c. 2005 Religion News Service
Falwell Upgraded to `Serious’ Condition, Gets Prayers From Jesse Jackson
(RNS) The Rev. Jerry Falwell’s condition was upgraded to “serious” Wednesday (March 30) as President Bush extended his best wishes and the Rev. Jesse Jackson offered his prayers with a touch of humor.
Jackson, Falwell’s frequent sparring opponent on television, and a political nemesis, called after the 71-year-old Falwell was sent to the hospital Monday, for the second time this year.
“He said, `Tell Jerry that I know his prayers aren’t strong enough, that real prayers are coming from his buddy Jesse Jackson, and I know he’s going to get better,”’ said Ron Godwin, president of Jerry Falwell Ministries. “Dr. Falwell chuckled and got a big grin from that.”
Godwin said doctors in Lynchburg, Va. are unsure what caused a build-up of fluid in Falwell’s lungs that sent him to the hospital late Monday. Falwell was taken off a respirator and was resting comfortably at Lynchburg General Hospital, Godwin said.
He said doctors have ruled out a recurrence of pneumonia, as originally thought, and also said Falwell did not experience a heart attack. Godwin said they hope tests will show what led to difficulty breathing and the build-up of fluid in his lungs.
“The doctor is very firm that this was not a heart attack,” Godwin said. “He has a very strong heart, so they want to know what happened. He apparently had an episode when his heart failed to beat productively.”
Falwell, the conservative founder of the Moral Majority and chancellor of Liberty University, was hospitalized for 13 days with pneumonia in February.
After Falwell was released from his initial hospital stay on March 4, he followed the women’s basketball team from Liberty University on the road as they competed in the NCAA tournament. He was well enough to preach on Easter Sunday at Thomas Road Baptist Church, one day before he was readmitted.
Tom Urtz, a spokesman for the hospital, said Falwell remains “clinically stable but critically ill” and was unsure how long Falwell would remain hospitalized.
“He has received wishes from the president, and his family is appreciative of the outpouring of prayers and good wishes that have come in,” Urtz said.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Catholic School Enrollment Falls 2.6 Percent Nationally
(RNS) Enrollment at Catholic schools has fallen 2.6 percent from last year, with 173 schools closed or consolidated and 37 new schools opened, according to the National Catholic Educational Association.
The statistics, released Tuesday (March 29) during NCEA’s annual convention in Philadelphia, reflect continuing challenges for urban schools where the number of students has dwindled even as many suburban schools have wait lists.
“Losing more than 100 of these schools this past year is a tragedy, not only for our church but for our country,” NCEA president Michael Guerra said.
Enrollment at the 7,799 elementary and secondary schools stood at 2.4 million for the 2004-2005 school year, a drop of 200,000 from five years ago. About three-quarters of the students are elementary-age.
Guerra said there is “growing demand in many parts of the country” for Catholic education, noting that one-third of Catholic schools have waiting lists. But in urban areas _ home to 44 percent of Catholic schools _ aging buildings and low numbers of children have closed many school doors.
The figures also showed that minorities make up more than a quarter of Catholic schools, and non-Catholics 13 percent. Nearly all (95 percent) of teachers are lay Catholics, most of them women, while only 5 percent are members of religious orders or clergy.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
American Hindu Group Decries Religious Intolerance in Pakistan
(RNS) Troubled by the destruction of Hindu temples in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, an American Hindu group is calling on the U.S. State Department to demand greater religious freedom in both countries.
The Hindu American Foundation (HAF), representing 2 million American Hindus, said a March 17 incident that left 18 Hindus dead in the town of Dera Bugti pointed to “growing intolerance in Pakistan.” The destruction came as a result of rocket fire during clashes between Pakistani forces and tribal insurgents, according to an HAF statement that cited press reports.
Stronger language, however, came in response to a March 24 incident in a Saudi Arabian apartment where HAF says one room functioned as an underground Hindu temple. Police reportedly raided the home and makeshift temple in search of alcohol and pornography, both of which are outlawed under the nation’s Islamic law. The priest and two others who refused to quit worshipping Hindu gods were reportedly deported.
“Desecration and destruction of a place of worship is a gross violation of human rights,” said Pawan Deshpande, a member of the Hindu American Foundation Executive Council. “For a so-called ‘religious’ police force, sponsored by the government, to perpetrate such depravity against a peaceful Hindu community deserves unequivocal condemnation by the global community.”
In response to what HAF sees as Hindu persecution in these two Muslim nations, the group is now urging the U.S. government to take up the issue in international dialogues among state officials. The United States regards both Pakistan and Saudi Arabia as important allies in the war on terror and as suppliers of oil.
HAF said it “applauds the courage of (Pakistani) leaders” who condemned the attack in Dera Bugti, but it criticized what it termed “blatant violations of religious freedom in Saudi Arabia against non-Islamic faiths.”
“The intolerance in Saudi Arabia is particularly worrisome because it is enforced and endorsed by the state government itself,” according to Aseem Shukla, M.D., a member of the Hindu American Foundation Board of Directors. “We call for the U.S. government to demand that Saudi Arabia implement immediate reforms with regards to religious freedom in that country.”
A September 2004 U.S. State Department report indicates an awareness of problems in Saudi Arabia.
“Despite close cooperation on security issues, the United States remains concerned about human rights conditions in Saudi Arabia,” the report says. Among the problems listed is freedom of religion.
_ G. Jeffrey MacDonald
Plans Made for India’s First Catholic University
(RNS) India will have its first Catholic university around June 2005, according to the indigenous Catholic religious order behind the university plan.
Indian Catholics’ highest decision making body, the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI), is backing a plan to establish Dharmadeepti University at Jagdalpur, a town in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh.
The Carmelite of Mary Immaculate (CMI) order is expected to spend more than $100 million to establish the university. The order was founded in India in 1829 by two Catholic priests in the south Indian state of Kerala, where it is traditionally believed that Thomas, an apostle of Christ, brought the Gospel message in the first century.
The order, with 2,500 priests, runs more than 50 hospitals across India.
Although Christians (Protestants included) make up 3 percent of India’s population of more than 1 billion, it has only been in recent years that some education laws were amended to facilitate setting up Christian universities.
The Carmelite order capitalized on the government’s 2001 Private Universities Act that allows private entrepreneurship in opening universities. CMI formed the Christian Educational Foundation of India and received a government permit in September 2003 to start the university.
A CMI spokesman said the time is ripe to set up the university and added that details about the new school will be released pending “more clarifications from the federal government and inputs from our educational advisers around the world.”
The Jesuit Catholic order is also considering a university in India, said a Jesuit social scientist, the Rev. Ambrose Pinto, head of one of India’s renowned arts and science colleges. St. Joseph’s College.
Pinto said in an interview that Jesuit leaders met in January in the Indian commercial capital of Mumbai to work out a plan to set up a Jesuit University in India.
Citing Georgetown (Washington) and Loyola (Chicago), Pinto said the new university will be modeled after Jesuit universities in the United States.
_ Steven David
Quote of the Day: The Rev. Jesse Jackson
(RNS) “This is one of the most profound moral issues of our time.”
_ The Rev. Jesse Jackson, speaking in Florida in support of a bid by Terri Schiavo’s parents to have her feeding tube reinserted. He was quoted by the Reuters news agency.
MO/JL END RNS
