c. 2003 Religion News Service

Methodist Court to Consider Case of Lesbian Pastor

(RNS) A lesbian United Methodist pastor who won two earlier court cases will now face trial in the church’s highest court.

Charges were first brought against the Rev. Karen Dammann in 2001 after she admitted to her bishop that she was living in a lesbian relationship. Elias Galvan, the bishop of Seattle, reluctantly filed charges.

The 8.3 million-member church says that homosexual activity is “incompatible with Christian teaching” and bars “self-avowed, practicing” homosexuals from ordination.

Two lower panels ruled in favor of Dammann, saying there was not enough evidence to warrant a trial. Galvan said he would appeal the decision to the church’s Judicial Council because the case holds implications for the larger church.

“This case hinges on several passages from the Book of Discipline that have never been tested and interpreted,” Galvan said, referring to the church constitution, according to United Methodist News Service. “It is important to follow the process all the way to the Judicial Council to clarify the meaning and application of these passages.”

The court will hear the case when it meets April 26-27. Dammann remains a pastor in good standing with Galvan’s office, but is now living with her partner and son in Amherst, Mass.

_ Kevin Eckstrom

Pope Accepts Resignation of Tucson Bishop

(RNS) The Vatican announced the resignation Friday (March 7) of Bishop Manuel Moreno of Tucson, Ariz., who retired in the wake of a sex abuse-related scandal.

Moreno, leader of the Tucson diocese since 1982, has been accused of mishandling a local scandal and withholding information regarding priests accused of pedophilia from authorities.

Pope John Paul II accepted Moreno’s resignation under a code of church law that says a bishop may resign if health or “another serious reason” hinders his work. At 72, Moreno was three years shy of the mandatory retirement age.

Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas, assistant to Moreno since 2001, was named to immediately succeed him.

Moreno has faced increasing criticism since last year, when the Tucson diocese settled 10 lawsuits from men who said they were the victims of priestly pedophilia in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s. The estimated $15 million settlement has sparked bankruptcy concerns in the diocese of 350,000 Catholics. “We do not have unlimited resources,” Kicanas told the Associated Press in January. “Bankruptcy has to be an option.”

Mark Serrano of the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests welcomed the news of Moreno’s resignation, saying he hopes it will provide “some degree of healing and closure” for those harmed under the bishop’s watch.

Moreno is the second bishop to resign amid criticism of mishandling clergy sex abuse. Scandal-scarred Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston stepped down in December 2002.

_ Christina Denny

Human Rights Activists Decry Militarization of Colombia

NEW YORK (RNS) Two Colombians active in human rights work, one of them a Roman Catholic priest, are decrying the increased militarization in their country, saying both the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches and its members are facing almost unimaginable pressures in the nation’s ongoing civil war.

“To be a witness in a country that has so many problems is to be persecuted,” Luis Teodoro Gonzalez Bustacara said earlier this week at a forum at New York City’s Interchurch Center.

Gonzalez, the priest, is based in Arauca, an eastern province bordering Venezuela and a front line in the Colombian military’s fight against leftist guerrilla groups trying to topple the government.

The situation in Arauca is made all the more intense because for years the guerrillas _ including members of the largest group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (known in Spanish as FARC) _ have been bombing a 500-mile pipeline used by California-based Occidental Petroleum for oil destined for the United States.

The war has intensified in recent months with the presence of U.S. Army Special Forces. In what marks a striking change of policy for the United States, the U.S. troops, as part of $94 million in counterterrorism assistance to Colombia, are providing training for Colombian military personnel protecting the pipeline.

In turn, the guerrillas _ which Colombian church groups have said are responsible for most of the human rights violations in the region _ are increasing their own military efforts.

The result, Gonzalez said, is day-to-day chaos in which cars, homes and even Arauca’s telephone company are being bombed. For those trying to live their lives, this has meant trauma, increasing unemployment and, with an increase in local and national military expenditures, fewer resources for education and social services.

Gonzalez and another activist, Luz Marina Gomez, a member of a small independent Protestant church in Arauca, are urging that some of the military spending by the United States be rechanneled for schools and other social institutions and are also calling for a renewal of peace talks between the Colombian government and the guerrillas, which collapsed in 2002.

Increased militarization, Gomez said, including the presence of the U.S. troops, will only lead to further violence.

As for the church, Gonzalez said it was becoming increasingly difficult for Roman Catholic priests, Protestant ministers and local religious leaders to mediate in such an environment, given the intense polarization. “To announce the gospel is very risky,” he said.

Gonzalez and Gomez, who spoke in New York on Monday (March 3), are in the United States as part of a tour sponsored by U.S.-based human rights and activist groups active in issues related to Colombia.

