c. 2006 Religion News Service
Vatican Calls African Cleric’s Comments `Deplorable’
VATICAN CITY (RNS) The Vatican chastised an African cleric on Thursday (July 13), calling his recent denunciation of the church’s clergy celibacy requirement “deplorable.”
The comments came in a statement from the Holy See a day after former Zambian archbishop Emmanuel Milingo turned up in Washington, D.C., to deliver an address in favor a dropping the celibacy requirement.
Milingo, who scandalized the Vatican in 2001 by marrying a South Korean woman in a ceremony conducted by the Unification Church, said Wednesday (July 12) that “I feel it is time for the church to reconcile with married priests.”
By tradition Milingo retains the title “archbishop” though he resigned as head of the archdiocese of Lusaka, Zambia, in 1982 after the Vatican challenged his endorsement of faith-healing and exorcism.
The 76-year-old cleric’s stateside appearance ended a month-long mystery that began when he went missing from a Catholic convent near Rome and told nuns there he was never coming back.
Milingo was assigned by church leaders to the convent five years ago, after he bucked church tradition and married acupuncturist Maria Sung.
On Thursday the Vatican said it had no information aside from reports in the media. “If the remarks attributed to (Milingo) regarding clerical celibacy are true, there is nothing else to do but deplore them,” the statement said.
According to reports in the Italian media, Milingo told reporters that he still considers his union with Sung valid, though he avoided excommunication by repudiating the marriage.
“Maria is still my wife and she will continue to be until death separates us,” Corriere della Sera of Milan quoted Milingo as saying.
_ Stacy Meichtry
Benedictine Community Breaks Ties with Roman Catholic Church
(RNS) The St. Benedict Center, a Benedictine ecumenical community in Madison, Wis., has ended its affiliation with the Roman Catholic Church, but hopes to continue serving Catholics through its ecumenical vision.
“It was our desire to be equal with our Protestant sisters,” said Sister Mary David Walgenbach, the prioress, or elected leader, of the community.
For the past 12 years, the women at St. Benedict’s have been working toward inclusion of other denominations with an ecumenical board including Lutherans, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Catholics, and a former president of the United Church of Christ. Soon after, non-Catholics began walking through their front doors.
Sister Walgenbach said that this change in affiliation, in effect since June, will not affect the community’s Benedictine traditions with 1,500-year-old roots, such as prayer and silence five times a day. The community now calls its residence Holy Wisdom Monastery.
“Our life is balanced by prayer and work,” she said, mentioning how the community turned the property into prairies and wetlands.
But the women at St. Benedict’s say that while this will attract those who are looking for an ecumenical experience, it might deter those who are looking for a Catholic community.
Bishop Robert Morlino of the Diocese of Madison encouraged Catholics to participate, but asked the center to remove particularly Catholic elements such as implements used in Holy Communion.
“To avoid the potential for confusion I have asked that Catholic Mass or a substantially similar liturgy no longer be celebrated at the St. Benedict Center,” said Morlino in a statement.
_ J. Edward Mendez
Christian Media: More Clergy than Lay People Use It
(RNS) Usage of Christian media is much higher for Protestant clergy than for Protestant lay people, a new survey shows.
The survey, by Phoenix-based Ellison Research, found that 78 percent of Protestant churchgoers listen to music that is specifically Christian, and Christian music makes up about 42 percent of their listening choices. Ninety-four percent of Protestant ministers listen to Christian music, which makes up about 66 percent of their music choices.
The research suggests that Christian media’s wide reach is big business. “Secular corporations have been backing movies with strong religious themes, buying Christian publishing companies, and releasing albums from Christian artists,” said Ron Sellers, president of Ellison Research.
But Christian media did not generate as much interest as secular choices among those surveyed.
Christian Web sites attracted 64 percent of Protestant churchgoers, which accounted for 20 percent of their total Internet usage. For pastors, 83 percent visit Christian Web sites, accounting for 51 percent of the sites they visit.
