c. 2000 Religion News Service
Maryland Nun Plans to Defy Latest Vatican Ban Regarding Gay Ministry
(RNS) A Maryland nun says she will not comply with a new ban from the Vatican ordering her to refrain from speaking or writing about a previous Vatican decision to end a ministry to gay and lesbian Catholics.
In a statement released Friday (May 26), Sister Jeannine Gramick said the Vatican and leaders of her order had asked her “to silence myself.”
“After finding my voice to tell my story, I choose not to collaborate in my own oppression by restricting a basic human right,” she said in a statement. “To me this is a matter of conscience.”
Gramick and the Rev. Robert Nugent, a Maryland priest, founded New Ways Ministry in Washington, D.C., in 1977 and had been devoted to ministry with gays and lesbians.
Last July, they were ordered to end that work by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican body charged with safeguarding church teaching. The congregation said they had not sufficiently stressed the church teaching that homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered.”
Gramick and Nugent said they would comply with the directive to end their work, but later said they felt free to speak publicly about the case.
Gramick’s order, the School Sisters of Notre Dame, announced Friday that another Vatican body, the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Faith, recently clarified the initial directive. The clarification bars Gramick and Nugent from writing and speaking about gay issues and discussing the directive.
Leaders of Gramick’s order said they were deeply saddened she planned to disobey the order.
Nugent’s religious order, the Society of the Divine Savior, released a statement saying he had been informed of the latest Vatican clarification and that Nugent “has respected in good faith” the directive released last year.
Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, now based in Mt. Ranier, Md., issued a statement Friday saying the latest Vatican decision prevents needed conversation about the issues surrounding the case, including homosexuality, government of religious communities and freedom of conscience.
“At New Ways Ministry, our hearts are pierced and our souls sorely tested by the Vatican’s continued dogged harassment of our co-founders,” he said. “This decision moves the case from the theological to the ideological, and that is very dangerous for the church’s well-being. The Vatican’s concern in this latest action is not orthodoxy, but lock-step conformity.”
Catholic Group Attacks Bush’s Support of Vatican U.N. Status
(RNS) Days after Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush endorsed permanent observer status for the Vatican at the United Nations, a private Catholic organization seeking a formal review of the Vatican’s U.N. status has accused the Texas governor of pandering to Catholic bishops by playing “the Catholic card.”
“(Gov. Bush) is in deep trouble if he thinks Catholic people will be fooled by pandering,” declared Frances Kissling, president of Catholics for a Free Choice, an independent group that supports abortion rights. “The governor is mistaken if he thinks he can use the Vatican’s status at the U.N. as a way of distinguishing himself as a friend of Catholics. For most Americans, Catholic and otherwise, the question of the Vatican’s status at the U.N. is not even on the radar screen. … To attract Catholic voters, the governor is going to have to deal with real issues.”
During a speech Friday (May 26) to a meeting of the Catholic Press Association in Baltimore, Bush spoke against the “See Change” campaign launched by Catholics for a Free Choice, which contests the permanent observer status accorded the Vatican.
“In world affairs, the Holy See has long been an influence for the good, and never more than in the last couple of decades,” said Bush, according to The New York Times. “Some groups have been trying to silence that voice in the United Nations. The position of the current administration is unclear. The position of my administration will be very clear and firm: America supports permanent observer status for the Holy See.”
As a “permanent observer,” the Vatican cannot vote in the United Nations but can join debates and participate in U.N. conferences. Supporters of the “See Change” campaign contend the Vatican’s claim to statehood is dubious.
“The campaign’s concern is that the Roman Catholic Church, under the title of the Holy See, is the only religion to be recognized by the United Nations as a state,” said Kissling. “The campaign seeks a level playing field for all religious institutions within the United Nations.”
Kissling denounced Bush’s satellite appearance at the Baltimore conference as “the latest stop on his Bob Jones University redemption tour,” a reference to the criticism he faced after visiting the controversial South Carolina University, which has been accused of denouncing Catholicism as a cult.
Kissling also chided Bush for “pandering” to Catholic voters while being “ignorant of Catholic social teaching and views on `pro-life’ issues.”
“Opposition to legal abortion may make the nation’s 300-plus bishops happy, but it will not win the support of the nation’s 65 million Catholics, most of whom are pro-choice,” wrote Kissling. “And, once the governor moves from abortion to other `life’ issues, he is hopelessly out of sync with the views of both the bishops and American Catholics.