_ Chris Herlinger

Muslim Society: Religion Should Be Kept in Public Square, Not Stifled

(RNS) American Muslims should work toward the accommodation of religion in the public square rather than the banishing of it, the Muslim American Society has concluded in a new position paper.

“Muslims should join the call for an interpretation of the Constitution that accommodates religion, rather than stifles it, and support initiatives that would tend to promote religiosity in public life,” the Falls Church, Va.-based society concluded in a document, “Religion in the American Public Square: An Islamic Perspective.”

The paper, released Feb. 27, declares court rulings interpreting the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause have caused government to be neutral about “whether God exists at all.” That form of neutrality, the society says, has caused the establishment of a belief that God does not exist as “an official belief system.”

“Banishing religion from the public square does not result in a vacuum, but in the monopoly of irreligion,” the society states.

The statement affirms religion as a means for contributing to strong families, encouraging charity and providing strength in overcoming addiction.

“Islam does not require the protection of irreligion to shield Muslims from encountering other religions in the public square,” the statement concludes. “While it cannot be pretended that incidents of discrimination might not occur under a more flexible interpretation of the Establishment Clause, it would be no worse for religious minorities than the discrimination that occurs from the refusal to accommodate religion now.”

_ Adelle M. Banks

Thornburghs Honored for Advocacy on Behalf of Disabled

WASHINGTON (RNS) Ginny Thornburgh, director of the religion and disability program of the National Organization on Disability, and her husband, former Pennsylvania governor and former U.S. attorney general Dick Thornburgh, have received the Henry B. Betts Award for their advocacy on behalf of the disabled.

The $50,000 prize was presented to the couple at a Tuesday (March 4) dinner in Washington.

While serving as attorney general, Dick Thornburgh worked for passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act. For 14 years, Ginny Thornburgh has worked to make seminaries and congregations more welcoming to people with disabilities.

The Thornburgh’s 43-year-old son Peter received a serious brain injury as a result of a 1960 car accident.

The Betts Award is named for Dr. Henry B. Betts, a pioneer in the field of rehabilitation. It is administered by the American Association of People With Disabilities.

“Spiritual access for people with disabilities is just as important as access to education, employment, health care and community,” Ginny Thornburgh said. Many people with disabilities have not been welcomed in their congregations, she added. When their son was growing up, she said, he wasn’t allowed to attend Sunday school.

“I realized that (disabled) folks weren’t automatically welcomed and encouraged to use their gifts.”

Disabled people seeking to participate in churches and temples face barriers ranging from lack of wheelchair ramps to prejudicial attitudes, Thornburgh said. The church has often lagged behind society in becoming handicapped-accessible, Thornburgh said. People with disabilities often find it easier to get a slice of pizza or a beer than to worship, she added.

The Thornburghs will use the prize money to establish a lectureship on disability issues at the University of Pittsburgh.

_ Kathi Wolfe

Archbishop Upholds Firing of Anglican Priest in Sexual Harassment Case

LONDON (RNS) The Anglican archbishop of York has upheld an ecclesiastical court’s firing of a British parish priest found guilty of French-kissing one female parishioner and sexually intimidating three others.

In his 70-page ruling, Archbishop David Hope rejected arguments that the revocation of the Rev. Harry Brown’s license to preach was a violation of his human rights. The priest, who has steadfastly refused to move from the vicarage, has been given three months to get out.

Brown, vicar of the tiny parish of Crosscrake and Preston Patrick in northern England, reacted angrily to Hope’s decision and called a news conference to announce that he intended to take his case to the European Court of Human Rights. His wife, Lynn, accused the archbishop of acting as “judge, jury and hangman.”

The ecclesiastical court heard that Brown had French-kissed a tourist board chief during a visit to her home, kissed a second woman “inappropriately” while her husband was away on business, pressed his leg against a third woman sitting beside him and held the hand of a fourth as he escorted her across his churchyard.

The 49-year-old priest denied the allegations. “As God is my judge,” he said, “I am innocent of these charges. All I have tried to do is my job as a priest. I know in my heart that I’ve not done these things. I can walk away with my integrity intact.”

Brown claimed he was the victim of a vitriolic campaign by parishioners who didn’t appreciate his brand of ministry. His wife said, “They made it very clear that they wanted not only to get rid of Harry, but also to destroy him.”

“We were willing to give our lives to the church,” she said. “Now we’ve got to start our lives all over again.”

The defrocked priest appeared glum about his prospects. “I know now that I’ll never get another job in the church because of the nature of the allegations against me,” Brown said.

“I am persona non grata as far as the church is concerned,” he said.

_ Al Webb

Quote of the Day: President Bush

(RNS) “If we were to commit our troops, I would pray for their safety, and I would pray for the safety of innocent Iraqi lives as well.”

_ President George W. Bush during his March 6 news conference on sending U.S. troops into war against Iraq.

DEA END RNS