c. 2006 Religion News Service
Israeli Rabbis Agree to Recognize American Conversions
JERUSALEM (RNS) Israel’s Chief Rabbinate has agreed to automatically recognize all past, current and future conversions approved by the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) after representatives of the two bodies met in Jerusalem in early June.
The agreement does not extend to Orthodox conversions that have not been officially registered with the RCA _ the official umbrella group of U.S. Orthodox rabbis _ even if they were performed by RCA rabbis.
Nor does it apply to Orthodox conversions performed by other rabbinic courts.
The Rabbinate’s decision, which it announced on June 7, has eased tensions between the two rabbinical councils, which had been at odds over guidelines unilaterally implemented by the Israeli rabbis.
More than a year ago, Israeli Chief Sephardic Rabbi Shlomo Amar quietly instructed his staff to more carefully scrutinize all Orthodox conversions performed outside Israel, when converts from overseas wanted to marry in Israel.
Since then, only conversions performed by rabbis appearing on a short list compiled by previous chief rabbis have been automatically approved. In other cases, converts have had to provide additional proof that they were Jewish, sometimes mere days before their weddings.
Most Orthodox rabbis in the diaspora were reportedly unaware of the policy change, and therefore did not warn their converts of potential difficulties.
According to the rabbinical councils’ June 7 announcement, “all conversions authorized by the RCA in the past, and as such previously accepted by the Chief Rabbinate, will continue to be recognized by the Chief Rabbinate.”
The Rabbinate and the RCA agreed to immediately establish a commission to examine, “in light of Jewish law, current standards and procedures in the realm of conversion and personal status to achieve clarity and consistency whenever possible.”
Each party will prepare a list of those it considers to be “approved” rabbis for the purposes of performing conversions, marriages and divorces.
In the future, any rabbi who wants to be involved in personal status matters that he wishes to have recognized in Israel “will need to comply with the standards thus agreed to by the Chief Rabbinate and the RCA,” the statement said.
_ Michele Chabin
Presbyterians Choose Atlantan as New Moderator
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (RNS) Delegates from the Presbyterian Church (USA) on Thursday (June 15) elected the Rev. Joan Gray the denomination’s new moderator, its top spokeswoman for the next two years.
The church opened its general assembly at the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex, and the election of the moderator was the first major action by its more than 500 voting commissioners.
Gray is the author of the book “Presbyterian Polity for Church Officers” and has been interim pastor at seven churches in Atlanta. She was chosen on the third ballot, drawing 307 votes.
Gray beat out three other candidates for the unpaid position. One of the issues raised during questioning of the candidates was the denomination’s stand on ordaining homosexual clergy.
Gray told the assembly she didn’t have a firm position and is struggling with the issue. “As an officer of the church, I stand where the church stands.”
As moderator, Gray will be the public face of the 2.5 million-member denomination and will preside at the General Assembly, which ends here on June 22.
_ Greg Garrison
Christian Reformed Church Tries to Make Amends with Catholics
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (RNS) More than 400 years after the Protestant Reformation, the Christian Reformed Church is trying to take back a historic slap against the Catholic Church. It’s not easy.
Delegates to the denomination’s synod here spent about three hours Wednesday (June 14) attempting to tone down a 1563 Protestant doctrine declaring the Catholic Mass “a condemnable idolatry.”
That section of the Heidelberg Catechism, a preaching and teaching tool for many Protestant churches, still smarts for West Michigan Catholics who work with or marry Christian Reformed members.
Two years ago, the synod declared the controversial passage no longer should apply as written. What they could not decide _ and still could not Wednesday _ was what to put in its place.
In classic Christian Reformed fashion, delegates debated a complicated compromise. A study committee proposed keeping the passage but putting it in brackets, accompanied by a footnote explaining members are not required to recognize it.
The aim is to preserve the integrity of a historic text but also “function as a warning” against any idolatrous teachings that deny Christ’s final sacrifice.
Advocates said the catechism got the Catholic Mass wrong in the midst of the Reformation’s theology war. Christian Reformed leaders consulted with Catholic bishops and their findings were reviewed by the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, then headed by the future Pope Benedict XVI.
“It demonstrates the maturing of the Christian Reformed Church to the point where we can look at our own mistakes of the past and own up to them,” said the Rev. Lyle Bierma, a Calvin Theological Seminary professor who chaired the committee.
