c. 2006 Religion News Service

Anglican Archbishop Says Civil Partnerships Erodes Traditional Marriage

LONDON (RNS) Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams claims the British government will undermine the institution of marriage with its plans to give similar legal rights to couples who choose to live together but not get married.

Law advisers to Prime Minister Tony Blair’s government are pushing ahead with reforms under which unwed couples in long-term relationships would be treated like married couples. Under the plan, they would be ordered to sell their homes, pay lump sums and share pensions and other assets in the event they split up.

But marriage already has “suffered a long process of erosion,” Williams told a British newspaper (the Sunday Times, June 11), and the benefits the Blair administration proposes to give to cohabiting couples would simply add to a “prevailing social muddle.”

Williams leads the Church of England and is the spiritual leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

The planned reforms primarily target traditional man-and-woman relationships, although gay couples living in civil “partnerships” that were recently approved by the government would also be affected.

“The concept of cohabitation is an utterly vague one that covers a huge variety of arrangements,” Williams said. “As soon as you define anything, you are creating a kind of status that is potentially a competition with marriage, or a reinvention of marriage.”

“One of the problems,” he said, “is trying to solve individual and infinitely varied problems by legislation.”

Williams said one of the long-term results could be “dire consequences” for any children involved. “I don’t think I need to spell out the research about educational factors that can be traced to children from unstable or broken partnerships,” he added.

The governmental Law Commission that generated the proposals insisted such reform could actually encourage more men and women to wed because partners could no longer avoid financial responsibilities by opting to live together instead of getting married.

_ Al Webb

Buddhist Leader Weds in Colorful Canadian Ceremony

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia (RNS) Tibetan Buddhist weddings, especially when both bride and groom are considered royalty, are color-splashed, resplendent and highly spiritual affairs. But this one took place in an unusual venue: chilly, rain-soaked Halifax, on Canada’s Maritime east coast.

The lavish nuptials between Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, the 43-year-old world spiritual leader of the Shambhala Buddhist movement, and his Indian dancer-bride, Semo Tseyang Palmo Ripa, were spread out over three days in this Nova Scotia city, home to the movement’s global headquarters.

It was more a Buddhist festival than a wedding as more than 1,300 guests from around the world _ each asked to pay a minimum of $100 to offset costs _ including Nova Scotia’s lieutenant-governor were in attendance.

Celebrations began Thursday (June 8) with a public ceremony in the historic military fort carved into the city’s Citadel Hill. It began with the burning of juniper to cleanse the air, followed by a bagpipe melody played by the 78th Highlanders, and a tobacco offering and aboriginal wedding song performed by members of the Mi’kmaq First Nation.

A planned demonstration of Japanese archery was canceled due to rain driven by cold, blustery winds.

On Saturday, the couple tied the knot on a specially transformed pier bedecked with red, white, blue and orange colors that snapped in the breeze.

The bridegroom, an author, poet, calligrapher, archer and marathon runner raised mainly in America, took over as leader from his father, Chogyam Trungpa, who founded the Shambhala movement and brought Tibetan Buddhism to the West. He fled Tibet after the 1959 Chinese invasion and led his disciples to Canada from the United States a few years before his death in 1987.

The bride wasn’t just marrying into royalty _ she’s a princess in her own right. Her family heads another stream of Tibetan Buddhism called Ripa.

Of an estimated 10,000 followers of Shambhala Buddhism around the globe, about 1,000 are in Nova Scotia.

The royal couple met at an Indian monastery last year after a performance by Palmo’s dance troupe. They exchanged calls and text messages, and were engaged two months later.

They will settle in Halifax in a house built by Shambhala International that will be paid for in part by wedding gifts of cash.

The festivities surrounding the wedding, billed as “Blossoming of the Sun,” cost an estimated $182,000. Guests were asked to contribute about $91 each to help offset costs.

_ Ron Csillag

Europe Seeks New Catholic Priests in Poland

PARIS (RNS) As the numbers of priests dwindle across the European Union, the region is beginning to tap one of its newest members _ Poland _ to fill the gap.

