c. 2000 Religion News Service

Presbyterians Decline New Study on Abortion, Will Reconsider the Trinity

(RNS) Delegates to the General Assembly meeting of the Presbyterian Church (USA) have voted not to revisit the controversial issue of abortion, instead choosing to rely on the church’s previous abortion statements from 1983 and 1992.

The 2.5 million-member church is meeting in Long Beach, Calif., for its annual policy-setting session. Delegates will wrap up their work Saturday (July 1).

A proposal that would have initiated a new study on abortion was defeated Thursday (June 29) by a vote of 330 to 189. The study would have looked at abortion from a theological and scriptural viewpoint and avoided “any attention to the social policy or secular precedence” raised by the issue.

Supporters said the church needs biblically based resources for women considering or recovering from abortion, but opponents said the church has already spoken on the issue.

“What the women in these circumstances do not need is another study,” said Paul Spierling, a church elder from New York. “What they do need is … supportive counseling to explore their choices and the effects of those choices. What they need is the church’s affirmation of their dignity as human beings and the affirmation of their freedom of choice.”

In the 1983 statement, the church unabashedly supported legal abortion. The church moderated that stance in 1992, but conservatives have said the church is still too liberal on the issue.

In other business, delegates rejected a statement that said the church had reached an “irreconcilable impasse” between liberals and conservatives. Conservatives in Pennsylvania had offered the resolution, saying the church has reached a near-permanent schism on the issue of homosexuality. But seeking to address the concerns on both sides, delegates approved a letter to the church’s regional presbyteries acknowledging the differences but urging greater unity.

Delegates also approved two new theological studies that will define the church’s position on the nature of the Trinity and the end of the world. A task force will report back in 2003 on ways to “recover the terms and images that refer to the beings of the persons of the Trinity.” Next year, a separate study will report what the Presbyterian faith believes about the end of the world and God’s final judgment.

Gospel Singer’s Performances Scrapped at Theme Park

(RNS) Popular gospel singer Michael English won’t take the stage to perform at the Dollywood theme park in Tennessee this fall.

The theme park, named after famed country crooner Dolly Parton, canceled English’s two performances scheduled for Sept. 24 because he faces drug charges.

“The circumstances under which we must cancel Mr. English’s concerts are unfortunate,” Dollywood General Manager Ken Bell told the Associated Press. “However, we feel it is the best decision for everyone at this time.”

English, 38, appeared in court Wednesday (June 28) charged with 12 counts of fraudulently obtaining the drug hydrocodone, a prescription sedative similar to codeine. He said he became addicted to the substance after a doctor prescribed it for a back injury.

After the hearing, English, who will enter a plea at a court hearing scheduled for Aug. 3, said he wished gospel singers would be more open about the personal problems they face.

“It sure feels better when it’s out in the open,” said English, who is seeking probation and is free on a $2,500 bond.

No other venues have canceled English’s performances because of the charges, said spokesman Jeff Lysyczyn.

English returned six Gospel Music Association Awards in 1993 after acknowledging he impregnated backup singer Marabeth Jordan during an adulterous affair. Jordan later said she suffered a miscarriage.

Pope Asks God’s Mercy for Acts of Catholics Against Orthodox Church

VATICAN CITY (RNS) _ Meeting with a delegation of Orthodox prelates sent to Rome by the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, Pope John Paul II said Friday (June 30) he asks God’s mercy for acts committed by Catholics against the Orthodox Church.

“In the search for more fraternal relations between the churches, the importance of a purification of memories makes itself felt at every turn,” the Roman Catholic pontiff said.

“Tragic events of history have left a sad legacy in the minds and psychology of Catholics and Orthodox,” he said. “I entrust to the mercy of God every such action not in harmony with God’s will for which sons and daughters of the Catholic Church have been responsible.”

John Paul called for Orthodox and Catholics together to “write a new history in a spirit of brotherly love, respect and cooperation” in the third millennium of Christianity.

The delegation, led by Metropolitan Athanasios of Heliopulis and Theira, traveled to Rome to attend celebrations Thursday (June 29) of the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul.

The exchange of delegations for the two churches’ respective feast days has become a tradition in recent years. The pope visited the ecumenical patriarch in Istanbul for the Feast of St. Andrew in 1979, and Bartholomew led the Orthodox delegation to Rome in 1995.

John Paul noted that the Joint Commission for the Theological Dialogue Between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches, which suspended a scheduled meeting last year because of strains over the war in Kosovo, will hold a plenary session in July.

“It is my earnest wish that the dialogue may resume its normal course with new energy and commitment,” the pope said.

Presbyterians Ask U.N., U.S. Action in Indonesia

(RNS) Concerned about the persecution of Christians in Indonesia and Pakistan, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) has approved a resolution that urges the United Nations and the U.S. government to take action to end human rights violations in those countries.

The resolution called for an investigation of human rights abuses in Ambon,the troubled capital of the Malukus islands in eastern Indonesia, and urged the deployment of U.N. peacekeepers to the troubled provinces.

The area, known as the Spice Islands during the Dutch colonial era, has been plagued by 18 months of clashes between Christians and Muslims that have claimed some 2,500 lives on both sides. The religious violence prompted the Indonesian government Monday (June 26) to declare a state of civil emergency in the region.

