c. 2003 Religion News Service
U.S. Bishop Named President of Lutheran World Federation
(RNS) The top bishop in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America was elected president of the Lutheran World Federation at the LWF’s meeting in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on Saturday (July 26).
The Rev. Mark Hanson was elected to a six-year term. Hanson, who will remain as head of the 5.1 million-member ELCA, was elected on the first ballot in a 267-111 vote, beating out the Rev. Susan C. Johnson, vice president of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada.
The Geneva-based LWF is comprised of 136 member churches representing 61.7 million Lutherans around the world. The LWF’s Winnipeg meeting will end on Thursday (July 31).
Hanson said he assumes the post “with a great spirit of humility” and pledged “to listen, to lead by learning and accompanying you.” Hanson said he wants to improve relations with the Roman Catholic Church and the St. Louis-based Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod _ which is not a member of the LWF _ and increase leadership roles for women.
“As men, and as men in leadership, we need to be silent and listen to women and let women lead,” Hanson said.
The Winnipeg meeting was marred by the refusal of the Canadian government to grant 50 delegates from Africa and Asia visas to enter Canada. Delegates protested at government offices and demanded that officials respond to media reports that the visas had been denied to “alleged murderers, embezzlers of church funds and other criminals.”
“I ask you to provide full particulars of the allegations and the individuals concerned, so that they may have the opportunity of responding so that those whose reputations have been damaged by association may take the appropriate action,” the LWF general secretary, the Rev. Ishmael Noko, wrote to Denis Coderre, the government’s immigration director.
Manitoba Premier Gary Doer said, “We’re going to follow this up with the federal government and the group here to make sure that whatever went wrong won’t go wrong again.”
The outgoing LWF president, Bishop Christian Krause of Germany, warned the United States against using military force as a tool of diplomacy. The LWF was an outspoken critic of the recent war in Iraq.
“International law cannot safeguard peace if the U.S.A. does not respect this international law,” Krause said in a speech last Tuesday (July 22).
The LWF also plans to tackle a growing budget crisis, fueled mostly by devaluations of the U.S. dollar. LWF Treasurer Inger J. Wremer said the agency has cut six staff positions, taken in $580 million in revenues since 1997 and decreased its reserve funds from $6.7 million to $4.9 million.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Moore Plans Appeal of Ten Commandments Case to Supreme Court
(RNS) Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore has decided to appeal his Ten Commandments monument case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“I will not delay by seeking further hearings before the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals,” Moore said in a statement released July 22. “I will personally petition the United States Supreme Court as chief justice of this state to hear me on this matter.”
On July 1, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the 5,280-pound monument in the lobby of the state judicial building violates the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause.
Moore is receiving support from the Christian Coalition of Alabama.
“We will not rest until the preservation of this monument bearing the moral foundation of our law is safely secured,” said John Giles, president of the Christian Coalition of Alabama, in a statement.
Three Alabama lawyers sued Moore, saying the monument violated their constitutional rights. An attorney representing Moore argued that the monument should stay in place _ despite a lower court ruling to the contrary _ because God is the “source of law and liberty.”
_ Adelle M. Banks
Chicago Priest Blesses a New Sewer
CHICAGO (RNS) A priest here has put a new twist on the concept of holy water _ holding a blessing ceremony for a new sewer being installed in a largely Hispanic Catholic neighborhood on the city’s northwest side.
The Rev. Tom Pelton was invited by the local alderman, Ariel Roboyrasto,to pray over the installation last Tuesday (July 22) of a new 48-inch concrete pipe. The new sewer replaces an 102-year-old brick and mortar pipe, which engineers fear is in danger of collapsing, reported the Chicago Tribune.
Priests and other clergy are often called on to bless babies, new homes and businesses, and sometimes animals. Each year, priests in New Bedford, Mass., hold a blessing of that city’s fishing fleet, and an annual “blessing of the bikes” event in Baldwin, Mich., draws thousands of motorcyclists each year.
But blessing a sewer is something new, at least for Father Pelton.
“Blessings run from the sublime to this,” Pelton told the Chicago Tribune. “This past Sunday I blessed two babies, an SUV and an 82-year-old woman who’s slowly passing away, so it runs the spectrum. But I’ve never done a sewer.”
Since the sewer project will involve tearing up the street, likely causing traffic jams, Pelton hoped frustrated motorists would follow his example. “It’s always better to bless than to curse,” he told the Tribune.
