c. 2003 Religion News Service
Update: Moscow Patriarchy Sees Better Relations With the Vatican
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Russian President Vladimir Putin telephoned Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II following Putin’s audience with Pope John Paul II, and an aide to the patriarch expressed hope Thursday (Nov. 6) for better relations with the Vatican, Russian news agencies said.
Putin’s spokesman, Alexei Gromov, told Russian reporters covering the president’s visit to Rome and the Vatican that Putin telephoned the patriarch from Rome on Wednesday to report on his Vatican meeting with John Paul, Itar-Tass said.
A Vatican communique said Putin and the pope discussed “the situation of Catholics in Russia and their ecclesiastical structure” and that both expressed the hope for “a positive development in dialogue between the Holy See and the Moscow Patriarchate.”
The Russian Rev. Vsevolod Chaplin, No. 2 in the patriarchate’s Department of External Relations, told Interfax that he saw signs of “changes for the better in the position of the Vatican in relations with the Russian Orthodox Church.”
Relations between the two churches, strained since the collapse of communism by disputes over church property and alleged Catholic proselytizing, worsened in February 2002 when the pope created four full-scale dioceses in the Russian Federation.
“We know that there are people in the Vatican who show goodwill toward our church. They say that the Catholic Church will be our partner, not a rival, and does not intend to convert the Orthodox faithful to Catholics,” Chaplin said.
“We are confident that this attitude will prevail and that Vatican policy will no longer reserve unpleasant surprises for us,” he said. “A change of this kind in the Vatican position and the practice of the Catholic Church would open the way to reconstruction of good relations between the two churches.”
There was no reference in any of the reports to the possibility of the trip to Moscow that the pope has long hoped to make. Alexy has said repeatedly the Vatican must first take “concrete action” to meet Orthodox complaints.
_ Peggy Polk
Carey: Robinson Consecration Damage `Incalculable’
LONDON (RNS) The Rev. George Carey, former archbishop of Canterbury, has added his voice to those deploring the Episcopal Church’s consecration of the openly gay Canon Gene Robinson as bishop of New Hampshire.
In a letter to The Times on Thursday (Nov. 6) Carey wrote: “As the archbishop of Canterbury who presided over the 1998 Lambeth Conference which declared its mind so decisively on the issue of practicing homosexuality, I can only share the principled distress of the Primates of the Global South and others who have expressed themselves so strongly in recent days.
“The damage done to ecumenical relations, interfaith dialogue and the mission of the worldwide church is incalculable.”
He joined current Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams in encouraging all those most deeply affected not to drift away from each other “but to strengthen the bonds of affection that remain at the heart of Anglicanism.”
He also urged people to resist the idea that this was the only issue Anglicans were interested in. “Even now, wherever one goes in the world, Anglican Christians are working with others in issues of life and death _ poverty, conflict resolution, AIDS/HIV, relief to the very poor, and compassion to the dying _ to say nothing of the witness of the church to a living faith,” he wrote.
_ Robert Nowell
Methodist Bishops to Tackle `Security’ Concerns
WASHINGTON (RNS) The bishops of the United Methodist Church hope to launch a global discussion on security in the wake of terrorist attacks and the U.S.-led campaign to rid the world of weapons of mass destruction.
The bishops, gathered here for their semiannual meeting, represent the country’s second-largest Protestant denomination. They strongly opposed the war in Iraq and were denied a meeting with President Bush, who is a Methodist, to voice their objections.
Bishop Timothy Whitaker said it would be “morally irresponsible” for the church to remain silent when efforts to ensure security _ such as pre-emptive strikes _ violate church positions on war and peace.
“Certainly the people of the United States of America are preoccupied with the issue of security, and whenever the most powerful nation on Earth is preoccupied with an issue, the rest of the nations have to be preoccupied with that issue,” Whitaker said, according to United Methodist News Service.
The bishops voted Tuesday (Nov. 4) to formally take up the topic at their next regularly scheduled meeting next spring. Bishop Walter Klaiber of Germany will write a paper, “In Search of Security: An Invitation to a Conversation.”
Plans for the discussion include debates on “the validity of phrases such as `war on terrorism,”’ civil liberties concerns and the United States’ role in confronting terrorism. The plan does not call for formal action by the bishops for at least another year.
In other business, the bishops adopted a nine-point resolution on children and poverty, which calls for a society where “the ability to give with boundless generosity replaces the drive to collect, possess, own and withhold.”
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Theological Liberals Seek to Reclaim Niebuhr Legacy
NEW YORK (RNS) For years liberals and conservatives alike have argued over who has the right to claim the intellectual legacy of the American theologian and social ethicist Reinhold Niebuhr.
Last week, the liberals came out swinging on what was Niebuhr’s home turf _ New York’s Union Theological Seminary, the institution where Niebuhr (1892-1971) taught for more than three decades.
