c. 2005 Religion News Service
Terri Schiavo’s Parents Meet Pope Benedict XVI, Other Vatican Officials
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Robert and Mary Schindler, the parents of the late Terri Schiavo, met with Pope Benedict XVI and other Vatican officials to thank them for the church’s support in their fight to keep their daughter alive.
The Schindlers met the new pope Wednesday (May 18) during a general audience at the Vatican. The couple carried a picture of their brain-damaged daughter, who died March 31 after her husband won a long legal fight to remove her feeding tube.
The Schindlers did not have a private audience with Benedict, but television showed Mary Schindler kissing the pope’s ring.
On Tuesday, the Schindlers met with Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. The Schindlers thanked the Vatican for its efforts to save Schiavo’s life and described the Missionary Association of the Gospel of Life, which they established in her memory.
The case took on added significance at the Vatican as the late Pope John Paul II’s health declined; he died two days after Schiavo. Last year, John Paul said continuing food and water to patients was “morally obligatory.”
In the weeks leading up to Schiavo’s death, several American bishops and cardinals voiced support for the Schindlers’ efforts. After she died, Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, who heads the Vatican’s office for saints, blamed her death on an “out-of-control state judge” who allowed the feeding tube to be removed.
_ Peggy Polk and Kevin Eckstrom
Congressional Bill Aims to Protect Pledge From Judicial Rulings
(RNS) Two members of Congress have reintroduced a measure that would restrict courts from ruling on cases involving the Pledge of Allegiance.
The goal of the Pledge Protection Act of 2005, introduced Tuesday (May 17), is to “protect the right of schoolchildren to say the phrase `under God’ while reciting the Pledge of Allegiance,” according to a statement released by the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo.
The Pledge Protection Act was originally introduced in 2003 in response to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that found the words “under God” in the pledge unconstitutional.
The 2003 bill passed by a vote of 247-173 in the House, but gained no traction in the Senate.
The bill is based on the power given to Congress in Article III of the Constitution to set the jurisdiction of federal courts, said Akin.
Akin and Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., who is sponsoring the bill in the Senate, said their focus with this version of the proposed legislation will be to get the bill passed in the Senate.
“It is time for Congress to take decisive action and protect the freedom of Americans to express their faith in God and the principle that it is God, not government, who grants our rights,” Akin said.
In a separate but related matter, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty filed a motion to dismiss the suit filed by Michael Newdow to remove the words “under God” from the pledge in California public schools.
According to the organization, which is representing California public schoolchildren and parents as well as the Catholic fraternal group Knights of Columbus, finding the words “under God” unconstitutional would mean that reciting the Declaration of Independence or the Gettysburg Address would also be unconstitutional since both mention the Creator as the source of rights.
Newdow’s original case was dismissed by the U.S. Supreme Court last year based on a technicality, and he refiled in January.
_ Yogita Patel
Catholic Lay Reform Organization Names New Director
(RNS) Voice of the Faithful, a Boston-based lay reform organization that claims 30,000 Catholics as members, has hired a veteran of public television as its new executive director.
Ray Joyce began oversight of the group’s day-to-day operations May 9. For the past 12 years, he worked at the WGBH Educational Foundation, an arm of Boston’s PBS station.
Joyce is a member of St. Zepherin Catholic Church in Wayland, Mass., and serves on the parish’s stewardship committee. He also co-chaired a committee to raise $1 million for a parish refurbishment project, and distributes Communion and helps lead a class for Catholic converts.
Joyce replaces Steve Krueger, the group’s former executive director who left last September. Jim Post remains as president of Voice of the Faithful.
Voice of the Faithful emerged in the wake of the clergy sex abuse scandal in the Archdiocese of Boston, and works to increase lay participation and financial accountability in the Catholic Church.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Survey Reveals Families and Faith Valued by Americans
(RNS) Most adults in the United States consider family a top priority, according to a recent survey.
Research conducted by the Barna Group found that of the 1,003 adults questioned, 44 percent ranked having a satisfying family life as most important. Women were more likely than men to prioritize family, as were respondents with children living in the household.
The second most popular priority was the understanding and carrying out of principles of faith; 18 percent of participants chose this response. Women were also more likely than men to place more importance on faith in their lives, as were adults ages 40 to 70 compared to younger adults who took part in the survey.
The purpose of the survey was to find what Americans perceive to be their purpose in life, which came from the popularity of the spiritual guidance book “A Purpose Driven Life” by Rick Warren.
Participants were chosen through a nationwide random sample, and were interviewed over the telephone in January. The margin of error for the findings is 3.2 percent.
