c. 2000 Religion News Service

Franklin Graham Named CEO of Father’s Evangelistic Association

(RNS) Fifty years after founding the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, the famous evangelist has turned over the role of chief executive officer to his son Franklin.

At the Friday (Nov. 17) annual meeting of the association’s board of directors, the elder Graham reiterated he does not plan to retire and intends to lead crusades next year. He chaired the board meeting at which the unanimous decision was made for his son to assume the CEO position the senior Graham previously held.

“I’m not retiring but I now want to turn over the administrative and management burden of running the organization to my son, who has proven to be a great leader in running the Samaritan’s Purse ministry and in working closely with our organization,” Billy Graham said in a statement.

The 82-year-old evangelist, who founded the association in 1950, will continue to serve as chairman of the board. Franklin Graham, 48, will retain his position of first vice chairman, which was created in 1995 and made him the eventual successor to his father as leader of the association. The younger Graham, who also is an evangelist, will continue to work as chairman and CEO of Samaritan’s Purse, an international Christian relief organization based in Boone, N.C.

“My commitment is to see that this organization stands firmly behind my father to ensure that we accomplish all that God has put on his heart,” Franklin Graham said in a statement.

“I pledge to keep our focus squarely on the ministry and work of evangelism, using every available means to tell people everywhere the good news that God loves them and that Christ died for them. This is the same message my father has faithfully proclaimed for 50 years and we’re not about to change it now or ever.”

Graham, who attracted an estimated total of 242,000 to a crusade in Jacksonville, Fla., from Nov. 2-5, told the board he hopes to lead two or three crusades in 2001.

John Corts will serve as president of the association, a post he has held since 1992, and will continue to lead the operation of the association from its headquarters in Minneapolis.

Adventists, Evangelicals Plan Dialogue

(RNS) The Seventh-day Adventist Church and a group of evangelical Christians are planning a series of talks to “move beyond false stereotypes” and find common ground between the two theologically conservative groups.

Seventh-day Adventists plan to meet in September 2001, with the World Evangelical Fellowship, an umbrella organization representing 160 million Christians in 111 countries.

Both sides agree there are no plans to find agreement on issues of theology or doctrine, but rather to better understand each side’s historical understanding of the Christian faith.

“We want to move beyond false stereotypes, to see where we agree and disagree, and to explore areas where we could mutually benefit by working together, such as on religious liberty issues,” said Bert Beach, director of inter-church relations for the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Adventists and evangelicals are planning a series of papers that will be exchanged next year during a meeting in Colorado. The papers hope to build a profile of each group and also discuss divisive issues such as biblical interpretation and some areas of theology.

“There is no interest in ecumenism as such on either side,” said George Reid, director of the Adventists’ Biblical Research Institute.

James Stamoolis, executive director of the World Evangelical Fellowship’s Theological Commission, said there is no need to agree on certain issues but rather both sides would like to understand each other better.

“I would like to see respect and an honest agreement to disagree when, after examination and study, the two sides find themselves on opposite sides of an issue,” Stamoolis said.

Pope Tells Armed Forces that Peace a `Fundamental Right’

(RNS) Pope John Paul II told 100,000 pilgrims from throughout the world attending a Holy Year celebration for the military and police Sunday (Nov. 19) that peace “is a fundamental right of every man.”

Introducing a personal note at the end of the mass in St. Peter’s Square, the Polish-born pope noted that he too was “the son of a military man” and said, “I feel close to you.”

John Paul’s widowed father Karol Wojtyla, who raised him, had served as an administrative officer in the Austrian Army and a lieutenant in the Polish Army.

“Peace is a fundamental right of every man, which must be continually promoted, taking into account that because men are sinners they are and always will be under the threat of war,” the pope said.

The Italian branches of the Catholic pacifist organization Pax Christi and an association of conscientious objectors protested what they said was the Vatican’s glorification of armed force.

“In fact, we are convinced that to build a culture of peace we must say no to any form of violence and injustice and say yes to life,” said Massimo Paolicelli, president of the Association of NonViolent Objectors.

The pope said in his homily that force was acceptable when all nonviolent attempts to halt aggression failed.

“Sometimes this task, as recent experience also has demonstrated, involves concrete initiatives to disarm the aggressor,” he said. “Here I refer to the so-called humanitarian intervention that represents, after the failure of political forces and nonviolent instruments of defense, the last resort to stop the hand of unjust aggression.”

The pilgrims included representatives of military and police forces in 49 countries and 80 members of the United Nations force in Kosovo. John Paul warmly praised the peacekeeping and other humanitarian missions they have carried out.

“Thank you, my very dear ones, for your courageous work of pacification in countries devastated by absurd war,” the pope said. “Thank you for the aid that you lend, heedless of risks, to populations hit by natural disasters. How numerous are the humanitarian missions in which you have been occupied in recent years.”

