c. 2003 Religion News Service

Bishops’ Labor Day Statement Appeals for Migrant Workers

WASHINGTON (RNS) The annual Labor Day statement by the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops appeals for fair treatment for migrant farm workers who “still have a claim on our conscience.”

Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington, chairman of the bishops’ domestic policy committee, said migrant workers deserve safe working conditions, affordable housing and legal rights.

“The plight of agricultural workers may not be on the evening news or in the headlines, but it should be at the heart of our thoughts, reflections and priorities as we celebrate Labor Day this year,” McCarrick said.

The bishops will consider a statement on the rights and plight of illegal immigrants and migrant farm workers when they meet in Washington in November.

McCarrick called for a “just and fair legal pathway” that “protects the basic labor rights of foreign-born workers and recognizes the reality of so many of these workers in the field.” Migrant workers already in the United States should be eligible for legal residency, McCarrick said.

McCarrick said “at a minimum” migrant agricultural workers deserve a decent wage and safe living and work conditions.

“When farm workers do come, they too often find meager jobs, decrepit housing and unsafe conditions. Some end up living under bridges or even in caves,” McCarrick said.

“Many of us seem content to avert our eyes or ignore the reality that so many who provide our food live in such misery,” he said.

_ Kevin Eckstrom

Ten Commandments Supporters Make Last-Ditch Court Effort

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (RNS) Supporters of suspended Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore have filed a suit seeking to keep a Ten Commandments monument in the state’s judicial building days after ethics charges were filed against Moore when he refused to move the monument.

The suit, filed Monday (Aug. 25) in federal court in Mobile, intends to keep Justice Gorman Houston, the acting chief justice, from removing the 5,300-pound block of granite. It was filed on behalf of the Rev. Richard C. Dorley, a Tallassee, Ala., pastor, and Kelly McGinley, a woman who hosts a Christian radio show called “Re-Taking America” in Brewton, Ala.

While the district judge who ordered the monument removed declared it unconstitutional, plaintiffs in the latest suit said they view it “as a cornerstone of justice and fairness by the courts.”

Opponents to the monument, who filed suit for its removal, said they consider the suit to be “without merit” and likely to be dismissed.

A hearing has been set for Wednesday on the case.

Moore was suspended with pay and Houston became acting chief justice on Friday when the state Judicial Inquiry Commission filed ethics charges against Moore for refusing to obey a federal court order to remove the monument.

Meanwhile, observers near and far are continuing to react to the controversy.

About 500 people showed up for a rally Monday night as an around-the-clock prayer vigil outside the judicial building was maintained by the Rev. Patrick Mahoney, director of the Washington-based Christian Defense Coalition.

Court security officers lined a path in front of the building with metal barricades, bracing for crowds willing to be arrested to prevent the monument’s removal from the building’s rotunda.

Focus on the Family founder and chairman James Dobson encouraged listeners of his radio show to travel to Montgomery to show their support for Moore.

“Be a participant,” Dobson said on his Colorado-based “Focus on the Family” program. “Don’t sit on the sidelines while our basic freedoms are lost.”

Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, said he agrees with Moore that the Ten Commandments belong in public buildings, but he thinks Moore “should resign his office and continue to make his case” if he can’t comply with the federal court order.

_ Stan Bailey and Adelle M. Banks

China Warns Dalai Lama About Meetings With U.S. Officials

(RNS) China’s governor of Tibet warned Monday (Aug. 25) that the Dalai Lama’s planned meeting with U.S. officials could jeopardize the exiled leader’s chance of returning to Tibet.

At the same time, he expressed optimism over diplomatic progress made, saying recent trips to Tibet by representatives of the Dalai Lama’s government in exile have been key to improving relations.

“We very much welcome overseas Tibetans returning for a look, including the Dalai Lama’s representatives,” Jampa Phuntsog, the governor of the Tibet Autonomous Region, told Reuters. “By understanding the Dalai Lama’s real thinking, on the basis of the sincerity of his thinking, we can have some real progress.”

Meanwhile, the Dalai Lama, who fled to India from Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese Communist rule, said negotiations with China over greater Tibetan autonomy must yield results in the next couple of years in order to justify his conciliatory approach to Tibetan youths seeking independence, Reuters reported.

In a Monday interview with the French daily Le Figaro, the Dalai Lama said Tibetan youth organizations were demanding full independence for Tibet and disagreed with the Dalai Lama’s acceptance of autonomy for the Himalayan country, which has been under Chinese occupation since 1950.

“We must be patient. The renewal of contacts with China only goes back to last year. But if in two or three years it does not produce any result, it will be difficult for me to explain to young people the validity of the middle way approach,” he said during the interview, according to Reuters.

Visits to the region by Tibetan envoys last May marked the first direct contact since 1993, indicating a softening in Beijing’s position on Tibet.

But China continues to demand that the Dalai Lama abandon what it views as an independence movement and recognize Tibet and Taiwan as part of China.

