c. 2005 Religion News Service
Oregon Supreme Court Invalidates Same-Sex Marriages
(RNS) The Oregon Supreme Court on Thursday (April 14) invalidated the marriages of 3,000 same-sex couples and refused to decide whether gays and lesbians should have the same rights and benefits as married couples.
The decision was a victory for social conservatives who backed Measure 36, the 2004 initiative that defined marriage as being between one man and one woman.
“The people have preserved marriage, and the court has recognized that the licenses issued contrary to state law are invalid,” said Jordan Lorence, senior counsel of the Alliance Defense Fund, which had lawyers arguing that side of the case. “It’s a great day for Oregon.”
Gay rights advocates can file a new lawsuit to seek to obtain equal benefits, but the process could take several years.
Basic Rights Oregon, a leading gay-rights organization, lamented the ruling but pledged to continue to fight politically and legally.
“We feel enormous sadness knowing that thousands of same-sex couples who recently celebrated their first anniversaries as married couples have had those marriages painfully revoked,” the group said in a statement, referring to the licenses that Multnomah County began issuing in March 2004.
The day before the state’s high court decision, Gov. Ted Kulongoski and a bipartisan coalition of state senators introduced legislation allowing civil unions for same-sex couples and outlawing discrimination against gays and lesbians. The ruling now removes any pressure from the 2005 Legislature to act.
States across the country are debating similar issues. The Connecticut House of Representatives voted Wednesday to permit same-sex civil unions but amended the legislation to include a definition of marriage as the union of a man and a woman. Earlier in April, Kansas became the 18th state to pass an amendment banning gay marriage.
_ Staff writers from The Oregonian and Adelle M. Banks
Cardinals Choose Rooms to Prepare for Conclave
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Preparing for what some predict will be a short conclave, Catholic cardinals drew lots Thursday (April 14) to choose the rooms they will occupy in the hospice-hotel where they will be sequestered until they elect the next pope.
The 115 cardinal-electors had 106 suites, 22 single rooms and one apartment available to them in the Domus Sancta Martha, or St. Martha House, built by Pope John Paul II inside the Vatican walls in 1996. Between conclaves it provides quarters for high-ranking visitors.
Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said the cardinals divided up the rooms at their daily meeting to finalize arrangements for the conclave, which will open Monday with a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica. The cardinals are expected to cast their first ballots late Monday afternoon.
Like the cardinals, conclave aides and confessors, the staff of the hotel must swear to maintain secrecy about everything to do with the voting. No cell phones, computers or faxes will be permitted to cardinals or staff for the duration.
Predictions were for a relatively short conclave.
Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, the Portuguese prelate who headed the Congregation for the Causes of Saints under John Paul, told reporters he encountered in St. Peter’s Square on Wednesday that he believed the conclave would be brief.
“The Holy Spirit works in a hurry,” he said.
Ambrogio Piazzoni, a layman who is vice prefect of the Vatican Library and an expert on conclaves, noted in an interview with the newspaper Il Mattino that all the conclaves of the 20th century were relatively brief, none of them lasting more than five days. This could be even briefer, he said, because cardinals now travel more and so they “already know each other before coming to Rome to elect the pope.”
Episcopal Church Leaders `Voluntarily Withdraw’ From Anglican Meeting
(RNS) The Episcopal Church Executive Council has decided to “voluntarily withdraw” its official participants from a June global steering committee meeting of the worldwide Anglican Communion.
“Representative consultation is an essential component of our life as a church,” reads a letter co-authored by the church’s Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold. “We struggled to discern how best to respond to the request.”
The statement, sent to Anglican leaders, was issued Wednesday (April 13) at the close of a special session of the council in Mundelein, Ill. It came after primates, or chief bishops, of the worldwide Communion asked in February that the Episcopal Church voluntarily decline to participate in the Anglican Consultative Council until 2008.
After facing international criticism for the election of an openly gay bishop in New Hampshire, the Episcopal bishops in March placed a self-imposed moratorium on the election of any new bishops until mid-2006. At the same time, they agreed not to bless same-sex unions at least until the church gathers next year for its General Convention.
The Executive Council called the issue of participating in the June consultation in Nottingham, England, “a weighty matter,” given their concern about unity and dialogue.
“We are mindful that Christ has made us members of one body, and that no part can say to any other, `I have no need of you,”’ the statement reads. “At the same time we wish to express our openness to the concerns and beliefs of others. In the spirit of the Covenant Statement recently adopted by our House of Bishops, we voluntarily withdraw our members from official participation in the ACC as it meets in Nottingham.”
Even though Episcopalians will not be official participants, they will still attend the meeting “to be available for conversation and consultation.”
The Episcopal representatives are expected to officially rejoin the gatherings when the 77 million-member Anglican Communion holds its once-a-decade meeting in England in 2008.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Despite Religious Protests, Caterpillar Continues Sales to Israeli Army
(RNS) Shareholders of Caterpillar Inc. overwhelmingly voted Wednesday (April 13) to continue the sale of bulldozers to the Israeli army, even though dozens of religious and other groups decry such sales.
