c. 2004 Religion News Service

World Relief Develops Network to Aid Trafficking Victims

(RNS) World Relief, an evangelical humanitarian agency, announced Wednesday (July 28) that it plans to launch a network to aid U.S. victims of human trafficking.

The agency, which is the relief arm of the National Association of Evangelicals, said it has received a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice that it will use to aid victims of human trafficking who are brought across international borders and subjected to sexual exploitation or forced labor.

World Relief will begin its work in the southeastern United States by establishing the Network of Emergency Trafficking Services. The network will foster collaboration among social service providers, religious communities and representatives of the criminal justice system to address the needs of trafficking victims. It will help provide shelter, legal aid, medical care, job skills training and translation services.

“With almost 20,000 victims trafficked annually to the U.S. for exploitation, we knew we had to get involved,” said Ruth Billings, deputy director for program initiatives, in a statement. “World Relief’s mission is to help the poor and suffering _ and trafficking victims endure incredible suffering. In addition to helping victims, we will also work to educate local churches about this important issue and how they can help.”

A pilot location for the network will launch in Tampa, Fla., within three months. Four other sites are expected to open in the first year in High Point, N.C.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Austin, Texas; and Nashville, Tenn.

_ Adelle M. Banks

Oregon Bishop Orders Lay Volunteers to Agree on Abortion, Sexuality

(RNS) Catholics in the Diocese of Baker, Ore., who want to lead their parishes in singing or assist the priests during Mass must sign an “Affirmation of Faith” that promises allegiance to church teaching on homosexuality, abortion, purgatory and other issues.

In April, Bishop Robert Vasa told lectors, cantors, altar servers, lay teachers and Eucharistic Ministers (those who serve Communion) that they must sign a 13-paragraph statement that reflects a “presumption of orthodoxy.” The statement has come to national attention following reports in the current National Catholic Reporter.

The “Affirmation of Faith” includes opposition to “direct, intentional abortion,” the “sinfulness of contraception,” “gravely evil” extramarital sex including homosexuality, and agreement with church teaching on the Virgin Mary, purgatory, heaven, hell and the “reality and presence” of Christ in the bread and wine of Communion.

Critics in the Eastern Oregon diocese say the pledge is narrowly focused on “pelvic issues” and is a paranoid “litmus test” that has alienated volunteers and parishioners.

Vasa, in an accompanying 6,200-word pastoral letter, said as bishop he needs “an assurance that those who serve in official capacities hold interior dispositions consistent with church teachings.”

He likened the statement to the criminal background checks now required of all church workers under new sexual abuse policies adopted by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

“It is impossible to do more than pay lip service to the teachings of the church when the heart is far away,” he wrote. “The people of God have a right to expect a higher standard from those who function in various ministries, and the bishop has an obligation of vigilance.”

According to the National Catholic Reporter, more than two dozen lay volunteers at the largest church in the diocese, St. Francis of Assisi in Bend, Ore., have resigned. Five “concerned Catholics” in the diocese asked the Vatican for an investigation.

The purpose of the letter “appears to be either to coerce or to exclude from ministry those of us who cannot, in good conscience, give full assent to the bishop’s rather selective statements of faith,” St. Francis parishioner Wilma Hens said in resigning her positions, according to NCR. Hens said Vasa’s directive focused too heavily on “pelvic issues.”

Some priests resented the order and said their churches were hesitant to “sign on the dotted line.” Others, such as the Rev. Rob Irwin of St. Francis De Sales Cathedral, said the order would “encourage us to grow in our faith.”

Vasa has urged concerned parishioners to meet with him. In an interview with the independent newspaper, he refused to back down.

“My style would probably not be described as a pastoral style,” he said. “It is much more canonical or legislative maybe. But we need this type of clarity, this type of clear statement about what our church teaches and what is expected of us.”

_ Kevin Eckstrom

Update: Harvard Divinity School Returns Gift From Arab Leader

(RNS) After more than a year of debate and negotiation, Harvard Divinity School has agreed to return a gift from a leader of the United Arab Emirates, at the Arab nation’s request.

Sheikh Zayed Al Nahyan had given a $2.5 million gift, which the school accepted in 2000, to establish a professorship of Islamic religious studies at the school.

In March 2003, a group of students and professors complained to Dean William A. Graham, a scholar of Islam, about the UAE-based Zayed Center for Coordination and Follow-up, which was named for the sheikh and which critics said featured anti-Semitic writings and anti-American material.