Niebuhr had “a profound understanding of racism as group pride,” prominent black theologian and Union faculty member James H. Cone said at an Oct. 29 symposium on the continuing relevance of Niebuhr’s thought.
Conservatives have often hailed Niebuhr for his warnings about the limits of utopianism and have often used Niebuhr’s thought in arguments against the leftist liberation theologies that emerged from the pens of Cone and theologians from Latin America, Asia and Africa in the 1970s and 1980s.
But Niebuhr also warned about the perils of national pride, as in 1950 when he said that the “good fortune of America and its power place it under the most grievous temptations to self-adulation.”
Such warnings have always struck a chord with theological progressives, though Cone and others who have taught at Union in recent years have not been shy about critiquing Niebuhr’s limitations as a white male theologian who often spoke to, and among, those in power.
Nonetheless, in a time of war, Cone and other progressives seem to have re-embraced Niebuhr, with Cone calling Niebuhr’s 1932 examination of society and sin, “Moral Man and Immoral Society,” just as relevant today as when it was first published.
“No student should leave seminary without wrestling with Niebuhr’s analysis of sin as group pride and power,” Cone said. “His theology is not only relevant, it is indispensable for any ministry in America and the world.”
Joining Union faculty members and three Union students doing doctoral work involving Niebuhr’s thought as speaker was Niebuhr’s daughter, Elisabeth Sifton, an editor and author who has just written a book on her father.
Sifton’s “The Serenity Prayer: Faith and Politics in Times of Peace and War,” examines the historical context of a famed prayer written by her father that has been embraced by millions, including members of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Sifton argues that the prayer _ “God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things that should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other” _ has a deeper social meaning than has been realized, saying it stemmed from Niebuhr’s commitment to social justice and religious freedom.
_ Chris Herlinger
New Sikh Campaign Seeks to Educate on Faith, Traditions
(RNS) A new nationwide education campaign is encouraging Sikhs to open their houses of worship to neighbors during the anniversary of their founder’s birth.
The “Share Your Faith With Your Neighbors” campaign, sponsored by the Sikh Council on Religion and Education, is running Nov. 2-16. Sikhs are marking the 534th birthday of their founder, Guru Nanak Dev ji, on Saturday, Nov. 8.
The need to educate non-Sikhs about Sikh beliefs and practices became clear in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks when many Sikhs suffered hate crimes, said Dr. Rajwant Singh, SCORE’s national director.
“We are taking definitive action to put an end to the continued perception that Sikhs are related to terrorist activities and to share the growing relationships between all faiths in America,” Singh said.
As part of the campaign, members of Sikh houses of worship _ which are called Gurdwaras _ are inviting neighbors and other community members to observe religious services and join them for vegetarian meals.
Sikh schoolchildren are also being given age-appropriate letters describing their traditions, which they will ask teachers to distribute to classmates.
“Guru Nanak showed us that respect, and not just tolerance, for those of other faiths is the cornerstone of a democratic society,” said Jasjit Kaur Ahuja, the program’s coordinator. “We believe in this possibility here in America.”
Guru Nanak Dev ji founded Sikhism in India around 1500, emphasizing monotheism and the equality of all people.
_ Christina Denny
Pope Urges Ireland to Continue in `Work of National Reconciliation’
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope John Paul II met with Irish President Mary McAleese on Thursday (Nov. 6) and called on the Irish people to continue “the great work of national reconciliation.”
The 83-year-old Roman Catholic pontiff, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease, appeared stronger and spoke more clearly than he has been able to do since the summer.
Recalling his trip to Ireland and the United States in 1979 less than a year after he was elected pope, he said he remembered visiting the Irish city of Limerick. “But,” he added, “I was younger then.”
In his formal greeting to McAleese at the audience in his study overlooking St. Peter’s Square, John Paul said he felt “deep affection for the Irish people.” He urged the Irish to bring their Christian heritage to the new Europe.
“Ireland, with its rich Christian history and its outstanding patrimony of spiritual and cultural values, has an essential role to play in the building of the new Europe and the affirmation of its deepest identity,” the pope said.
“It is my hope that the gospel message will provide continued inspiration and encouragement to all who are committed to the advancement of Ireland in the path of justice and solidarity and, above all, in the great work of national reconciliation,” he said.
McAleese came to Rome for celebrations of the 375th anniversary of the Pontifical Irish College. Founded in 1628, the college prepares candidates for the diocesan priesthood in Ireland and also houses students from 13 other countries who are studying in ecclesiastical universities in Rome.
_ Peggy Polk
Quote of the Day: Georgetown University Researcher Cynthia Cohen
(RNS) “To think that God would only respond to the group that was prayed for and leave the other group out in the dark is based on total misconceptions of how God responds to prayer. God is not a machine who responds mechanically.”
_ Cynthia Cohen, a senior research fellow at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University in Washington. She was quoted by Newsweek magazine about studies concerning prayers and health.
DEA END RNS
