c. 2004 Religion News Service
Finnish Theologian Forced to Leave U.S. Under New Visa Regulations
(RNS) A renowned Finnish theologian and tenured professor at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif., has been forced to leave the United States because he did not qualify under new visa regulations for religious professionals.
In what may be one of the stranger cases of stricter visa regulations in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Veli-Matti Karkkainen was unable to appeal government decisions that denied him an extension of a visa and a work permit, prompting a July 31 deadline for him, his wife and two daughters to leave the United States.
“If a theology professor from Finland can’t stay here, there is something wrong with the administrative process,” Karkkainen, a professor at Fuller since 2000, said in a telephone interview just prior to the July 31 deadline.
The case of Karkkainen, first reported in the July 27 issue of the Christian Century magazine, is ironic in part because the order to leave the United States affects a man who, like Attorney General John Ashcroft, is a Pentecostal.
But the case also affects Fuller itself, with questions being raised about the seminary’s status as a religious institution, the Century reported. Fuller is perhaps the nation’s most prominent evangelical, interdenominational seminary, with some 4,300 students from 67 countries and 108 denominations attending on seven campuses.
In either case, a clearly frustrated Karkkainen told Religion News Service that “there is no reasonable or rational argumentation” for the visa denial. “None of it makes sense,” he said.
“I didn’t think the INS was supposed to deal with theological discernment,” Karkkainen said, in reference to the Immigration and Naturalization Service, now renamed the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
It was also a reference to the decision under which Karkkainen, who holds double doctorates, a master’s degree from Fuller and has been active in World Council of Churches working groups, could not establish his experience or qualifications to teach at an interdenominational seminary.
Howard Louwen, a Fuller dean, said new, complicated rules for visas for religious professionals appear to be the cause of the problem. Also a factor, he said, were new rules under which a seminary is strictly defined as an institution with ties to a single denominational body.
“I suspect that Fuller looks to them (the government) more like a multidenominational university rather than a training ground for ministers,” Louwen told the Century.
Karkkainen said attorneys working on behalf of Fuller appealed the case to Ashcroft but were told the attorney general “was not willing to deal with these kinds of issues,” he said, speculating that the issuance of religious visas had probably become too charged and problematic in the wake of Sept. 11. However, Karkkainen wondered how a Finnish theologian teaching at an evangelical Christian seminary could possibly pose a security threat to the United States.
“I feel sorry for the U.S. that it can’t make this distinction,” he said.
Karkkainen had no teaching position lined up in Finland, expecting that he still might be able to return to the United States under a different visa, possibly as early as the fall semester.
Fuller officials said last week they were preparing a statement on the matter but had not yet issued it. Officials of the Citizenship and Immigration Services, now part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, were not available for comment.
_ Chris Herlinger
Vatican Opens Office on `Church and Sports’
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Just in time for the Athens Olympics, the Vatican has opened an office to promote ethical values in sports.
The Pontifical Council for the Laity said it had established a Church and Sports section to tackle problems that have alienated sports from its original ideals.
Pope John Paul II, an enthusiastic athlete who continued to ski and hike in the mountains even after his election as Roman Catholic pontiff, has deplored the commercialization of sports and doping by athletes.
“The upcoming Athens Olympics and the millions of people who from all over the world will follow its course are yet another clear sign of how much sports are an important element in the life of our society,” the council said.
But, it said, “tendencies that are increasingly alienating the practice of the different disciplines from the original ideals of sports make it urgent to recall fundamental values in this field too.”
The new Vatican office will encourage church participation in sports at the parish, national and international levels to encourage athletics “as a means of integral growth of the person and as an instrument of service to peace and the brotherhood of peoples,” the council said. It will also support the “witness of Christian life among athletes.”
Working with organizers, coaches, fans and athletes, it will “promote a practice in sports that reconnects the cultural and social changes of the last century with those tied to the dignity of the human person,” the council said.
“Only thus can sports be a school of virtue and an instrument of peace between peoples,” it said.
_ Peggy Polk
Catholic Official Criticizes New British Abortion Rules
LONDON (RNS) New guidelines from the British Department of Health telling doctors they may perform abortions on girls under 16 without their parents’ consent have been sharply condemned by Archbishop Peter Smith of Cardiff, chairman of the department of Christian responsibility and citizenship of the Roman Catholic bishops’ conference of England and Wales.
