c. 2007 Religion News Service

AIDS Activist Says Black Church No Longer `Silent’ on Issue

WASHINGTON (RNS) Standing at a National Press Club podium, activist Pernessa Seele was rejoicing in the change she has seen in black churches’ response to the AIDS crisis.

“No longer can we say the black church is silent,” the founder of The Balm in Gilead said at a news conference Tuesday (Feb. 20), announcing her organization’s 18th Annual Black Church Week of Prayer for the Healing of AIDS March 4-10.

“No longer can we say the leadership is not involved with addressing this major crisis in our community.”

George W. Walker, senior bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, said more church members are addressing the disease as they recognize that it touches their congregations.

“It can no longer be ignored because the faces have become more and more familiar,” he said. “We have discovered those faces to be our sons and daughters, our mothers and fathers, yea, our grandmothers and grandfathers.”

The Rev. Michael Livingston, president of the National Council of Churches, spoke of his personal regret over how he rejected a college friend who died of AIDS a year after seeking his support.

“I was too busy,” he said. “I was too far away. It was too complicated. And I said then, `Never again.”’

Seele said more denominations are offering HIV testing at their regional gatherings, and each district of historic African-American Methodist denominations now has health coordinators to help address HIV/AIDS issues.

Leaders of the effort include representatives from the African Methodist Episcopal Church; American Baptist Churches USA; Christian Methodist Episcopal Church; Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship International; National Baptist Convention of America; National Baptist Convention, USA; Pentecostal Assemblies of the World; Progressive National Baptist Convention; Union of Black Episcopalians; United Church of Christ; and Unity Fellowship Church Movement.

_ Adelle M. Banks

Irish Bishops: Put Down `The Drink’ During Lent

LONDON (RNS) Roman Catholic bishops in Ireland have branded their country’s abuse of alcohol a “national tragedy” and urged citizens to cut alcohol consumption by one-third during Lent.

The bishops’ pastoral letter, titled “Alcohol: The Challenge of Moderation,” was announced ahead of Ash Wednesday (Feb. 21), which marks the start of the 40-day season of Lent. The bishops also urged a serious discussion with the Dublin government about Ireland’s worrisome drinking habits.

Ireland, the bishops said, has become “one of the wealthiest nations in Europe,” but at the same time “our struggle with alcohol continues” in a sort of “love-hate relationship.”

“We owe it to this generation and the next to find a way which is not destructive or harmful, to enjoy alcohol as a gift from God,” said the document, which has been issued in English, Irish and Polish.

Auxiliary Bishop Eamonn Walsh of Dublin, who launched the letter with Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, said, “Do we just shrug helplessly, leave it to others, or do we assume responsibility ourselves?”

“Moderation is a responsible approach to consuming alcohol,” Walsh told a news conference in Dublin on Feb. 16. “Some may choose abstinence, which is equally laudable.”

“However,” he added, “if we look at international research on alcohol consumption, Irish society’s use of alcohol is nothing short of a national tragedy.”

The pastoral letter included a list of what it called “practical suggestions,” including refraining from alcohol during Lent, encouraging friends to do likewise or at least cut back, and donating the money saved from not buying alcohol to charity.

In the long run, the bishops called for all Irish people to commit to reducing consumption of alcoholic beverages by one-third, and for the Irish government to prioritize funding for treatment and recovery centers.

“If we could promote abstinence or moderation and create attitudes toward alcohol that are conducive to a better and healthier way of life,” the bishops said, “then, indeed, we would be leaving a wonderful inheritance to future generations.”

_ Al Webb

Catholic Priests Move Against Child Marriages in India

CHENNAI, India (RNS) Roman Catholic priests in some districts of West Bengal, India, have punished Christians who were found to be forcing minors into marriage.

Catholics who allowed children to be married have even been excommunicated, according to a BBC News report from Kolkata. Their children have been denied baptism and the “guilty” families have been barred from attending church functions.

Child marriages, an ancient custom in India, were outlawed many years ago. Women have to be 18 and men 21 to legally wed, but minors are still married off every year, particularly in rural areas of some parts of northern India.

Activists say at least 150 cases of child marriage are reported every day from various parts of the country, and children as young as 6 have been married off.

Catholic priests in West Bengal’s Nadia district say they have banned at least 15 Christian families from receiving sacraments for three years as punishment for marrying off young children. Many other families in Nadia and two neighboring districts have been asked to pay a fine for the same offense.

Bishop Joseph Gomes, a leading critic of child marriages, said those who have been punished may be accepted back into the fold if they publicly repent, according to the BBC report.

_ Achal Narayanan

Churches Question No Child Left Behind Act

(RNS) The National Council of Churches will sponsor a national conference March 9 in Arlington, Va., on “fixing” the No Child Left Behind education act.

Although the event will include secular participants, the involvement of the nation’s largest ecumenical religious organization signals a growing grass-roots concern about the 2002 law, which is scheduled for reauthorization by Congress this year.

“It’s a complex issue, and we want people to get a handle on it so they can speak from their faith,” said Jan Resseger of the Cleveland-based United Church of Christ, and chairwoman of the National Council of Churches’ Committee on Public Education and Literacy. “We hope people will be well-prepared to speak to Congress.”

The conference is a prelude to the NCC’s 2007 Ecumenical Advocacy Days, a four-day lobbying event designed to strengthen the ecumenical Christian voice in domestic and international issues in Washington.

The National Council of Churches is among 105 organizations that have signed a statement demanding changes in the federal education law, including a call to decrease the testing burden on states and to ease up on sanctions against struggling schools and districts.

Not all groups known for progressive politics are critical of the law. The Education Trust, a Washington-based group that advocates for poor and minority children, continues to stand steadfastly behind President Bush’s education law.

“We’ve absolutely got to assure meaningful accountability, and (Bush’s) proposals seem to move us in the right direction,” said Education Trust President Kati Haycock.

_ Scott Stephens

Quote of the Day: The Times-Picayune of New Orleans

(RNS) “The glitter of Mardi Gras has been washed away for another year, and the smudge of ash will be gone tomorrow. But the mark that Katrina has made on our hearts and minds is harder to remove.”

_ From an Ash Wednesday editorial published Wednesday (Feb. 21) in The Times-Picayune newspaper of New Orleans.

KRE/PH END RNS