c. 1999 Religion News Service
Methodist Dell’s conviction upheld by church appeals court
(RNS) An appeals panel of the United Methodist Church has rejected an effort by the Rev. Gregory Dell of Chicago to have his conviction of breaking church law by performing same-sex marriages overturned.
But Dell said he will continue to perform the ceremonies in defiance of church law and despite his suspension from the ministry.”My ordination requires me to be in ministry to all persons without discrimination,”Dell said in a statement after his appeal was rejected late Friday (Sept. 17).
But Dell’s prosecutor, the Rev. Stephen C. Williams, who represented the Northern Illinois Conference in the appeal, welcomed the appeal committee’s decision.”The (United Methodist) Church’s covenant has been upheld,”Williams said.”The church must have the right to define and order itself and call its clergy to account when they break our covenant. This includes the right to decide whether our clergy will perform homosexual union ceremonies.” The panel, however, changed Dell’s indefinite suspension to one year or earlier if he agreed to comply with church law barring Methodist clergy from participating in same-sex unions. Dell has refused, calling the ban”unjust”and”grounded in bigotry.” Meanwhile, a committee in California is continuing its probe of 68 United Methodist clerics who participated in a same-sex union there in January.
Nonprofit leaders seeing much fatter paychecks
(RNS) Compensation for top executives of major nonprofits rose at nearly double the rate in 1998 than it did in 1997, the Chronicle of Philanthropy reported Monday (Sept. 20).
According to the newspaper, the median rise in chief executives’ compensation was 5.7 percent, far outstripping the 1.6 percent rise in inflation.
The Chronicle’s survey of 246 nonprofits, including selected religious organizations, showed the median salary for chief executives was $207,990.
The largest increase among all chief executives went to Paul Crouch, president of Trinity Christian Center in Santa Ana, Calif., which operates the Trinity Broadcasting Network. Crouch’s total compensation package rose from $159,000 in 1997 to $262,915 in 1998, a 64.8 percent increase.
But Crouch’s wife, Janice, the organization’s vice president, received an even bigger boost. Her compensation rose from $159,500 to $321,375, making her the highest paid executive in the Chronicle’s sample of religious nonprofits.
The Chronicle said the Crouches’ salaries have been rising in recent years upon the recommendation of an independent compensation committee that has reviewed the salaries and other benefits of all employees of the ministry and compared them to salaries of a number of other nonprofit ministries.
Among other compensation packages in the Chronicle’s sample of religious nonprofits included: Eugene Habecker, president of the American Bible Society, $207,776; Billy Graham, chief executive officer, Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, $154,846; William Bright, president, Campus Crusade for Christ, $62,450; Michael Little, president, Christian Broadcasting Network, $196,369; Joseph Stowell III, president, Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, $170,880; the Rev. Joan Brown Campbell, general secretary, National Council of Churches, $129,436; Roy Peterson, president, Wycliff Bible Translators, $63,591; and Dennis Rydberg, president, Young Life, $168,632.
Pope urges Balkans to renounce `extreme nationalism’
(RNS) Pope John Paul II, paying a brief visit to the ex-Yugoslav Republic of Slovenia, called on the people of the Balkans to renounce”extreme nationalism”and”inhuman ethnic cleansing”and help build a peaceful and unified Europe.
The Roman Catholic pontiff flew to Slovenia on Sunday (Sept. 19) to beatify Anton Martin Slomsek, a 19th century bishop of Maribor revered by Slovenes for his efforts to promote their language and culture and inspire national unity under Austrian rule.
During the outdoor Mass, the Polish-born pontiff praised Slomsek for acting in behalf of Slovenia”without ever giving way to sentiments of short-sighted nationalism or egotistical opposition in the face of the aspirations of neighboring people.”He lauded the bishop as”a model of authentic patriotism.” Slomsek is Slovenia’s first blessed. The beatification brought him to within one step of sainthood.”Turning my gaze on the beloved region of the Balkans, marked unfortunately in recent years by struggle and violence, extreme nationalism, inhuman ethnic cleansing and war among peoples and cultures, I would like to point to all the testimony of the new blessed,”John Paul said.”He showed that it is possible to be a sincere patriot and with equal sincerity to live together and to collaborate with people of another nationality, another culture and another religion. May his example and above all his intercession obtain solidarity and an authentic peace for all the peoples of this vast zone of Europe,”the pope said.”May the old Europe transmit to the new generations the torch of human and Christian civilization that illuminated the steps of our forefathers during the millennium that is ending,”the pope said.