The guidelines suggest, however, that such a procedure should be seen as a last resort.
“In the case of abortion,” the Department of Health said, “where the young woman is competent to consent but cannot be persuaded to involve a parent, every effort should be made to help them find another adult to provide support, for example another family member or specialist youth worker.”
“These guidelines will simply undermine the trust a child will have for her parents,” Smith said. “A girl under 16 especially needs the understanding, support and guidance of her parents in serious matters _ and what could be more serious than the deliberate killing of an innocent human life?”
Recalling the church’s teaching that parents had the “primary and central role” in their children’s education and formation, the archbishop said the new guidance from the Department of Health “totally undermines these proper rights and responsibilities of parents to nurture, guide and advise their children, and to make decisions for them in the best interests of their children.”
He urged all parents to vigorously protest by writing to the Secretary of State for Health and calling for the immediate repeal of the new guidelines.
In 2002, of 175,932 legal abortions in England and Wales, 3,733 were carried out on women under 16.
_ Robert Nowell
Bush Courts Catholic Vote at Knights of Columbus Convention
(RNS) President Bush, continuing his efforts to attract conservative Catholic voters, told the Knights of Columbus on Tuesday (Aug. 3) that they “have a friend in this administration” who supports their conservative social agenda.
Bush spoke to the Knights’ 122nd convention in Dallas, which included at least five of the nation’s most powerful cardinals. Upon entering the convention hall, Bush was greeted with cheers of “Four more years! Four more years!”
“The Knights are soldiers in the armies of compassion. You’re foot soldiers. You’ve heard the call,” Bush said. “You’re helping this nation build a culture of life. … You have a friend in this administration.”
The Knights of Columbus is the world’s largest Catholic fraternal organization and has supported the president in opposing abortion, embryonic stem-cell research, gay marriage and removing “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance. Bush’s brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, is a member of the group.
The president touted his faith-based program, which has been supported by Catholic leaders, and released $188 million in grants to support local faith-based social service agencies, mentors for the children of prison inmates and addiction recovery programs.
Much of Bush’s formal proposal has been stymied by Congress. Bush said he “got tired of waiting” and has implemented much of it by executive order. He said government needs “to stand on the side of faith-based groups.”
“The state should never be the church, and the church certainly should never be the state. But the state should never fear the good works of the church,” he said.
Polls indicate that Bush enjoys a lead over his opponent, Sen. John Kerry, among conservative Catholics and those who attend Mass most frequently. Bush split the Catholic vote in 2000 with Al Gore, but is hoping enough Catholic support in key battleground states like Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania could help turn the election his way.
“The Catholic vote is a very important vote,” Bush campaign manager Ken Mehlman told The Dallas Morning News. “It’s a swing vote, and it often reflects where the country is.”
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Bush Administration Appeals Blockage of Abortion Ban
WASHINGTON (RNS) The Bush administration has appealed a California judge’s ruling that the Partial-Birth Abortion Act is unconstitutional.
The government appealed the June 1 decision to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, challenging U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton’s ruling that the law was written vaguely and placed an “undue burden” on the right to choose.
Planned Parenthood Federation of America challenged the law, which was signed by President Bush in November.
During the controversial procedure that the law sought to ban _ called “partial-birth abortion” by its critics _ a fetus is partially extracted through the birth canal and its skull is collapsed by suctioning out the brain.
Lawyers for the Justice Department argued that the procedure is inhumane while abortion proponents countered that the banned procedure is safer than a conventional abortion.
Federal judges in Nebraska and New York also have heard challenges to the law but have not yet issued rulings. Those judges temporarily prevented the government from enforcing the act.
Quote of the Day: Catholic Priest Joseph Wilson
(RNS) “I’m standing behind the altar looking like Julia Child doing a cooking demonstration.”
_ The Rev. Joseph Wilson, a Catholic priest and conservative pundit from New York, explaining to The Dallas Morning News why he prefers the Latin Mass, where the priest faces the altar, rather than the contemporary Mass where he stands behind it.
DEA/PH END RNS