_ Bob Smietana
Church Leaders Meet With Mugabe on Zimbabwe Crisis
(RNS) Three prominent Zimbabwe church leaders met with President Robert Mugabe on Friday (July 25) in an attempt to reconcile the government and its main political opposition.
Bishops Patrick Mutume of the Catholic Bishops Conference, Sebastian Bakare of the Zimbabwe Council of Churches and Trevor Manhanga of the Evangelical Fellowship met with Mugabe and senior members of the ruling Zanu-PF party to discuss the church’s role as a mediator in the country’s political crisis, the Associated Press reported.
An avowed Roman Catholic, Mugabe has criticized the church for meddling in politics in the past.
Zimbabwe has been paralyzed by a political stalemate since Mugabe’s disputed re-election last year, when he carried a vote human rights groups say was heavily swayed by ruling-party militants. Mugabe’s opposition, the Movement for Democratic Change, refused to recognize the election results.
The MDC has charged Mugabe with mismanaging the economy during his 23 years in power, causing unemployment rates to skyrocket to over 70 percent and aggravating a food shortage that the U.N. Food Program estimates will leave 5.5 million of Zimbabwe’s 12 million people at risk of starvation. A 300 percent rise in official inflation last month contributed to a massive hike in food prices.
As the economic crisis becomes increasingly desperate, the bishops’ efforts to facilitate political dialogue may signal an end to church leaders’ passivity.
Earlier this month, the Zimbabwe Council of Churches, which represents all of the heavily Christian country’s 12 denominations, issued an apology for its failure to fight hunger, poverty and political violence.
“We have been witness to and buried people who have starved to death due to food shortages,” the council said in a statement, according to the Washington Times. “While we have continued to pray, we have not been moved to action. We as a council apologize to the people of Zimbabwe for not having done enough at a time when the nation looked to us for guidance.”
_ Alexandra Alter
Crusader Cross on Iraq-Bound Troops Sparks Controversy in Spain
MADRID, Spain (RNS) A political quarrel has broken out over a Spanish crusader emblem to be worn by soldiers deployed in Iraq.
The emblem shows the Cross of Santiago Matamoros _ St. James the Moorslayer _ the legendary figure who led Spanish warriors in driving Muslim armies out of Spain in the 15th century.
“Whoever designed the emblem doesn’t know what this mission is about and doesn’t realize that this is no crusade,” Jesus Caldera, spokesman for the opposition Socialists, told reporters in Parliament.
Spain has committed more than 1,000 troops to a Spanish-Central American “Plus Ultra” brigade, which will patrol Shiite areas in southern Iraq.
The issue of the emblem was brought to the fore by a national newspaper, El Mundo, which splashed the blood-red, spear-tipped cross on its front page last week. The cross appears under the initials I.F., which stand for “Iraqi Freedom.”
In an editorial, the paper questioned whether it was an appropriate symbol for soldiers going to patrol Najaf and Kerbala, Iraqi cities that are sacred to Shiite Muslims. Najaf contains the shrine of Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of Islam’s prophet Mohammed.
“It would be difficult to find a more offensive symbol,” El Mundo said.
However, Defense Minister Federico Trillo defended the emblem. “This is a symbol of the Spanish army,” he was quoted as saying at a news conference, where he ordered a military officer to remove his hat and show the cross.
James the Apostle is a key figure in Spanish history. According to legend, he is buried in a cathedral in the Spanish city of Santiago de Compostella, which is one of Christianity’s major pilgrim shrines.
_ Jerome Socolovsky
Pope’s Text Message Service Expanded to Ireland
LONDON (RNS) The text messaging service introduced by the Vatican in January in Italy is now available to cell phone users in Ireland.
By sending POPE ON as a text message to 53141 in Ireland, subscribers will receive a “thought for the day” from Pope John Paul II taken from his homilies, messages and other material at noon each day.
The SMS _ short message service _ costs about 20 Euro cents a day, roughly 22 U.S. cents.
The inaugural message July 23 _ without any of the abbreviations for which text messages are famous _ read: “The world needs a sign of hope for Christian families. May they be able to open their doors to the Lord.”
_ Robert Nowell
Quote of the Day: The Rev. John F. Myslinski, a Catholic priest in Rockville, Md.
(RNS) “It (the Catholic Church) is a house that needs cleaning, a house in which savagery and cowardice have thrived, where evil has a room with a view, where foolishness and greed have prominent places at the table. But it is also a house where hope lives, and hope is the greatest of mercies, the most enduring of gifts, the most nutritious of foods.”
_ The Rev. John F. Myslinski, pastor of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Rockville, Md. He was quoted by The Washington Times.
DEA END RNS