In the wake of the comments, and the report of an independent researcher hired by the school to look deeper into the center’s activities, divinity school officials considered whether to return the gift.

But in August 2003, citing activities that “starkly contradicted the principles of interfaith tolerance,” the UAE announced that it was closing the Zayed Center, and Harvard put the gift on hold while discussions were held on whether the professorship could still be funded by it.

On Monday (July 26), the school announced that the donor had withdrawn the gift and asked that it be returned, which Harvard agreed to do.

“Harvard remains strongly committed to advancing the understanding of Islam,” said a statement from the divinity school on the matter. To that end, the school is pursuing funding for two faculty appointments in Islamic studies.

_ Holly Lebowitz Rossi

Update: Rebels in Colombia Free Catholic Bishop

(RNS) After three days of captivity, the Catholic bishop abducted by Marxist rebels in Colombia was released unharmed Tuesday, the Associated Press has reported.

The National Liberation Army, or ELN, had kidnapped Misael Vacca Ramirez, the bishop of Yopal, on Saturday (July 24), while he was traveling with two priests and a local politician.

The rebels had taken Vacca Ramirez, 48, to give him a message to deliver to the government, the bishop’s companions told news reporters.

But with international condemnation mounting, and government troops surrounding their jungle hideout, the ELN let Vacca Ramirez go before they had imparted their message, the bishop told reporters.

“I was treated well,” Vacca Ramirez said. “At no moment did anybody show me disrespect. So it turned out to be nothing more than a big scare for me.”

The bishop has been negotiating for a cease-fire between Colombia’s leftist rebel groups, right-wing paramilitaries and the government of President Alvaro Uribe, according to Colombian Catholic leaders.

They have said that it was especially disappointing that the ELN would abduct someone who had worked so hard to achieve peace.

Pope John Paul II, in a statement from the Vatican, said Tuesday (July 27) that kidnapping is a “criminal action, in no way justifiable.”

“It is extremely pitiful that a bishop who was going somewhere to preach a gospel of peace and hope to the faithful in his care, above all the poorest, is prevented in such an unqualified way from freely carrying out his pastoral ministry,” the pope said.

Since 1964, ELN has been trying to overthrow the government and establish a Marxist state. The group has about 5,000 troops, according to recent estimates.

For years, ELN has attracted Catholic priests influenced by liberation theology, a movement that draws on the tenets of Christianity to advocate for the social and economic rights of indigenous Latin Americans.

Church of God Launches New Magazine

ANDERSON, Ind. (RNS) For the first time since 1996, members of Church of God congregations worldwide will have access to a magazine that tells the stories of this Christian denomination’s ministries.

The launch of the June/July edition of ONEvoice! magazine, a bimonthly glossy targeted to a decidedly youthful audience, marks a return to national publishing for the Anderson-based ministry after its previous national publication, Vital Christianity, was folded eight years ago, according to ONEvoice! managing editor Steven Beverly.

“Based on the growth that the Church of God has experienced, there was a general consensus that there was a need to explain the ministry and how the Church of God practices Christianity,” said Beverly, who recently left Ball State University in nearby Muncie, Ind., where he was a journalism instructor.

“There have been so many young people joining the church in recent years that there was a feeling it was time to update them on what we are about,” he said. “The newcomers have a good understanding about what their local Church of God congregation is doing, but they probably don’t have a complete grasp of the whole picture. ONEvoice! provides that information to them in a very straightforward way.”

Beverly said that the overall mission of the magazine _ to celebrate the message and ministry of the Church of God _ is carried out by telling stories about people and ministries in action, from pastors of churches to those involved in youth ministry and virtually everything in between. Each edition will also contain columns written by Church of God general director Ronald V. Duncan, which will provide information on worldwide and “movement” issues; a glance back by Church of God historian Merle Strege; and a doctrinal column written by Washington, D.C.-based pastor Cheryl Sanders.

The publication of ONEvoice!, with a circulation target of 12,000 subscribers, marks a return to the denomination’s roots, Beverly said.

_ Dennis P. O’Connor

Quote of the Day: Ron Reagan, son of the late President Ronald Reagan

(RNS) “Their belief is just that _ an article of faith, and they are entitled to it, but it does not follow that the theology of a few should be allowed to forestall the health and well-being of the many.”

_ Ron Reagan, son of the late President Ronald Reagan, addressing the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday (July 27) and criticizing opponents of embryonic stem cell research.

DEA/PH END RNS