c. 2000 Religion News Service
Conservative Anglican Leaders Hold Confirmation at Pa. Church
(RNS) In a massive challenge to the leadership of the Episcopal Church, a group of conservative leaders of the worldwide Anglican Communion converged on a Pennsyvlania church Sunday (Nov. 26) to hold a confirmation service and make a stand against the U.S. church’s liberal-leaning theology.
The presiding bishops of Kenya, Uganda, Congo, and Sydney, Australia joined Presiding Bishop Maurice Sinclair of Argentina in the service at the Church of the Good Shepherd outside Philadelphia.
Pennsylvania Bishop Charles Bennison Jr. attended the service and welcomed the Anglican primates, even though church law prohibits bishops from officiating in services outside their own dioceses.
“We just exchanged pleasantries, really,” Bennison said of his conversations with Sinclair, according to the Associated Press. “I think he was more interested in presenting the issues over which the church is divided than I was.”
The Episcopal Church, which is the U.S. branch of the 70 million-member Anglican Communion, is at odds with its more conservative counterparts around the world for its decision to allow the ordination of gay and lesbian priests, as well as giving pastors the option to bless same-sex unions.
Two “missionary” bishops were ordained in Singapore last January to shepherd conservative Episcopalians who feel alienated from the larger church, but the church’s hierarchy has not recognized their legitimacy.
The location of Sunday’s service was not by accident. The rector of the church, the Rev. David Moyer, is president of Forward in Faith, a national group of conservative Episcopalians. The parish also does not recognize Bennison’s episcopal authority.
Sinclair told the Associated Press after the service that for him, the issues dividing the church are clear.
“The question is, does the church accept a lifestyle involving sexual activity between two people of the same sex? We’re saying the traditional teaching is what we believe in,” Sinclair said.
In a separate but related development, an exodus of conservative Episcopalians in Colorado continues to grow, with an unofficial bishop preparing to help ordain three new priests in Denver in December.
Six Colorado parishes have left the church to join the Anglican Mission in America, the organization headed by the two bishops ordained in Singapore. One of the bishops, the Rev. Charles Murphy of South Carolina, will ordain the three men.
The Rev. Gerry Schnackenberg, pastor of the breakaway Light of Christ Anglican Church, said two of the men had been sidelined by Colorado Bishop Jerry Winterrowd because they do not support the ordination of women and were going to be assigned to liberal parishes.
A diocesan spokesman, however, said neither man was on the track for the priesthood.
“We don’t encourage people to enter the priesthood if they don’t support women’s ordination,” said Bob Franken, a spokesman for the diocese.
Needed: United Methodist Pastors in Alaska
(RNS) The United Methodist Church is in dire need of pastors for its 28 congregations in Alaska, a territory still considered a “missionary” district by the country’s second-largest Protestant denomination.
Because the state is one of three “missionary conferences” in the 8.4 million-member church, pastors who serve there come from other church conferences. Church leaders in Alaska say there are few, if any, of the 4,000 church members in the state who enter the pastorate.
The state’s pristine natural beauty is a big draw for some pastors, but church leaders say the long, dark winters and sense of isolation prevent many from accepting assignments in Alaska.
In addition, the state has one of the country’s lowest church-going populations, and the starting salary of $28,000 per year makes it tough in a state with a high cost of living.
“Taking an appointment in the Alaska Missionary Conference is not for everyone,” said Milo Thornberry, a church district superintendent and pastor of First United Methodist Church in Fairbanks, according to United Methodist News Service. “But for the few who sense a special call to ministry in this context, there is truly no other place like it in the world.”
The Rev. Mark Born, pastor of St. Peter the Fisherman United Methodist Church in Ninilchik on the Kenai Penisula, said his congregation of 35 to 40 people varies according to the season.
“In the summer the tourists come and the fisherman work,” he said. “The numbers don’t change, but the people do. It’s a dynamic group all the time.”
Thornberry said potential pastors need to weigh more factors in Alaska than they would in a traditional setting.
“The difference between a good choice and a bad choice, we believe, has more to do with who you are and your expectations than with the Alaska setting,” he said. “Before deciding that you are called to Alaska consider, if you have a family, whether they believe they are called.”
Lilly Endowment Funds Sabbaticals for “Clergy Renewal”
(RNS) With the help of the Lilly Endowment, pastors across the country will be going on archaeological digs in the Holy Land, writing plays and poetry and even kayaking as part of their sabbaticals for “clergy renewal.”