Only 44 percent of churchgoers read any Christian magazines, compared to 87 percent of clergy who read them.
Ellison Research conducted the survey using a representative sample of 806 Protestant church ministers with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percent, and a companion survey of 1,184 adults who attend a Protestant church at least once a month, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.7 percent.
The results was published in the July/August edition of Facts & Trends, published by LifeWay Christian Resources, a publishing entity of the Southern Baptist Convention.
_ J. Edward Mendez
Catholic Bishops Plan Response to Revivalist Movements
VATICAN CITY (RNS) The Vatican convened Roman Catholic bishops in Seoul, South Korea, on Monday (July 17) to discuss the inroads Christian revivalist movements and Evangelical churches have made into regions once dominated by Catholic missionaries.
The weeklong seminar aims “to find a pastoral response to the emerging challenges, particularly the rapid growth of new religious movements _ Pentecostal, Evangelical and charismatic ,” the Vatican said in a statement released Monday.
Revival churches have been eating away at Catholicism’s numbers in Africa, Asia and Latin America in recent years. Followers of Pentecostal and charismatic churches preach a more direct relationship with Jesus Christ than Catholic theology typically allows. Worship is often accented by speaking in tongues and can involve faith healing.
The growth of Pentecostalism has been particularly rapid. The movement, which marked its hundredth anniversary in April, claims up to 600,000 members worldwide.
Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, is presiding at the meeting.
_ Stacy Meichtry
Christian Peacemaker Teams to Send Delegation to Hebron
(RNS) The North American activist group Christian Peacemaker Teams, which lost a member to violence in Baghdad this year, is sending 12 delegates to the West Bank town of Hebron on July 26 for a short course on peacemaking.
“Those who believe in nonviolence have to be as willing to take risks as soldiers who believe in violent ways in solving problems,” said Claire Evans, delegation coordinator for Christian Peacemaker Teams.
The peace activists drew international attention after members of their group were kidnapped in Baghdad in November, an incident that led to the death of an American, Tom Fox. His body was discovered in early March.
Earlier this year, the group sent two other 12-day delegations to the West Bank and plans to send two more in the fall and winter. The delegates will enter Hebron at a time of turmoil in the Middle East.
During the educational trip, delegates will hear from human rights groups from both Israel and Palestine, and meet in Hebron with full-time peace activists who have committed to a three-year position with Christian Peacemaker Teams.
Delegates come from across the U.S. and Canada and usually share what they experience with members of their churches and public officials when they get back home, Evans said.
Christian Peacemaker Teams have been in Hebron since 1995, when they were invited by the city’s mayor. There also will be a delegation to address race relations in Grassy Narrows, Ontario, from July 28-Aug. 6 and to meet with church leaders and human rights workers in Bogota, Colombia, in the fall.
_ J. Edward Mendez
World Vision President Emeritus Ted Engstrom Dead at 90
(RNS) Ted Engstrom, the president emeritus of the evangelical relief agency World Vision International, died Friday (July 14) at age 90, the agency announced.
The author of more than 50 books, Engstrom also was known for his influence among evangelicals through his work with Youth for Christ International and the Zondervan publishing company and his service on the boards of Azusa Pacific University in California and Focus on the Family in Colorado.
“He valued everyone and made everyone feel valued,” said Dean Hirsch, president and CEO of World Vision International, in a statement. “And his ability to integrate the gospel with everyday life was absolutely inspiring. Dr. Ted made work and faith walk together.”
Early in his career, the Cleveland native worked as an editor for Zondervan, which is based in Grand Rapids, Mich. As the local director of Youth for Christ in Grand Rapids, he invited Billy Graham to lead what would be the now-famous evangelist’s first citywide crusade.
