c. 2004 Religion News Service
Top U.S. Bishop Says Denying Communion Is Last Resort
(RNS) The nation’s top Roman Catholic bishop said denying the sacrament of communion to a dissenting Catholic politician should be the last option considered, “not the first response.”
Bishop Wilton Gregory of Belleville, Ill., president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, told Catholic News Service that Catholic politicians should not be automatically shunned for dissenting from church teaching.
“In the nature of the church, the imposition of sanctions is always the final response, not the first response, nor the second or maybe even the 10th,” he said in Rome.
Gregory made his comments on Friday (April 23), the same day that Cardinal Francis Arinze, head of the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, indicated that Sen. John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, should be refused the sacrament for his support of abortion rights.
Gregory said bishops are called to teach “the doctrine of the church faithfully and truthfully,” including church opposition to abortion. “But we must _ as St. Augustine said _ we must abhor the sin but not the sinner,” he said.
A seven-member task force of bishops headed by Washington Cardinal Theodore McCarrick is considering how the church should deal with dissenting politicians. McCarrick has expressed doubt that communion should be used as a “sanction.”
Gregory’s comments also stand in stark contrast to his neighbor, Archbishop Raymond Burke of St. Louis, who has been the most vocal about his directives not to give communion to Kerry.
At the same time, the new archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, said firmly that “the Eucharist must not become a political battleground,” echoing the sentiments of many European church leaders.
Martin, a former Vatican diplomat, said he would like to see people make a conscientious decision themselves, he said, but felt it would be “very difficult” for priests to judge the soul of a parishioner presenting himself for communion.
_ Kevin Eckstrom and Robert Nowell
Alliance of Baptists Adopts Statement Favoring Same-Sex Marriage
(RNS) The Alliance of Baptists, a progressive Baptist group, has adopted a statement in favor of same-sex marriage.
“… (W)e of the Alliance of Baptists decry the politicization of same-sex marriage in the current presidential contest and other races for public office,” the group declared in a brief statement adopted April 17 at its annual meeting in Dayton, Ohio.
“We specifically reject the proposed amendments to the Constitution of the United States and state constitutions that would enshrine discrimination against sexual minorities and define marriage in such a way as to deny same-sex couples a legal framework in which to provide for one another and those entrusted to their care.”
The statement also affirmed the group’s support for “the rights of all citizens to full marriage equality.”
Continuing a tradition, the alliance also expressed its concerns about Cuba, renewing its commitment to work toward the normalization of relations between the United States and the island nation.
“Consistent with our position over the past decade, we of the Alliance of Baptists renew our call for the removal of the ban on travel to Cuba imposed more than four decades ago and enforced by a succession of presidents of both political parties,” the group said in a second statement adopted at its meeting.
The Washington-based alliance, which grew out of a protest of the conservative leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention, is a member of the National Council of Churches.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Catholic Hospitals Say They Will Honor Living Wills
(RNS) America’s Catholic hospitals will honor a patient’s wishes not to be put on life support even though Pope John Paul II said hospitals are forbidden to remove feeding tubes from vegetative patients.
On March 20, the pope said continuing nutritional or hydration support was “morally obligatory” and that “knowingly and willingly” removing it amounted to “euthanasia by omission.”
The St. Louis-based Catholic Health Association said the pope’s warnings raise “significant ethical, legal, clinical and pastoral implications,” but do not appear to change church policy on so-called living wills.
The Rev. Michael Place, president of the CHA, said guidelines on end-of-life matters issued by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops “remain in effect.”
The “Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services” say “there should be a presumption of providing nutrition and hydration to all patients,” especially for patients who need feeding tubes as part of “medical treatment.”
However, patients who are able to make a conscious decision “may forgo extraordinary or disproportionate means of preserving life.” Such wishes should “always be respected and normally complied with” as long as they do not involve euthanasia or suicide.
Place said the pope’s remarks remind “us of our responsibility never to abandon the sick or dying,” and said the health community will continue to discuss the issue with bishops.
“We have to figure out more specifically what he meant and the implications,” Dan Dwyer, director of Ethics for St. John’s Health Systems in Springfield, Mo., told the Associated Press. “I think it’s too soon to tell; there are a lot of filters to go through.”
