c. 2005 Religion News Service

Methodist Giving Increases 4 Percent Despite Membership Loss

(RNS) Giving to the United Methodist Church in United States was up nearly 4 percent in 2004 despite a membership decline of more than 69,000, church officials said.

Methodists contributed $116.8 million to the church’s seven main budgets, up $4.4 million from 2003. Combined with other funds, the church’s members gave $159.3 million to various church programs.

The church counted just less than 8.2 million members in the United States, a drop of 69,141 from 2003. The church has an additional 1.9 million members in Europe, Africa and Asia, with the highest-reported growth in Africa.

Of the $159.3 million in total giving, about $1.6 million went to relief efforts for the South Asia tsunami. Because the disaster occurred late in the year, church officials said much of the relief efforts will be reported in 2005 figures.

“We are thankful for all those who yearly make it possible for their church to meet needs that they will never personally see,” treasurer Sandra Lackore said, according to United Methodist News Service. “That’s what keeps our connectional covenant strong.”

_ Kevin Eckstrom

Recall of American Baptist Missionaries Averted by Spurt in Giving

(RNS) An international missions official for the American Baptist Churches USA has announced that a feared recall of missionaries will not happen in 2005.

Last summer, American Baptist leaders said they needed to close a $1.5 million budget gap to prevent the recall.

“A dramatic increase in giving combined with extraordinary cost reductions due to the actions of missionaries and staff have allowed us to avoid a mandatory recall of missionaries this year,” said the Rev. Charles H. Jones, acting executive director of American Baptist International Ministries, in a Feb. 24 announcement from the denomination.

He said giving through the World Mission Offering and other denominational channels provided more than $1 million in support to his division. In addition, more than a dozen missionaries chose to take part in a “voluntary recall” to reduce costs and have pursued other ministries.

“We praise and thank God for the amazing movement of the Spirit and the generous response of our brothers and sisters in the churches,” said Jones, whose office is in Valley Forge, Pa.

“There is an enormous amount of work to be done, but the testimony of these last few months strengthens our faith and enables us to address the challenges ahead with renewed energy and hope.”

_ Adelle M. Banks

Cardinal Warns Same-Sex Marriage in Canada Will Erode Religious Freedom

TORONTO (RNS) A Canadian cardinal is warning that the future of religious freedom in Canada is threatened by a bill that would permit same-sex marriage because it would punish preachers who speak out against homosexuality.

Proponents of the bill being debated in Parliament say it would merely permit civil gay marriages, and would not regulate speech. But if it’s passed into law, “there (will) be further pressure to get religious recognition of the same thing,” Cardinal Marc Ouellet said in a session with reporters on Friday (Feb. 25) during a stop in Toronto. Ouellet is the Roman Catholic archbishop of Quebec and one of three Canadian cardinals.

If the federal government passes the bill, it will make Canada the third country in the world to legalize homosexual marriage. The bill protects religions from being forced to recognize or sanctify gay marriages, “but even if we received guarantees that we will be protected, who knows if tomorrow, with further pressure, there will be further change?” said Ouellet. “On what can we base (assurances) that there will be no change afterwards?”

Like other religious leaders in Canada, Ouellet worries that faith groups could face prosecution if they continue teaching that homosexuality is a sin.

“If I cannot teach the doctrines of the church, where is religious freedom? If they bring me to the court because I teach against homosexuality as part of the doctrine of the Catholic Church, I will be accused of homophobia,” he said. “Those things are very serious, and it’s on the way. We are very concerned, very concerned with the future.”

Ouellet warned that the state is advocating a lifestyle that goes against natural order.

“Religious rights are grounded in natural law. Natural law is understood by all cultures and religions that marriage means a union between a man and a woman. This is the common, basic understand of marriage since the beginning of humanity. Both church and state should agree on that.”

_ Ron Csillag

Conservative Groups Pressure Cable Company to Stop Marketing Porn

WASHINGTON (RNS) Conservative religious groups are claiming victory after public pressure forced a major cable television company to stop marketing hard-core pornography to California cable subscribers.

In a partnership with Playboy Enterprises Inc., Adelphia Communications Corp. had planned to offer triple-X video-on-demand in Southern California. But after religious and conservative groups mounted a campaign against it, the company changed its mind.

“This stuff is illegal. Obscenity is not protected under the First Amendment,” said Robert Knight, director of the Washington-based Concerned Women for America’s Culture & Family Institute. “We’d give Adelphia a pat on the back, except that they should not have planned to break the law in the first place. Nobody who peddles porn cares a whit about women and children, or the men who get addicted and destroy their marriages and families.”

Adelphia launched the programming Feb. 4 and withdrew it one week later, according to the company. The American Family Association of Tupelo, Miss., and the National Coalition for the Protection of Children & Families in Cincinnati were among other groups urging people to send e-mail messages to President Bush and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales asking for an obscenity prosecution from the Department of Justice.

“This programming is widely distributed through satellite and other cable providers and there is readily available technology to block it,” Adelphia Vice President Paul Jacobson said in a statement. “Some concern has been expressed over this type of adult programming. Adelphia will remove it from all of its systems.”

_ Andrea James

Episcopal Bishop Releases Blues Recording to Raise Money for Youth

WASHINGTON (RNS) An Episcopal bishop has released a music CD featuring rock and blues standards like “Mustang Sally” and “Suzie Q.”

Bishop John Chane of Washington, D.C., recorded “The Chane Gang: A Bishop, His Band and the Blues,” reuniting a band Chane started playing with in high school.

Funds raised by sales will send Episcopal youth to the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve this summer. Directed by Alaska Bishop Mark McDonald, the youth will work among the 7,000-member Gwich’in tribe who live on the reserve, most of whom are Episcopalian.

“We want to send the young people up there to work with the bishop and his staff to better understand the environmental crisis there, especially for the native peoples,” said Chane, explaining that in his view drilling for gas and oil on the reserve would destroy the livelihoods of the Gwich’in and harm land they see as sacred.

Chane said the fund-raising is a joy for him.

“I’ve had my day doing rock and roll; what allows me to get out there and sell CDs is to raise money for the kids,” Chane said.

Having played drums professionally for several years before deciding to become a priest, Chane said this is his first music recording in 40 years.

Chane said he is able to relate spiritually to the songs on the CD.

“There’s one that really is very soulful, and has a direct religious connotation, and that’s `Stormy Monday,”’ Chane said. “It’s a beautiful blues standard, but if you listen to the words it really talks about prayer, about getting through the hard days.”

“As the boys in the band would say, the blues is church.”

While it is not being sold in mainstream music stores, the CD is being purchased by people across the country from the Web site of Chane’s diocese. It has already sold more than 600 copies.

“It just goes to show that guys who are in their 60s can still rock and roll,” Chane said.

_ Celeste Kennel-Shank

Quote of the Day: Kathleen McChesney

“I have been working in organizations that have been primarily male for 30 years. I don’t think about it.”

_ Kathleen McChesney, who recently left her post as director of the Office of Child and Youth Protection at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, on working in a primarily male environment for the bishops and at the FBI. She was quoted by the Associated Press.

MO/PH RNS END