c. 2003 Religion News Service
Pope Accepts Resignation of Cardinal Sin, Names Successor
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope John Paul II has accepted the resignation of Cardinal Jaime Sin, the Vatican said Monday (Sept. 15). A longtime defender of democracy in the Philippines, Sin helped to fell strongman Ferdinand Marcos and later President Joseph Estrada, ousted on corruption charges.
The pope named Archbishop Gaudencio Rosales, 71, of Lipa to succeed Sin as archbishop of Manila. The appointment made Rosales a strong candidate to become a cardinal at the Consistory John Paul is expected to call next February.
Sin, in failing health in recent years, submitted his resignation on reaching the retirement age of 75 on Aug. 31. He has undergone dialysis for a kidney ailment for several years and suffered a heart attack in March.
His role as church leader in Asia’s only predominantly Catholic country gave Sin great political clout both at home and at the Vatican. Eighty-three percent of the Philippines’ population of 76.3 million is Catholic.
Named archbishop of Manila in 1974 and made a cardinal two years later, he headed the church during a turbulent time, which saw seven bloody coup attempts in the late 1980s and continuing insurrections by Muslim guerrillas.
Sin was a leader of the peaceful, four-day “people power” revolution that brought down the Marcos regime in 1986 and installed Corazon Aquino as president. He rallied Filipinos to form human barricades to block military intervention.
In 2001, Sin again mobilized the people to stage a peaceful overthrow of Estrada, who is now in prison on corruption charges, and he gave strong support to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo during an abortive military uprising last July.
The cardinal encouraged economic development and the work of Caritas to relieve want in the Philippines.
Despite his retirement, Sin will remain eligible until he reaches his 80th birthday to take part in the Conclave that will elect the next pope.
Rosales was ordained a priest in 1958 after studying philosophy and theology at the San Jose Seminary in Quezon City. He was prefect for discipline and rector of the Minor Seminary in Lipa, a parish priest in Batangas City and from 1974 to 1982 an auxiliary bishop of Manila.
After serving as coadjutor and then bishop of Malaybalay for 12 years, he was named archbishop of Lipa in 1992. He also was vice president of the Bishops Conference of the Philippines from 1997 to 1999 and president of its Commission for the Clergy.
_ Peggy Polk
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Same-Sex Issues Continue to Roil Western Canada Anglican Diocese
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (RNS) The battle over same-sex blessings in the worldwide Anglican church exploded on two fronts on the West Coast of Canada last week.
Vancouver-area Bishop Michael Ingham, who endorsed the contentious rituals this summer following a 67 percent vote by diocesan delegates, fired several officials at a conservative Anglican parish who had been openly defying his authority. In addition, Ingham tolerated the second visit in 12 months of conservative Anglican leaders from the U.S., Africa and India, who came to the city against his wishes to support nine dissident parishes that adamantly oppose the blessing of homosexual relationships.
A representative of the Vancouver-area diocese argued Ingham was not trying to force St. Martin’s parish, located in a middle-class suburb, to sanction same-sex marriage blessings, despite “discharging” three church wardens and two trustees and replacing them with more moderate members of the parish.
Diocesan lawyer George Cadman denied Ingham was “bullying” the parish, despite claims to the contrary by the bishop’s furious opponents. “There are only six parishes out of 80 in the Diocese of New Westminster who have in any form decided to proceed with same-sex blessings,” Cadman said.
“The vast majority have not. And no parish has been asked to do so or has been required to do so by the bishop. So any suggestion that this was to force the parish to proceed in that direction is completely inaccurate. In fact, I don’t think (this) parish will go that route.”
Cadman said one of the reasons Ingham made his own appointments was to ensure parish authorities started to make decisions again. “This was a parish that was very divided,” Cadman said. It has been without a priest for eight months and the board was not proceeding to find another one through normal diocesan channels.
Meanwhile, conservative bishops from the U.S., India and Africa came to the city to declare that the feud in Vancouver over same-sex blessings is having profound effects on the Anglican church both locally and internationally. The foreign bishops told more than 1,000 conservative Christians the pro-homosexual actions of the diocese, called New Westminster, could lead to the persecution of Christians overseas, and are undercutting the image of the global Anglican church.
“”We are becoming a laughing stock. Morally, we are becoming weak,” said Bernard Malango, archbishop of Central Africa. Malango said many Muslims see the issue of blessing same sex unions as a weakness in the church.
_ Douglas Todd
Finnish Adventist Church Staffers Investigated For Alleged Sexual Abuse
(RNS) Staffers of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Finland are under investigation for allegations of sexual abuse involving as many as 10 teen-age boys.
Inspector Harri Rahikka of Finland’s Central Criminal Police said the alleged abuse occurred over a period of two decades, mostly at youth camps and a boarding school organized by the church, the Associated Press reported.
Most of the alleged victims have now reached adulthood.
Rahikka said one of the suspects being investigated has already resigned.