Until the crisis is resolved and human rights are protected for all, U.S. corporations should end investment in Indonesia, the church said, and the U.S. government should suspend military aid to the country.

Church leaders said they planned to write to President Clinton and U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright requesting that they “actively encourage the government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to repeal all laws that violate the human rights of minorities.”

Meanwhile, the search continues for survivors of a boat wreck about 1,500 miles northeast of Indonesia’s capital.

About 500 people fleeing the religious fighting were aboard the Cahaya Bahari when it sank during a storm Wednesday (June 28).

Of the boat’s 492 passengers, 290 came from Duma, a predominantly Christian village where more than 100 people were killed June 19 during a raid by Muslims.

Search and rescue coordinator Ering Musa said rescuers worried about survivors’ chances in the shark-infested waters.

“Nothing has been found so far,” he said. “There have been no reports of survivors clinging to bits of the ship’s wooden hull or the boat itself.”

Coalition Calls for National Commitment to Marriage

(RNS) Pledging to “rebuild the shattered dream of lasting love,” more than 100 scholars and religious and civic leaders released a report Thursday (June 29) calling on the nation to rebuild a “marriage culture.”

“Make supporting marriage _ not just neutrality _ the goal,” the Coalition for Marriage, Family and Couples Education urged in its 35-page report. “Healthy marriages benefit the whole community. Conversely, when marriages fail, huge personal and public costs are generated.”

The report advocated making divorces more difficult to obtain, and urged courts to “find innovative ways to give legal weight to the marriage vow” such as revising no-fault divorce laws and adopting longer divorce waiting periods.

Counselors, lawyers, friends, relatives and the faith community share a responsibility to “respect the special status of marriage,” the report said, advising policymakers “not to extend the benefits of marriage to couples who could marry but choose not to. Offering the social and legal benefits of marriage to cohabitating couples unfairly and unwisely weakens the special option of marriage.”

The report also asked that policymakers “not discourage marital interdependence by penalizing unpaid work in homes and communities.”

“Couples should be free to divide up labor however they choose without pressure from policies that discriminate against at-home parenting and other activities that serve civil society,” the report said.

Such a report could never have been released a few years ago, said Diane Sollee, director of the group that released the report.

“It was still politically incorrect to say you were for marriage, because it was thought that meant you were against some other family form,” she told USA Today.

Among those unconvinced the report is on the right track is Mike Bowers, executive director of the American Association for Marriage and Family. He said he found it “hard to argue with the basic premise of the marriage movement” but “the devil is in the details.”

A scalpel is needed for the delicate work of fine-tuning marriages, he said. “When you change laws (such as no-fault divorce) you use a club,” he said.

World Vision Appoints Hestenes Minister-at-Large

(RNS) Author and former college president Roberta Hestenes has been named minister-at-large for World Vision, the evangelical Christian humanitarian agency.

Hestenes, who is ordained in the Presbyterian Church (USA), will take office next year, serving World Vision International and World Vision United States. She has worked as a member of the board of directors of one or both organizations for 20 years.

At the end of September, Hestenes will step down as pastor of the 2,000-member Solana Beach Presbyterian Church in San Diego County, a post she has held since 1996. Previously she worked six years as president of Eastern College in St. Davids, Pa., and as an associate professor at Fuller Theological Seminary. She earned a doctoral degree from the seminary and established its Christian Formation and Discipleship Department.

Anglican Bishop Tells Colleagues They’re `Unwelcome’

(RNS) Bishop of Worcester Peter Selby has written a “letter of unwelcome” to two Anglican bishops who flouted his wishes by taking part in a service of confirmation at St. John the Baptist Church in Kidderminster, England, last Sunday (June 25) and has barred them from officiating in his diocese.

The vicar of St. John’s, the Rev. Charles Raven, has rejected Selby’s spiritual oversight because he regards the bishop’s views on homosexuality as dangerously liberal and therefore did not want the diocesan bishop to conduct the service as is the normal practice.

Raven refused a compromise suggested by Selby whereby the confirmation would be administered by Bishop Bill Godfrey of Peru, who agrees with the 1998 Lambeth Council resolution condemning homosexual behavior.

Instead the confirmation was administered by Bishop Howell Haydn Davies, Bishop of Karamoja, Uganda, from 1981 to 1987, while Bishop Eustace Kamanyire, who has recently retired from the Ugandan see of Ruwenzori, celebrated Holy Communion and preached.

In his letter to the two bishops, Selby described their action as “irregular” and said it was arranged in violation of the canonical obedience Raven owed to his bishop as well as in defiance of the archbishop of Canterbury’s wishes.

“I have therefore asked the clergy of the diocese not to avail themselves of your services as priests or bishops here until you show some signs of recognizing the damage caused by your action,” Selby said.

Quote of the Day: Texas Archbishop Patrick Flores:

(RNS) “I forgive. In a sense I have no choice because if I want to be forgiven, I have to forgive.”

_ Texas Archbishop Patrick Flores promising to help the man who held him hostage for nine hours Wednesday (June 28) at the archdiocese’s headquarters in San Antonio. He spoke at a news conference Thursday after his release.

DEA END RNS