c. 1999 Religion News Service
Presbyterians reject effort to ease gay ordination ban
(RNS) An effort to lift a controversial rule many saw as effectively barring the the ordination of sexually active gays and lesbians in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has been rejected by the denomination’s General Assembly, its highest legislative body.
Instead, the assembly, acting June 25, opted for a measure calling for two years of study on the issue.
At issue was a contentious rule added to the church’s Book of Order last year requiring the church’s pastors, elders and deacons to live lives of”fidelity within the covenant of marriage”and”chastity in singleness.” Debate on whether to ordain gays and lesbians has embroiled members of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) for years.
Church officials who supported eliminating the provision from the Book of Order, the church’s rulebook, said the current law”excludes from ordained office persons to whom God has clearly given gifts for ministry.”Supporters of the more conservative measure, however, urged letting the matter lie and imposing the two-year moratorium on the issue as a”simple and clear alternative.” The final vote, 319-198, reflected the depth of division within the 3.6 million-member denomination on the issue.
The 211th General Assembly also acted on a host of broad initiatives. Commissioners, as delegates are called, approved a mission budget of more than $128 million.
They also:
_ approved becoming part of the Churches Uniting in Christ, an effort by the Consultation on Church Union to bring about closer unity among nine mainline Protestant denominations.
_ reaffirmed support of universal health care, legal possession of guns and strategies to curb tobacco use.
_ rejected a proposal to disassociate the denomination from the pro-choice Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice.
On international issues, the commissioners expressed”profound sadness”over renewed violence in the Middle East and voiced support for free and fair elections in East Timor.
Pope expected to announce historic visit to the Holy Land next year
(RNS) Pope John Paul II is expected to announce Tuesday (June 29) he will make a historic pilgrimage to the Holy Land next year, starting the third millennium of Christianity by retracing the steps of the Hebrew Patriarch Abraham.
Vatican sources said the Roman Catholic pontiff will make the announcement when he recites the midday Angelus prayer after celebrating a Mass to mark the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul.
Speaking of the planned trip on Sunday (June 27), Cardinal Ersilio Tonini of Genoa said the pope will follow the path of Abraham, starting from his birthplace, the city of Ur in ancient Chaldea, now Iraq, and traveling on to Jerusalem and other holy sites.”A trip across the entire Islamic world, a great event,”Tonini said.
Israeli and church officials in Jerusalem have said they expect John Paul to make the visit in late March, probably around March 24.
This would allow the pope to celebrate the Feast of the Annunciation on March 25 in Nazareth, the Israeli Arab city where, according to the Bible, the Angel Gabriel announced to the Virgin Mary that she would give birth to Jesus. He would also visit Bethlehem, Jesus’ birthplace.
Jerusalem, claimed by both Arabs and Jews, is Israel’s capital while Bethlehem is now within the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority.
In visiting Jerusalem, the Polish-born pontiff would follow in the footsteps of a modern-day predecessor, Pope Paul VI, who traveled to the Holy Land in January 1964 on the first trip of his pontificate.
John Paul has made 87 trips outside Italy since he was elected pope in October 1978, but until now political considerations, including the status of Jerusalem, have prevented him from making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
In his 1994 apostolic letter on the approaching third millennium of Christianity, he wrote that he hoped”to visit all those places on the road of the people of God of the Ancient Alliance, starting from the places of Abraham and Moses, crossing Egypt and Mount Sinai, until Damascus, city that was witness to the conversion of St. Paul.” Helping to ease his way are a recent agreement between Israel and the Vatican on the legal status of the Catholic Church and its organizations in Israel and the warm reaction that Baghdad has given to his often stated opposition to the U.N. embargo against Iraq.
Second agency ends accreditation threat against Greek Orthodox seminary
(RNS) A second accrediting agency has lifted the threat of possible action against Hellenic College-Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, Mass.
The Association of Theological Schools said the seminary”has responded appropriately”to its demand that the institution clarify its administrative and procedural guidelines. However, the ATS also strongly criticized the way the school was administered in the past and asked it to submit another report by April 15, 1999 that”demonstrates”how promised reforms have been put into effect.