The Lilly Endowment has announced that it will issue $2.7 million in grants to 118 pastors who applied for its 2000 National Clergy Renewal Program.
The Indianapolis-based foundation selected them from hundreds of applications it received since January from congregations seeking a period of “intentional reflection and renewal” for their pastors to replenish their energy for ministry by stepping back from their busy schedules.
The maximum amount for individual grants is $30,000 with as much as $10,000 of that figure going to congregations to help pay for pastoral assistance during the absence of the clergy member.
“We seek to honor the high calling of pastors who do a good job of serving their congregations and also to provide opportunities for them to strengthen and renew themselves for their important and difficult work,” said Craig Dykstra, vice president for religion at the Lilly Endowment. “Congregations are not always easy places, and it is good for pastors to have the time to step back and take time to get re-energized and rejuvenated.”
Pope in Surprise Move Names Syrian Catholic to Key Vatican Post
(RNS) In a surprise move apparently aimed at showing strong support for beleaguered Eastern Rite Catholics, Pope John Paul II has named the patriarch of Antioch of the Syrians to a key Vatican post.
Ignatius Moussa I Daoud will become the first Eastern Rite Catholic patriarch to serve as prefect (head) of the Congregation for Oriental Churches, succeeding veteran Vatican diplomat Cardinal Achille Silvestrini.
The Vatican announced the latest in a series of changes in the Roman Curia, the administrative body of the Roman Catholic Church, on Nov. 25. Vatican sources said the pope would almost certainly make Daoud a cardinal at the consistory he is expected to call after the end of Holy Year.
Silvestrini, an Italian who worked for most of his priesthood in the Vatican Secretariat of State, was known as “the red cardinal” because of his progressive views. He played an important role in the Vatican’s opening to the Communist governments of the East started by Pope John XXIII in the early 1960s.
The Vatican said Silvestrini, who turned 77 last month, was retiring because of his age. All bishops are required to submit their resignations to the pope at age 75, leaving it up to the pontiff to decide if and when to accept them.
Daoud, 70, a native of Syria, received a degree in canon law from the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome and speaks Arabic, French and Italian. He served as a consultant to the Pontifical Commission for the Revision of the Code of Canon Law of the Eastern Churches and is a member of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
A bishop since 1977, he was elected patriarch of Antioch of the Syrians in 1998 by the Holy Synod of the 130,000-member church.
Most Syrian Catholics live in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq although a diocese for the United States and Canada was established in Newark, N.J., in 1996.
Like other Eastern Rite Catholic churches with ties to the Vatican, the Syrian church is far outnumbered by Orthodox Churches and Muslims in the Middle East.
Migrant Workers Advocates Seek U.N. Intervention
(RNS) The World Council of Churches and the International Catholic Migration Commission have urged the United Nations to investigate reports of deaths and abuses of migrant workers in the Persian Gulf region.
In a joint November letter to Gabriela Rodriguez, U.N. special rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants, leaders of the two organizations sought assistance for the migrant workers, many of whom are from Egypt and South Asia.
“We are deeply concerned about the situation of migrant workers in the Persian Gulf countries and ask you to investigate their situation as part of your mandate,” wrote William Canny, secretary general of the International Catholic Migration Commission, and the Rev. Dwain Epps, coordinator of the WCC International Relations team.
“The many reports of beatings, deaths and suicides of domestic migrant workers make such an investigation by your office necessary.”
The letter writers estimated that there are about 12 million migrant workers in the countries of the Gulf region. They said they have received reports from human rights and migrants’ organizations of “serious difficulties” faced by the migrants.
“Of particular concern to us are reports of serious abuse, the routine confiscation of passports by employers or sponsors, and the lack of adequate judicial recourse when conflicts arise between workers and employers,” they wrote.
Both the World Council of Churches and the International Catholic Migration Commission have long advocated for the rights of migrant workers.
Southern Baptist Leader, State Auxiliary Differ on Missions Funding
(RNS) The decision by a state chapter of the Woman’s Missionary Union to offer an additional funding plan for churches to support overseas missions projects has drawn criticism from the president of the Southern Baptist International Mission Board.
Nationally, the WMU, an auxiliary of the Southern Baptist Convention, has supported the denomination’s international missions by encouraging donations to the annual Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, named for a famous missionary to China who was a Virginia native.
