c. 2004 Religion News Service

Pope Defrocks Priest Who Was Shot by Man Who Accused Him of Abuse

(RNS) Pope John Paul II has defrocked a Baltimore priest who was shot in 2002 by a man who said he was a victim of the cleric’s abuse.

Maurice Blackwell, former pastor of St. Edward’s Roman Catholic Church in West Baltimore, was “dismissed from the clerical state” at the request of Cardinal William H. Keeler of Baltimore, according to an announcement posted on a Web site by Keeler’s archdiocese.

According to the Associated Press, the defrocking became public in response to questioning by the AP, which reported the development Wednesday (Dec. 22). The announcement comes weeks before Blackwell, 58, is scheduled to go on trial on four counts of child sexual abuse against Dontee Stokes.

Stokes shot Blackwell in May 2002 at a time when there was national attention on the sexual abuse scandal involving Catholic priests. Baltimore prosecutors later charged the priest with molesting Stokes after reviewing the former altar boy’s allegations. Stokes was acquitted in December 2002 of attempted murder but served a sentence of home detention after being convicted on gun charges.

Blackwell, who has denied sexually abusing Stokes, was removed from ministry and priestly duties in 1998. He did not return calls from the Associated Press, the AP reported.

The archdiocese’s Web site announcement of Blackwell’s dismissal included a request that those knowing about child sexual abuse should report it to civil authorities and call an archdiocesan hot line if the abuse involved clergy or other church personnel.

_ Adelle M. Banks

Honeycutt, Former President of Southern Seminary, Dead at 78

(RNS) Roy Honeycutt, the former president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, died Tuesday (Dec. 21) after suffering head injuries in an accident at his home.

Honeycutt, 78, is remembered for his leadership of the Louisville, Ky., seminary from 1982 to 1993, when the Southern Baptist Convention was embroiled in controversy over shifts toward conservative leadership, Baptist news services reported.

“He gave so much of his life to the Southern Baptist Convention and to Southern Seminary in particular,” said R. Albert Mohler Jr., current president of the seminary, in a statement released by Baptist Press.

“He led during difficult times and was not afraid of controversy. At the personal level he was as gracious a human being as you could ever expect or hope to meet.”

Honeycutt, an Old Testament scholar, served as dean of the school of theology and provost before becoming the seminary’s president and previously was on the faculty at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Mo.

Duke McCall, his predecessor as Southern president, told Associated Baptist Press that Honeycutt “functioned in a troubled time in which he was the irenic spirit trying to find middle ground and a solution to a situation where there was no middle ground.”

After his retirement from the seminary presidency, Honeycutt, a Grenada, Miss., native, served as chancellor of Southern Seminary from 1994 to 1997.

_ Adelle M. Banks

State Court Says Religious Attire Can’t Determine Jury Selection

(RNS) The New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled that people cannot be barred from juries solely because their clothing or occupation suggest they are devoutly religious.

The court ruled Wednesday (Dec. 22) that an assistant Essex County prosecutor abused his discretion during jury selection when he tossed a man whose attire and prayer cap suggested he was Muslim, and another who said he was a missionary. The prosecutor contended that people who are “demonstrative” about their religions “tend to favor defendants.”

In a 6-0 decision written by Chief Justice Deborah Poritz, the court noted that followers of certain faiths are readily identifiable by their clothing and that some religions, notably Mormons, require missionary activity. Excluding them from juries because of those displays of faith amounts to nothing more than “religious bias rooted in stereotypes,” Poritz wrote.

The ruling entitles Lloyd Fuller, 24, of Orange, to a new trial on his conviction for robbing a take-out restaurant while armed with a water pistol. He was sentenced in 2001 to 10 years in prison and is currently at a halfway house.

“The court has struck another blow against those who would discriminate on the basis of religion,” said Assistant Deputy Public Defender Frank Pugliese, who argued Fuller’s case.

The ruling, which granted that jurors can be dismissed if there is some other evidence that they are biased, was applauded by the Rutherford Institute, a Virginia-based group that fights for religious liberty, and the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. Both had joined the case as friends of the court.

“Excluding people from juries based on their religious belief or expression violates the principles of freedom found in the Bill of Rights,” said Ed Barocas, legal director of the New Jersey ACLU.

_ Robert Schwaneberg

Church Services Offered for Those Feeling No Joy to the World

(RNS) A growing number of churches are offering “Blue Christmas” services to support the many people who feel heightened pangs of sadness, loss and grief during the holidays.

“My son died four years ago and I come to remember him. It’s comforting,” Ann Gabrielson said Tuesday night, after attending a pensive Blue Christmas service at St. Mary’s Anglican Church in Vancouver, Canada.

Christmas carols were sung in a minor key at the contemplative Blue Christmas liturgy, in which participants lit candles to remember family and friends who had passed away or to mourn the loss of relationships, jobs or health.

The Rev. Elizabeth Northcott said a tremendous number of people find the “glitzy” Christmas holidays an especially stressful time of year, because things are often far from perfect in their lives. She noted how recent medical studies show a spike in the use of antidepressants during the Christmas season.

During the Blue Christmas service, named after the song made famous by Elvis Presley, Northcott encouraged the men and women in the pews to recognize their grief “amidst the happiness of an excited world.” She asked them to “offer all your feelings to God” and find peace in “knowing you’re not alone.”

After the short eucharist liturgy, Northcott said Blue Christmas services are increasingly being offered in mainline Christian churches and some evangelical congregations in Canada and the United States.

They aim to help Christians and other people overcome their often-unrecognized emotions _ particularly that they feel bad about feeling bad at Christmas, when the culture expects them to be enthusiastic about stories of Santa Claus or the birth of Christ.

Gabrielson, whose Christmas-loving son died of a stroke at age 33, said she’s been coming for three years to the Blue Christmas service at St. Mary’s Church because “it’s a time when someone can shed a tear at a service and everyone understands.”

Northcott, who is also a pastoral counselor at St. Mary’s, said most Christians, as well as non-Christians, take a stoical approach to the emotional demand to be cheery at Christmas.

“For many it’s too painful to be vulnerable. They just don’t want to think about it during Christmas. As a coping mechanism, they just try to survive. They suck it up. Then they allow themselves to grieve after the season is over,” Northcott said.

“There’s no right or wrong. But Blue Christmas is a chance to offer a safe place to people who are experiencing brokenness. Sometimes you need to acknowledge Christmas is never going to be the same as it used to be. And that’s OK.”

_ Douglas Todd

Quote of the Day: Iraqi Christian George Goryal

(RNS) “We will go to the church only two at a time. When the first two come back, then two more can go. It’s safer this way.”

_ George Goryal, a Christian living in Baghdad, Iraq, on safety precautions he will take on Christmas Eve to protect his family from violence. He was quoted by the Chicago Tribune.

MO/PH RNS END