c. 2005 Religion News Service
Catholic Leaders Take Steps to Strengthen Cooperation With Laity
WASHINGTON (RNS) Three years after a sexual abuse scandal damaged the Catholic Church’s credibility with parishioners, Catholic lay and religious leaders launched a new group Monday (March 14) to address financial and management challenges faced by the American church.
In their “Report on the Church in America,” several dozen educators, business leaders, lawyers and others recommended a larger role for clergy and lay people in the selection of bishops, and outside reviews of diocesan finances.
One result of the report is the National Leadership Roundtable on Church Management, a new organization seeking to strengthen church finances, staff recruitment and leadership. It will be based in Washington and led by Ana Villamil Kelly, associate director of the office for laity with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Geoffrey Boisi, a retired businessman and founding leader of the roundtable, said recent research has shown church attendance and financial support in the Catholic Church are decreasing. He also said the average age of Catholic Church leaders and members of religious orders is over 50.
“We have to act now,” Boisi said, encouraging Catholic leaders to improve communication and transparency among Catholic groups. The Catholic Church also needs to “accelerate outreach to young people,” Boisi said, to attract the next generation of leadership.
Bishop Dale Melczek of Gary, Ind., said the roundtable will allow the “gifts of the laity” to be incorporated into church leadership, promote dialogue and identify the best practices among dioceses.
“We welcome this project and what it holds for the church,” Melczek said.
Among the long-term recommendations of the report are improved outreach to Hispanic and Asian communities, establishing a new training program for bishops and the creation of a U.S. Catholic Career Service and Youth Corps to train young people for lifetime careers in the church.
Bishop J. Kevin Boland of Savannah, Ga., said he supports greater collaboration with the laity to seek constructive responses to struggles facing the church.
“In years to come I hope history will give credit to the church for a positive response to the sex abuse crisis,” Boland said, referring to recent reports of diminished trust among Catholic parishioners as a result of the clergy sex abuse scandal.
The steps taken with the report’s 48 recommendations and the new organization come after two years of meetings and discussion among 12 bishops, one archbishop and dozens of other Catholic leaders _ including Christopher Anderson, executive director of the Washington-based National Association for Lay Ministry; U.S. Circuit Judge Guido Calabresi; and Mary Bendyna, executive director of the Washington-based Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate.
Frank Butler, president of FADICA (Foundations and Donors Interested in Catholic Activities), a Washington-based watchdog group for Catholic donors, said he hopes getting priests’ councils involved in the national leadership roundtable will increase a sense of ownership among Catholic clergy.
The report’s findings were produced during a two-day discussion held at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School in Philadelphia in July 2004.
_ Celeste Kennel-Shank
`Miss Canada Pakistan’ Pageant Comes Under Fire From Muslims
TORONTO (RNS) The organizer of a beauty pageant that will pick Miss Canada Pakistan this weekend says she will not be deterred by Muslim conservatives opposed to the event on religious grounds or moderates who say it demeans women.
The contest, now in its third year, was the target of hate mail and bomb threats when it was held in Ottawa, where police and private guards were stationed around a one-block perimeter of the venue.
Police in Toronto, where Saturday’s (March 19) event will take place at a banquet hall, are preparing to beef up their presence.
The Toronto Star reports that when Sonia Ahmed, the pageant’s Karachi-born coordinator, recently appeared on a local Pakistani radio show, she was bombarded by angry callers.
“They basically told me: `You’re doing something dirty. Don’t do this … or else.’ They have a misconception about the show that it’s about showing off flesh. It’s not. It’s 50 percent beauty, 50 percent brains,” she said, pointing out that the contest will not include a swimsuit competition.
“We’re not saying we don’t want women in hijab or we don’t respect the religion, but this is the 21st century,” said Ahmed, 26. “Women have the freedom to do what they want.”
But Haroon Salamat, head of the TARIC Islamic Center of Toronto, argued such contests have no place in Islam. “Any exhibition of women’s beauty is not permissible. External beauty is not something to celebrate on stage. It’s for your spouse.”
The imam at one of Toronto’s largest Islamic centers agrees. “Women are degraded by being paraded in front of hundreds of men who are at liberty to cast their lustful gazes,” says Husain Patel, spiritual leader at the Islamic Foundation of Toronto. “I would urge my sisters to find better ways to compete against each other.”