Bucking the regional trend, Poland is witnessing a surprising increase in seminarians and newly ordained priests. More than 7,000 young men are currently enrolled in Polish seminaries, according to a recent report in the BBC, compared to some 2,000 enrolled in Spain _ another largely Roman Catholic country of comparable population.

Experts cite a number of factors contributing to the phenomenon, including historically strong religious observance among Poles, who considered the country’s Catholic church as a bastion against the the Communist-era government.

The Polish priests now fanning out to parishes around the EU’s 25-member bloc are not just fulfilling the spiritual needs of other European Catholics.

“There’s been a long tradition within the Christian Catholic community that when people immigrate to countries in search of work, they are followed by clergy and priests who seek to provide for their pastoral care in the first and second generations,” says Monsignor Noel Treanor, secretary general of the Brussels-based Commission of the Bishop’s Conferences of the European Commmunities.

“Certainly, in parts of Europe the numbers of priests have declined” compared to the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Treanor says. “But the situation we’re now in is not totally different from the situation in earlier centuries.”

Still, the 21st century appears bleak for the Catholic faith in Europe.

The region once accounted for 60 percent of the world’s Roman Catholic priests three decades ago, according to a report by the National Intelligence Council. Today, it only accounts for half the world’s Catholic clergy, while priests from Asia and Africa have almost doubled from 10 percent to 19 percent over the past 30 years.

Those declining numbers are also reflected in the pews. In 1945, for example, some 37 percent of French Catholics regularly attended church. Today, only 8 percent go to Mass.

Europe’s remaining clergy is aging _ the average age of a French priest is 70 _ posing yet another barrier to attracting a new generation of Catholics to church.

_ Elizabeth Bryant

Reformed Church in America Debates Homosexuality

(RNS) One year after a leading official was defrocked for presiding over a lesbian wedding, homosexuality again is on the radar at the Reformed Church in America’s annual meeting.

The RCA’s General Synod convened Thursday (June 8) at Central College in Pella, Iowa. The meeting ends Tuesday (June 13).

A group of West Michigan churches wants to halt a three-year dialogue that was launched last summer. A like-minded proposal aims to clarify that the discussion will not lead to viewing the gay lifestyle as morally acceptable.

“It’s suspected by many that the intent of the dialogue is to do that,” said the Rev. Steve Hemmeke, pastor of North Blendon Reformed Church near Hudsonville, Mich.

Last year, amid a divisive trial of the Rev. Norman Kansfield, the RCA’s top executive urged the church to stay focused on a 10-year growth plan and not get bogged down on the gay issue.

In previous decades the RCA labeled homosexuality a sin, and a proposal from the church’s Zeeland Classis _ a regional governing body _ calls for a reaffirmation of those statements. Also up for debate is a request to cut ties with the United Church of Christ, which endorses same-sex marriage.

Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, RCA general-secretary, said “it’s always possible to get nuances and new perspectives” through discussion, but changing the church’s position on gays is not the intent of the dialogue. The purpose is to help each other understand different interpretations of Scripture and minister better to gays, he said.

“The dialogue is set within a clear framework,” he said. “We’re not going to keep fighting.”

Delegates must decide what to do with Kansfield, who lost his job as head of an RCA seminary in New Jersey and had his ministerial credentials suspended because he performed the marriage of his daughter, Ann, to another woman in 2004.

A controversial proposal would shift his supervision from the General Synod _ which disciplined him last year _ to his local classis, or group of churches, which may be more sympathetic to homosexuality.

Kansfield earlier this year asked for a new trial, but agreed to drop the request in exchange for the transfer.

_ Matt Vande Bunte

Quote of the Day: New Orleans Pastor and Activist Michael Jacques

(RNS) “We’ve had senators, we’ve had representatives, congressmen come in. We’ve had the president come down 12 times. And I say to myself, what part don’t you get? Why aren’t you releasing money?”

_ The Rev. Michael Jacques, pastor of St. Peter Claver Catholic Church in New Orleans and a leader in All Congregations Together, a member of the PICO National Network that is encouraging Congress not to limit emergency spending legislation that will help rebuild housing after Hurricane Katrina.

KRE/JL END RNS