Pope Praises Child Labor Convention, Urges Speedy Ratification

(RNS) Praising a new United Nations convention on child labor, Pope Paul II appealed Monday (Nov. 20) to all nations belonging to the International Labor Organization (ILO) to ratify the agreement as quickly as possible.

In a telegram sent to ILO Director General Juan Somavia on the pope’s behalf, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican secretary of state, said John Paul was “pleased to learn that Convention 182 concerning the prohibition and immediate action for the elimination of the worst forms of child labor” took effect Sunday (Nov. 19).

Sodano said the Roman Catholic pontiff trusts the convention “will be a major contribution to the defense of children who are powerless to defend themselves against the harm done to them by individuals in whom the voice of conscience has been silenced or by social structures which enable the strong to trample on the rights of the weak.”

“His holiness earnestly hopes that all member nations of the organization will quickly ratify the convention and work resolutely to ensure its full application,” the cardinal said.

The convention, adopted unanimously by ILO member nations June 17, 1999, is aimed at fighting child prostitution, the employment of children in illegal activities and every form of labor that threatens the life, security or morals of children.

The ILO estimates that more than 120 million children worldwide are members of the work force.

Egyptian Muslim, Christian Leaders Decry Israeli `Wild Attacks’

(RNS) In a rare show of interfaith unity in the Middle East, Egyptian Christians and Muslims adopted a statement last month decrying the “wild attacks” on Palestinians as the peace process continues to spiral out of control. The statement was released this week.

Representatives of the Anglican Church, Roman Catholic Church, Coptic Orthodox Church and several Muslim clerics met in Egypt on Oct. 24 and issued a joint statement in which they decried the use of force against Palestinians.

“We, the Islamic and Christian leaders, agreed unanimously that all the Israeli aggressive practices against the Palestinians is against all human rights, religions and international laws,” their statement said.

The clerics called on the international community to pressure Israel to stop the attacks on the Palestinians and to withdraw from Palestinian-controlled areas and allow the Palestinians to create their own “independent country” with Jerusalem as its capital.

“We Muslim and Christian leaders reject and denounce the inhuman practices of the Israeli army on Islamic and Christian holy places in the Palestinian cities, especially al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem,” the statement said.

The religious leaders also appealed for international humanitarian aid to help end the “humiliation and starvation (caused) by the Israeli government.”

Vermont, Nevada Episcopalians Elect New Bishops

(RNS) The 8,000-member Episcopal Diocese of Vermont has named as bishop a parish priest who intends to continue the church’s support for civil unions for gay couples.

The Rev. Thomas Ely won the election on Saturday (Nov. 18) by beating runner-up, the Rev. Howard Anderson of Duluth, Minn. Ely will leave his current post as head of four Connecticut congregations to become bishop of Vermont on April 28, 2001.

Ely, 48, will succeed the Rev. Mary Adelia McLeod.

McLeod advocated Vermont’s legalization of civil unions for gay couples, a position Ely says he intends to preserve despite pockets of dissent within the diocese and controversy on the issue statewide.

Vermont’s civil union law “provides a framework to live faithfully in those relationships and be a blessing for society and for themselves,” Ely said. But not everyone will agree, he said, and that’s OK.

“Our theology allows us to hold things in tension and not be torn asunder and still find our unity in the Eucharist and common baptism,” Ely said Monday. “What I worry about is the loss of community. … We can maintain the community if we disagree in love.”

The Burlington-based diocese has 51 parishes in a state with fewer than 600,000 residents.

In a related development, the Diocese of Nevada last month elected its first woman bishop, the Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori. Schori is an assistant rector at an Oregon parish and a professor of philosophy at Oregon State University.

Gospel Singer Cecil Blackwood Dead at 66

(RNS) Cecil Blackwood, a gospel singer with the Blackwood Brothers, died of cancer on Nov. 13 at a Memphis, Tenn., hospital. He was was 66.

The group was founded by Roy Blackwood, Cecil’s father, in 1934, the year his son was born in Ackerman, Miss. Cecil Blackwood became the group’s baritone singer in 1954.

“Cecil was the driving force behind the Blackwood Brothers since 1960,” said Andy Childs, his son-in-law. “Right now it’s undecided if the group will carry on.”

The Blackwood Brothers, who recorded 300 albums, won nine Grammys and 20 Dove Awards, the Associated Press reported. They are members of the Southern Gospel Music Hall of Fame and have backed country singers Barbara Mandrell and Porter Wagoner.

Quote of the Day: Aaron Cassels

(RNS) “I am going to pray for whoever wins the White House, Gore or Bush. Everybody needs prayer, but they need it more than most people.”

_ Aaron Cassels, a parishioner at First Baptist Church in Tallahassee, Fla., speaking on the ongoing electoral drama unfolding in Florida. He was quoted by The New York Times.

DEA END RNS