c. 2006 Religion News Service

New Member of Indian Committee Says He’ll Protect Religious Minorities

CHENNAI, India (RNS) Michael P. Pinto, the new Christian member of India’s National Commission for Minorities, told a Catholic news agency his job is to ensure that “no atrocities are committed against anybody on the basis of any religion.”

Pinto, a former senior civil servant who is Roman Catholic, begins ÃÂ?MDULÃÂ?a three-year term this month. Representatives from India’s Hindu, Muslim and Parsi communities will also be included on the panel, which was established by the Indian government in 1978 to protect the country’s religious minorities.

More than 80 percent of India’s 1.1 billion people are Hindu. Muslims are the largest minority, at 13.4 percent, followed by Christians (2.3 percent) and Sikhs (1.9 percent). Other religious minorities include Jains, Buddhists and Zoroastrians (also known as Parsis).

Two days before Pinto’s appointment was announced, an attack on four nuns of the Missionaries of Charity _ the Catholic religious order established by Mother Teresa _ by a crowd of Hindu activists was reported. The activists reportedly forced police to arrest the nuns, who were working in a local hospital, on charges of proselytism and conversion of the sick.

The nuns were released soon after the Catholic archbishop of Hyderabad, Marampudi Joji, took up the issue with the leadership of the state of Andhra Pradesh, according to news reports.

The state government has since ordered a detailed inquiry into the incident.

_ Achal Narayanan

Massachusetts Bill Would Extend Statute of Limitations for Sex Crimes

BOSTON (RNS) Victims of childhood sexual abuse would have 10 additional years to report their cases for possible criminal prosecution, according to a bill moving through the Massachusetts Legislature.

A state legislative committee voted to extend the statute of limitations for childhood victims of sexual abuse from the current 15 years to 25 years, counting from when the child reaches age 16.

The state’s four Roman Catholic bishops praised the proposed extension.

It was the statute of limitations, according to Hampden County District Attorney William M. Bennett, that stopped any consideration of prosecuting Thomas L. Dupre, former bishop of the Springfield Diocese, after a grand jury indicted him on two counts of child rape in 2004.

The legislation would cover serious crimes such as rape and some types of sexual assault. But it would not include civil cases or incest.

“It’s only a partial measure that represents some tolerance for crimes of sexual abuse to children,” said Steven A. Krueger of the Coalition to Reform Sexual Abuse Laws in Massachusetts.

The legislative session ends July 31.

“The commonwealth’s law enforcement officials should be given the tools they need to remove sexual predators from our communities,” said the Catholic prelates’ statement.

The clergy sexual abuse scandal was key in the push to lengthen the statute of limitations.

_ Dan Ring

Women’s Prayer Section at the Western Wall ÃÂ?MDULÃÂ?May Be Enlarged

JERUSALEM (RNS) Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski has agreed to enlarge the women’s prayer section at the Western Wall Plaza, the municipality announced on Wednesday (July 5).

In a statement, Lupolianski, who is an ultra-Orthodox Jew, said that his decision to allocate additional space to women, who are separated from men by a high divider, was made in response to complaints by female worshipers that their section is too small.

“There’s no reason that in the most sacred site for the Jewish people, the men will have a big comfortable plaza while the women will have to be cramped and crowded,” Lupolianski said.

Lupolianski’s decision will change the religious status quo set forth by the country’s Orthodox religious authorities after Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan in 1976. Not long afterward, the authorities established separate side-by-side sections for men and women.

The women’s section _ always somewhat smaller than the men’s section _ shrank a few years ago, after the wall supporting the Mugraby Path, an entrance to the Temple Mount, collapsed. The fenced-off area where repairs are taking place cuts into the women’s section.

It remains to be seen whether the Prime Minister’s Office will approve Lupoliansky’s plan, which would require changing the route of the Mugraby Path. To avoid ill will from Muslims, the Israeli government would presumably need to consult the Wakf, the Islamic Trust that oversees all Temple Mount activities and institutions.

The Temple Mount, which is the holiest site in Judaism and sacred to Muslims and Christians as well, has been the scene of many violent episodes, and any change in the religious status quo brings risks.

Officials at the Wakf were unavailable for comment.

A Jerusalem city spokesman said that the mayor has instructed Municipality Director-General Eitan Meir to closely monitor the progress of the work being done and contact the relevant bodies in order to expedite the process.

_ Michele Chabin

Quote of the Day: The Rev. Stephen Wende, Pastor to the late Kenneth Lay

(RNS) “He’s been under extraordinary stress for five years. I don’t think his spirit gave way, but his body did.”

_ The Rev. Stephen Wende, pastor of First United Methodist Church in Houston and pastor to Kenneth Lay, who died while awaiting sentencing after a May fraud conviction related to Enron Corp., which Lay had founded. Wende was quoted by The Washington Post.

DSB/RB END RNS