c. 2004 Religion News Service
Episcopalians Likely to Consider Israeli Divestment
(RNS) Two top officials of the Episcopal Church said an investments panel will recommend a 12-month study of whether the denomination should divest from companies operating in Israel, following a similar move by the Presbyterian Church (USA).
The Presbyterians’ decision to explore divestment has angered Jewish groups who say the action is unfair. A high-level summit last week in New York (Sept. 28) failed to find common ground between the two faiths.
Episcopal Bishop Christopher Epting, the church’s ecumenical director, and the Rev. Brian Grieves, director of its peace and justice division, said recommendations on pulling church investments are expected in November from the church’s Socially Responsible Investment Committee.
The panel will recommend a 12-month investigation into what investments are “appropriate with companies that contribute to the ongoing (Israeli) Occupation (of Palestinian territories), especially in the areas of home demolitions, settlement building and the separation wall,” Epting and Grieves said Friday (Oct. 1) in a joint statement.
The panel met Sept. 24-25 to consider the issue after a delegation from the Anglican Peace and Justice Network said it would urge divestment by the Anglican Communion next June. The Episcopal Church is the U.S. branch of the Anglican Communion.
Ultimately, each of the 38 provinces in the Anglican Communion would set its own policy. In the Episcopal Church, decisions would be made by the church’s Executive Council “and/or” its General Convention legislative gathering, which next meets in 2006.
Epting and Grieves said the church will “welcome input” from other churches and Jewish groups. They also hinted that divestment could be adopted by dioceses and parishes “that may be interested in this effort.”
Jewish leaders say divestment from Israel does not threaten similar sanctions against Palestinians and puts Israeli security at risk. They are also concerned that divestment could spread to other churches.
David Elcott, interfaith director for the American Jewish Committee, plans to meet with Episcopal Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold on the matter next week and said he is confident that the Episcopalians will not follow suit.
“The Presbyterians voted with no conversation (with Jews) and were surprised by the response they got,” Elcott said. “The Episcopalians are not making that type of error.”
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Pope Makes Appeal for French Hostages
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Making a renewed appeal for the release of two French journalists and others held hostage in Iraq, Pope John Paul II has declared that nothing can justify “haggling over human lives.”
The 84-year-old Roman Catholic pontiff spoke Saturday (Oct. 2) at a Vatican ceremony in which the French Catholic television channel KTO and the political review International Policy conferred on him their Prize for Courage in Politics.
The prize, he said, “draws attention to the church’s mission of peace in a world where conflicts are sadly too numerous. I would like to launch a new appeal for peace, for building a society of brotherhood among peoples.”
The pope said he was thinking especially of Christian Chesnot, a correspondent for Radio France, and Georges Malbrunot of the newspaper Le Figaro, kidnapped Aug. 20, “who, through their testimony and their publications, are artisans of peace and of liberty and who are paying a heavy tribute to wars.”
“I also think of (other) hostages and of their families, innocent victims of violence and hatred, inviting all men of goodwill to respect the lives of persons,” he said. “No claim can justify haggling over human lives. The path of violence is a road without exit.”
Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said that John Paul was “overjoyed” at the freeing last week of Italian aid workers Simona Pari and Simona Toretta, both 29, who had been abducted in a raid on their office in Baghdad on Sept. 7.
_ Peggy Polk
Convictions Upheld for Klansman Who Bombed Historic Church
(RNS) The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals has upheld the 2002 murder convictions of former Klansman Bobby Frank Cherry in the 1963 bombing of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala.
The five-member court’s unanimous ruling was released Friday (Oct. 1).
Cherry, 74, is serving four life prison sentences. His appeal raised issues of lack of change of venue and claimed he suffered substantial prejudice because there was a delay between the 1963 bombing and the 2000 murder indictment.
Judge Sue Bell Cobb wrote there was no proof in the record before the judges that the state intentionally caused a delay.
Former U.S. Attorney Doug Jones, who helped convict Cherry, responded with joy.
“This is just another of a series of great days in this case and for the victims,” he said.
Cherry may still petition the Alabama Supreme Court to review the case, but Jones said that based on what he’s seen, Cherry has a hard road ahead.
“The opinion here is very strong,” he said.
The Sept. 15, 1963, blast killed Denise McNair, 11, and 14-year-olds Carole Robertson, Addie Mae Collins and Cynthia Wesley as they prepared inside a ladies basement lounge for a Sunday youth program.
Cherry’s co-defendant, Thomas E. Blanton Jr., was convicted in 2001 and is serving a life sentence. A third defendant, Robert Chambliss, was convicted in 1977 and died in prison.
_ Chanda Temple
Evangelist Billy Graham Plans Final New York-Area Crusade
(RNS) Evangelist Billy Graham plans to hold his final New York-area crusade in Madison Square Garden next June.
But officials who work with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association said there is no indication the evangelist plans that to be his last crusade ever.
“I think he’s holding to his statement in the past that he is not going to retire,” said Art Bailey, who will direct the New York crusade, in an interview with Religion News Service. “As long as he is physically able to continue, he’s going to continue.”
