c. 2004 Religion News Service
Religion News Service Wins `Best in Class’ Associated Church Press Award
(RNS) Religion News Service received an Award of Excellence for “Best in Class” in the news service category of the Associated Church Press awards for 2003.
RNS Senior Correspondent Adelle M. Banks won an Award of Merit for a feature article about the 25th anniversary of a Christian rock festival and RNS National Correspondent Kevin Eckstrom won an Award of Merit for a news story about the Episcopal Church facing schism with the consecration of its first openly gay bishop. Eckstrom and Banks also each won an honorable mention for convention coverage of the Episcopal Church and a profile of a vice president of the National Association of Evangelicals, respectively.
RNS columnist Tom Ehrich won an Award of Merit for a series of commentaries.
During the mid-April awards ceremony in Toronto, James Solheim, the recently retired director of Episcopal News Service, received an honorary life membership in recognition of his years of service to the ACP and religious journalism, Episcopal News Service reported.
The Associated Church Press is believed to be the oldest religious press association in North America.
Other top winners of the 2003 awards for “Best in Class” include:
Regional newspaper: Central Florida Episcopalian
National or international newspaper: Episcopal Life
Denominational magazine: Alliance Life
Ecumenical magazine: Sojourners
Journal: The Cresset
Newsletter: At Home With Our Faith
Web site: http://www.MethodX.org
_ Adelle M. Banks
Report Says Number of Catholic Seminarians Drops by 4 Percent
(RNS) The number of seminarians studying to be Catholic priests dropped 4 percent from last year, for a total of 3,285 men enrolled at 47 graduate-level seminaries.
Although the number of seminarians continues to fall, the levels are roughly the same as the 3,371 reported a decade ago, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, affiliated with Georgetown University.
The CARA research also showed a drop in the class of 2004 from the 704 who enrolled in 1999 to the 509 men who remained in their programs at the end of the 2002-2003 school year.
In 1965, at the height of an American church boom, some 8,325 men were enrolled as Catholic seminarians.
The vast majority _ 71 percent _ of seminarians are preparing for ordination by dioceses, while 29 percent are studying in religious orders, such as the Jesuits, Franciscans or Dominicans.
Just under half _ 49 percent _ of seminarians are under the age of 35, and two-thirds are white. Representing an influx of minority and foreign priests, 14 percent are Hispanic and 12 percent are Asian. More than one in five are foreign-born, with the most coming from Mexico, Poland, the Philippines and Vietnam.
The five largest seminaries are, in order, Mundelein Seminary outside Chicago, Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md., Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, the North American College in Rome and Immaculate Conception Seminary in South Orange, N.J. One-third of the 47 seminaries have fewer than 50 seminarians enrolled.
The 3,285 seminarians do not include an additional 1,153 men enrolled in undergraduate seminary programs or 761 high school students on a seminary track.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Controversial Muslim Cleric Says He Will Return to France
PARIS _ An Algerian-born Muslim cleric expelled to Algeria by the French government for his alleged ties to extremist groups and for condoning the beating of wives will likely return to plead his case, his lawyer said Tuesday (April 27).
“He denies all the charges by the French authorities, and he’s ready to return to defend himself,” Mahmoud Hebia, lawyer for Imam Abdelkader Bouziane, said in a telephone interview from Lyon, France. “He says he’s innocent and he’s prepared to prove it.”
Bouziane was expected to telephone him Tuesday evening and confirm his return, Hebia said. But he cited a story by the Agence France-Presse news agency that Bouziane had already applied for a visa to return to France.
A Lyon-based imam who supports the austere Salafist brand of Islam, Bouziane was deported April 21 on orders of the Justice Ministry for remarks infringing on “human rights and human dignity.”
The order came after Bouziane told a Lyon-based publication that the Quran allowed husbands to hit their wives, although only on the legs and stomach, if they committed an offense. In the same interview, the Algerian cleric also said he supported polygamy and the stoning of women, was against women and men sharing the same workplace, and believed music was a sin.
After Bouziane’s expulsion, a Lyon-based court suspended the deportation order. The French government _ which has deported some 27 imams for various offenses since 2001 _ said Monday it would appeal that ruling.
French authorities also supplied additional justification for deporting the imam, including reported intelligence information alleging that Bouziane had ties to extremists groups in Yemen, Germany, Chechnya and Afghanistan. The information has reportedly failed to sway the court’s decision.
“He’s active on our territory. He has relations with groups whose terrorist intentions are without question,” French Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin told the National Assembly on Tuesday, referring to Bouziane. “He’s delivered `fatwa’ (rulings) calling for a jihad against American interests.”
