamation of independence from Ethiopia in 1993.

The bishops deplored”the tragic consequences”of the warfare _ families broken up by forced displacement from their villages, civilians, including children, killed by shelling and bombing and people deported”because of the accident of their place of birth.” They made”an urgent call”to both sides”to avoid an exacerbated exaltation of nationalisms, to lower all barriers preventing the full participation of all citizens in the public life of the state, to prevent emotional and inaccurate reporting by the media with the temptation of projecting wrong images of the adversary, to contain the pride that leads to intransigence and precipitated decisions that may hurt the people and mortgage the future.””Dialogue between old friends, who directly exchange views and proposals, is the main road towards dissipating misunderstandings, developing mutual trust, discussing with creative and constructive determination the concrete measures that eliminate the root causes of conflict and pursuing together a regional plan of peaceful development,”the appeal said.

The bishops said they joined their prayers for peace with those of the Venerable Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox churches and with other Christian dominations and the Muslim community.

U.S. Catholic bishops issue Pentecost appeal for church in Jerusalem

(RNS) It’s as old as the Apostle Paul, who, in the first years of the still emerging Christian church, took up a collection for the beleaguered Christians in Jerusalem.

Now, nearly two millennia later, U.S. Catholic bishops have appealed to their faithful to take up a similar collection to help what they called”the Mother Church of Christianity”prepare for the host of pilgrims _ including, possibly, Pope John Paul II _ expected to visit Jerusalem in the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000.”The struggle of the Church of Jerusalem to maintain its membership is well-known, due to the lack of employment and housing for Christians and other unfavorable circumstances,”said Bishop Joseph A. Fiorenza, president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops.”Each year, large numbers of Catholics emigrate, further depleting the Christian presence in the Holy Land,”Fiorenza added.”The situation is grim.” Fiorenza wrote the more than 300 U.S. bishops asking them to pitch in to help the Jerusalem church and suggested a collection be taken up among U.S. Catholics on Pentecost (May 23), the name given to the account of the tongues of fire that descended on believers in Jerusalem and which many consider the symbolic beginning of the church.

Fiorenza issued his appeal after receiving a letter from Patriarch Michel Sabbah, head of the Church in Jerusalem.”We are now at a critical point in the history of the Christian community in the Holy Land,”Sabbah wrote.”The Great Jubilee is upon us. … Because of the continued political tensions here and the economic collapse in the Palestinian areas, our resources are stretched thin. We ourselves are unable to supply the financial support for the work of the Jubilee.”

Pope names new auxiliary bishop of New York

(RNS) Pope John Paul II has named the Rev. James F. McCarthy, a parish priest in Westchester County and former personal secretary to Cardinal John O’Connor, as an auxiliary bishop of New York, the Vatican said Tuesday.

McCarthy, 56, has been priest of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Shrub Oak, N.Y., since 1996, following 12 years as secretary to O’Connor, the archbishop of New York.

A native of Mount Kisco, N.Y., McCarthy attended Cathedral College and received a master’s degree in holy scripture from St. Joseph’s Dunwoodie Seminary at Yonkers, N.Y., and a master’s degree in pastoral consultancy from Iona College.

McCarthy was ordained a priest in 1968 and served as assistant priest in St. Denis Parish at Sylvan Lake, N.Y., and St. Benedict Parish in the Bronx, N.Y., before becoming secretary to O’Connor in 1984. He was named a prelate of honor in 1986.

Quote of the day: Ann Beeson, ACLU lawyer

(RNS)”It seems to have become a witch hunt. I’m sure we’ve gotten hundreds of phone calls. Most school officials are not aware or not focusing on the fact that students are citizens, too.” _ ACLU lawyer Anne Beeson on the flood of complaints her group has received from students whose civil rights are allegedly being violated by school administrators seeking to crack down on such things as students’ wearing trenchcoats or having Goth subculture Web pages in the wake of the Littleton, Colo., shootings.

DEA END RNS