A. Larry Ross, Graham’s spokesman, said plans depend on the evangelist’s health and the invitations he receives from local churches.
“I think Mr. Graham, as he’s done in the past, is going to defer any decisions about crusades beyond New York until after the crusades this fall, just to see how he’s feeling, … how much gas he has in the tank,” Ross said in an interview.
Graham is scheduled to preach the week of June 20 at Madison Square Garden for a crusade that will involve churches from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
More immediately, he will lead crusades Oct. 7-10 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo., and Nov. 18-21 in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. Both were postponed due to surgeries he had earlier this year after suffering two serious falls.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Tutu Takes the Stage to Put Spotlight on Guantanamo Bay
NEW YORK (RNS) To a resume already gilded with honors and accomplishments, including the Nobel Peace Prize, Archbishop Desmond Tutu can now add the job title of actor.
Off-Broadway actor, to be exact.
The South African Anglican prelate made two appearances over the weekend as a British magistrate in the play “Guantanamo: Honor Bound to Defend Freedom.” He appeared in a performance at the Culture Project, a small theater in New York City’s Greenwich Village.
Tutu, the onetime anti-apartheid activist and more recently outspoken critic of the Bush administration’s post-Sept. 11 foreign policy, portrayed Lord Justice Steyn, a judge who raises objections to detainments at the U.S. military detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Tutu, 72, confided to a New York Times reporter prior to his first appearance Saturday evening (Oct. 2) that he had a bit of a case of stage fright. “I have butterflies,” Tutu told the Times, adding, “I’m not used to playing someone else. Why did I get myself into this?”
However, by all accounts Tutu overcame his stage fright for the brief role, helped perhaps by the standing ovation that greeted his initial appearance on stage Saturday evening. He repeated the performance in a matinee the following day.
“He was incredible,” Alyssa Seiden, the manager of the Culture Project company told the BBC. “He moved the crowd.”
The play, originally produced in London, examines the legal and moral questions posed by the detention system at Guantanamo and is based on the actual experiences of British residents who have been detained at the U.S. facility.
_ Chris Herlinger
Animals and Their Human Friends Blessed at Cathedral Ceremony
NEW YORK (RNS) Sally the camel had a little trouble mounting the cathedral steps. The German shepherd had a little accident on the floor. And there were a few yippers in the back that just wouldn’t let the priest talk.
But overall, the pet blessing Sunday at St. John the Divine Cathedral in Manhattan went off without a major mishap, as it has for 20 years. It was the Feast of St. Francis, the day when humans and animals alike can enter the house of God. In the case of St. John the Divine, they entered the biggest cathedral in the nation and the place that helped make modern-day animal blessings a national phenomenon.
Dancers in seashell-coated dresses twirled bright streamers through the Episcopal cathedral’s cool air. Lion roars echoed over the speakers while dancers flailed their arms to the beat of drums. When the dancers finished, Communion was set to Paul Winters’ soothing clarinet, accompanied by rhythmic cricket chirps.
This year’s pet procession brought about 3,500 human participants and an uncountable number of fuzzy, furry, prickly and scaly friends.
The featured procession of animals included a camel, a white reindeer, two white llamas, frogs, a miniature horse, a hawk and some cockroaches, to name a few. Only the turtles and llamas came two-by-two, despite the underlying Noah’s Ark theme.
Sally, the superstar of the day, appeared pleased if aloof after her personal blessing. The 12-year old-camel was imported from Australia and now lives at an animal sanctuary in upstate New York.
“She’s calm enough to chew her cud, which means she’s relaxed,” said Margaret Mydosh, Sally’s caregiver. “But to be honest, I haven’t seen a big change of character.”
The celebration was in the name of St. Francis of Assisi, known for his kindness to all animals. In the 12th century, Francis often brought animals to his humble chapel for blessings and he is said to have once given up his shelter in a small hovel for a donkey.
Pet blessings at St. John the Divine began 20 years ago to re-create and honor Francis’ ceremonies. St. John was the first church to reignite the pet blessing trend, according to Bishop Mark S. Sisk, who has been attending the event for 20 years. Pet blessings now take place across the country at many churches.
“We host the event because we want to celebrate the connection between humans and nature,” said Sisk, dressed in a flowing lavender robe. “So often, particularly in urban areas, people don’t see the connection.”
The festive day ended with dogs, cats, humans, cows and all the rest of the animals lining up on the lawn outside for personal christenings. Children danced around with fresh face paintings.
Many families said their children don’t come to church besides the pet christening. For the Rev. James Kowalski, who delivered the sermon, that was exactly what the day was all about.
“Today is about reaching out to all faiths,” said Kowalski, clearly pleased with the morning’s proceedings. “Sometimes we have to add to our tradition to make things truly interfaith. That’s our mission.”
_ Jaimal Yogis
Quote of the Day: Yusuf Islam, the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens
“It was almost as if I was watching myself in a Hollywood B-movie. The problem was no one ever told me what the lines were, let alone the script.”
_ Yusuf Islam, the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens, on the episode last month in which he was spotted on a Department of Homeland Security “no-fly” list, prompting U.S. officials to divert his United Airlines flight.
MO/PH END RNS
