c. 2000 Religion NEWS STORY:

Majority of States Have Not Made `Charitable Choice’ Changes

(RNS) Almost 40 states have not changed policies that limit or prevent faith-based groups from providing welfare services to the poor, a report from the Center for Public Justice finds.

The center gave four states _ Texas, Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin _ high marks for initiatives to implement “charitable choice” guidelines that permit religious groups to compete on an equal basis with other groups to provide publicly funded social service programs.

In its “national report card,” the group, which supports charitable choice, gave F’s to 40 entities _ states, territories and the District of Columbia _ for not changing policies in light of the guidelines passed by Congress in 1996. A national survey found that some states were ignorant of the new rules and thought the guidelines were optional when they are mandatory.

“A few states are seizing the opportunities provided by charitable choice to build new relationships with effective faith-based groups,” said Stanley Carlson-Thies, director of social policy studies at the center.

“The scandal is that more than four years after Congress first adopted charitable choice, most states have not fully removed the barriers as the law requires.”

Among the 12 states that were given a passing grade by the center for implementing the guidelines are Arizona, Arkansas, California, Illinois, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

The Center for Public Justice is a Christian policy research and civic education organization that has tracked developments in charitable choice-related programs.

Supreme Court Orders Reconsideration of School Prayer Case

(RNS) The U.S. Supreme Court has ordered an appellate court to reconsider its decision allowing Florida students to select a class member to give a prayer or other message at high school graduations.

The justices set aside the ruling Monday (Oct. 2) due to their June decision which declared that a Texas public school policy permitting student-led prayer before football games was unconstitutional, the Associated Press reported.

In March, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the Duval County, Fla., school district.

Since 1993, that district has had a policy that allowed high school seniors to determine whether a fellow student can give a “brief opening and/or closing message” at graduation. The student would decide the content of the message with no input from school officials.

The court noted the “total absence of state involvement” in the decision about the message.

In their appeal to the Supreme Court, students who sued the school district argued that the policy “results in state coercion of student participation in religious exercises” because attendance at graduation ceremonies is required. Lawyers for the school board argued that the policy “neither establishes nor prohibits religious speech.”

Mormons Dedicate 100th Temple Amid Fanfare and Controversy

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(RNS) The church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints reached a historic milestone Monday (Oct. 2) as their 100th temple worldwide opened its doors near Boston to a mixture of fanfare and controversy.

With the launch of the Boston Massachusetts Temple, the 11 million-member Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints can boast of 50 U.S. temples and 50 overseas. Members see the 100th temple, in Belmont, as a sign of God’s affirmation of their quest to reach souls everywhere.

“We feel that we’re being blessed,” said Laurie Low, spokeswoman for the Boston Temple.

The temple’s neighbors, however, feel besieged by the 69,000-square-foot hilltop structure and its plans for a 139-foot steeple. They’ve filed a lawsuit to stop the steeple’s construction, claiming the church received an unlawful zoning waiver and would harm their town’s character if its steeple goes up. The temple plans to operate without a steeple until the issue is resolved.

Although tens of thousands of meeting houses host the Mormon faithful in their daily lives, the church regards its temples as the holiest of places. Only “worthy” members, those holding letters of recommendation from local congregations, may enter a temple. Inside, gold-plated furnishings create an otherworldly atmosphere for weddings and lectures on the pathways to heaven.

Since becoming church president in 1995, Gordon B. Hinckley has swelled the number of temples from 47 worldwide to a planned 103 by the end of this year. Many of the new temples are less than half the size of older ones, Low said. Smaller scales have enabled the church to plant more temples where the faithful live.

People “make tremendous sacrifices to visit the temples,” Hinckley said in 1998. “They travel for days at a time in cheap buses and on old boats. They save money and do without to make it all possible. They need nearby temples.”

So far this year, the church has dedicated 32 new temples. Before 2001, the church intends to add two more in Brazil and one in Uruguay.

Priest Under Investigation for Siphoning Church Funds to Charity

(RNS) A retired Catholic priest in Queens, N.Y., is under investigation by his diocese and the district attorney’s office after he allegedly siphoned $2 million from parish collections to give to needy people.

Msgr. Thomas J. Gradilone, who retired last January as pastor of Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Church in Forest Hills, was unable to tell the leader of his diocese, Bishop Thomas Daily of Brooklyn, whom he gave the money to, according to The New York Times.

Gradilone was known as an affable priest who willingly helped needy people with rent payments and college tuition bills, parishioners said. But a church audit shows that money probably came from church collections and Gradilone did not have the authority to give out the money.

“I have learned that substantial sums have passed from Msgr. Gradilone to one or more individuals in amounts that greatly exceed the bounds of charity normally accepted as a response to people in serious need,” Daily told a stunned church Sunday.

“Msgr. Gradilone insisted to me that he distributed the funds as charity,” Daily said, according to press reports. “Information brought to my attention, however, indicates that the monies were not given for worthwhile purposes. In charity, I am compelled to say that Msgr. Gradilone’s explanation of his activity, given to me and my representatives, has limited credibility.”

When the irregularities surfaced and Gradilone was unable to explain them, Daily said he referred the case to the Queens district attorney. The New York Daily News reported the missing funds could total as much as $8 million.

Sandi Herschberg, who was hired by Gradilone as a part-time receptionist in 1992, told the Associated Press that Gradilone gave her $2,000 to pay rent when she lost her job.

“He helped me when my synagogue wouldn’t help,” Herschberg said. “He kept me from being homeless.”

Lithuania Returns Holocaust Torah Scrolls

(RNS) Legislators in Lithuania decided Tuesday (Oct. 3) to return to the Jewish community hundreds of Torah scrolls taken from Jews during the Holocaust.

“This decision is a gesture of goodwill by Lithuania seeking to develop good political and cultural cooperation with the Jewish community,” Zibartas Jackunas, chairman of the Lithuanian parliament’s cultural committee, told Reuters.

Debate has swirled for years around some 370 Torah scrolls that were found in Lithuania after the Holocaust and placed in the country’s National Library. The scrolls, mostly in fragments, were among thousands of Torahs lost in eastern and central European countries during the Holocaust, and are among the few remaining links to the 220,000 Jews who lived in Lithuania before World War II.

Formerly part of Poland, the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius was once known as the “Jerusalem of the North,” according to Agence France Presse, and boasted one of the largest Jewish populations in eastern Europe.

Representatives from more than 40 nations will gather in Vilnius on Wednesday (Oct. 4) for a three-day conference to determine ways to locate and return assets taken during the Holocaust.

Quote of the Day: The Rev. Brian Harbour

(RNS) “I am convinced that our greatest threat in America today is not a government devoid of religion but a government controlled by religion.”

_ The Rev. Brian Harbour, former pastor to President Clinton at Immanuel Baptist Church in Little Rock, Ark., speaking in a guest sermon Sunday (Oct. 1) at Calvary Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. He was quoted by The Washington Post.

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