He became executive director of Youth for Christ in the 1950s. He later served as vice president and then president of World Vision, retiring in 1987. He was interim president of Azusa Pacific University from 1989-90 but served on the evangelical school’s board of trustees for almost 20 years. He served 26 years on Focus on the Family’s board.
“This is an enormous loss for the cause of evangelical Christianity and for the thousands of men and women whose lives were made better by Ted’s love, compassion and faith,” said Focus on the Family Chairman James Dobson in a statement.
Engstrom spoke of his eternal hopes when he turned 90 in March.
“Whenever the Lord calls, I’m ready,” he said at a birthday party with friends and colleagues. “I’m not only ready, I’m eager. I’ll have all eternity to celebrate God’s goodness and grace.”
_ Adelle M. Banks
“Green Patriarch” Leads Delegation Up the Amazon
(RNS) More than 200 delegates have traveled up the Amazon River in Brazil with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the Istanbul-based leader of the Eastern Orthodox Church, to explore the interplay between faith and caring for the earth.
The delegation, which is meeting from July 13-20, constitutes the sixth symposium of religious leaders, environmentalists and policymakers from around the world that Bartholomew has led since 1995.
Bartholomew, known widely as the “Green Patriarch,” for his statement years ago that pollution is sinful, conducts the symposia from a boat and says that water is the source of life throughout the world. “Land separates, but he believes that waters unite,” said the Rev. Alex Karloutsos, priest of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, who is familiar with Bartholomew’s symposium.
“We have come to listen to (The Amazon River’s) stories, to learn from its history, to admire its fragile beauty and to gain hope for the entire world from its resilience,” said Bartholomew in his opening remarks to the delegates.
Kofi Annan, secretary-general of the United Nations, said that since seven countries border the Amazon’s river basin, international cooperation is necessary to avoid competition over resources.
“It is very encouraging to know that you are using this symposium to explore opportunities for cooperation and burden-sharing,” Annan said in a statement to the symposium.
Delegates aboard the 10 boats have visited the port city of Santarem and discussed deforestation and the loss of biodiversity in the Amazon.
Over the years, the symposium has sailed the Baltic Sea, Adriatic Sea, the Danube River, the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea. Bartholomew first organized the “Religion, Science and the Environment” symposium in 1995 to “provide common ground among the worlds of religion, science and the environment in the interest of protecting the environment,” according to the symposium’s Web site.
_ J. Edward Mendez
Top Episcopal Bishop Challenges “Two-tier” Plan
(RNS) The outgoing leader of the Episcopal Church challenged a recently proposed plan to divide the worldwide Anglican Communion into two camps of churches, saying that it “raises serious questions about how we understand ourselves as being the church.”
“Such a two-tiered view of our common life suggests to me amputated limbs and severed branches without any life-giving relationship to the One who is the source of all life,” said the church’s Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold.
Griswold’s nine-year tenure as presiding bishop ends in November, when Nevada Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori will assume the role.
The two-tier plan was proposed in June by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, spiritual leader of the world’s 77 million Anglicans, in response to the controversy that has erupted since the Episcopal Church elected an openly gay man as bishop of New Hampshire in 2003. With 2.2 million members, the Episcopal Church is the American arm of the Anglican Communion.
Many of the 37 other Anglican provinces consider homosexuality a sin and at least 22 have declared themselves in “impaired” or broken communion with the American church.
Under Williams’ plan the 38 Anglican provinces would be divided between “constituent churches” with decision-making privileges and “churches in association” without those privileges. Particular provinces’ stances on homosexuality could be a crucial factor in deciding whether they are full members of the Anglican Communion.
The Episcopal Church moved to address some concerns over its liberalism on sexuality issues in June when it called on church leaders to “exercise restraint” by not ordaining any more gay bishops.
“Our response expressed a strong desire to engage the work of reconciliation as part of a global communion in which strongly held opinions on variations in human sexuality have threatened to displace the creeds and sacraments in articulating the faith we share,” Griswold said.