The ATS action came in a letter to the school dated June 25 made public by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, whose leader, Archbishop Spyridon, chairs the seminary’s board of trustees. In April, the New England Association of Schools lifted its threat against the school’s accreditation.
Both threats stemmed from a 1997 complaint that Spyridon had violated seminary policies and accrediting standards by ousting the institution’s then-president, librarian and two professors in what critics said was an effort to cover up a sex scandal involving a student and a visiting cleric.
The controversy at the school touched off a dissident movement within the archdiocese that has sought to oust Spyridon. Lay member of the church, priests and five metropolitans (bishops) have called for Spyridon’s removal, and an effort to get parishes to withhold their regular financial contributions to the archdiocese has slowly been gathering steam.
Valarie Karas, a former seminary professor who filed the complaint, said she was not surprised by the ATS action. However, Karas, now at St. Louis University, pointed to the ATS’ sharp criticism of the seminary’s operation as”some vindication.” The ATS letter said the seminary controversy developed”in an ecclesial and institutional environment in which trust is obscured or absent.”The letter also noted the”many accusations”of”alleged unfair or unethical treatment”by the church-directed seminary administration.
In its 2001 regularly scheduled review of the school, the ATS said the seminary must”demonstrate in its self-study the ways in which care has been taken to treat all persons, regardless of their positions in the current controversy, fairly and ethically.” In a statement, Spyridon said the ATS letter, coupled with the earlier NEAS action, means”the greater family of the church can rest assured that the accreditation of the school is secure, but there is still so much more to accomplish.” Spyridon said he would work with the school’s administration and faculty”to bring about the wholesome and spiritual environment that will effect a rebirth of Hellenic College and Holy Cross.”
Moscow court rules against Jehovah’s Witnesses
(RNS) A Moscow court Monday (June 28) rejected an appeal by Jehovah’s Witnesses to halt a review of the religious body’s literature as part of an effort to outlaw the group in Russia’s capital city.
The Moscow city prosecutor’s office has sought to prevent Jehovah’s Witnesses from operating legally in the city, claiming the controversial denomination promotes family disintegration, hatred and disrespect for official authority by placing allegedly unreasonable demands on its members, and prohibiting blood transfusions and military service on religious grounds.
The court case began in October but has been on hold since March, when the presiding judge decided to have a panel study Jehovah’s Witnesses literature for illegal content. At least two earlier panels also have studied literature produced by the Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Watchtower Society, as the Jehovah’s Witnesses organization is officially called, and found nothing illegal.
Maintaining the current panel is not qualified to review its literature, the Jehovah’s Witnesses asked the Moscow court to end the latest review _ a request denied Monday.
While the panel continues its review, the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Moscow are prevented from renting buildings for worship services or renovating property they own. If the court were to find the Jehovah’s Witnesses to be an illegal group, they would be prevented from holding public services or distributing literature in Moscow.
The case affects only Jehovah’s Witnesses in Moscow. Elsewhere in Russia, the denomination _ which claim 250,000 adherents out a nationwide population of 146 million _ gained official government recognition in May of this year.
Pope to beatify two Fatima visionaries
(RNS) Pope John Paul II agreed Monday to declare blessed two of the young Portuguese shepherd children whose reports of seeing visions of the Virgin Mary have drawn many millions of pilgrims to the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima over the past eight decades.
The pope, who has a special devotion to the Madonna of Fatima and gave thanks to her for saving him from assassination, signed a decree stating that the children were responsible for the miraculous healing of a paralyzed Portuguese woman two years ago.
Giacinta and Francesco Marto are the youngest candidates of John Paul’s pontificate to qualify for beatification through a miracle rather than martyrdom. The church requires another miracle following beatification for sainthood.
John Paul did not immediately set a date for the beatifications, but Vatican sources said they expected him to travel to Fatima for a ceremony at the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima on Oct. 13, the 82nd anniversary of the final apparition.
Giacinta Marto was 7 and her brother 9 when _ along with Lucia dos Santos, 10 _ they saw the first vision of the Virgin Mary in a field called Cova da Iria near Fatima. They said the virgin appeared to them six times.
