c. 1999 Religion News Service

Reform rabbis adopt new statement of faith

(RNS) Reform Jewish rabbis adopted a statement of faith Wednesday (May 26) that reflects a desire by some to reclaim traditional practices rejected by an earlier generation.

By a vote of 324-68, members of the Central Conference of American Rabbis approved the document after lengthy debate during the group’s annual convention in Pittsburgh. More than a century ago, in 1885, Reform rabbis adopted a statement in the same city dismissing most traditional Jewish practices as”altogether foreign to our mental and spiritual state.” The approved document is a revamped version of a draft that drew opposition when it was circulated last winter. Critics viewed the previous draft as too traditional. The adopted version contains much more traditional language than statements of faith adopted in 1937 and 1976 as updates to the first Pittsburgh Platform.

The text, which was amended during the debate, includes sections on God, Torah and Israel. The text affirms the studying of Hebrew and observation of mitzvot, or sacred obligations, and encourages aliyah, or emigration to Israel.”We continue to have faith that, in spite of the unspeakable evils committed against our people and the sufferings endured by others, the partnership of God and humanity will ultimately prevail,”the final statement reads.

Wording about the continued inclusiveness of Reform Judaism was changed after a debate about language concerning intermarriage.”We are an inclusive community, opening doors to Jewish life to people of all ages, to varied kinds of families, to all regardless of their sexual orientation, to gerim, those who have converted to Judaism, and to all individuals and families, including the intermarried, who strive to create a Jewish home,”the adopted statement reads.”We believe that we must not only open doors for those ready to enter our faith, but also to actively encourage those who are seeking a spiritual home to find it in Judaism.” Reform Jews number about 1.5 million people and comprise the largest movement among American Jews. Individual Reform congregations or Jews can decide whether or not they want to adopt any or all of the document, called”A Statement of Principles for Reform Judaism.” The preamble to the adopted statement explained why the rabbis believed a new document was necessary.”Today, when so many individuals are striving for religious meaning, moral purpose and a sense of community, we believe it is our obligation as rabbis once again to state a set of principles that define Reform Judaism in our own time,”the preamble says.”The great contribution of Reform Judaism is that it has enabled the Jewish people to introduce innovation while preserving tradition, to embrace diversity while asserting commonality, to affirm beliefs without rejecting those who doubt, and to bring faith to sacred texts without sacrificing critical scholarship.”

Complaint filed against Methodist bishop over same-sex ceremony

(RNS) A United Methodist layman in Colorado has filed a complaint against Denver-area Bishop Mary Ann Swenson charging the bishop broke church rules by allowing a minister in her jurisdiction to perform a same-sex union ceremony.

It is the first time a bishop has been charged in the tumultuous debate over same-sex unions that has roiled the nation’s second largest Protestant denomination, behind the Southern Baptist Convention, for most of the past decade.

The complaint, by Mel Brown of Johnstown, Colo., was filed with the denomination’s College of Bishops.

The pastor involved, the Rev. Toni Cook of St. Paul’s United Methodist Church on Capitol Hill in Denver, has acknowledged she has officiated at a number of such unions for”committed, loving couples.” Brown argued that because the denomination has a rule against pastors performing same-sex ceremonies, Swenson is guilty of”disobedience to the order and discipline”of the church by allowing Cook to officiate.

Swenson, however, said she believed the charges were based on Brown’s personal animosity toward her, saying she has felt Brown’s”rage against me”for a number of years and the filing of charges was simply another effort to get her to resign.

The bishop also said she is”not aware of actualities or specifics”of Cook’s ministry at St. Paul’s but”there’s been no criticism of her work by the superintendent or her congregation.” The case has been assigned to Bishop William Dew of Phoenix. Under church procedures, Dew said he will seek a meeting with the two principals to see if they can resolve their differences. If that fails, a three-member panel would be formed to determine whether the charges are”grave”enough to appoint an investigative committee, which would determines whether a church trial should be held.

In a separate but related matter, a similar complaint has been filed against the Rev. Jimmy Creech, the first United Methodist pastor tried and acquitted of breaking church law by performing a same-sex ceremony.

Creech, on leave of absence from active ministry in the Nebraska Conference, performed the ceremony at a church in Chapel Hill, N.C., on April 24. The complaint was filed with Nebraska Bishop Joel Martinez.

Creech told the United Methodist News Service on Tuesday (May 25) that he had not yet heard from Martinez and had no comment on the complaint.

Update: Polish government orders removal of crosses at Auschwitz

(RNS) The Polish government Tuesday (May 25) ordered the removal of some 300 small crosses planted by Roman Catholics near Auschwitz, the former Nazi death camp.

The government, responding to extensive protests from Jewish groups, renewed its request to the conservative Catholics who erected the crosses to now remove them. If necessary, government spokesman Krzysztof Luft said, the government will remove the crosses itself, except for one 26-foot cross that will remain. That cross was used during a 1979 Papal Mass.

A new law took effect this week restricting development and public gatherings in a 100-yard zone around Auschwitz and six other former death camps in Poland. Under that law, the government has authority to remove the crosses if the Catholics refuse. It could also terminate the Association of War Veterans’ lease on the land where the crosses have been planted, on the outskirts of Auschwitz, the Associated Press reported.”The government appeals to all who in good faith put up the sacred Christian symbols … and would like to take them back to their parishes, to do it as soon as possible,”a statement by Luft said.

