c. 2004 Religion News Service
McCartney Moves From Men’s Movement to Effort to Support Messianic Jews
(RNS) Promise Keepers founder Bill McCartney has announced a new effort to reach out to Messianic Jews.
McCartney, who resigned in 2003 as president of the Denver-based evangelical men’s ministry, said “The Road to Jerusalem” movement aims to link evangelical Christians with Jews who believe Jesus is the Messiah.
The former University of Colorado football coach hopes to change the approach of Christians who support the “unbelieving Jews” of Israel while avoiding “believing Jews” in the Messianic Jewish movement, The Denver Post reported.
“This is a minefield,” he said after a news conference Tuesday (Aug. 31). “This is paved in terror and triumph. It ends in triumph.”
While Jews view the Messianic Jewish movement as a way to lure them into Christianity, evangelical Christians who strongly back Israel tend not to associate much with Messianic Jews.
McCartney plans to hold a Dec. 3 gathering for the new group near Palm Springs, Calif. It also will send speakers to churches and plan tours of Israel, said ministry President Raleigh Washington, also a former executive of Promise Keepers.
“Our goal is to convince the church we’ve been silent,” Washington said. “We’ve not been arm in arm with the Messianics.”
Some Take Offense When They See Christian Crosses at GOP Lectern
NEW YORK (RNS) Some offended observers saw Christian crosses in the wood panels of lecterns at the Republican National Convention, but others say these critics are cross-eyed.
The debate intensified Thursday when The New York Times ran a front-page photo of Vice President Dick Cheney standing behind a lectern that had multicolored panels forming an image that some are convinced is a Christian cross. To Cheney’s right is a smaller lectern, in which contrasting colored patterns more clearly intersect in a cross-like pattern.
Speaking on CNN, Karl Rove, Bush’s chief strategist, dismissed the notion that Republicans are sending a subliminal message of Christian symbolism.
“My God, where do they come up with this stuff?” Rove said.
Some Democrats were taking the image seriously.
“It looks like a cross to me,” Democratic Party chairman Terry McAuliffe told reporters, adding that religious symbols shouldn’t be used for political purposes, especially if done subliminally.
Jim Siegelman, co-author of the 1982 book “Holy Terror: The Fundamentalist War on America’s Freedoms in Religion, Politics and Our Private Lives,” said in an interview that Republicans have been sending such messages for decades now _ ever since Ronald Reagan began courting Christian conservative voters.
“When you see a symbol like that,” said Siegelman, referring to the perceived cross at this year’s convention, “you’re seeing more overt flouting of church/state separation by the Republican Party.”
The Washington-based National Jewish Democratic Council posted a statement on its Web site expressing dismay.
“It is the very height of insensitivity for the Republican Party to feature a cross at the center of the podium of this convention. … This wooden cross must be at least three feet tall, and it sends a signal of exclusivity loudly and clearly,” said the group’s executive director, Ira Forman.
“I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: If this is the Republican Party’s idea of Jewish outreach, then I’d hate to see what their idea of antagonism is.”
Rabbi Daniel Lapin, a Seattle Republican attending the convention, said the notion that the GOP would intentionally display such a cross was ridiculous but that even if it did, it would not bother him.
“The notion that Jews should find the representation of a cross offensive is preposterous,” said Lapin, who heads an organization, Toward Tradition, that promotes what it calls Judeo-Christian values.
“Jews are not vampires. This is the frightened squealing of thin-skinned malcontents frantic to find fault with the Republican Party and the president.”
_ Mark O’Keefe and Jonah King
Report: Episcopal Church Could Face Suspension Over Gay Bishop
LONDON (RNS) The Episcopal Church may be suspended from membership in the Anglican Communion for its approval of an openly gay bishop, according to leaked recommendations from a church-sponsored commission.
The sanctions, reported by The Times of London on Thursday (Sept. 2), were released just days before the Lambeth Commission headed by Irish Archbishop Robin Eames was due to hold its final meeting in Windsor.
According to The Times, the commission will recommend the suspension of the Episcopal Church until it has “repented” of its decision to elect and consecrate Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, who is openly gay.
It would be allowed back into the fold when Robinson retired _ or in the unlikely event that he is removed from his post _ as long as no other actively gay bishops were appointed. The church also could not approve an official rite of blessing for homosexual relationships.
Similar sanctions would apply to the Anglican Church of Canada if it goes ahead with the approval of an official rite of blessing for same-sex unions.
Robinson, who has a partner of more than 14 years, was approved last August and consecrated in November. U.S. church leaders say they cannot revoke his ordination, and Robinson has said he has no plans to step down.
Angry conservatives in the American church have appealed to their allies in Third World Anglican churches for oversight. Ultimately, membership in the 77 million-member Communion hinges on official recognition from its titular head, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams.
Officially, the Lambeth Commission’s final report is not due to be published until mid-October. Observers say one motive behind the leak could be a last-minute attempt to persuade the commission to step back from the extreme step of actually excommunicating either the U.S. or Canadian churches.
The commission’s final recommendations will need to be endorsed by the top bishops, or primates, of the Communion’s 38 member churches at their meeting next February, and by the Anglican Consultative Council at its meeting in Nottingham next summer.
_ Robert Nowell
Preservationists Finding New Allies to Save Harlem Church
NEW YORK (RNS) Preservationists trying to save a historic Roman Catholic parish in Harlem have recruited new allies in their fight, including a descendant of the German family who made the church’s stained glass windows.
