c. 2003 Religion News Service
Family Christian Stores Opt For Sunday Hours
(RNS) Family Christian Stores, the largest Christian retail chain in the nation, has decided to open its stores across the country on Sundays.
The stores will be open nationwide from noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays starting Sept. 28 but the chain’s 17 stores in the Dallas area began the Sunday openings on Aug. 24.
“We have a clear calling to provide our customers with Bibles, books and other Christian resources that meet their needs _ when their needs arise,” said Dave Browne, president and CEO of Family Christian Stores, in a statement.
“And opening on Sunday, the day that most Christians attend to their spiritual needs, is a reflection of this calling.”
The Grand Rapids, Mich.-based chain has about 315 stores nationwide.
He said the response on the first Sunday Dallas-area stores were open was positive.
“The typical customer said that Sunday is the only day they could shop as a family,” Browne said.
The retail executive said the decision about Sundays was based in part on the company’s knowledge that shoppers go elsewhere on that day.
“We know people are shopping at their local church bookstore or at other general market retailers on Sunday, and we believe we are missing an opportunity to get inspirational products in people’s hands,” he said.
Executives of the LifeWay Christian Stores, a retail chain owned by the Southern Baptist Convention, do not have similar plans in mind.
“LifeWay Christian Stores has never had a practice of opening on Sunday and there is no intention of opening on Sunday across the chain,” said Bruce Munns, director of retail store operations, in a statement published by the denomination’s news service. “We see Sunday as an important day for our employees to spend in church and with their families.”
Another Christian business known for being closed on Sunday is Chick-fil-A, a fast-food chicken restaurant chain whose corporate purpose is “to glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us.”
Browne differentiated between his company’s “ministry products” and the food sold by Chick-fil-A.
“No one is going to go to hell if they don’t eat a chicken sandwich on a Sunday,” he told The Dallas Morning News.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Religious Groups Urge Care for Poor During Trade Meeting
(RNS) Global religious groups, including the World Council of Churches and the Lutheran World Federation, have urged the World Trade Organization meeting in Cancun, Mexico, to base policies on human rights and care for the poor.
The two Geneva-based groups, along with the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and the Conference of European Churches, urged trade ministers at the four-day meeting “first and foremost respect, value and uphold the sacred nature of all life.”
“We call upon all governments of developed countries to recognize the rights of the weak and in cooperation with developing countries to develop fair conditions for trade with equal access for all,” the four groups said in a joint statement issued Wednesday (Sept. 10).
Trade ministers from 146 countries are meeting in Cancun through Sunday (Sept. 14) to address global trade agreements. Developing countries accuse rich nations, including the United States, of keeping global prices low by supporting their own farmers with subsidies.
In a separate statement, Roman Catholic Bishop John Ricard of Pensacola-Tallahassee, Fla., chairman of the international policy committee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said trade policies must protect the poor.
“The moral challenge is to ensure that whatever agreements are made they will benefit the entire human family, especially the poor,” Ricard said.
The Geneva statement said the trade policies of First World countries too often are “driven by corporate interests at the expense of economic justice.”
The four groups said any trade policy must “support right relationships between North and South, between producers and consumers and between the powerful and powerless.”
They added that global trade policies must guarantee “the protection of the environment, safeguarding public health and promoting decent work.” Human rights must have priority over “corporate rights and must be the primary principles” to regulate the activities of multinational companies.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Canadian Bishops Condemn Moves to Allow Gay Marriage
(RNS) Canada’s Catholic bishops warned on Wednesday (Sept. 10) that their country faces an “unknown and troubling road” if it moves to allow gay marriage.
In a six-page statement _ issued on the same day a similar statement was released by leaders of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops _ the 16 members of the bishops’ Permanent Council said marriage must remain between one man and one woman.
“Marriage needs to be preserved as an institution uniting two members of the opposite sex,” the bishops said. “For the common good of society, it must be protected.”
The statement was issued by the bishops’ president, the Most Rev. Jacques Berthelet of Saint-Jean-Longueuil in Quebec. He was joined at a media briefing in Montreal by Cardinal Jean-Claude Turcotte of Montreal and Cardinal Aloysius Ambrozic of Toronto.
The bishops vigorously oppose the government’s July 17 decision to draft legislation allowing gay marriage after several courts ruled that denying marriage rights to gay couples was discriminatory.
The bishops said marriage, while not solely meant for procreation, forms the foundation for society and has an “irreplaceable role in building societies and civilizations.”