Opposed to Israelis’ use of bulldozers in their long-standing conflict with Palestinians, organizations like Jewish Voice for Peace and the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation held protests outside Caterpillar headquarters in Peoria, Ill. They also protested at Caterpillar manufacturers and retailers in 20 locations from San Francisco to Buffalo, N.Y.
“Caterpillar is fully aware that their products are violating human rights laws, and they’ve chosen to do nothing about it,” said Josh Ruebner, a grass-roots advocacy organizer with the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation. “Israel is using them as weapons. Israel is armoring them and putting them into combat situations.”
Advocacy groups on both sides of the issue bought shares so they could vote on a proposal to discontinue sales to Israel submitted by an organizer with Jewish Voice for Peace. The proposal failed overwhelmingly, with only 3 percent voting in favor.
“We hold that an economic boycott is not legal,” said Juda Engelmayer, a spokesman with the New York-based advocacy group American Jewish Congress, which also bought a few shares so members could attend the Caterpillar meeting. “We have been trying to counter what seems to be a growing movement, which began with the Presbyterian Church, to establish a boycott of Israeli companies.”
The use of Caterpillar bulldozers by the Israeli Defense Forces to raze homes and destroy land as part of their war effort has been a contentious issue for several years, but has gained more force with the launching of selective divestment campaigns by the Presbyterian Church USA and the World Council of Churches, according to Engelmayer, who said Israel is being held to an unfair double standard not imposed on other countries.
“You can list almost any company and start listing hundreds of products used by so many nations that are being accused of (human rights violations),” Engelmayer said. “Israel is being targeted unfairly.”
_ Shawna Gamache
Husband of New Thought Minister Admits Taking Millions From Church
(RNS) Edward Morrissey, husband of former Oregon church pastor Mary Manin Morrissey, admitted in federal court Wednesday (April 13) that he defrauded members of his wife’s church in soliciting $10.7 million in loans.
He pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering, a felony that could get him 36 months or more in federal prison.
Edward Morrissey, 57, acknowledged he misled parishioners of the Living Enrichment Center, a now-defunct Wilsonville, Ore., church that was a national mecca for the New Thought movement, a set of ideas stemming from mid-19th-century U.S. philosophers who emphasized the power of thought. The teachings and example of Jesus Christ were central touchstones, but the church also drew from other religious leaders.
Edward Morrissey admitted not fully revealing to church members the terms and security of the loans. He also admitted using parishioner loan proceeds for personal expenses.
Edward Morrissey “deceived congregants into thinking they were loaning to the church and that their loans were secured,” said Allan Garten, the assistant U.S. attorney who helped investigate the case. “Not only were the loans not secured, but some of the money was also going for the personal use of Mr. Morrissey and his wife.”
The church, which once boasted 4,100 members, collapsed last summer amid growing questions about the Morrisseys’ handling of the loan proceeds.
Mary Morrissey, 55, did not attend her husband’s plea hearing in U.S. District Court.
_ Jeff Manning
Editors: Check the RNS photo Web site at https://religionnews.com for a photo of Switchfoot to accompany this story.
Switchfoot, the Crabb Family Earn Top Gospel Music Honors
(RNS) The alternative rock band Switchfoot and the Crabb Family, a Southern gospel group, were among the big winners of the Gospel Music Association’s annual awards Wednesday (April 13) in Nashville, Tenn.
Switchfoot earned four Dove Awards as a group _ including artist of the year _ and an additional honor for lead songwriter Jonathan Foreman.
The Crabb Family won in several categories, including Southern gospel, traditional gospel and country, garnering four awards as a group and several others for individual family members.
“I love the fact that Switchfoot and the Crabb Family share top Dove Award honors this year because it powerfully reveals the variety of cultural expressions of the gospel through music,” said John W. Styll, president of the Gospel Music Association, in a statement. “These two groups could not be more different culturally and musically, and yet the message of the gospel is evident in both of them.”
Movie mogul Mel Gibson was among the Dove Awards recipients this year, honored when “The Passion of the Christ Original Motion Picture Soundtrack” was named instrumental album of the year.
The 36th annual awards ceremony, officially called “The Annual GMA Music Awards,” was held at the Grand Ole Opry House. It will be televised in national syndication in June.
Winners in some key categories were:
Artist of the Year: Switchfoot
Male Vocalist of the Year: Jeremy Camp
Female Vocalist of the Year: Nicole C. Mullen
Group of the Year: Casting Crowns
Songwriter of the Year: Mark Hall
Song of the Year: “Who Am I” by Mark Hall
New Artist of the Year: Building 429
_ Adelle M. Banks
Quote of the Day: Brazilian Priest Julio Lancelotti
(RNS) “The church became like the evangelicals, focusing on individuals instead of collective society. But that’s because in the past the church decided to give the preferential option to the poor, and the poor took the option and chose the evangelicals.”
_ The Rev. Julio Lancelotti, a Brazilian Catholic priest, on the struggle of the Roman Catholic Church in Latin America to keep poor parishioners, who have been leaving in large numbers for evangelical churches stressing an individualistic spirituality. He was quoted by The Washington Post.
MO/PH END RNS
