c. 2003 Religion News Service

Groups Oppose Discrimination Provision in Federal Jobs Bill

WASHINGTON (RNS) The House is expected to vote on a measure Thursday (May 8) that would allow job training centers that receive federal money to discriminate on the basis of religion.

At issue is the reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act, which provides federal money to local adult education and job training centers. House Republicans want to open that money to faith-based groups, and allow them to hire only employees who share their religion.

Democrats and church-state groups say they oppose the measure because it reverses 20-year-old rules that prohibit religious discrimination in federal job programs. Federal law allows religious groups to discriminate in hiring as long as only private funds are used.

The Rev. J. Brent Walker, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee, said Wednesday that the private-sector protections must be maintained, but subsidizing “religious discrimination is arguably unconstitutional and, in any case, an unconscionable advancement of religion.”

Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, said an applicant’s faith should not dictate whether he or she is hired to help other people find jobs.

“Religious beliefs do not change the way that a staff member teaches resume writing or helps file claims for unemployment insurance,” Saperstein said at a Capitol Hill news conference. “Christians, Jews, Muslims and Buddhists use the same criteria to determine eligibility for Welfare-to-Work programs.”

Two years ago, the House passed President Bush’s “faith-based initiative” that would have allowed religious social service groups to discriminate with federal funds. The discrimination concerns killed the bill in the Senate, and a Senate-approved bill that deals only with charitable giving now awaits action by the House.

Democrats plan to offer an amendment to strip the religious discrimination language from the bill. But the chairman of the House Education and Workforce Committee, Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, said religious groups can do their “daily miracles” only if they have like-minded employees.

“The current protections of the Civil Rights Act ensure that faith-based organizations can continue to hire individuals who share their tenets and practices,” he told The Washington Times. “Any federal legislation governing federal training and social services funds should continue to protect these rights.”

_ Kevin Eckstrom

Cuban Protestants Criticize Castro Rights Crackdown

(RNS) Leaders of Protestant churches in Cuba have criticized the recent executions of three Cuban men convicted of hijacking but have also asserted that their country continues to face threats from the United States.

The open letter was issued by the church leaders in the wake of recent criticism of Cuban President Fidel Castro by Pope John Paul II; the Rev. Konrad Raiser, general secretary of the World Council of Churches; and prominent human rights groups such as New York-based Human Rights Watch.

Three men were executed in April by firing squad for a failed attempt to hijack a ferryboat to the United States. Just weeks before, 75 Cuban dissidents _ including independent journalists _ were imprisoned for what Cuban authorities called collaboration with the United States.

The church leaders said they did not approve of the death penalty and said they had conveyed that criticism to Castro’s government. “Life is a gift from God and nobody has the right to take it,” the leaders said.

But the letter, issued April 23 and signed by leaders that included Reinerio Arce Valentin, the president of the Cuban Council of Churches, a predominately Protestant group, amounted to a plea for understanding by Christians outside Cuba. It urged “pastoral reflection and discernment about the dangers that besiege the Cuban people” and warned the U.S. government “about the unpredictable consequences of military aggression towards our country.”

The tone of the letter, echoing long-standing Cuban government policy toward the United States, was pointedly critical of the Bush administration, saying that Cubans find themselves “in a moment of serious threat,” and asserted that the United States, in the wake of the war on Iraq, was trying to “find pretexts to launch another war of aggression.”

The letter and the condemnations that prompted it are striking because they show a kind of fissure between the Cuban Christians and non-Cuban church leaders. Both the pope and Raiser condemned the U.S.-led war in Iraq, have visited Cuba and have supported efforts to help churches in Cuba.

The Cuban government has, in recent weeks, found itself on the receiving end of criticism, even from prominent and well-established allies and supporters. At a May Day rally in Havana, Lucius Walker, a New York City pastor and longtime supporter of the Castro government, said the death penalty demeaned Cuba’s human rights record.

_ Chris Herlinger

Pope Names Archaeologist First Woman to Head Pontifical Academy

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope John Paul II has named Letizia Pani Ermini, an eminent medieval archaeologist, as the first woman to head a pontifical academy, the Vatican said Wednesday (May 7).

Ermini will serve as president of the Pontifical Roman Academy of Archaeology, a Vatican institution founded in 1810 to promote the study of archaeology and the history of ancient and medieval art.

Chairman of the Department of Ancient Archaeological and Anthropological Historical Sciences at Rome’s Sapienza University, Ermini has been until now secretary of the 140-member academy.

She is a specialist in the topography and planning of cities, episcopal complexes, funerary areas and fortified centers of the high medieval period, and is director of an international and inter-university project studying Leopoli-Cencelle, a city founded in the Carolingian epoch on papal authority.

