c. 2000 Religion News Service
Catholics Give $31 Million Toward Religious Order Retirement Fund
(RNS) U.S. Catholics are slowly chipping away at the massive retirement costs facing aging nuns, brothers and priests after churches collected $31.4 million for a retirement fund last year, the largest amount ever collected to pay for health care, housing and services for retired religious workers.
The amount, collected in the denomination’s annual Christmas offering to pay for the retirement costs of religious communities, was up from $30.2 million in 1998.
Religious orders face a daunting financial challenge with escalating health care costs for an aging population and declining numbers of new entrants to help support retiring members. The first study in 1987 put the retirement shortfall at $7 billion.
The financial crisis is now a “manageable concern,” said Bishop Joseph A. Fiorenza, president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops. A recent audit found that the shortfall is now declining. To date, the fund has collected $318,427,337.
The money, collected at individual parishes, will be divided among religious orders through grants to help pay for retirement costs. In June, the fund will distribute $25 million to more than 490 groups, representing 42,177 members.
The church provides no direct support to religious orders, leaving the orders to plan for their own retirements outside of the annual fund appeal.
“Catholics and non-Catholics have been helped by religious men and women and they remember this,” said Monsignor Dennis M. Schnurr, the general secretary of the bishops’ conference. “These (men and women) built hospitals and schools. They thought of themselves last. Their extra funds went into their ministries, everything from preschools and universities to inner-city clinics and hospital systems. They have touched and continue to touch people at every level of society.”
Historian C. Eric Lincoln dies at 75
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(RNS) C. Eric Lincoln, the pre-eminent historian of black religion in the United States and a longtime professor at Duke University, collapsed in his Durham, N.C., home on Sunday (May 14) and died. He was 75.
Lincoln wrote 22 books including the definitive study of black religious life, “The Black Church in the African-American Experience,” with his former student Lawrence Mamiya. The 1990 book raised several important issues including the failure of black churches to pay attention to young black males, who were dropping out of church life in droves.
Earlier in his career Lincoln also wrote “The Black Muslims in America,” which raised the profile of the little-known movement when it was published in 1961 and caught the attention of Malcolm X, who became a friend of Lincoln’s. Lincoln also befriended the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
For his numerous accomplishments, Lincoln was cited in 1990 by Pope John Paul II for his “scholarly service to the church.”
“Eric Lincoln was a distinguished scholar and author whose convictions and humanity made him a leading voice for racial reconciliation in our country,” said Duke President Nannerl O. Keohane. “His commitment to justice was reflected in his work and in his life and we are all diminished by this loss.”
Lincoln, who was born in 1924 in Athens, Ala., had an encyclopedic knowledge of black America and spoke in perfectly constructed sentences with a gravelly, baritone voice. He had retired from Duke in 1993 but continued to write and serve as a media expert on black affairs. He also wrote hymns, including “The Song of Reconciliation,” which was premiered at the Duke Chapel in March.
Lincoln was taken to Duke Hospital on Sunday afternoon but could not be resuscitated.
Soulforce Plans Demonstrations at Presbyterian Meeting
(RNS) The pro-gay group that brought 191 people to Cleveland to be arrested at the General Conference meeting of the United Methodist Church has announced plans for similar demonstrations at next month’s meeting of the Presbyterian Church (USA).
Soulforce, an ecumenical group pushing for greater acceptance of gays and lesbians within church life, announced Monday (May 15) the group has planned a civil disobedience protest during a worship service on Sunday, June 25.
The 2.5 million-member Presbyterian Church (USA) _ the nation’s largest Presbyterian body _ will meet in Long Beach, Calif., for its General Assembly from June 24 to July 1. Pro-gay groups hope to change the church’s bans on ordaining gays and lesbians and performing same-sex union ceremonies.
The United Methodist Church ended its General Conference in Cleveland on May 12. The church voted not to change bans on gay ordination and same-sex ceremonies, and retained a statement calling the practice of homosexuality “incompatible with Christian teaching.” Soulforce led a demonstration that blocked exits to the Cleveland Convention Center, and 191 people were arrested.
