c. 2007 Religion News Service

Update: Judge Says Portrait of Jesus Will Stay in Courthouse

SLIDELL, La. (RNS) Flanked by Slidell’s mayor and local clergy, City Court Judge Jim Lamz said Saturday (June 30) he will not remove a portrait of Jesus from the courthouse lobby, potentially setting the stage for a legal battle with the American Civil Liberties Union.

With the portrait hanging above him, Lamz told a news conference he disagrees with the ACLU’s assertion that displaying the portrait violates the separation of church and state.

The portrait has been identified by local clergy as “Christ the Savior,” a 16th century Russian Orthodox icon. It depicts Jesus holding a book open to biblical passages, written in Russian, that deal with judgment.

The only portrait in the courthouse’s main foyer besides one of founding judge Gus Fritchie, for whom the courthouse is named, the image of Jesus hangs above the court’s billing window. Below the portrait are gold letters reading, “To know peace, obey these laws.”

The judge said he is resigned to a lawsuit over the portrait.

“Due to the display’s historical place in the courthouse, I explored options to obtain a definitive ruling on the constitutionality of the display without an adversarial court battle,” he said. “I could find none.”

Lamz said he consulted with a constitutional scholar at the University of Michigan, who he said has argued similar cases, before concluding that the portrait’s constitutionality remains an open legal question.

But the acting director of the ACLU’s Louisiana chapter said the question was settled by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2005.

“Our decision to take the case is based on an established Supreme Court precedent,” Vincent Booth said. “I expect that we will go forward with our suit to let a court decide.”

In the 2005 case, he said, the Supreme Court held that a government violates the First Amendment when it acts with the “ostensible and predominant purpose of advancing religion,” bearing in mind the nature, effect and legal history of such advocacy.

Slidell Mayor Ben Morris condemned the ACLU while invoking the memory of Hurricane Katrina. As he spoke, damage from the storm _ long watermarks and cracked plaster _ was clearly visible on the courthouse behind him.

“I fight daily with FEMA for the recovery of our city, and now we must fight these tyrants, this American Taliban, who seek to destroy our culture and our heritage,” Morris said.

_ Jeff Muskus

Deal Collapses Between Boston Archdiocese, Hospital Chain

BOSTON (RNS) A proposed deal to hand over control of six hospitals that have burdened the cash-strapped Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston collapsed last week, forcing the church to begin exploring new options.

For four months, the archdiocese has been trying to reach terms for affiliating its Caritas Christi Health Care system with Ascension Health of St. Louis, which runs the nation’s largest Catholic health care system. For the archdiocese, a deal with Ascension Health had represented an opportunity to transfer responsibility for Caritas’ estimated $275 million debt.

But in a joint statement Thursday (June 28), both parties said efforts to reach agreement had failed.

“We approached the process with a clear understanding of the need for the parties to reach agreement on numerous terms in order to move forward,” the statement said. “While we hoped to reach a definitive agreement, regrettably, after months of good faith efforts, we have collectively determined that is not possible and we have agreed not to pursue an affiliation”

Neither side disclosed the sticking points that caused the talks to break down; both sides declined to expand on the written statement.

For the archdiocese, the collapse marks a setback in efforts to cut costs across the board since the clergy sex abuse scandal broke in 2002. More than 60 area parishes have closed as part of a massive restructuring initiative that began in 2004. In May, church leaders announced plans to sell archdiocesan headquarters to Boston College for about $65 million and relocate offices to suburban Braintree, Mass.

For Caritas, the Boston area’s second-largest hospital chain and employer of about 12,000, the breakdown in talks has triggered an “aggressive” search for a new chief executive. The post has been vacant since last year when Dr. Robert M. Haddad stepped down amid allegations that he had had inappropriate conduct with female employees.

The archdiocese said it remains open to “exploring an appropriate and mutually agreeable affiliation” for Caritas.

_ G. Jeffrey MacDonald

Alabama Governor Urges Prayer for Rain

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (RNS) With the state’s weather forecasters not delivering much-needed rain, Gov. Bob Riley has turned to a higher power, issuing a proclamation calling for a week of prayer for rain.

Riley encouraged Alabamians to pray, starting Saturday (June 30), “individually and in their houses of worship.”

“Throughout our history, Alabamians have turned in prayer to God to humbly ask for his blessings and to hold us steady during times of difficulty,” Riley said. “This drought is without question a time of great difficulty.”

On Sunday, a series of strong thunderstorms brought torrential rain, flash floods and lightning to the area, but apparently not enough to bring much relief to the drought-stricken area.

“I don’t think it made a big dent,” said Patrick Gatlin with the National Weather Service’s Huntsville office. “… This is the most rain we’ve seen in quite some time but it definitely won’t get us back to normal.”

State proclamations for the national day of prayer and other broad, nondenominational religious observances are fairly common, said the Rev. Barry Lynn, director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. But government calls for intercessory-type prayer are rare, he said.

“He shouldn’t do these things that raise the specter of government promoting a particular religion,” Lynn said. “It’s just a bad idea.”

_ Stan Diel (in Birmingham) and Budd McLaughlin (in Huntsville)

Quote of the Day: Talking Hawk, a Native American

(RNS) “Earth Mother is fighting back _ not only from the four winds but also from underneath. Scientists call it global warming. We call it Earth Mother getting angry.”

_ Talking Hawk, a Native American from the Mohawk Tribe, preparing for a sacred ceremony to pray for the Earth. He was quoted by the Boston Globe.

KRE/PH END RNS