Catholics began planting the crosses last summer to protest ongoing efforts to remove the tall cross used by the pope. The Catholics have said they are merely seeking to memorialize 152 Poles who died at the nearby Birkenau death camp. The crosses can be seen from inside the Auschwitz grounds.

Jewish groups complain the crosses are an affront to the memory of more than 1 million Jews who were killed at the Nazi-run camp from 1940 to 1945.

Government and Catholic officials have opposed the additional crosses. Government officials appeared to have wanted the issue cleared up before the June 5-17 visit by Pope John Paul II to Poland.

Russian Orthodox Church embroiled in homosexuality scandal

(RNS) A homosexual scandal has erupted in the Russian Orthodox Church over allegations that a prominent bishop has seduced young male seminarians.

A group of priests in the Yekaterinburg diocese has accused Bishop Nikon, a leading, young conservative prelate, of surrounding himself with homosexual priests who”supply”the bishop with male lovers, said Ecumenical News International, the Geneva-based religious news agency.

Yekaterinburg is Russia’s fourth-largest city and the site of the murder of Czar Nicholas II and his wife _ revered by many Orthodox as saints _ by Bolshevik revolutionaries.

The dissidents also allege that what they called the”bishop’s bed”has become a path to the priesthood in one of the church’s most important dioceses and that a”homosexual lobby”within church leadership circles is trying to quash the allegations against Nikon.

The bishop’s supporters say the accusations are false and that people have been bribed to speak against the prelate. They say the sources of the allegations are priests who do not want to share parish revenues with the bishop. In Russia, bishops are financially dependent on parishes.

The Russian Orthodox Church unreservedly condemns homosexuality as”unnatural,”and the subject is never discussed in official church meetings. But ENI reported that it is an open secret in church circles that some priests and bishops are gay.

English Catholic relief group urges Zambia AIDS action

(RNS) The primary needs for coping with the AIDS epidemic devastating Zambia and other African nations are to ensure adequate food for those infected by HIV and to provide treatment for opportunistic infections such as tuberculosis that take advantage of the disease, according to a report published Wednesday (May 26) by CAFOD, the English and Welsh Roman Catholic bishops’ development agency.

CAFOD said one in five Zambian adults is infected by HIV, and life expectancy has dropped to 37 from the country’s normal 56.

The report also noted that because of the collapse in the price of copper, Zambia is heavily indebted, and the amount spent on servicing the country’s $6.5 billion debt _ $235 million in 1998 _ exceeds spending on health, education, and all other welfare services combined. The debt burden is $650 per person in a country where the annual income per head is $306.”The killer diseases in Zambia _ which are malaria, malnutrition, TB and AIDS _ are poverty-related, and social and economic reforms are needed to overcome them,”said the CAFOD report.”With inadequate funds and such a big debt repayment requirement, there are no funds to do this.” The report draws on the experience of the AIDS program run by the diocese of Ndola since 1995 with support from a number of European agencies, including CAFOD, the Dutch Roman Catholic agency MEMISA, Caritas Germany and Misereor.

The report said it is impossible for the Ndola home care program to treat AIDS with the highly expensive anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) developed in the West. The problem is not only the cost of the drugs themselves _ at least $10,000 a year per patient _ but also the monitoring required, the training of staff and increased levels of equipment.”From the point of view of justice, of course, it is a scandal that ARVs are changing HIV for only part of the world,”said Dr. Mara Rossi, director of the Ndola program.”But with the basic needs unmet in Ndola, it is not possible to jump directly into a campaign for triple therapy. The health facilities to monitor side effects are not there. The level of poverty means that people are not eating enough _ they may only have one meal a day. Eighty percent are below the poverty line.” The main priorities thus remain adequate nutrition and the treatment of opportunistic infections.”It is a social injustice that the means of treating HIV is available only to a very few of those who need it,”concluded CAFOD.”But it is also a social injustice that people with HIV do not have food, and that their children are constantly hungry.”

Update: Mother of dead paralyzed woman won’t face murder charge

(RNS) The elderly mother already charged with attempted murder of her daughter will not face a murder charge after the paralyzed daughter decided to be taken off life support.

Prosecutors could have charged Shirley Egan, 68, with murder after her daughter, Georgette Smith, died May 19 when her ventilator was removed at an Orlando, Fla., hospital. Egan was charged with attempted murder after she allegedly shot her 42-year-old daughter in the neck in March after overhearing Smith discuss putting Egan into a nursing home.

But State Attorney Lawson Lamar decided not to pursue the higher charge, citing Egan’s health and closeness with her daughter. Egan is blind in one eye and suffers from emphysema.

Bob Wesley, a lawyer for Egan, said Smith did not want her mother to be charged with murder.

Quote of the day: Mary Giovani, Cranford, N.J.

(RNS)”God makes it all happen. If He doesn’t, who the hell does? I’d like them to tell me that.” _ Mary Giovani, 83-year-old resident of Cranford, N.J., asked by USA Today her opinion of American Atheists moving its headquarters to Cranford.

DEA END RNS