The new efforts to save St. Thomas the Apostle Roman Catholic Church are targeting the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which is considering a $7 million grant proposal by the Archdiocese of New York to build a 57-unit housing complex for senior citizens on the site of the Harlem landmark.
The archdiocese has said the complex is needed in a city with a shortage of affordable housing and that there is little it can do to preserve the building, which it says would cost at least $5 million to repair _ money the archdiocese says it and the parish simply don’t have.
The federal grant is crucial for funding the project. HUD officials in New York are currently assessing the issue and will have to make a recommendation to HUD in Washington shortly about the archdiocese’s funding proposal.
Following a series of informal demonstrations to save the church in August, HUD has received letters and appeals from local and national historic preservation groups, a petition signed by more than 400 persons and a statement from the descendant of Mayer of Munich, the famed maker of the stained glass windows, the New York Times reported.
“The demolition of St. Thomas the Apostle Church would be a barbaric act, and no economic interest could excuse such wrongdoing,” wrote Gabriel Mayer of Munich.
New York preservationists agree, and say demolishing the church, located in south-central Harlem, would be an aesthetic catastrophe.
“(The proposal) would not only destroy an irreplaceable historic structure but greatly damage the surrounding neighborhood,” Simeon Bankoff, head of the Historic Districts Council, a New York preservation group, wrote in opposition to the archdiocese’s plans.
The Gothic-style church was dedicated in 1907 and has been hailed for its striking high altar and fan-vaulted ceilings, as well as its intricate stained-glass windows.
Joseph Zwilling, a spokesman for the archdiocese, told Religion News Service the archdiocese still expects the project to be approved for federal funding. He defended the archdiocese’s decision to demolish the church building, reiterating its position that the archdiocese has little choice given the upkeep and repairs needed and the fact that St. Thomas the Apostle has had a dwindling membership for years.
“We’re seeking to continue our ministry to the people of Harlem in a new way,” Zwilling told RNS, underlining the need for affordable housing for Harlem’s senior citizens.
_ Chris Herlinger
Pope Asks Bishops to Support Priests Who Suffered From Scandals
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope John Paul II called on bishops from the Boston and Hartford, Conn., areas to give strong support to priests in their dioceses, who “suffered deeply” from the effects of the pedophile scandals.
“In a word, tell your priests that I hold them in my heart,” John Paul said.
Although the pope made no direct reference to the scandals over pedophile priests, which had their epicenter in Boston, his meaning was clear as he addressed bishops from the Boston and Hartford ecclesiastical provinces.
“In a particular way I would ask you to be strongly supportive of your brother priests, many of whom have suffered deeply because of the much-publicized failings of some of the church’s ministers,” he said.
The bishops were at the Vatican for the “ad limina” visits that the entire U.S. church hierarchy will make by the end of this year. All diocesan bishops are required to travel to Rome every five years to report directly to the pope and Vatican officials and hear their counsel in what are called ad limina visits, a Latin reference to the threshold of the apostles’ tombs.
In addressing each group of bishops, John Paul has spoken warmly of the American church in an apparent effort to encourage its recovery from the widespread scandals over pedophile priests that erupted in the Boston archdiocese in 2002, and in July, forced the Archdiocese of Portland (Ore.) to declare bankruptcy.
A study carried out for the church reported on Feb. 27 that 4,392 priests abused 10,667 minors during the past half-century. Many of the victims are now suing for damages in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, and priests untouched by scandal have become demoralized in the face of public outrage.
John Paul asked the bishops to convey his “personal gratitude for the generous and selfless service which mark the lives of so many American priests as well as my deep appreciation of their daily efforts to be models of holiness and pastoral charity in the Christian communities entrusted to their care.”
“In a very real way,” he said, “the renewal of the church is linked to the renewal of the priesthood.”
_ Peggy Polk
`The Passion’ Sells 4.1 Million Copies on DVD/VHS
(RNS) Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” was resurrected on Tuesday (Aug. 31) when its DVD/VHS version hit shelves, selling 4.1 million copies _ a record for an R-rated film.
The controversial film about the death of Jesus has made $370 million since its box office debut in February, making it the year’s No. 2 most popular movie, behind “Shrek 2.”
“Finding Nemo” holds the record for one-day sales, at 8 million, and “Spider-Man” holds the top spot for live-action films, at 7 million, according to the Associated Press.
Although the film did not break any major records for its DVD/VHS release, its distributor, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, said it is the best-selling R-rated film of all time, the best-selling non-English film and the top independently distributed film in history.
Churches, which heavily promoted the film during its release on Ash Wednesday, were major buyers of the home editions, observers said, and major retailers like Wal-Mart planned to make the film available in bulk. Purchasers bought an average of 1.8 copies of the film.
The DVD edition of the film, which does not contain special features found on most DVDs, retails for $29.98, and the VHS edition sells for $24.98.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Quote of the Day: Roman Catholic Bishop Lawrence Brandt
(RNS) “The Catholic Church alone determines what it means to be Catholic, what the church’s core doctrinal holdings are, and what is required to be a Catholic in good standing. No institution of higher education, no political party, no board of trustees, no think tank, no group of theologians, no newspaper, no individual, no one _ no matter how well intentioned _ does this except the Catholic Church itself through its official teaching authority.”
_ Roman Catholic Bishop Lawrence Brandt of Greensburg, Pa., writing on Catholic politicians who dissent from church teaching and support abortion rights.
DEA/PH END RNS