“The governor seems to forget that even in official Catholic circles, to be pro-life means to be more than against abortion. Having presided over more than 130 executions, the governor is hardly an exemplar of the `culture of life.”’
Update: Dozens More Die in Latest Religious Clash in Indonesia
(RNS) Exactly one week after 34 Christians died in a Muslim attack on Halmahera island in the eastern Indonesian province of North Maluku, at least 44 Christians died Monday (May 29) during a raid on a village on the same island.
North Maluku military chief Lt. Col. Sukarwo said at least 102 people were injured in Monday’s attack, which the military suspects may have been initiated by Muslim troops _ known as Lasker Jihad, or Holy War Troops _ from a neighboring island.
More than 2,000 such troops are believed to have entered the Maluku provinces, and the group’s leader has promised to launch a holy war against Christians in the region, according to the Associated Press.
Sukarwo said he could not confirm reports another 17 people were killed Tuesday (May 30) on the island.
North Maluku and Maluku provinces _ known as the Spice Islands during the Dutch colonial era _ have been plagued by religious clashes between Christians and Muslims since violence first erupted in the provincial capital of Ambon in January of last year. About 2,500 people have died in the fighting. In Halmahera alone, some 800 people died in religious violence at the end of last year.
Buddhist Monks Begin Journey for Tibetan Freedom
Editors: Phuntsog _ one name _ is CQ
(RNS) More than a dozen Tibetan monks embarked Monday (May 30) on a 180-mile journey from San Diego to Los Angeles in an effort to turn the spotlight on Tibet’s struggle for independence from China.
Singing the national anthem of Tibet as they walked, the 15 marchers and their supporters, including Chinese dissident Harry Wu, called for religious freedom in Tibet and an end to human rights violations.
“We are not going to give up and the fight will lead to our victory,” said Wu, who was imprisoned 19 years in China, the Associated Press reported. “We have only one enemy _ communist China.”
Some marchers pointed out their meeting would have been illegal in Tibet, which has been under Chinese control since 1950. Others criticized the Clinton administration’s support of granting permanent normal trade relations status to China, saying doing so would only give China the financial resources to improve its military and would not affect the country’s human rights situation.
“More trade with mainland China will not necessarily lead to democracy,” said Phuntsog, head of the Tibetan Association of Southern California. “I am really angry that they (members of Congress) have failed to respect the truth.”
The marchers plan to walk 10 miles each day, stopping along the way in Carlsbad, Laguna Beach, Newport Beach and Huntington Beach before meeting another group journeying from San Francisco at the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles on June 24.
Survey: End Establishment of Church of England
(RNS) Two-thirds of the people of Britain think the Church of England should cease to be established and should break its links with the state, according to an opinion poll carried out for a BBC television series, “Soul of Britain,” to be broadcast next month (June).
Details of the survey were published by the Sunday Telegraph (May 28).
Belief in God has slipped from 76 percent in 1980 to 62 percent now, while a bare majority (51 percent) believe in life after death, according to the survey.
The poll also found strong support for marriage. Seventy-six percent thought it was not unrealistic to expect marriage to last a lifetime, while 81 percent disagreed with the idea that marriage was an outdated institution. Some 69 percent said it is important for marriage to be celebrated with a religious service, a drop of 10 percent from 10 years ago.
The survey also showed a declining but still strong desire for religious ceremonies to mark birth and death: 53 percent (65 percent in 1990) thought it important to mark birth with a religious service, and 79 percent (84 percent in 1990) thought the same for death.
Meanwhile, nearly a quarter of the population, according to the survey, go to church at least once a month, with 15 percent reporting attendance at least once a week or more frequently.
The survey asked whether it was proper for religious leaders to speak out on a number of topics. At the top of the list was poverty (82 percent), followed by racial discrimination (75 percent), the family (74 percent), global inequality (70 percent), ecology and environmental issues (63 percent), education issues (59 percent) and disarmament (57 percent). At the bottom of the list of topics was government policy, with only 54 percent saying they believed church leaders should speak out on it.
Quote of the Day: Tibetan exile Tenzing Dhondup of New Delhi, India
(RNS) “Karmapa’s escape happened right in front of my eyes. I thought, `Wow, this is cool stuff!”’
Tenzing Dhondup, a 22-year-old Tibetan exile living in New Delhi, India, whose interest in his homeland’s struggle was rekindled when a 14-year-old Buddhist monk, the 17th Karmapa Lama, escaped from a Tibetan monastery and fled to India. He was quoted in the Monday (May 29) edition of The Washington Post.
DEA END RNS