Despite the progress made during recent trips by envoys, the Tibet governor said ties could be jeopardized by the Dalai Lama’s planned trip to the United States next month, when he is expected to meet with President Bush.

“We resolutely oppose it, including Mr. Bush seeing the Dalai, no matter how chance the contact,” Jampa Phuntsog said, according to Reuters. “I’m afraid these kinds of activities are not beneficial to the discussions and improvement of relations between the Dalai and our government.”

A meeting between Bush and the Dalai Lama in May 2001 irritated Chinese officials, who accused the United States of encouraging separatist activities.

Update: Church Officials Doubt Glow From Statues Is Miraculous

(RNS) The glowing eyes on statues of Jesus and the Virgin Mary at an Ohio Catholic church are probably not miraculous, church officials said recently.

Thousands of pilgrims have flocked to St. Joseph the Provider Catholic Church in Campbell to glimpse the two statues on the bell tower. Believers say Mary’s and Jesus’ eyes and the Sacred Heart of Jesus glow, especially at night.

Bishop Thomas J. Tobin of Youngstown said perhaps Mary is responding to the outpouring of faith, even though the images may not be genuine, according to the Youngstown Vindicator newspaper.

“Although we are hesitant to believe that anything truly miraculous is taking place at that site, we are sincerely edified by the manifestation of faith and devotion taking place there,” Tobin said in a written statement.

The diocese’s vicar general, Monsignor Robert Siffrin, said he consulted with the church’s pastor, the Rev. Michael Swierz, and concluded the glow comes naturally from gold leaf paint applied to the statues in the 1970s.

“Father Swierz is still of the same mind that I am, that light is being reflected off the gold leaf,” Siffrin told the newspaper.

Swierz, however, doesn’t totally dismiss what could be a genuine sign from God. “Sometimes God uses ordinary things to speak to us,” Swierz told the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “Maybe that’s what this is all about.”

Report: Remains of Ancient Structure May Be Disputed Hindu Temple

(RNS) Archaeologists say the remains of an ancient structure buried beneath the ruins of a mosque in the northern Indian town of Ayodhya resemble a Hindu temple, according to a report released Monday (Aug. 25).

The 500-page report said there was evidence of a “massive structure” below the ruins of the mosque. Circular shrines, lotus designs and pillars “are indicative of remains which are distinctive features found associated with the (Hindu) temples of north India,” the report said, according to The Associated Press.

The site, which is claimed by Muslims and Hindus, has sparked riots and attacks that have killed thousands.

The report, which was given to the High Court in Uttar Pradesh, aims to resolve the dispute by determining the history of the site, where a Mogul mosque from the 16th century stood until a mob of Hindu zealots tore it down, claiming the mosque covered an ancient temple marking the birthplace of the god Rama.

Hindu groups say the archaeology report should settle the argument.

“Muslims should show magnanimity and hand over the disputed land to Hindus so that they can construct a temple there,” Prabhu Narain Singh told The Associated Press. Singh is a senior official of the World Hindu Council, whose leaders have acknowledged they were behind the destruction of the mosque.

But Muslims have dismissed the report, calling it politically motivated.

Zafaryab Jilani, attorney for the Babri Action Committee, an organization seeking to rebuild the mosque, has said his group will challenge the report.

The court has given Muslim and Hindu groups six weeks to file objections to the report, which marks the latest development in a dispute that has long been a source of tension between Hindus and the minority Muslim population. Hours after its release Monday, two car bombs blasted through a tourist site and a jewelry market in Bombay, killing 46 people.

Previous bombings in Bombay were blamed on Islamic militants seeking revenge for the destruction of the mosque and the thousands of Muslims killed in the ensuing riots. It was not immediately known who was responsible for Monday’s attacks and whether they were connected to the report.

Christian Educators Association International Names New Executive

(RNS) The Christian Educators Association International has named a former school superintendent as its new executive director.

Finn Laursen of Amherst, Ohio, will succeed Forrest Turpen, who has been the organization’s executive director for two decades. Turpen will become the chief operations officer for the association and continue to work from the organization’s Pasadena, Calif., headquarters.

Laursen will open an office in the Cleveland suburb of Amherst. He retired as superintendent of the Firelands Local School District in Oberlin, Ohio, to take the position. He had been the district’s superintendent for 11 years.

The Christian Educators Association International is an evangelical organization that works to encourage Christians serving in public and private education.

_ Adelle M. Banks

Quote of the Day: Roman Catholic Bishop Daniel Jenky

(RNS) “The mother of my Savior is not a mascot; her name is holy and does not belong on a bar.”

_ Roman Catholic Bishop Daniel Jenky of Peoria, Ill., in a statement to The Rock Island Argus about a businessman’s proposal to open the Hail Mary’s Last Chance Sports & Spirits bar in a former synagogue. Jenky said the reference to the Virgin Mary is offensive. The pub’s owner said the name refers to a football pass.

DEA END RNS