The Rev. Mel White, a former ghostwriter for Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson and the leader of Soulforce, said he will train volunteers in nonviolent demonstrations and plans to be arrested again.
“Even while they’ve called us `sick’ and `sinful,’ we’ve played their organs, led their choirs, taught their Sunday School classes and given our tithes and offerings faithfully,” White said in a statement. “Those days are over. By making outcasts of sexual and gender minorities, the Presbyterians have broken Christ’s heart. We come in his name and for his sake to help save the soul of the Presbyterian Church (USA).”
After protesters failed to sway delegates to the Methodist meeting, White announced a boycott of Methodist churches that do not welcome gay and lesbian members, and said protesters will picket those churches. The Episcopal Church will also tackle the homosexuality question in July, but White has not said whether he plans to protest that meeting.
Greece Strikes Religious Identity From State Identification Cards
(RNS) A government agency in Greece has ruled that a person’s religious affiliation should be taken off state-issued identity cards.
On Monday (May 15), the Data Protection Authority ordered the elimination of religious identification from the identification cards Greek citizens over the age of 13 are required to carry. A card carrier’s occupation, fingerprints and spouse’s name must also be removed from the card.
Greece is one of the few European nations to require state identity cards, and is the only European nation that requires citizens to identify their religious affiliation on the cards, the Associated Press reported.
Leaders in the Greek Orthodox Church _ the official state church _ say they suspect the Protection Authority’s move may eventually lead toward the separation of church and state.
“Orthodoxy . . . is an indivisible part of our identity and we want it written on the identity cards,” said church spokesman Metropolitan Theoklitos. “If the government accepts such a thing, there will be developments,” he warned.
Archbishop Christodoulos _ leader of the Greek Orthodox Church _ has demanded a national referendum on the issue, but government officials say that is unlikely.
“We are not prepared to lay down our weapons and surrender bound hand and foot,” declared Christodoulos.
Update: Vieques Protesters Arrested for Trespassing
(RNS) Twenty-five protesters who re-entered the U.S. Navy’s military training ground on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques during the weekend were charged with trespassing and released without bail Monday (May 15).
Those protesters were among 55 demonstrators who cut a hole in a fence in order to re-enter the training compound Saturday (May 13) night.
The other demonstrators, who were released on Sunday (May 14), face similar charges, the Associated Press reported.
The protests have garnered widespread support among Puerto Rican churches as well as from a number of mainland religious leaders.
“It’s the first time I’ve had a record, but I am proud of what I did,” said Emma Nieves, 52, who lives on Vieques. “I didn’t trespass anywhere. I entered my own land.”
During a pre-dawn raid May 4, armed federal agents removed more than 200 protesters from the U.S. Navy’s training grounds on Vieques. The demonstrators were protesting 60 years of military training on the island and vowed to continue fighting for the military’s withdrawal.
Efforts to remove the U.S. Navy from Vieques have intensified since last spring when a stray bomb released during a training mission killed a civilian security guard and injured four others.
Under the terms of a January agreement between Washington and Puerto Rican Gov. Pedro J. Rossello, the U.S. Navy is allowed to resume limited bombing practice with dummy bombs for three more years until island residents are presented with a referendum to either resume live-fire training in return for a $50 million economic package or cancel training completely.
Graciani Miranda Marchand, former president of the Puerto Rico Bar Association, and several others protesters said they did not recognize the authority of the United States in Puerto Rico, which is a commonwealth.
Quote of the Day: Canadian Broadcast Standards Council
(RNS) “In Canada, we respect freedom of speech but do not worship it.”
_ The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council in ruling May 10 that radio talk-show host Laura “Dr. Laura” Schlessinger violated part of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ code of ethics by expressing “abusively discriminatory” comments about gays and lesbians on her show.
DEA END RNS