_ Daniel Burke
Virginia Governor Pardons “Witch” After 300 Years
(RNS) Virginia Gov. Timothy Kaine pardoned Grace Sherwood, 300 years after she was convicted of being a witch.
“With 300 years of hindsight, we all certainly can agree that trial by water is an injustice,” Kaine said in a statement.
In July 1706, Sherwood, a self-proclaimed healer and midwife, had her thumbs tied to her feet and was thrown into waters off what is now Virginia Beach.
The idea was that she would float if she was a witch and she would drown if innocent. Sherwood floated, and served a seven-year sentence in jail. After being released, former Virginia Gov. Alexander Spotswood restored her property rights and she lived with her three children until she was 80.
The magic behind the pardon was Belinda Nash, 59, who volunteers as director of the Ferry Plantation House, a historic home where she greets visitors in costumed character playing Sherwood.
“I feel such a relief for her knowing that this pardon has lifted her guilt, because I never thought that she was a witch,” Nash said.
Nash didn’t use any magic to exonerate Sherwood, just elbow grease. For 23 years she dug through court and church vestry records from libraries and historical societies. Nash serves as the historian in Old Donation Episcopal Church, in Virginia Beach, Va., where Sherwood was tried.
During an annual re-enactment ceremony Monday (July 10) near the spot Sherwood is believed to have been thrown into the water, Virginia Beach Mayor Meyera Oberndorf read a statement from Kaine restoring “the good name of Grace Sherwood.”
“According to the records, Ms. Sherwood’s offenses were to be an independent, intelligent woman at a time when that was frowned upon by some,” said Kevin Hall, a spokesman for Kaine.
_ J. Edward Mendez
Vatican Reports `Fat Cattle Year’ With Surplus of $12.4 Million
VATICAN CITY (RNS) The Holy See reported a surplus of nearly $12.4 million in 2005 _ the city-state’s best financial results in eight years.
The positive results indicate that Vatican finances have safely rebounded from a four-year dip into the red that ended in 2004. The 2005 results, presented on Wednesday (July 12), saw the Holy See’s surplus rise $8.3 million from 2004.
“There are times when the cattle are fat, and others when they are thin,” Cardinal Sergio Sebastiani, president of the Holy See’s economic affairs office, said at a press conference. “This was a fat cattle year,” the cardinal said, echoing a parable from the Bible.
Sebastiani said the dollar’s stability against the euro in 2005 spurred the turnaround, boosting the Holy See’s investments in dollar-denominated assets. Sebastiani did not disclose any further details on the nature of those assets, and the Vatican does not release its full financial results.
Profits from Vatican investments in the global markets, he said, soared to $54.9 million in 2005 from $7.7 million in 2004.
The gains allowed the Holy See to absorb the costs of maintaining Vatican Radio, which lost about $29.8 million in 2005.
Other expenses included John Paul II’s funeral and Pope Benedict XVI’s election, which combined cost about $8.8 million, according to the Vatican.
Sebastiani said the Holy See managed to offset the expense, because the funeral generated an influx of ticket sales to the Vatican museums and caused sales of Vatican publications to spike.
Most of the Vatican’s finances rely on the contributions of local dioceses. In 2005, the Vatican registered a slight increase in contributions, which totaled $92.6 million. An additional $58.3 million were donated to the Benedict XVI’s personal fund, known as Peter’s Pence.
Donors from the United States led the world, accounting for nearly 33 percent of the contributions to the Holy See and the pope, Sebastiani said.
_ Stacy Meichtry
Quote of the Week: NAACP Chairman Julian Bond
(RNS) “We have values, we vote our values, and we demand to be valued in return.”
_ NAACP Chairman Julian Bond, speaking in a keynote address Sunday (July 16) at the African-American organization’s annual convention in Washington about how an appearance by President Bush at the meeting would show he hears the concerns of black Americans. He was quoted by the Associated Press.
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