The 79-year-old pope spent just a little more than nine hours in Mirabor on his second visit to Slovenia and his 88th trip outside Italy during the almost 21 years of his papacy. On his first visit in 1996, John Paul promised to return to beatify Slomsek.
Slovenia fought a 10-day war with the Yugoslav army after proclaiming its independence from Yugoslavia in 1991 but escaped the bloodbaths that engulfed Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo.
Addressing more than 100,000 people _ including pilgrims from the bordering states of Austria, Croatia, Hungary and Italy _ the pope also recalled”those who were heaped into the common graves recently discovered near Maribor.”They were believed to be Croats killed by Communist partisans in the aftermath of World War II. Many thousands of Serbs, Jews, gypsies and anti-fascist Croats perished during the war in concentration camps in Croatia, a Nazi puppet state.”May such dramatic events never repeat themselves,”the pope said.
Praying later at Slomsek’s tomb in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, John Paul referred to the state’s failure to act under a 1992 law authorizing the return of church property seized by the communists.”Considering the fundamental role of Christianity and of the Catholic church in the history and culture of Slovenia, it is legitimate to hope that the process toward effective collaboration between the church and state can be quickly advanced,”the pope said.
The church also seeks to offer religious education in state-run schools of Slovenia, which is 82 percent Roman Catholic.
Slovenia’s population of 2 million is 88 percent Slovenian and 82 percent Roman Catholic.
African-American groups join forces for scholarships
(RNS) A coalition of African-American churches has joined with two other prominent black groups in a musical event that aims to raise money for college scholarships.
The First Annual Gospel Festival is being sponsored by the Congress of National Black Churches, the United Negro College Fund and the National Urban League.
The festival will debut from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. Sept. 26 on Black Entertainment Television.
It will be hosted by gospel performers Shirley Caesar and Edwin Hawkins, television host Bobby Jones and singer and actor Lou Rawls. It will include performances by Kirk Franklin and Nu Nation, Fred Hammond and Radical for Christ, Take 6, Yolanda Adams, the Williams Brothers and Dottie Peoples.”The ties that bind gospel music, education and our community are historic and enduring,”said Sullivan Robinson, executive director of the Congress of National Black Churches, in a statement.”All three are rooted in the black church. While the Gospel Festival will fill us with the spirit for the moment, it also has the capacity for giving our young people joy for a lifetime.
Through the festival, the three organizations will raise funds for scholarships to help youth obtain a college education.
Rebels free Colombian prelate
(RNS) Leftist rebels freed a Roman Catholic bishop on Sunday (Sept. 19) but demanded he leave the war-torn northern Colombian region where he worked.
Bishop Jose de Jesus Quintero of Tibu, Colombia, was kidnapped more than a month ago by gunmen from the Popular Liberation Army, or EPL. He was handed over to a joint commission from the church, the International Red Cross and a government human rights office, the Associated Press reported.
The EPL has said it kidnapped the bishop to draw attention to violence sparked by right-wing paramilitary incursions in the area, an oil-rich region that has long been a guerrilla stronghold.
It was the second time Quintero has been kidnapped in two years.
Trial of French Scientologists begins
(RNS) Seven Church of Scientology officials went on trial in Marseille, France, on Monday (Sept. 20), accused of fraud in connection with the fees charged to take the church’s spiritual courses.
The seven defendants, five of them women, face up to five years in prison on charges of fraud and illegally practicing medicine, Reuters reported.
The court rejected an effort by lawyers for the defendants to have the case postponed on the grounds that a controversy over the disappearance of legal documents would make a fair trial impossible.
There have been three instances in the past year in which evidence was reported missing in a case involving the controversial sect.
Scientology officials claim the group is being harassed and persecuted in France. Scientology President Heber Jentzsch, in a statement faxed from Scientology’s headquarters in Los Angeles, said he would complain to the United Nations Human Rights Commission that French”governmental religious intolerance … has escalated to the point where it threatens the right of minority religious members to a fair trial.”
Quote of the day: Cardinal John J. O’Connor of New York
(RNS)”I ask this Yom Kippur that you understand my own abject sorrow for any member of the (Roman) Catholic Church, high or low, who may have harmed you or your forebears in any way.” _Cardinal John J. O’Connor, head of the 2.2 million-member Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, in a letter to Jewish leaders marking the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur.
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