c. 2000 Religion News Service

German Catholics to Pay $4.6 Million to Nazi-Forced Slave Laborers

(RNS) The Roman Catholic Church in Germany has agreed to set up a $4.6 million fund to compensate for the church’s use of Nazi-forced slave labor during World War II, but Jewish groups and the German government criticized the church for not donating to a larger, government-sponsored fund.

The German government set up a $4.7 billion fund to compensate people who were forced into Nazi-sponsored labor programs before and during World War II. More than 2,000 businesses and the country’s Protestant church have already agreed to donate.

Catholic leaders initially refused to donate to the fund, saying there was no evidence laborers were used in church-run businesses or on church property. German bishops recently acknowledged some evidence, but said they would set up their own fund and donate the money to charity.

Government officials criticized the decision, saying the church was offering only a partial apology and a “miserable sum.”

“This is a half-hearted reaction, intended to rid the church of this wretched subject,” said Wolfgang Gibowski, a spokesman for the government fund, according to The Independent, a London newspaper.

Earlier this month, Lutherans agreed to contribute $4.7 million to the fund, and this week, the Nestle food company said it would pay $14.6 million into a separate settlement between Swiss banks and Holocaust survivors.

Karl Lehmann, chairman of the German Catholic Bishops Conference, said the church had no role in the country’s “collective guilt” and would find surviving victims and pay them individually.

Poll: Americans Consider Strenthening Families a High Priority

(RNS) A new poll finds that most Americans believe strengthening families is a greater priority than having a cleaner environment or increasing job opportunities.

The poll, released Wednesday (Aug. 30) by the year-old Alliance for Marriage, found that 59 percent of Americans view the state of the family as “not very strong” or “weak and losing ground,” compared to 40 percent who think it is “reasonably strong” or “very strong and growing.”

Seventy-seven percent of those polled said strengthening families was more important than creating a cleaner environment while 22 percent said creating a cleaner environment was more important. Sixty-four percent of those surveyed said strengthening families was more important than increasing job opportunities while 35 percent thought job opportunities were more important than stronger families.

Ninety-two percent of Americans agreed with the following statement: “We can only go forward in this country if families and family values are strengthened.” Seven percent disagreed and 1 percent did not know or refused to answer.

The Wirthlin Worldwide poll surveyed 1,030 American adults representing a cross-section of the country. The overall margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points.

“There is a deep and wide consensus in America about the critical importance of the health of families for health of our societies,” said Matt Daniels, executive director of the Alliance for Marriage, an Alexandria, Va.-based social policy organization that includes representatives of a variety of faith groups on its board of advisers.

“This is social issue number one for this nation.”

Other findings by the survey: 87 percent of those surveyed said they would support initiatives encouraging businesses to offer flex-time, job-sharing or home-based work options; 78 percent support requiring counseling for married couples with children who are considering a divorce before a divorce is permitted.

Kenyans Mourn American Priest Found Shot To Death

(RNS) Thousands of Kenyan mourners paid their respects to a Minnesota priest when he was buried Thursday (Aug. 31) after what human rights activists have called a political assassination.

The body of the Rev. John Kaiser, 67, was found Aug. 24 along a highway near Naivasha, northwest of Nairobi. He had been shot in the back of the head, the Associated Press reported.

“I feel very badly offended because he has always assisted my children. He was always very helpful to the congregation,” said Jane Rose Tata, one of Kaiser’s parishioners in Lolgorian. “Because of that we came to love him very much.”

Through his human rights works, Kaiser had made enemies. Colleagues said he had received numerous death threats.

Reports in local media said documents found on Kaiser’s body tied two unidentified Kenyan Cabinet ministers to violent clashes that came at the time of national elections between 1992 and 1997. Recently, he had assisted women in his parish who complained of having been raped by another Cabinet minister by introducing them to the Kenyan Federation of Women Lawyers.

“Father Kaiser always loved the truth,” said Bishop Joseph Mairura, who studied under the American priest when he taught seminary. “Because he witnessed the truth, and some powerful people feared the truth, he was killed.”

FBI agents are involved in the investigation into Kaiser’s death.

Conservative Episcopalians Launch New `Parallel’ Movement

(RNS) A coalition of conservative Episcopalians has launched an informal network of pastors and parishes “parallel” to the national church structure because of a “pastoral emergency” in the liberal-leaning church.

Meeting recently in Nassau, Bahamas, several conservative organizations launched a “united effort” to meet the needs of and lobby for conservative positions within the 2.5 million-member Episcopal Church.

Conservatives say the church has betrayed biblical teaching on issues such as homosexuality and argue there is no longer room for them within the existing church structure. While far short of a schism, the new movement signals rough times ahead for the church.

At the church’s triennial General Convention this summer, a move to approve rites for the blessing of same-sex unions failed, but the church adopted a controversial seven-point resolution that affirmed “lifelong committed relationships … other than marriage.”

The Rev. David Moyer, president of Forward in Faith, a 19,000-member evangelical movement, told Religion News Service that the Anglican tradition needs to be “reclaimed” in the United States but the Episcopal Church is “beyond reformable.”

During the meeting, the coalition affirmed the ministry of two dissident bishops who were ordained in Singapore earlier this year and sent to America to minister to conservatives. Church leaders have said the ordinations of Charles Murphy and John Rogers will not be recognized.

Headed in the United States by the American Anglican Council and several other groups, the coalition plans “a new orthodox structure” within the church, and will hold simultaneous conventions, youth programs and fund raising, with a special emphasis on evangelism.

“A concern for evangelism is a hallmark of orthodox and evangelical Episcopalians,” said the Rev. John Guernsey, a board member of AAC, in a statement. “We want to offer our enthusiasm and commitment in this effort, and we will continue to make committed disciples of Jesus Christ.”

The coalition said it would continue to remain in local dioceses and church bodies and would participate in the triennial church conventions.

Charges Dismissed Against Retiring Methodist Bishop

(RNS) A retiring United Methodist Church bishop has been cleared of charges that he mishandled the case of 67 pastors who officiated at a same-sex union ceremony last year.

Bishop Melvin G. Talbert, who will retire from the California-Nevada Annual Conference on Friday (Sept. 1), was cleared by a three-member church committee that decided the charges had no merit.

The case of the so-called “Sacramento 67” who presided at a 1999 ceremony for two women continues to rock the church. The 8.4 million-member church officially bans same-sex unions and prohibits pastors from presiding at such services.

Following church procedure, Talbert filed charges against the 67 pastors, even though he supported their case. An investigation committee later dismissed the charges against the 67 pastors, and Talbert said the pastors were never bound by church law to begin with.

“I find no substance to the complaint against him and I find no fault with Bishop Talbert’s response to the events which culminated in the decision by the Committee on Investigation …” wrote Bishop William Dew of Phoenix, who chaired the three-person committee.

One complaint said Talbert had stacked the Committee on Investigation and that its ruling was not valid. Dew dismissed all the charges, and under church law, there is no appeal.

Talbert said he felt “justified and vindicated.”

“I believe that our church has a good process for dealing with these kinds of situations,” he said, according to United Methodist News Service. “I am very pleased that the process worked in my case.”

Quote of the Day: Nigerian Christian Augustus Tarosi

(RNS) “All Christians are afraid. … Many have sent their families away and are here standing on one foot, ready to run if things get bad.”

Augustus Tarosi, a 41-year-old Christian tavern owner in Kano, Nigeria, talking about the pending enforcement of Sharia, or Islamic law, which will forbid the consumption or sale of alcohol in his northern Nigerian state. He was quoted in the Thursday (Aug. 31) edition of The Washington Post.

KRE END RNS