On July 31, the Vatican issued a statement that found “absolutely no grounds” to support gay marriage and warned Catholic politicians that a vote in favor would be “gravely immoral.” The Canadian bishops, however, said that Catholic politicians need only a “well-formed conscience. … All politicians are first and foremost accountable to their consciences, and then to their constituents.”
An exemption that would protect churches from having to give religious blessing to gay marriages is not good enough, the bishops said.
“The Catholic bishops of Canada are participating in this debate … not just because we are concerned about the freedom of clergy to celebrate the sacrament of marriage, but especially because we believe that marriage between a man and a woman benefits society and serves the common good which all Catholics are called to promote,” they said.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Marquette Halts Mass At Dental School That Received Government Money
(RNS) Officials of Marquette University have decided to halt a weekly Mass at their new dental school because it was constructed primarily with governmental money.
The decision was made Aug. 28 after consultation with university attorneys who said continuing the worship service could lead to a controversy dealing with church-state separation, the Associated Press reported.
The Roman Catholic university in Milwaukee constructed a $35 million dental school with $15 million in state funds and $5 million from the federal government, said Ben Tracy, a university spokesman.
It gained public dollars for the building because it educates the majority of Wisconsin’s dentists and is the only dental school in the state.
Tracy said the tradition of saying Mass at the building started when a group of people within the Marquette community asked the Rev. Patrick Dorsey, chaplain of the dental school, about it.
“This is simply about the building,” Tracy said. “Obviously, at Marquette we have places that have Mass on campus. The distinction here is that we’ve decided it’s not appropriate to have it in this particular building because of the issues involved in public funding.”
John Rothschild, the state Department of Administration’s chief legal counsel, said he contacted the school after hearing about the Masses, but the matter is now moot.
“We would have looked into the facts of what was going on and so forth, but they said they wouldn’t continue at this point,” he said.
Priests Urge British Government to Ease Treatment of Refugees
LONDON (RNS) – The British government has been urged by the National Conference of Priests of England and Wales to ease the treatment of refugees.
At its annual meeting, held this year in Leeds, England, the group which represents the two countries’ 6,000 diocesan and religious priests called on the government to scrap the requirement that those seeking asylum must register on their day of arrival at their port of entry to qualify for state aid or to be able to work legally.
The requirement, said the conference, placed an unjust burden on the poorest and most vulnerable members of society, and it should be suspended “as a matter of urgency.”
The conference also asked the bishops to submit to Rome for formal recognition the procedures being worked out by the church’s Office for the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults, the panel set up to implement the proposals on tackling child abuse by clergy.
This would mean that the procedures would be binding on all bishops and would not be left to individual bishops for implementation.
The conference also asked for the procedures laid down in the code of canon law to be followed before any priest was placed on administrative leave.
The provisions require a preliminary investigation be made; that a priest’s good name should be protected until formal allegations are made; that a priest should be presented with written accusations made in the presence of a notary; that a priest be made aware that he has the right to both a civil and a canonical defense counsel; and that a priest be made aware that he has a right of appeal.
_ Robert Nowell
Saudis Label Barbie `Jewish’ and Offensive to Islam
(RNS) Barbie dolls have been deemed a “threat to morality” by the Saudi Arabian religious police, along with Valentine’s Day gifts and perfume bottles in the shape of a woman’s body.
The country’s Committee for the Propagation for Virtue and Prevention of Vice said the “Jewish” dolls are offensive to Islam and must be kept out of the hands of children, the Associated Press reported.
“Jewish Barbie dolls, with their revealing clothes and shameful postures, accessories and tools are a symbol of decadence to the perverted West,” the agency said in a statement on its Web site. “Let us beware of her dangers and be careful.”
The dolls are already banned in the kingdom and are featured in a mobile exhibit that visits schools to educate the public on prohibited items. Posters hung in the streets also publicize the dolls.
Sheik Abdulla al-Merdas, a preacher in a Riyadh mosque, told the Associated Press that Saudi girls would be led astray by the dolls. Women in Saudi Arabia must wear head-to-toe cloaks and cannot go out in public by themselves. Women are also prohibited from driving.
“It is no problem that little girls play with dolls. But these dolls should not have the developed body of a woman, and wear revealing clothes,” he said. “These revealing clothes will be imprinted in their minds and they will refuse to wear the clothes we are used to as Muslims.”
Quote of the Day: Singer Johnny Cash
(RNS) “My mother told me to keep on singing, and that kept me working through the cotton fields. She said God has his hand on you. You’ll be singing for the world someday.”
_ Country music performer Johnny Cash, who died Friday (Sept. 12) due to complications from diabetes. He was quoted by the Associated Press.
DEA END RNS
