c. 2006 Religion News Service
Editors: To obtain a file photo of James Towey, go to the RNS Web site at https://religionnews.com. On the lower right, click on “photos,” then search by subject (Towey).
White House Faith-based Initiatives Director to Lead Catholic College
(RNS) Jim Towey, the director of the White House Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives since 2002, announced Tuesday (April 18) that he is resigning his position to become president of a Catholic college in Pennsylvania.
Beginning July 1, Towey, 49, will be president of Saint Vincent College, a 160-year-old school in Latrobe, Pa., that is sponsored by Benedictine monks. He is expected to leave the White House by June 2.
President Bush expressed gratitude for Towey’s work at the Office of Faith-based Initiatives, which has helped establish 11 federal agency centers addressing religious and community charities and held 23 conferences across the country.
“I admire Jim for his compassion, his faith and his sense of humor,” the president said in a statement. “He is a man of great integrity, and I thank him for his service.”
Towey came to his White House post with a background that included addressing aging and health issues and serving as the lawyer for the late Mother Teresa. He has credited his time spent with the famous Catholic nun for his attention to those in need.
Towey defended Bush’s effort to increase access to federal funding for religious social services when it was criticized and sued by church-state separationists who thought the initiative blurred lines between faith and government. The Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of the Washington-based Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said Towey “waged an unrelenting war against church-state separation.”
When legislation stalled, Towey helped carry out parts of Bush’s agenda through executive orders that did not require the approval of Congress.
Towey said of Saint Vincent College: “The liberal arts education that is offered here is desperately needed in a culture often lacking direction and values and intellectual curiosity.”
Towey will replace James F. Will, who will continue as the school’s vice chancellor and also become president emeritus.
“His proven leadership and administrative skills, his commitment to public service, and his lifelong work with faith-based institutions dedicated to helping people most in need are unparalleled,” said J. Christopher Donahue, chairman of the school’s board of directors, of Towey.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Editors: To obtain a file photo of Robert Reccord, go to the RNS Web site at https://religionnews.com. On the lower right, click on “photos,” then search by subject (Reccord).
Southern Baptist North American Missions Executive Resigns
(RNS) The president of the Southern Baptist Convention agency dealing with North American missions has resigned two months after a state Baptist newspaper raised questions about his management practices.
Robert “Bob” Reccord resigned Monday (April 17) after nine years at the helm of the North American Mission Board. He was the first leader of the agency that was formed in 1997 under a restructuring plan that combined the Southern Baptist Convention’s former Home Mission Board, Radio and Television Commission and Brotherhood Commission.
“I am thankful for the countless number of people we have seen come to Christ and the thousands of churches we have seen planted and nurtured,” Reccord, 54, said in his resignation letter. “On the other hand, I regret we were not able to complete a number of things we started or dreamed about. I regret that events of recent weeks have created an environment which makes it difficult to lead the organization and to stay `on mission.”’
Reccord, who resigned immediately, had been part of a lengthy Feb. 16 analysis in The Christian Index, a biweekly newspaper that covers Georgia Baptists. The mission board is based in Alpharetta, Ga., an Atlanta suburb.
The analysis revealed a loss of 10 percent of funded career missionaries, a significant drop in cash reserves and conferences that had failed to draw hoped-for participation. Trustees of the missionary board investigated the newspaper’s claims and recommended “more stringent controls” and the “study of viability” of certain ministries, such as conferences. They attributed the missionary reduction to issues such as increased health care costs and changes in post-retirement benefits.
“Contrary to some opinions, Dr. Reccord is in no way being asked to resign, let alone forced to resign,” said North American Mission Board Trustee Chairman Barry Holcomb. “… He is taking this step for what he feels is best for Christ’s kingdom.”
He called Reccord an “`out-of-the-box’ thinker” and said he would serve as a “liaison ambassador” between the mission board and Promise Keepers, the evangelical Christian men’s organization based in Denver.
Carlos Ferrer, the mission board’s interim chief operating officer, will oversee leadership responsibilities and a search committee may be appointed at the trustees’ May 2 meeting, said mission board spokesman Martin King.
Joe Westbury, managing editor of The Christian Index, said he is hopeful about the future of the mission board.
“We should never be afraid of thinking outside the box, but we need to be sure in being visionary we don’t take financial risks that are not thoroughly considered,” he said.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Conservative Episcopalians Seeks Charges Against 35 Bishops
WASHINGTON (RNS) A new grass-roots group of conservative Episcopalians says it hopes to bring charges against the 35 bishops who participated in the installation of the church’s first openly gay bishop in 2003.
An online petition from the fledgling group, Lay Episcopalians for the Anglican Communion, says the bishops who helped install openly gay V. Gene Robinson as bishop of New Hampshire should face trial for heresy.
Under church law, 10 bishops are needed to bring charges _ known as a “presentment” _ against another bishop in church courts. The petition is intended to spur the bishops to file charges.