The condemnation muddies good working relationships with Catholics and is unlike any other catechism passage, said the Rev. Harry Winters Jr. of Akron, Ohio.
“It’s the only one that instead of expressing what we believe, turns on someone else, expresses what they believe and condemns it,” Winters said.
Bishop Walter Hurley, leader of West Michigan’s 163,000 Catholics, gave the synod high marks for tackling “a complex issue rooted in historically conditioned documents.”
“I respect whatever decision they make,” Hurley said. “It’s something I find encouraging and that can only bring us closer together.”
_ Charles Honey
Tomb-Side Ceremony Honors Voodoo Priestess
NEW ORLEANS (RNS) Bringing flowers to the tomb of a dead ancestor is a common practice in New Orleans. But the 125th anniversary of when some historians believe voodoo priestess Marie Laveau died drew more than family member Barbara Trevigne to St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 on Thursday (June 15).
“She is in this tomb, ladies and gentlemen,” Trevigne said, referring to debate over where Laveau was buried. “She is not under the Superdome, and she is not buried standing up.”
Mystery fuels the Laveau legend, which draws thousands of visitors each year to the grave site.
Some people believe that Laveau, the patron saint of Louisiana’s voodoo tradition, was born in Saint-Domingue, which is now Haiti. Others say she was born in New Orleans.
Some say she died on June 15, 1881, and some say she died on June 16, 1881. Some say she was buried at St. Louis No. 2, but others believe she is buried at St. Louis No. 1.
Laveau was so well known that her obituary was published in New Orleans and in The New York Times. Only the grave of Elvis Presley draws more visitors to an individual American burial site.
“Today we commemorate you,” Laveau historian Ina Fandrich said at a commemorative ceremony. “We invoke your healing power today for all of us in this city.”
Her head wrapped in a colorful tignon, like the one Laveau is often pictured wearing, Fandrich stood in front of the tomb, ringing a brass bell as she asked Laveau to help the city recover from Hurricane Katrina.
Fandrich said she believes Laveau was born “a free mulatto girl child” on Sept. 10, 1801, in New Orleans, that she died June 15, 1881, and that she is buried in St. Louis No. 1.
A hairdresser by trade, Laveau was a devout Catholic with incredible healing power, Fandrich said. “You could fix anything and turn anything around,” she said as she faced the tomb. “Bring us peace and love.”
_ Lynne Jensen
Controversial Bible Gets a Nod from the Synod
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (RNS) It’s official: The controversial TNIV Bible is OK to use in the Christian Reformed Church.
The denomination’s synod on Tuesday (June 13) gave its congregations the green light to worship with Today’s New International Version. Some already use the new Zondervan translation.
But that was only after several delegates blasted the TNIV’s gender-inclusive language as a politically correct version of Holy Writ.
“We ought not to cave culturally and theologically to this version,” said the Rev. George Cooper of Crystal Lake, Ill. “It’s a political translation.”
Bible-quoting ministers charged its gender-inclusive language twists Scripture. “It’s not acceptable to have a translation that obscures our Lord Jesus Christ,” said the Rev. James den Dulk of Trinity Christian Reformed Church in Sparta, Mich.
They echoed critics such as Focus on the Family founder James Dobson who criticized the TNIV when it was first published in 2002. But others called it a more accurate version that reflects modern language nuances.
“You may not like it, but we live in a culture where the word `man’ is no longer heard in a generic fashion,” said Jeffrey Weima, a Calvin Theological Seminary professor of New Testament.
The Rev. George Vander Weit, pastor of Fuller Avenue Christian Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, passionately defended the Rev. John Stek, chairman of the TNIV translation committee and a member of his congregation. He called Stek “a man of integrity who loves the biblical text and would not play games with it for anybody.”
_ Charles Honey
Quote of the Day: Former President Bill Clinton
(RNS) “For people in America who are a part of my political tradition, our great sin has often been ignoring religion or denying its power or refusing to engage it because it seemed hostile to us. For … the so-called Christian right and its allies, their great sin has been believing they were in full possession of the truth.”
_ Former President Bill Clinton, speaking as he accepted an award from the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding on Thursday (June 15) in New York. He was quoted by the Associated Press.
KRE/JL END RNS
