c. 2004 Religion News Service
Aging Pope Tells Vatican Aides He Relies Increasingly on Their Help
VATICAN CITY (RNS) In a rare reference to his increasing frailty, Pope John Paul II told his Vatican aides Tuesday (Dec. 21) that with the passing of the years he relies more and more on their help.
The 84-year-old pontiff made the admission at his traditional pre-Christmas audience for the staffs of his household and of the Roman Curia, the administrative and judicial bodies that help him govern the Catholic Church.
“Venerated and dear brothers, thank you for your presence and for the affection with which you surround me,” John Paul said. “The passing of the years makes one feel ever more keenly the need of the help of God and the help of men.”
The pope praised his aides for the “constant tuning” with which they work with him “at the service of the universal church, each carrying out the task given to him.”
Reviewing key events of 2004, John Paul stressed the importance of ecumenism, calling it “urgent to reconstruct full communion between Christians.”
“We thank God that the ecumenical force at various levels is intensifying thanks to constant contacts, meetings and initiatives with our brothers of different Orthodox and Protestant churches and ecclesial communities,” he said.
The pope stressed the importance of two visits to the Vatican by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, in June for the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul and in November to receive relics of the 4th century Sts. John Chrysostom and Gregory of Nazianus.
The pope also recalled his pilgrimage to the French shrine of Lourdes in August and his efforts there “to encourage European Catholics to remain faithful to Christ.”
The visit to Lourdes followed a rebuff by the writers of the new European Constitution, who refused his appeals for a reference to Europe’s Christian roots in the document’s preamble.
“It is, in fact, in one’s heart that one feeds those Christian roots of Europe from which in no small part depends the solid and just future of the continent and the entire world,” he said.
_ Peggy Polk
United Pentecostal Churches of Christ Install New Leader
(RNS) A Chicago pastor has been installed as the new leader of the United Pentecostal Churches of Christ International, a 15-year-old denomination.
Bishop Larry D. Trotter, senior pastor of the Sweet Holy Spirit Church in Chicago, was installed as the presiding bishop of the Pentecostal church organization on Dec. 11.
He succeeded Bishop J. Delano Ellis of Cleveland, who announced in June that he was resigning, in part due to health concerns.
Ellis, who has leukemia, will continue to serve as president of the Joint College of African-American Pentecostal Bishops, said Minette Jackson, director of communications for the bishops’ organization.
Ellis was the founding leader of the United Pentecostal Churches of Christ, which will now be based in Chicago.
Trotter, who has pastored the Chicago church for more than 23 years, recently resigned as third presiding bishop of the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship International. He was elected to a seven-year term as the new leader of the United Pentecostal Churches of Christ.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Survey: Catholic Institutions Wary of Investing in Violence and Sex
(RNS) A new survey shows that when Roman Catholic institutions invest their endowments, they increasingly want to make sure their dollars aren’t funding media enterprises that conflict with their moral values.
The finding emerged this month (December) from a 2004 survey of 151 Catholic institutions, including colleges, dioceses, religious orders and hospitals.
In comparing these results with those from their last survey in 2001, Christian Brothers Investment Services Inc. identified a growing wariness toward companies that profit from depicting violence and sex.
When ranking their chief social concerns, Catholic institutions put production of pornography at No. 3, up from No. 10 in 2001. In another shift, violence in the mainstream media hadn’t made the top 10 concerns of 2001, but this year it claimed the No. 6 slot.
The eighth biggest worry this year was a combined concern about sexually explicit content in mainstream media and the business of distributing pornography.
Abortion repeated this year as the No. 1 social concern of Catholic institutional investors, followed by environmental justice, which was not included in the 2001 survey. Concern to advance universal access to health care shared the No. 3 slot with concern to limit pornography production.
Other issues dropped in priority, such as the use of “sweatshop” labor, which fell from the No. 2 slot in 2001 to number eight in 2004.
“We go through this exercise to ensure that our socially responsible investing policy is aligned with the views of our participants,” said Christian Brothers Executive Vice President Francis Coleman. “As a result of these findings, we will be looking to increase our emphasis on promoting environmental justice and also curbing violence in the media.”
Investing with an eye toward what the church considers social responsibility has become a hallmark of investing by Catholic institutions. In this year’s survey, 83 percent of responding institutions claimed a goal of investing all their assets in alignment with their moral values.
To achieve their goals, institutions re-affirmed a two-pronged approach. Most survey respondents indicated support for avoiding companies whose products are irreconcilable with Catholic values, while elsewhere using shareholder clout to shape corporate policies according to Catholic values.
_ G. Jeffrey MacDonald
Scholar of Islam Honored as Washington, D.C. Professor of the Year
(RNS) Islamic Studies professor Akbar Ahmed has been named Washington, D.C. professor of the year.
The honor, sponsored by The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.
“As a Muslim educator, I am honored to have been selected for this American award,” said Ahmed, a Religion News Service columnist and a native of Pakistan. “It’s my hope that through education and dialogue, we can work together to bridge the gaps that divide us.”
Ahmed, American University’s Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies and professor of international relations, is also an anthropologist, writer and filmmaker. He is a former high commissioner of Pakistan to Great Britain.
He has been described by the BBC as “the world’s leading authority on contemporary Islam” and by Britain’s archbishop of Canterbury as “one of the most important scholars of Islam today.”
As part of his interfaith commitment, Ahmed has engaged in public dialogues across the United States and in Britain with Judea Pearl, father of slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.
The professor of the year awards, given to nominees from each state and the District of Columbia, has been in existence since 1981. It is the only national initiative designed to recognize excellence in undergraduate teaching and mentoring.
_ Mark O’Keefe
Quote of the Day: Evangelist Franklin Graham
(RNS) “If I just fed people and that’s all I did _ if I clothed people and that’s all I did _ I would be cheating people. I would be holding back the most important information that I have to give them. It would be a sin for me not to share with them my faith.”
_ Evangelist Franklin Graham in an interview with Newsweek
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