Robinson’s consecration has prompted controversy around the world, and the new group is hoping that a push from rank-and-file parishioners will cause the 43 bishops who voted against Robinson to now bring charges against their colleagues.
“Our target is what we call the silent 80 percent middle (of the church) who are just quiet and silent and hoping all this will go away,” said James Ince, a retired reporter who is coordinating the effort from his home near Washington.
Ince said his group, which counts “thousands” of conservatives as members, is strictly lay-led because clergy have been “neutered by the fear of (reprisal from) tyrannical bishops” if they speak out.
The group is about a year old and its largest donation has been $1,000, Ince said. The group is trying to “rescue” as many Episcopalians as possible to build up a new church if the Episcopal Church finds itself in permanent schism.
“People feel this is the last hurrah for serious Anglicanism,” Ince said. “If the right things don’t happen this year, we’ll be virtually a remnant with a long way to go to get back to being a church of Jesus Christ.”
Among the bishops who could face trial is the church’s top leader, Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold, who led Robinson’s consecration service. Griswold is set to retire after the church elects his successor during its legislative meeting in June.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Falwell Criticizes U.S. Supreme Court for Not Taking Web Site Case
(RNS) The Rev. Jerry Falwell is criticizing the U.S. Supreme Court for not taking a case in which Falwell tried to stop a misspelled version of his name from being used for a gay activist’s Web site address.
An appeals court ruled last August that Falwell could not prevent the use of http://www.fallwell.com by Web site creator Christopher Lamparello. On Monday (April 17), the nation’s highest court denied further consideration of the matter.
“While we believe that the courts have misinterpreted the law in the case at hand concerning http://www.fallwell.com, we are pleased that the domain names that are most important to our organization have been protected,” Falwell said in a statement.
In recent years, Falwell and institutions he is affiliated with have won exclusive rights to use domain names such as jerryfalwell.com, jerryfallwell.com, and libertyuniversity.com, a statement from Jerry Falwell Ministries said.
Lamparello’s site includes a disclaimer on the home page advising visitors that the material is not affiliated with Falwell and offers a link to Falwell’s official ministry Web site. But in the past, Falwell’s ministry said those steps did not compensate for the use of the minister’s name.
“It is unfortunate that the U.S. Supreme Court decided not to hear Jerry Falwell’s domain name case,” the ministry said. “This action will allow some very bad law made by the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond to stand, at least for now.”
Lamparello, whose case was joined by the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU Foundation of Virginia, had claimed that his domain name was protected by the First Amendment. He registered it in 1999 after hearing Falwell state opinions about gay people that Lamparello considered offensive.
“The Reverend Dr. Jerry Falwell is completely wrong when he says that gay and lesbian people are sinning and can change,” the Web site says.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Eastern Orthodox Christians to Celebrate Easter on Sunday
(RNS) More than 250 million members of Eastern Orthodox churches worldwide will observe Easter on Sunday (April 23), a week after the Western celebration.
Both Eastern and Western Christians celebrate Easter on the first Sunday after the first full moon, on or after the spring equinox, with that date established by the Council of Nicea in 325. But each tradition uses a different calendar and astronomical calculations to determine when that day occurs.
Today most Eastern churches, including Orthodox and Coptic churches, set the date of Easter according to the Julian calendar used in Jesus’ time. The exception is the Orthodox Church of Finland, which observes Easter according to the Western calendar.
In the Middle Ages, astronomers discovered the year was a few hours shorter than originally believed. Over the years, the extra time had accumulated until the year contained nine extra days. A new calendar was designed to account for the discovery, and Pope Gregory XII approved the aptly named Gregorian calendar in 1582.
Christian groups celebrated Easter on a variety of dates for nearly 200 years after the introduction of the Gregorian calendar. The Anglican Church, for example, continued to use the Julian calendar until 1752.
In the Orthodox Church, Easter, or Pascha, always follows Passover. The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America states this chronology “maintain(s) the biblical sequence of events of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection.” In Western denominations Easter sometimes precedes Passover.
In 1970 the World Council of Churches proposed that Eastern and Western Christians agree on a common, fixed date for Easter. Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant leaders expressed support for the idea, but have taken few steps to adopt it.
The Eastern and Western celebration of Easter will coincide in 2007.
_ Anne Pessala
Quote of the Day: Roman Catholic Bishop Fabian Brukewitz of Lincoln, Neb.
(RNS) “If I’m attacked, they are going to get a mouthful of porcupine quills.”
_ Roman Catholic Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz of Lincoln, Neb., responding to pressure by some church leaders to adopt new policies on clergy sexual abuse. Bruskewitz has refused to participate in audits to determine whether his diocese is in compliance with the new reforms. He was quoted by The Wanderer, an independent Catholic newspaper.
MO/PH END RNS
