c. 2006 Religion News Service

Graham Says Baltimore Sermon Could Be His `Last Time’ Preaching Gospel

BALTIMORE _ Evangelist Billy Graham said Sunday (July 9) that his appearance before a crowd at his son’s crusade could be “the last time I’ll have an opportunity to preach the gospel to an audience like this.”

At age 87, the elder evangelist gave the closing sermon of the three-day Metro Maryland Festival headlined by his son, Franklin Graham, and organized by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

Festival officials said the last day at Oriole Park at Camden Yards drew a crowd of 33,500, who stood to their feet to welcome the elder Graham as he entered the stadium on a motorized cart.

His comments about his future included the likelihood that his days of appearing with team members who have worked with him for six decades may soon be over.

“Unfortunately, I’m getting too old to do this,” he said, wearing a gray suit and speaking in a strong voice. “I thought on the way out this may be the last time I’ll have an opportunity to preach the gospel to an audience like this and to have Cliff Barrows here and George Beverly Shea.”

Barrows, 83, the longtime music director, recalled visiting Baltimore for Graham crusades in 1949 and 1981 and led the audience in singing traditional hymns. He introduced “97 years young” Shea, who became famous as a soloist at Graham’s crusades and Sunday received a standing ovation after singing a couple of brief songs.

The elder Graham made a similar statement about his preaching at an appearance with his son in New Orleans in March, saying, “this is probably the last evangelistic sermon I’ll ever preach.”

After Billy Graham invited members of the crowd to come down to the ballfield to make a Christian commitment, it was his son _ at a smaller podium on the opposite side of the stage, almost a mirror image of his father _ who prayed with the hundreds who came forward.

“You know, you’d have to be the father of a man like this to realize how proud you are and so happy to have a son that’s preaching the gospel like he is,” Graham said of his son at the start of his sermon. “I’m grateful.”

_ Adelle M. Banks

Church of England Moves to Allow Women Bishops

LONDON (RNS) In a bold and historic shift away from tradition, the Church of England’s governing body has ruled that the ordination of women as bishops can be theologically justified _ but it is a move certain to stir yet more vexation within its ranks.

The church’s General Synod, meeting in York, voted 288-119 on Saturday (July 8) in favor of the controversial move that, if carried through, could allow women into the highest ranks of the church.

The ruling, although strongly supported by bishops and clergy, is sure to antagonize many traditionalists. It also puts the church on a potential collision course with the Vatican, which has warned that women bishops would render unity between the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches “unreachable.”

Traditionalists point to the Bible and say Jesus chose only men to be his apostles. But leading biblical scholars, including Durham Bishop Tom Wright, say there is evidence of the involvement of women in the earliest days of the Christian church, and cite Mary Magdalene, who was the first to relay news of Jesus’ Resurrection _ the central message of Christianity.

With its dramatic vote, the General Synod signaled that it accepted that ordination of women can be justified from a theological viewpoint and that the move was “consonant with the faith of the church.”

Among the 38 autonomous churches that make up the global Anglican Communion, only the United States, Canada and New Zealand currently allow female bishops. The latest is Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, who recently was elected presiding bishop of the 2.4-million-member Episcopal Church.

In the Church of England, bishops, clergy and lay people vote separately on such important issues, and the General Synod’s move still has to gain approval from the laity.

Archbishop of York John Sentamu, who led the General Synod’s debate and supported the proposal, said, “I must pay tribute to the Anglican women who have been tested for nearly 90 years. They have kept the faith and remained loyal to the Church of England.”

_ Al Webb

After 100 Years, Construction Begins on French Mosque

PARIS (RNS) After a century of debate, officials have finally approved the construction of France’s largest mosque in the southern Mediterranean city of Marseille.

The agreement, inked between municipal and Muslim authorities, paves the way for the construction of a $7.7 million mosque, capable of hosting more than 13,000 people. Roughly 150,000 mostly ethnic North African and sub-Saharan Muslims live in Marseille, a colorful hub of different faiths and cultures.

The construction of the Marseille mosque represents a major victory for France’s Muslim community, which has been lobbying for years for permits to construct new mosques, large and small. A number of construction requests are inching through the French bureaucracy.

Local critics oppose the mosques for myriad reasons, including fears that they might attract extremists. Besides a dearth of prayer halls, French Muslims also suffer from a lack of sufficient clerics to lead prayer sessions.

While 62 small mosques are scattered around France’s second-largest city, Marseille lacks a main mosque _ unlike Paris, Lyon or Strasbourg.

“What was missing was the equivalent of a Catholic cathedral,” said Marseille’s mayor, Jean-Claude Gaudin, during the signing ceremony.

“We want to accomplish this act of justice toward our fellow Muslim Marseillaise so that they can realize a symbolic place of worship, like all other major religions present in Marseille,” Gaudin said.

Over the decades, successive generations of municipal governments have put off approval to construct a main mosque. Gaudin, a center-right politician from France’s Union for a Popular Movement party, is no exception.

During his first term in office in 1995, Gaudin said he supported such a mosque _ but in Marrakesh, Morocco. But during his second term, Gaudin finally endorsed one for Marseille.

(OPTIONAL TRIM FOLLOWS)

Bickering among different Muslim groups in Marseille hasn’t help matters. Their position was finally unified under a new regional Muslim council.

Muslim officials say the building’s hefty construction costs will largely be financed by individual donations _ mostly coming from France’s 5 million-member Muslim community, the largest in Europe.

“We don’t want a foreign influence on the mosque,” Abou Diarra, the project’s treasurer, told Le Figaro newspaper. “I know the Muslim community of Marseille and France can assure its financing.”

Fears of foreign influence are long standing in France, where Saudi Arabia and other wealthy Muslim countries have underwritten mosque construction. Along with their euros, some fear, the Gulf nations also seek to inject a more conservative flavor to religious worship.

_ Elizabeth Bryant

Quote of the Day: Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams

(RNS) “We may be in a thorough mess, but at least we shall not mislead anyone into supposing that the power and wisdom of God depend on the smooth coherence of the Church of England’s workings.”

_ Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, who is spiritual leader of the world’s 77 million Anglicans, addressing tensions within the church over human sexuality.

KRE/JL END RNS