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Dalai Lama Ends Canadian Tour With Address to 30,000 in Toronto
TORONTO (RNS) The Dalai Lama brought his message of happiness through compassion to a crowd estimated at 30,000 Sunday (April 25) in Toronto, the last stop on his 12-day Canadian tour.
Seated in a white armchair on a stage crowded with flowers, an animated and jovial Dalai Lama engaged in an informal hourlong talk on the benefits of compassion.
“Compassion is the key inner quality. It brings inner strength and truth. When you have truth, you have more self-confidence. With self-confidence you can deal with any problem without losing hope,” said the 69-year-old exiled leader of Tibet, his voice echoing off the concrete of Toronto’s SkyDome.
The speech was more than an hour late getting started, as every person attending was scanned with a security wand. A police presence was evident and the media were kept far away in the stadium’s press gallery.
But laughter and applause greeted many of the Dalai Lama’s remarks.
Whereas “ordinary love” is “biased,” compassion should be “unbiased” and extended to everyone _ especially one’s enemies. Showing kindness to those we love is too easy, he said.
The 20th century was a century of violence, he said, and violence solved nothing. The 21st century should be the century of dialogue. I think you feel our (political) leaders should have more compassion,” he said to cheers and laughter. “Politicians need more spirituality and ethics.”
And he hinted that Buddhism is not easy _ and not for everyone.
Compassion is not a religious matter, he stressed.
“Religion is up to the individual. Religion is supposed to bring a happier life. But sometimes, religion itself causes trouble.”
Asked what the world’s greatest problem is, the Dalai Lama replied:
“Population … and the growing gulf between rich and poor.”
_ Ron Csillag
Northwest Baptist Leader Named President of Golden Gate Seminary
(RNS) An executive of the Northwest Baptist Convention in Washington state has been elected as the next president of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary.
Jeff Iorg, executive director-treasurer of the Vancouver, Wash.-based convention of Southern Baptists, will begin his new position on Aug. 1, reported Baptist Press, the news service of the Southern Baptist Convention. He succeeds William O. Crews, who has retired.
The seminary in Mill Valley, Calif., is one of the six seminaries of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.
“Dr. Iorg is just the right person for this key leadership position,” Crews said. “His superb leadership at the Northwest Baptist Convention and experience at the local church along with his teaching experience uniquely qualify him to lead this seminary.”
Prior to his role at the regional convention, Iorg was the founding pastor of a church in Gresham, Ore.
Britain’s Bishops Urge Scrapping Proposed Refugee Legislation
LONDON (RNS) Britain’s Roman Catholic bishops have urged the government to scrap the legislation that refuses welfare benefits to refugees who fail to claim asylum “immediately on arrival.”
“In the absence of resources for basic survival, it is clear that destitution will be an immediate and direct consequence of section 55 (the relevant section of the 2002 Nationality and Immigration Act),” said Bishop Patrick O’Donoghue of Lancaster, chairman of the English and Welsh bishops’ office for refugee policy, and Bishop John Mone of Paisley, chairman of the Scottish bishops’ justice and peace commission, in a joint statement.
They cited Home Office figures that indicated more than 7,500 refugees were already destitute, many of them sleeping rough, lacking food and suffering from severe health problems, both physical and mental. The refusal of welfare benefits also placed “an intolerable and unsustainable burden” on church groups, refugee communities and charities.
Calling on the government to repeal section 55, the bishops said: “The government should ensure that our asylum system recognizes that seeking asylum is a fundamental human right, guaranteed in international law. It is therefore incumbent on the government to make certain that no one is left destitute, homeless, or detained arbitrarily at any point during the process of an asylum application.”
_ Robert Nowell
Quote of the Day: Retired Lutheran Bishop Paul Egertson
(RNS) “These are all the breaks in a very fragile dam that looks awfully solid but actually, in my view, is going to just either be taken down by deliberate courageous action by church bodies, or it’s going to leak and leak and leak until it’s more a sieve than a dam _ and finally go away.”
_ Retired Lutheran Bishop Paul Egertson of Los Angeles, on moves by some churches to ordain non-celibate gay men and lesbians as clergy. He was quoted by the Los Angeles Times.
DEA/JL END RNS