Moderate voices also condemned the pageant.
“It trivializes women and objectifies them in a sexual context,” said Tarek Fatah of the relatively progressive Muslim Canadian Congress. Alia Hogben of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women called the contest “a bit silly.”
Ahmed says calls to cancel the pageant are “intimidation tactics” and won’t deter her.
In 2003, the wife of Pakistan’s high commissioner (or ambassador) to Canada was slated to be a judge but pulled out due to protests.
Despite the controversy, The Star reported that the $75 tickets to the pageant are selling well.
Of the 40 women who applied to be contestants this year, Ahmed picked 13 to compete, some from as far away as Montreal and Halifax.
_ Ron Csillag
Community of Christ Officials Tap New President; Final Decision in June
(RNS) Officials of the Community of Christ have selected a new president who must be affirmed at a special June meeting of the church body in Independence, Mo.
Stephen M. Veazey, a member of the church’s Council of Twelve Apostles since 1992, has been selected to succeed W. Grant McMurray, who resigned in November, citing “inappropriate choices” and the onset of Parkinson’s disease.
“As Brother Veazey’s friends and colleagues, we affirm his gifts of visionary leadership, prophetic insight, humility, integrity, compassion, missionary passion and commitment to Jesus Christ,” wrote other members of the council in a March 4 letter to church members. “These spiritual gifts are accompanied by the wisdom he has gained through many years of experience, serving and witnessing in many nations.”
In 1992, Veazey was given a special assignment as director of field ministries for the religious organization. He also has been involved in ministries related to young adults, campus activities and the starting of new churches.
A special World Conference will be held June 2-5, at which delegates will make a final decision about Veazey’s proposed leadership.
When McMurray resigned, church officials said the move did not involve “financial irregularities.”
The denomination _ renamed four years ago from the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints _ has about 250,000 members in more than 50 nations. It dates from 1830 and split from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons) in the mid-19th century.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Pittsburgh Bishop Comes Out Against Embryonic Stem Cell Research
(RNS) The Roman Catholic bishop of Pittsburgh issued a pastoral letter saying it is wrong to kill human embryos to study or harvest their stem cells, and that research on adult stem cells is more productive.
“According to the most recent research, adult stem cells have produced 140 successful treatments for 56 diseases,” wrote Bishop Donald Wuerl, who has done extensive study on bioethical issues and sometimes advises other bishops on such matters.
“Morally, ethically and humanly speaking, one cannot justify taking innocent human life for any alleged good that might come from it. But even pragmatically, the potential benefit of embryonic stem cell research is a poor argument for (government) funding. Research conducted anywhere in the world has yet to produce a single medical benefit to any patient anywhere in the world.”
His letter did not break new theological ground, but sought to put complex arguments in simple terms. Because embryos are living, growing humans, he wrote, “We are not free to treat embryos the same way that we would treat a cancer tissue, or even a laboratory rat.”
Wuerl wrote that scientific advances must not trump moral reflection. “We are not free to stand by and watch as others formulate a whole new culture in which human life is viewed basically as a commodity that can be created for parts that are bought and sold.”
Richard Doerflinger, deputy director of the Pro-life Activities division of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said Wuerl’s letter was the most extensive statement written by an individual U.S. bishop on stem cell research.
In some states whole groups of bishops have made collective statements in response to specific legislation, and a few other bishops have given speeches on the topic. Wuerl’s letter was not in response to any specific proposed legislation.
_ Ann Rodgers
Quote of the Day: California Assistant District Attorney Tim Stoen
(RNS) “You were right about Jim Jones and the People’s Temple. I was totally wrong. If I had not been ideologically blinded by a utopian worldview, I should have been open to the truth you were trying to tell. … I have asked God to forgive me for my wrongdoing in being a part of the People’s Temple. … I also pray you can forgive me.”
_ Tim Stoen, assistant district attorney in Humboldt County, Calif., and a former top aide to mass murderer and cult leader Jim Jones, writing a letter of apology to former religion writer Les Kinsolving, who wrote in the San Francisco Examiner in the 1970s about unusual practices at the People’s Temple in Mendocino County. He was quoted by the Eureka Times-Standard.
KRE/PH END RNS