But Bouziane’s lawyer staunchly denied charges his client had ties with extremist groups. “Never has there been any contact with terrorists, never,” Hebia said of Bouziane. “Never has he preached violence, never.”
As for supporting the beating of women, Hebia said the Muslim cleric “took that one from the Quran.”
_ Elizabeth Bryant
Former Senate Chaplain to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award
(RNS) The Rev. Lloyd Ogilvie, former U.S. Senate chaplain, will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association in June, the organization has announced.
Ogilvie, the author of more than 40 books, will be honored for his Christian ministry over the last few decades at a June 26 ceremony for the 27th Annual Gold Medallion Book Awards, the association announced.
“His longtime association with Harvest House Publishers and his many accomplishments as a Christian communicator make him an ideal candidate,” said Doug Ross, outgoing president of the Tempe, Ariz.-based association.
Ogilvie’s “Making Stress Work for You” was a 1985 ECPA Gold Medallion Award winner.
He is also known for establishing a radio and television ministry called “Let God Love You” and serving as pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood, Calif., for 23 years.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Muslim Group Says Talk-Radio Personality Should Be Fired
BOSTON _ A Boston-area radio talk show host made bigoted anti-Muslim remarks on his program and should be fired, a national Muslim civil liberties group charges.
Jay Severin, who hosts the weekday program “Extreme Games” on WTTK-FM radio in Boston, referred to Muslims as “a fifth column” in America, adding, “The reason they (Muslims) are here is to take over our culture and eventually take over our country.”
Later in the program, when discussing whether Americans should befriend Muslims, Severin told a caller, “You think we should befriend them; I think we should kill them.”
After a listener alerted the Council on American-Islamic Relations to the comments, the group demanded April 23 that Severin be fired. It renewed its call Tuesday (April 27) after a Boston Globe reporter obtained a copy of the show in question and revealed that the comments were “even worse than what had initially been reported,” said Nihad Awad, CAIR’s executive director.
The action by CAIR, which is also asking the Federal Communications Commission to investigate the incident, is part of a newly launched “Hate Hurts America” campaign specifically aimed at what the group identifies as increasing anti-Muslim attacks on talk radio.
In a press release announcing the action, CAIR urged members to contact the general manager of the radio station to call for Severin’s firing, urge sponsors to pull advertisements from the station _ it said at least one has already done so _ and listen to other programs and alert the community when anti-Muslim rhetoric is heard.
Following the Globe report, Severin addressed the issue on his show.
“To anyone who may have been offended by misunderstanding or misconstruing my remarks, I want you to know that I regret that. This is never my intention,” he said.
_ Holly Lebowitz Rossi
After Renovation, Dead Sea Scrolls Museum Wing Set to Reopen
JERUSALEM (RNS) The Israel Museum will reopen the Shrine of the Book, the wing that houses the Dead Sea Scrolls, on June 7 after a yearlong renovation.
The restored Shrine will display, among other things, eight of the most complete Scrolls discovered, as well as the Aleppo Codex, which dates to the 10th century.
Archaeologists excavated the Dead Sea Scrolls, which were discovered in the Qumran caves in the Judean Desert, in 1947. They are among the most ancient biblical manuscripts in the world.
Scholars around the world have labored for decades to put together and decipher the thousands of Scroll fragments unearthed during the excavations.
Some of the Scrolls were written or copied by the Essenes, an ascetic Jewish sect who lived at the time of early Christians, Samaritans, Pharisees and Sadducees, during the Late Hellenistic-Roman period (167 B.C. to A.D. 70).
Other Scrolls are believed to have been written or copied elsewhere, but also belonged to the Qumran community. Most of the Scrolls were written on parchment, in Hebrew, though a minority are in Aramaic or Greek.
Built in 1965 specifically to preserve and display the fragile ancient scrolls, the Shrine of the Book is one of Israel’s most unique structures. It is round, with a distinctive dome designed to evoke the lid of the jars in which the scrolls were discovered.
During the course of the $3 million restoration project, the museum installed state-of-the-art climate-controlled showcases as well as new exterior illumination to highlight the spray of water that continuously bathes the dome. A new display, “A Day of Qumran,” includes newly excavated artifacts.
_ Michele Chabin
Quote of the Day: Evangelist Paula White of Tampa, Fla.
(RNS) “I didn’t counsel him, I ministered to him. I spoke words of encouragement and hope to him. I ministered to the person, not the personality.”
_ Evangelist Paula White, co-pastor of Without Walls International Church in Tampa, Fla., speaking about being summoned by pop star Michael Jackson for a December visit to his Neverland ranch. She was quoted by The Washington Times.
DEA/PH END RNS
