c. 2007 Religion News Service

Okla. archbishop, priests resist anti-immigration law

OKLAHOMA CITY (RNS) Archbishop Eusebius Beltran and a council of priests have joined a “Pledge of Resistance” against one of the nation’s broadest state laws restricting illegal immigration.

The Oklahoma Taxpayer and Citizens Act, set to take effect Nov. 1, will make it criminal to transport, hire, harbor, house or conceal illegal immigrants. Violating the law could carry a minimum fine of $1,000, a year in prison or both.

“In a broad interpretation, a church delivering groceries or any sort of humanitarian assistance to an undocumented person could be committing a felony,” the Rev. Lance Schmitz, minister of social justice at Oklahoma City First Church of the Nazarene, said Friday (Oct. 26).

Schmitz and Rex Friend, a Quaker leader and immigration law attorney, co-authored the pledge, which characterizes the new law as “fiercely anti-immigrant” and “not reflective of values which respect people and families.”

“With the advent of this new law, we are standing together in opposition and defiance of this unjust and immoral law,” the pledge states. “Our various faith traditions instruct us to do good to all peoples. There is no exemption clause for those persons who do not have documentation of their citizenship status. We will not show partiality to those who are in need of humanitarian assistance.”

Beltran and the archdiocesan Council of Priests signed the pledge this week and submitted it to Gov. Brad Henry’s office on Friday (Oct. 26), archdiocese spokesman Ray Dyer said.

Paul Sund, a spokesman for Henry, acknowledged the clerics’ “concerns” but declined to comment further, citing a pending court challenge against the law.

While the law does not directly affect most parish activities and Catholic schools, the archbishop and priests “felt that a public position should be taken regarding this punitive legislation,” chancellor Tish Eason said.

Opponents of the law, including officials with the Oklahoma Conference of Churches, are circulating the pledge among clergy and lay leaders, Schmitz said. He said he did not know how many had signed it.

_ Bobby Ross Jr.

R.I. diocese reports double number of abuse allegations

(RNS) The Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence, R.I., reported a significantly higher number of allegations of clergy sexual abuse in a newly revealed legal filing than it had previously acknowledged, raising key questions about how the diocese tracks abuse.

From 1971 to 2007, 125 Rhode Island priests were accused of sexual assault or sexual misconduct and 95 were accused of sexual crimes against minors, according to a court document filed by the diocese in January.

In a nationwide study in 2004, the statewide diocese reported that allegations of sexual abuse against a minor were lodged against 56 priests between 1950 and 2002.

BishopAccountability.org, a watchdog Web site, brought the court document to light earlier this month. It was filed as part of a civil suit now before the state Supreme Court.

The recently revealed number is higher because “the reporting requirements … are substantially different in terminology and scope,” the diocese said in a statement.

The earlier study, completed by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, asked for “plausible, credible allegations,” the diocese said.

The court filing, requested by a judge, asked for any allegation of sexual misconduct against a priest, living or deceased, “whether such allegations were credible, or … vague, anonymous, withdrawn or ultimately to be found false,” according to the diocese.

Still, advocates for victims of clergy sex abuse called on law enforcement to investigate the diocese’s “secrets.”

“The Providence Diocese is sitting on secrets of crime, and they don’t have a right to these secrets anymore,” Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org, told The Boston Globe.

State Attorney General Patrick Lynch said that, during multiple investigations, “in no instance did we find that information provided by the Diocese was inaccurate or untrue.”

“We will review this newly disclosed information very carefully, we will pursue all credible leads, and, if appropriate, we will prosecute any and all resulting cases,” Lynch said in a statement.

_ Daniel Burke

Archives, Mormon-related Genealogical Society Announce Joint Project

WASHINGTON (RNS) The National Archives and a Mormon-sponsored genealogical society have launched a joint project that aims to provide free access to thousands of historical records for people delving into their family histories.

The National Archives and Records Administration and FamilySearch are working together to digitize and index more than 3,000 Civil War widow pension application files, they announced Tuesday (Oct. 23). The files include information such as marriage and death certificates, birth records and pages from family Bibles.

FamilySearch, a nonprofit organization sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, will use specialized digital cameras at the National Archives in Washington. The digitized materials will be available for free through its Web site, http://www.FamilySearch.org, and in 4,500 family history centers worldwide.

Allen Weinstein, archivist of the United States, said the National Archives has already had a “very productive relationship” with FamilySearch.

“This agreement expands our relationship to enable online access to some of the most popular and voluminous records in our holdings,” he said.

Wayne Metcalfe, director of FamilySearch Record Services, said the project will give those interested in genealogy “a priceless resource” for their research.

“There is an unbelievable treasure trove of genealogical information housed in the records of the National Archives, the vast majority of which genealogy enthusiasts have never seen,” he said.

Although the focus of a pilot project is the first 3,150 of the pension files, FamilySearch hopes to digitize and index hundreds of thousands more files in coming years.

_ Adelle M. Banks

Quote of the Day: Albert Snyder, father of fallen Marine Matthew Snyder

(RNS) “My son should have been buried with dignity, not with a bunch of clowns outside.”

_ Albert Snyder of Maryland, who is suing Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., after the church protested the 2006 funeral of his son, Lance Cpl. Matthew A. Snyder. The anti-gay church pickets soldiers’ funerals with the message that God is killing soldiers as punishment for homosexuality. He was quoted by the Associated Press.

KRE DS END RNS