c. 2006 Religion News Service

Cardinal Blasts Law That Prevents Catholic Royalty

LONDON (RNS) Scotland’s top Roman Catholic leader has called for the end of a controversial law that prevents Catholics _ or those who marry them _ from ascending to the British throne, a legal bar that he claims contributes to bigotry in the country.

Cardinal Keith O’Brien, targeting Britain’s Act of Settlement, said the 300-year-old law simply promotes “state-supported sectarian discrimination” and “constitutes a blight” on all efforts to crush sectarianism that bedevils parts of the nation, particularly Scotland.

In comments to the Scotland on Sunday newspaper (Aug. 6), O’Brien said he remained incensed that “our (British) constitution contains legislation which describes my faith as `the popish religion’ and defines me and my co-religionists as `papists.”’

“That this arcanely offensive language enjoys legal sanction is outrageous,” fumed O’Brien, the archbishop of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh.

After three centuries, the Act of Settlement still stirs furious debate and regular demands that it be scrapped. Earlier this year, a leading Scottish member of the British Parliament, Alex Salmond, demanded that Prime Minister Tony Blair kill it.

Blair rejected the demand, but members of his own ruling Labor government concede that the law is an anachronism. What appears to stop them is the difficulty in even trying to amend it.

Any such effort would have to be ratified by 15 Commonwealth parliaments and would require amendments to at least eight separate acts dating back to 1688.

The British monarch is also the head of the (Anglican) Church of England, which would present problems if the king or queen was Catholic.

In what was described as his toughest attack yet on the issue of bigotry, O’Brien said that as long as the Act of Settlement, with its divisive, anti-Catholic bias, remained on the books, any efforts to wipe out sectarian discrimination would be doomed.

“Anyone who seriously believes that introducing legislation aimed at eradicating sectarian attacks … while elements of the very lexicon of hate they seek to abolish remain on our statute books is indulging in willful ignorance,” he said.

_ Al Webb

ACLU Raises Objections Over Cross-Shaped Katrina Memorial

NEW ORLEANS (RNS) Alarmed by newspaper reports that a hurricane memorial will feature a cross bearing a likeness of the face of Jesus, the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana is reminding local officials of the Constitution’s separation of church and state.

Never one to back down, St. Bernard Parish President Henry “Junior” Rodriguez has a simple reply: “They can kiss my ass.”

In a July 28 letter to Rodriguez and other officials, Louisiana ACLU Executive Director Joe Cook said the government promotion of a patently religious symbol on a public waterway is a violation of the Constitution’s First Amendment, which prohibits government from advancing a religion.

Rodriguez did not say whether he has responded to Cook’s letter, but in an interview, he said he sees nothing improper about the memorial, which will be mounted near the shoreline of the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet at Shell Beach, La.

The cross and accompanying monument _ listing the names of the 129 parish residents who died in Hurricane Katrina _ are earmarked for what the parish says is private land and are being financed with donations, Rodriguez said. Nonetheless, Cook asked the parish to erect a religiously neutral symbol and also voiced concern that the Parish Council was sanctioning a religious monument.

Returning Rodriguez’s volley, Cook added, “It would be better if he would kiss the Constitution and honor it and honor the First Amendment.”

The St. Bernard Parish Council voted several months ago to erect a monument, but at the time did not offer specific plans. The parish recently announced plans to dedicate the memorial on Aug. 29, the one-year anniversary of the devastating hurricane.

The cross is being designed and fabricated by Vincent LaBruzzo, a welder and fabricator. The stainless-steel cross will be 13 feet tall and 7 feet wide and will be lighted, according to a note on the parish’s Web site.

While the ACLU thinks a memorial to the storm and its victims is “clearly appropriate,” Cook said, St. Bernard’s is “still all very questionable. I think there is official government involvement with the endorsement and advancement of this clearly religious symbol.”

_ Karen Turni Bazile

Match-making Service Offers Help to British Clergy

LONDON (RNS) The 743 priests and deacons ordained in the Church of England this year have each received cards congratulating them on their ordination _ and, if they are single, offering them help in finding a suitable spouse.

The cards were sent out by friendsfirst, a friendship and dating agency based in Birmingham and launched in 1999 with the aim of helping Christians meet each other.

“I know from the experiences of many single clergy friends that dating as a single deacon or priest _ let alone a bishop _ is virtually impossible,” said the agency’s director, Katharine Gray.

She also pointed out that for clergy, their vocation comes first _ “so it is essential to find a partner who is committed to helping you develop your ministry.”

For the newly ordained who are already married or engaged, the card suggests they might like to remember what it was like to be single and thus offer help to members of their congregations who cannot find a mate.

About 4 percent of the agency’s 2,000 members who are looking for love are ordained clergy. In all, it has provided information to over 10,000 people.

Earlier this year, the agency recounted the story of two clergy it had matched who got married in 2003. Last February, the couple had their first baby.

_ Robert Nowell

Quote of the Day: Veteran-Turned-Activist Mikey Weinstein

(RNS) “I’m the Field General of the Godless Armies of Satan! You can’t just steal my candy like that.”

_ Mikey Weinstein, an Air Force veteran who is suing the Air Force for alleged religious favoritism and proselytism in the military service. Weinstein, the founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, was recalling what he says to his wife, Bonnie, when she takes his favorite candy, reminding her of the label given to him by a megachurch in the Southeast. He was quoted by The Washington Post.

KRE/LF END RNS