Francesco died in 1919 and Giacinta in 1920 in the epidemic of Spanish flu that swept Europe following World War I, but Lucia dos Santos survived and became a cloistered nun.
During a visit to Fatima, the pope spoke privately with Lucia dos Santos, now 92. She is believed by some to be the custodian of the rumored”secrets of Fatima”concerning the fate of the world.
The children said that in their visions of the virgin, she asked for frequent prayers, especially the Rosary, penance for the conversion of sinners and the consecration of the people of Russia to her under the title of the Immaculate Heart.
Pope Pius XII consecrated the world to Mary under that title in 1942 and in 1952, in the first apostolic letter addressed directly to the peoples of Russia, consecrated them to Mary in a special manner.
John Paul made a pilgrimage to Fatima on May 13, 1982, to pray at the shrine and thank the Madonna for saving him from death one year earlier when Turkish terrorist Mehmet Ali Agca opened fire on him in St. Peter’s Square.
Jose Saraiva Martins, prefect of the Congregation of the Causes of Saints, told the pope at the promulgation ceremony that through Francesco and Giacinta Marto, the”mother of Christ recommended to all the church persevering prayer, conversion of the heart and penitence as the irreplaceable means of holiness and instruments of perfection for civil society and nations as well.” A panel of medical experts certified that there was no scientific explanation for the miracle attributed to the children’s intervention _ restoring the power to walk to a paraplegic women in the city of Leira.
Ground broken for college aimed at home schoolers
(RNS) An organization that advocates for home-school education has broken ground for a college it hopes will attract home schoolers.
Michael P. Farris, president of the Purcellville, Va.-based Home School Legal Defense Association, led the ceremony Friday (June 25) on a 44-acre site.”This is an opportunity to take the home-schooling movement to the next level,”he said.”The home-schooling movement is coming of age. This really is the next step of that movement.” Ground was broken for the four-year institution to be called Patrick Henry College in Purcellville, in western Loudoun County. Farris said the school is scheduled to open in the fall of 2000 with an enrollment of about 100.
He expects it to expand to 600 students within 10 years, The Washington Post reported.
Although the school will not be restricted to home-schooled students, organizers hope it will draw home-schoolers with a commitment to Christianity and a strong academic background.
Some educational analysts said the college likely will attract applicants from the estimated 1.5 million students who are home-schooled nationwide. But experts voiced different opinions about whether such a college was in the students’ best interests.”They’re going to prolong this cocoon existence,”said Paul D. Houston, executive director of the American Association of School Administrators.”I understand people’s point of wanting to protect their kids, but at some point they’ve got to grow up.” But Lawrence M. Rudner, director of the Educational Resources Information Center Clearinghouse on Assessment and Evaluation at the University of Maryland, was impressed with the plans. Farris has said students will spend half their time out of the classroom, working on faculty-supervised research projects for congressional offices, federal agencies, think tanks and other groups.”The concept is attractive,”said Rudner, who recently did a home-schooling study sponsored by Farris’ organization.”When you have bright kids who are capable of doing independent studies, it’s a good recipe for success.” Farris estimated that the first phase of construction will cost about $6 million and said he still needs to raise $1.4 million.
The school, whose tuition is expected to cost between $12,000 and $14,000 yearly, will offer a bachelor of arts degree in government. Farris said undergraduate programs in computer science and journalism and a law school would be added later.
Anglican priest sets preaching record
(RNS) A record of nearly 36 hours of virtually nonstop preaching has been set by a Church of England clergyman raising funds for the British Diabetic Association.
The Rev. Mervyn Roberts, a vicar in Warwick whose 12-year-old son is a diabetic, hoped to preach for 48 hours, with 15-minute breaks every eight hours. But stomach problems forced him to call a halt just before midnight June 23. He was preaching in the 17th century chapel at Warwick Castle.
Quote of the day: Rabbi David Saperstein
(RNS)”The pro forma posting (of the Ten Commandments) in the classrooms of America will do no more for morality than does placing God’s name on our money or Gideon Bibles in our hotel rooms.” Rabbi David Saperstein, head of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, in a statement commenting on House passage of a bill urging schools and other public buildings to post the Ten Commandments.
DEA END RNS