_ Peggy Polk

Bishop, Annoyed by Delays in Dallas, Says He Will Be Moved

(RNS) The bishop who was appointed more than three years ago to take over the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dallas says he has waited long enough for the current bishop to retire and now expects to be moved elsewhere.

Coadjutor Bishop Joseph Galante, who was named in 1999 as the designated successor to Bishop Charles Grahmann, has a long-running feud with Grahmann and said he expects to be transferred “for the good of the diocese.”

“I came to Dallas expecting to spend the rest of my life here,” he told The Dallas Morning News in an unusually public announcement. “When I was appointed coadjutor, I was told that I would become bishop of Dallas in a reasonable amount of time.”

Soon after Galante was named to Dallas, Grahmann said he had no intention of leaving. Relations between the bishops have deteriorated ever since, especially after Galante publicly criticized Grahmann last November for not removing a priest accused of sexual abuse.

Galante, a darling of the media who is best known for helping to craft new sex abuse policies for U.S. bishops last year, told The Morning News it “appears” he will be moved, but does not know when or where.

“The truth is I’ve been told nothing concretely about my future,” he said. “I go where I am sent, and I remain where I am sent. There’s no negotiation. I gave that up when I became a priest. This is not like being a free agent.”

Grahmann, 71, declined to comment on the story. He could serve in Dallas for at least another four years until he is required to submit his retirement notice at age 75. Galante, 64, said he wants to head his own diocese now.

“For the good of the diocese, I would like to see this situation resolved,” he told the newspaper. “I would expect Bishop Grahmann to feel the same way.”

Boston Archdiocese to Release Budget Details

(RNS) Hoping to reassure parishioners that their donations are not being spent on sex abuse legal settlements, the Archdiocese of Boston said it will publish its $16 million budget on its Web site and in the media.

David W. Smith, chancellor for the archdiocese, told The Boston Globe that financial transparency is necessary to re-establish trust after a damaging sex abuse scandal that resulted in the resignation of Cardinal Bernard Law.

“There have been people uncertain _ or unconvinced _ about where we’re spending the money that’s sent in,” Smith said. “It’s fair to say that we don’t enjoy the same level of trust with the community that we did years ago. That needs to be rebuilt.”

Smith said details from the current $20.5 million budget year that ends June 30 will be on the Web site within two weeks; next year’s estimated $16.2 million budget will be posted within 45 days.

The public disclosures will not detail salaries and will cover only the 80 ministries directly operated by the archdiocese. Other independent ministries such as Catholic Charities and Catholic schools are not included, the Globe said.

Church officials have wrestled with impending budget cuts because of a drop in donations, and have also considered declaring bankruptcy. Last year’s general appeal was down from $16 million in 2001 to only $8.6 million. This year, the church has lowered its sights and hopes to raise $9 million to fund most of its operations.

Public anger over the sex scandal led the fledgling reform group Voice of the Faithful to conduct an alternative fund-raising drive. Church officials refused to accept the money, so $90,000 was given directly to Catholic Charities.

Jim Post, president of Voice of the Faithful, welcomed the decision to release the budget. “We can be a lot more supportive with real financial transparency, with disclosure that’s real, substantial and timely,” he told The Globe.

Pope Says Church Will Work to Preserve Europe’s `Christian Soul’

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope John Paul II said Wednesday (May 7) the Catholic Church will work to preserve Europe’s “Christian soul” from the threat of secularism.

Addressing some 18,000 pilgrims attending his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square, the pope said that his visit to Madrid last weekend (May 3-4) left him all the more convinced of the importance of Europe’s Christian heritage.

“This fifth apostolic journey in Spain confirmed in me a deep conviction,” he said. “The old nations of Europe conserve a Christian soul, which constitutes a part of the genius and the history of the respective peoples.

“Secularism unfortunately threatens the fundamental values, but the church intends to work to continually keep awake this spiritual and cultural tradition,” John Paul said.

The pope has repeatedly urged European leaders in recent months to affirm the continent’s Christian heritage in the new European Union constitution now under preparation.

_ Peggy Polk

Quote of the Day: Ruedi Reich of the Cantonal Reformed Church of Zurich

(RNS) “The Reformed churches of Switzerland persecuted the Anabaptists. The resulting injustice, centuries ago, was a betrayal of the gospel, something we now recognize with horror.”

_ Ruedi Reich, president of the Cantonal Reformed Church of Zurich, apologizing to Mennonites and Amish representatives for persecution in the 16th century. The Anabaptists were persecuted as heretics for their rejection of infant baptism. Reich was quoted by Ecumenical News International.

DEA END RNS