The executive board of the WMU of Virginia approved the new giving plan on Oct. 28, Baptist news services reported. This year’s funding options include assisting a hospice/nursing care project in China, a woman’s studies program at a new Baptist seminary in southern India and a livestock production project in Liberia.
Earlene Jessee, executive director of the state auxiliary, said the plan was not designed to compete with Southern Baptist mission offerings but rather would help congregations interested in more personalized funding of special projects rather than a donation to the overall work of a larger entity such as the International Mission Board.
“The reason WMU of Virginia created a general Christmas offering goal was to celebrate our mission contributions together as diverse Virginia Baptist churches,” she said, reported Associated Baptist Press, an independent news service.
But Jerry Rankin, president of the SBC’s International Mission Board, voiced his shock at the move by the Virginia chapter of the WMU.
“Lottie Moon would be disappointed and brokenhearted,” he said in a statement reported by Baptist Press, the official news service of the Southern Baptist Convention. “It will be a devastating blow to the morale of our missionaries to know that instead of faithful and loyal support for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, churches are being encouraged by Virginia WMU to consider gifts to other mission organizations and designated projects unrelated to the IMB.”
The dispute is part of a larger debate in Southern Baptist circles about funding of denominational causes. The moderate-controlled Baptist General Convention of Texas voted in October to move more than $5 million in annual funding of six seminaries and two other national SBC agencies to Texas seminaries and other in-state ministries.
English, Wales Catholic Bishops Urge Renewed Mideast Peace Efforts
(RNS) In a statement calling for peace in the Holy Land, the Roman Catholic bishops of England and Wales have drawn attention to the “gross disparity” between the numbers of Palestinians killed compared with Israelis.
The bishops also expressed their concern at the Israeli government’s continued attempts to expand and build settlements in the occupied territories, “creating new `facts on the ground’ at this highly critical stage of the peace process.”
In the statement, issued Nov. 16 at the conclusion of their annual autumn meeting, the bishops echoed Pope John Paul II’s recent plea for a return to the negotiating table.
This, said the bishops, implied that negotiations between a strong party and a weaker one could only succeed in bringing about justice if there was “vigilant support” from the international community. They urged the British government and the European Union to offer the support needed.
The bishops also expressed their awareness of the constraints on the political leaders on each side who had to take account of “factions seemingly bent on further and systematic violence,” and urged Israeli and Palestinian leaders to continue the search for peace with courage “since the more massive the present violence, the greater must be the paralyzing fear of subsequent bitterness and revenge.”
Pope Tells Laity Lessons of Vatican II `More Current Than Ever’
(RNS) Pope John Paul II has told thousands of lay men and women making a Holy Year pilgrimage to Rome that the lessons of the Second Vatican Council are “more current than ever.”
The 80-year-old Roman Catholic pontiff concelebrated Mass in a rain-swept St. Peter’s Square with 35 bishops and 150 priests for some 40,000 pilgrims from throughout the world. Many had attended a World Congress on the Apostolate of the Laity.
“The lessons of Vatican II appear more than ever current,” John Paul said. “Today’s conditions, in fact, require an apostolic commitment of the laity that is both more intense and broader.
The Polish-born pontiff, who attended the council as a young bishop, noted that Apostolicam Actuositatem, the council’s decree on the rights and duties of the laity, was issued on Nov. 18, 1965. It was one of 16 council documents aimed at renewing and reforming the church to meet the challenges of the modern world.
“The Second Vatican Ecumenical Council marked a decisive turning point,” the pope said. “With the council, the hour of the laity truly struck in the church and many faithful lay people, men and women, understood with more laity their own Christian vocation which by its very nature is the vocation of the apostolate.
“At 35 years from its conclusion, I say: we must return to the council. We must take up in our hands again the Vatican II documents to rediscover the great richness of doctrinal and pastoral stimuli,” John Paul declared.
Quote of the Day: Mennonite Leader Myron S. Augsburger
(RNS) “Real evangelism means the difficult thing of interacting with your Brahmin, Hindu, Muslim neighbors. … Others will hear you better when they know you have heard them well.”
Myron S. Augsburger, former president of Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va., speaking at a recent gathering of the Mennonite Urban Leaders Network in Flushing, N.Y. He was quoted in a Mennonite Church news release.
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