The Barna Group is a research firm in Ventura, Calif.
_ Yogita Patel
A Year Later, Varying Interpretations of Mass. Gay Marriage Legacy
(RNS) A year after Massachusetts became the first _ and so far only _ state in the country to legalize gay marriage, conservative groups said marriage still “faces grave threats,” while gay marriage advocates say their progress has been slow but steady.
Tuesday (May 17) marked one year since the first gay couples in Massachusetts received civil marriage licenses after the state’s Supreme Court ruled in 2003 that it was unconstitutional to allow civil marriage only for heterosexuals.
In the past year, some 6,000 gay couples in Massachusetts have been married. A 1913 law prohibits non-resident gay couples from marrying in the Bay State.
A Gallup/CNN/USA poll showed that a majority of Americans _ 56 percent _ oppose gay marriage, although that number is down from a high of 68 percent in March. In the latest poll, 39 percent supported gay marriage.
“The message could not be any clearer _ the people know that marriage is a union between one man and one woman,” Glen Lavy, senior vice president of the Alliance Defense Fund, said in a statement.
“Despite the will of the people, affirmed through the ballot box and in recent opinion polls, marriage still faces grave threats,” Lavy said.
Five states are currently considering laws to legalize same-sex marriages or civil unions, and two others _ Connecticut and Vermont _ have approved civil unions for gay couples.
“There’s disagreement about how to change and how fast to change, but there’s at least, clearly, some emerging consensus that that’s the path we are on,” Mary Bonauto, of the Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, told USA Today.
However, 18 states have enacted constitutional amendments banning gay marriage _ 14 of them within the past year. Four additional states have constitutional bans pending approval by voters, and 13 others have amendments pending or under consideration by legislatures, according to an analysis by USA Today.
In Nebraska, a federal judge recently overturned that state’s constitutional amendment as too broad. In Massachusetts, an amendment that would ban gay marriage but create civil unions needs approval by the Legislature, and then by voters in 2006.
_ Heather Horiuchi and Kevin Eckstrom
Editors: The following is a retransmission of a May 17 digest item, with a new headline.
UCC to Consider Divestment as Tool to Impact Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
(RNS) The United Church of Christ will vote in July on whether to pull church money from U.S. companies involved in constructing Israeli settlements and security measures in Palestinian territories.
If approved, the 1.4 million-member church (with a $3 billion investment portfolio) would become the second U.S. Protestant body to pull investments from Israel in protest of what they call Israel’s harsh treatment of the Palestinians.
The Presbyterian Church (USA) voted last year to begin divesting from U.S. companies profiting from Israeli construction in the West Bank and Gaza. The United Methodist Church and the Presbyterians have used shareholder actions to protest use of the Illinois-based Caterpillar’s bulldozers to demolish Palestinian homes.
The UCC will also consider two related resolutions, one calling on Israel to tear down its separation wall in the West Bank, and a second that proposes further study of divestment. Church delegates will vote on the resolutions at the General Synod conference in July.
The resolution urging divestment was drafted by the church’s Penn West Conference, based outside Pittsburgh.
The resolution says economic pressure was used successfully to end apartheid in South Africa _ a comparison that angers Jewish leaders. It also states the church’s continued support of the existence of Israel as a nation, and opposition to anti-Semitism, noting “both the ancient Jewish people and Palestinian people are known as Semitic.”
Mark Pelavin, director of interreligious affairs for the Union for Reform Judaism, the largest U.S. Jewish denomination at 1.5 million members, called the UCC resolutions “counterproductive.”
“They’re cast in terms of helping the peace process,” Pelavin said. “I think they would have the opposite effect. Such one-sided approaches undermine rather than support the peace process.”
Pelavin said representatives of his organization would be talking to UCC ministers and congregations nationwide about other ways to use their financial resources to make an impact.
A model of selective investing in Israeli and Palestinian products through companies seen as socially responsible _ like ones being explored by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America _ is more positive than selective divesting, he said.
_ Celeste Kennel-Shank
Quote of the Day: Washington National Cathedral Spokeswoman Beth Mullen
(RNS) “People tend to take the self-guided tours … and are always looking for Darth. Last week, I saw about 50 people all at one time trying to spot him on the tour. Because of the movie, people are even more interested.”
_ Washington National Cathedral spokeswoman Beth Mullen, speaking about increased interest in the grotesque, or gargoylelike replica, of Darth Vader, villain of the “Star Wars” movies, on the Washington church. She was quoted by The Washington Times.
MO/PH END RNS
