c. 2000 Religion News Service
Donations to Large Charities Up
(RNS) Private donations to the nation’s largest charities blossomed to $38 billion in 1999 _ a 13 percent increase from the previous year, according to a philanthropy journal’s report.
For the eighth consecutive year, the Salvation Army topped The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s 10th annual survey of 400 charitable organizations,collecting $1.4 billion in donated cash and goods _ 13 percent more than the year before. Ranking second came the Y.M.C.A. of the USA, collecting $693.3 million in 1999 for a 10 percent increase.
The American Red Cross collected $678.3 million, 25 percent more than in 1998. The American Cancer Society trailed in fourth place, and saw its donations increase 11.5 percent to $620 million.
Lutheran Services in America boosted its position on the list from 42 in 1998 to 6 this year with $559 million in donations in 1999.
United Jewish Communities ranked seventh with $524.3 million in contributions, followed by America’s Second Harvest ($471.8 million) and Habitat for Humanity ($466.7 million).
Ranked number 11 on the survey is Catholic Charities USA with contributions totaling $446.3 million. Boys and Girls Clubs of America ranked 13 with $362.3 million.
Not far behind at number 17 is World Vision with $331.4 million and Campus Crusade for Christ International, ranked 20th with about $315 million.
One-third _ $12.7 billion _ of the $38 billion raised from private donations last year went to the 142 educational organizations on the list such as Harvard University, which collected $451.7 million and ranked 10th.
The survey’s 400 organizations accounted for about one in five dollars given to the nation’s charities last year, the Chronicle’s report said, citing estimates from Giving USA. The agency reviews charitable giving patterns each year.
Cardinal Urges British Policies to Encourage Having More Children
(RNS) The British government has been urged by Cardinal Thomas Winning, archbishop of Glasgow, to adopt policies that would encourage couples to have children and thus avert the “very real threat” of a declining population.
Writing in the Sunday Herald, the Scottish Sunday newspaper, he said: “It doesn’t take a genius to work out that too few taxpayers and too many dependents on the social security system is nothing short of a recipe for disaster and social upheaval.”
Winning also called for rethinking British immigration laws, which he said should no longer be regarded by politicians or pressure groups as a threat or a problem. In fact, he said, immigration, is increasingly being seen in the rest of Europe as a necessity.
Coincidentally, the day after the article appeared it was reported a British government minister was visiting India to encourage immigration by Indian technology experts.
But, Cardinal Winning pointed out, immigration was not the whole answer to Britain’s population problem.
“Indeed,” he wrote, “it would be extremely unjust for the developed world to act as a magnet for the best talent from the developing world, leaving the poorest countries denuded of their finest resource _ namely, their best-educated people.
“Instead, we need to look at long-term measures that will make the birth of children an attractive option for parents. That means changing a culture of death into a culture of life. It means developing a radically sane view of new life, not as something to be avoided like the plague through contraception, sterilization and abortion, but as something to be treasured and valued.
“To favor that change of mentality, we need practical encouragement. That may mean new and imaginative consideration of the tax regime: a more family-friendly approach to child care, perhaps with more generous allowances being offered to mothers who choose to stay at home and look after their preschool children,” he said.
Asking whether the reality of life in Britain today suggested children were seen as more of a threat than a gift, he said: “I do not believe that young couples starting out in life deliberately exclude children in a plan of programmed selfishness. Rather I hear them cry all too often that `we cannot afford to have children.’
“Such a fear on the part of parents needs to be addressed by society as a whole. For, if the seedbed of future generations remains sterile, then it is this generation that will suffer the consequences of a bankrupt old age.”
Anti-Nazi Demonstration in Germany Draws 30,000
(RNS) An anti-neo-Nazi protest in Germany attracted nearly 30,000 people on Saturday (Oct. 28), earning praise from a Jewish leader who said the demonstration made him optimistic the public will not tolerate hate crimes.
Politicians, unions and civic groups organized the rally in Dusseldorf, scene of an attempted synagogue firebombing earlier this month and a July bombing that injured 10 immigrants, in response to neo-Nazi demonstrations held the same day in Dusseldorf and in Kassel, about 125 miles east.
About 6,000 people showed up in Kassel also to protest against the two neo-Nazi demonstrations, both of which failed to attract the large numbers expected, the Associated Press reported.
A demonstration against neo-Nazis and violence against foreigners drew about 20,000 people in mid-October in Dortmund.
“My optimism is slowly coming back after the demonstrations in the last few days against rightist violence,” said Paul Spiegel, leader of the Jewish community in Germany.
He said citizens must speak out against neo-Nazism.
“When ranting skinheads can claim they are carrying out the will of the silent majority, then the silent majority is not without blame,” Spiegel said.
With government statistics showing a surge in hate crimes, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has called for an “uprising of decent people” to oppose neo-Nazis. Violence directed at minorities _ including homeless people and immigrants _ has killed and injured dozens this year.
Baptist Joint Committee Counsel Moves to Think Tank
(RNS) The general counsel of the Baptist Joint Committee will leave her position to work for a new think tank on religion and public life.
Melissa Rogers, a lawyer with the Washington-based religious-liberty watchdog group, will become executive director of the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life when she leaves the committee at the end of October. The think tank is a new division of Pew Charitable Trusts that will include a range of religious and public-policy leaders, reported Associated Baptist Press, an independent news service.
Rogers, 34, became a staffer of the Baptist Joint Committee in 1994. She was named general counsel in 1999.
She is an expert on “charitable choice,” legislation that permits public funding of faith-based social service programs, and was instrumental in the recent passage of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act.
United Methodists to Spend $1 million on Land Mine Removal
(RNS) The United Methodist Board of Global Ministries has committed $1 million for a land mine removal project in Mozambique, board officials have announced.
The project aims at returning agricultural land, transportation routes and the grounds of social institutions to full productivity, rendered unusable because of the threat of hidden land mines exploding.
Mozambique, which went through a protracted struggle for independence from Portugal and then a long civil war that ended in 1992, is considered one of the most mined nations in the world. The U.S. government has estimated that more than 1 million land mines were strewn about the country during these conflicts, taking more than 10,000 lives.
The Methodist project will create its own removal company, purchase state-of-the-art equipment and hire experts to train local workers.
The board said mines will be removed from United Methodist property in Mozambique and from at least an equal number of acres of other land. The agency hopes to expand the land mine removal project into Angola.
Quote of the day: Pope John Paul II
(RNS) “Mutual trust, repudiation of weapons and respect for international law are the only means capable of giving life to the peace process. Therefore, let’s pray for a return to the negotiating table, and that through dialogue, one can reach the much-desired finish line of a just and lasting peace that guarantees everyone the inalienable right to freedom and security.”
_ Pope John Paul II, speaking Oct. 29, of the Middle East crisis, at a sporting event at Rome’s Olympic Stadium. He was quoted by Reuters.
DEA END RNS