Police would not disclose what led them to suspect the abuse or reveal the number being investigated but asked for other possible victims to come forward and assist with the inquiry.
Church officials said they were surprised to hear of the allegations.
“We are dismayed and saddened by the news reports that … employees of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Finland allegedly betrayed their trust,” reads a statement released on the Adventist News Network. “We stand ready to help in the healing proces for those who were injured. Our prayers are with all parties concerned for their well-being, and spiritual and physical restoration.”
The church added that it has been proactive recently in teaching employees and ministers about abuse matters.
“We have taken extensive efforts to inform our clergy, church leadership, employees and educators on how to recognize and report abuse; these will not diminish,” the statement continued. “And we will cooperate with legally constituted authorities in any way required.”
The Seventh-day Adventist Church cites a membership of more than 12 million worldwide, with about 5,700 members in Finland.
Lawyer Asks for Non-Catholic Judge to Decide Clergy Abuse Case
CLEVELAND (RNS) Lawyers pursuing a civil racketeering lawsuit against the Cleveland Catholic Diocese say Catholic judges are naturally biased in favor of their church and should be barred from hearing the case.
Jay Milano, a lawyer representing six people who say they were sexually abused by priests or church employees, asked the Ohio Supreme Court on Sept. 4 to disqualify Judge Nancy McDonnell and any other Catholic judge from presiding over the lawsuit.
For good measure, Milano also asked that a non-Catholic justice of the Supreme Court decide his request.
Neither motion will be easily met. More than three-quarters of the 34 judges in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court’s general division are Catholic. And the majority of the seven Supreme Court justices are Catholic.
Milano argues that, from their first day in the classroom, Catholic schoolchildren are taught any attack on the church is the same as an attack against God.
“We believe it is too much to ask of any judge to rule against their God, their diocese, their church and their bishops,” Milano said after filing court papers in Columbus.
Milano has accused the diocese of engaging in a systematic cover-up of child sex abuse to protect its assets.
Attorney Robert Ducatman, who leads the Cleveland Diocese’s defense against sex-abuse lawsuits, said other plaintiffs’ lawyers have filed similar motions without success.
“There is nothing in the record of any of these cases which establishes that any judge who happens to be a member of the Catholic faith cannot be completely fair and impartial in matters brought before them,” he said.
Legal experts on the subject concur, predicting certain doom for the faith-based maneuver.
Melvyn Durchslag, a professor of constitutional law at Case Western Reserve University’s College of Law, said the same brand of religious stereotyping plagued John F. Kennedy’s election campaign in 1960. Many suspected a Catholic president’s first allegiance would be to the pope.
_ James F. McCarty
Baylor University’s Regents Reaffirm President’s Leadership
(RNS) Baylor University’s Board of Regents has reaffirmed the leadership of President Robert B. Sloan Jr. after recent months of controversy.
By a vote of 31-4, the regents decided Friday (Sept. 12) to keep Sloan in charge of the largest Baptist university in the world.
The Waco, Texas, school was rocked by the slaying this summer of basketball player Patrick Dennehy. Since the murder, former player Carlton Dotson has faced murder charges in the death and major NCAA violations have been revealed in the basketball program.
“This has been a very long and hot summer and I have to say the whole experience has been a very humbling experience,” said Sloan, the Associated Press reported.
As he spoke at a news conference, he was surrounded by most of the members of the board.
The regents reviewed a motion by the Baylor Faculty Senate that urged that Sloan be ousted.
While supporters have praised Sloan for accepting the resignations of athletic director Tom Stanton and basketball coach Dave Bliss, critics say Sloan should leave because he shares in the blame.
The university announced that the board has appointed three committees to investigate concerns recently raised by the university community.
Affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas, Baylor has more than 14,000 students.
Pope Saddened by Killing of Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope John Paul II was “saddened” by the killing of Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh and has sent “heartfelt condolences” to the entire Swedish nation, the Vatican reported Friday (Sept. 12).
Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Vatican secretary of state, sent the pope’s condolences in a telegram to Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson.
“His Holiness John Paul was saddened to learn of the violent death of Anna Lindh, minister of foreign affairs, and he sends heartfelt condolences to the government, Ms. Lindh’s family and the entire nation,” the telegram said. Sodano said he added his “own personal sympathy on this sad occasion.”
The foreign minister was fatally stabbed on Wednesday (Sept. 10) as she shopped with a friend in a Stockholm store.
_ Peggy Polk
Quote of the Day: Monsignor Frank J. Dewane, Vatican Official
(RNS) “Trade should benefit people and not just markets and economies. Trade rules, therefore, notwithstanding their technical aspects, have a political and social nature, with deep and lasting consequences in the life of humanity. no set of rules is fair by itself. They must conform to the demands of social justice while enabling and fostering human development.”
_ Monsignor Frank J. Dewane, undersecretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and Vatican observer at the Fifth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization at Cancun, Mexico. He spoke on Sept. 13.
DEA END RNS
