c. 2005 Religion News Service
Vatican Official Visits Moscow in a Sign of Thaw With Orthodox
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Cardinal Walter Kasper, the Vatican official in charge of ecumenical relations, flew to Moscow on Monday (June 20) amid signs that the new papacy has opened a new climate of dialogue between the Catholic and Russian Orthodox churches.
Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said that Kasper’s three-day visit was intended “to continue the dialogue with the Orthodox Patriarchate begun on the occasion of the solemn inauguration of the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI.”
From his first homily delivered after he was elected pope on April 19, Benedict has set the quest for Christian unity as a top priority of his reign.
The Russian Orthodox Church responded by sending Metropolitian Kyrill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, No. 2 in its hierarchy, to represent the ailing Patriarch Alexy II at Benedict’s inaugural Mass and to meet formally with the new Roman Catholic pontiff.
In Moscow, Kasper will sit down with Kyrill to make a fresh attempt at dealing with issues that have strained relations between the churches in the 15 years since the collapse of Soviet communism. No. 1 among them is Moscow’s charges that Catholics are seeking converts among traditionally Orthodox Russians.
Catholic Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz of Moscow, who led a pilgrimage to Rome last month, said he believed the climate had improved “because in the Moscow Patriarchate there was already appreciation for the doctrinal positions” held by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before he was elected pope.
As prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Ratzinger was known for his strict interpretation of issues dealing with Catholic faith and morals.
Kondrusiewicz said Catholics in Russia hold “the hope that Benedict XVI will succeed in what was not possible” for Pope John Paul II, who traveled widely throughout the Orthodox world but never to Russia.
Speaking at a Mass in the southern Italian city of Bari, which has strong cultural and commercial ties to the East, Benedict said on May 29 that his “fundamental commitment” as pope is to “work with all my energies to rebuild the full and visible unity of all followers of Christ.”
_ Peggy Polk
Ugandan Native Named to No. 2 Spot in Church of England
LONDON (RNS) A Ugandan lawyer who was forced to flee the dictatorship of Idi Amin has been named archbishop of York for the Church of England, the first black bishop to head a diocese.
The Most Rev. John Sentamu, bishop of Birmingham since 2002 and before that suffragan bishop of Stepney, was appointed by the British government on Friday (June 17) to the church’s No. 2 position.
Sentamu is not the Church of England’s first black bishop _ that honor falls to the Rev. Wilfred Wood, the Barbados-born suffragan bishop of Croydon from 1985 to 2002. Sentamu is, however, the first black man to head a diocese.
Sentamu succeeds the Most Rev. David Hope, who resigned last year and then took up the post of vicar of St Margaret’s in Yorkshire. Welcoming the appointment of his successor, Hope said, “I am confident that he is God’s choice for this important post.”
The leader of the Church of England, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, said he was “absolutely delighted” at the appointment, and looked forward with “great enthusiasm” to working with his new colleague.
“He is someone who has always combined a passion for sharing the gospel with a keen sense of the problems and challenges of our society, particularly where racism is concerned,” Williams said. “His ministry in London and Birmingham has been praised by Christians of all backgrounds. He is a caring pastor and an exciting communicator.”
Sentamu, 56, fled Uganda in 1974 when as a judge he refused to bend the law to Idi Amin’s whims. In England, he earned a doctorate at Cambridge and was ordained a priest in 1979. He was ordained a bishop in 1996.
_ Robert Nowell
Christian Reformed Church Votes to Remain Governed by Men
PALOS HEIGHTS, Ill. (RNS) The Christian Reformed Church will continue to be governed by men only _ for now.
The all-male CRC Synod on June 15 backed away from a proposal to allow female delegates at its annual policymaking meeting.
When a majority of regional governing groups allows female ministers, then allowing women delegates should be considered, delegates decided. Twenty-two of 47 the church’s governing bodies, called classes, allow female ministers.
The vote came shortly after one woman urged delegates to have the “courage” to allow female delegates. Stephanie Baker Collins afterward called it “the most important change we need to make.”
“It’s just untenable that women who serve in so many capacities in the denomination can’t be part of the decisionmaking body of the church,” said a tearful Collins, one of four women on a study committee who recommended the change.
But others feared the move would open up tender wounds from the CRC’s decadeslong battle over women in office.
“At this point, it would have been a mistake to push it further,” said the Rev. Daniel Mouw of South Grandville (Mich.) Christian Reformed Church. “There are many people who still believe deeply women should not be serving as ministers.”
Delegates also turned down a study committee recommendation that local churches should be able to ordain women even if their classis does not approve.
But the Synod did encourage churches to invite women to preach, called for inclusive language on ordination forms and allowed women to represent Synod at classis meetings.
Not all who spoke against women delegates were men. Marlys Popma, of a women’s advisory panel, pleaded not to change course now. “There are thousands of women out there like me who stand firm for our traditional views,” Popma said.
The 273,000-member Christian Reformed Church was started by Dutch Calvinist immigrants and split from the Reformed Church in America in 1857 but continues close ties with it.
_ Charles Honey
Boston Clergy Target At-Risk Youth in Summer Campaign
BOSTON (RNS) In a bid to head off hot-weather violence before it starts, Boston’s clergy are doubling last year’s efforts to reach youth in troubled neighborhoods.
Clergy announced on June 14 that they would be working closely with City Hall in targeting 14 trouble spots, up from six last year. To execute the project, participation will come from volunteers at about 40 local churches _ twice as many as took part last year.
“To make sure we don’t get caught off guard, we’re trying to brace ourselves for this summer,” said the Rev. William E. Dickerson II, pastor of Greater Love Tabernacle in Dorchester and a leader in the effort. “We want to make sure that we squash some (conflicts) because some things do come about during the winter, and we want to handle it in the summer, so we’re going to try to intervene in some of those situations.”
Community meetings, neighborhood walks and prayer vigils will occur primarily in neighborhoods where gunfights and other violence have flared in the past year, Dickerson said. Certain neighborhoods have seen the rate of incidents go up, he said, which makes an expanded effort necessary.
Churches will collaborate with local police and social service agencies to diffuse tensions among groups of teens, some of which are gangs. But in a time when budget cuts make state and federally funded summer jobs scarce, volunteers will face a challenge, Dickerson said.
_ G. Jeffrey MacDonald
Quote of the Day: Sociologist and `Bowling Alone’ Author Robert Putnam
(RNS) “The mountain bikers for God, the geeks for God, the small group for people who have breast cancer or whose spouses have breast cancer. In the context of a very big organization, everybody feels connected to some very small group. If someone is sick, they’ll bring them chicken soup. … In some sense, they’re replacing the Kiwanis.”
_ Sociologist and `Bowling Alone’ author Robert Putnam, discussing how megachurches have created social connections through various internal small groups. He was quoted by USA Today.
KRE/JL END RNS