c. 2007 Religion News Service
Muslims accept pope’s invitation to dialogue
VATICAN CITY (RNS) A group of prominent Muslim scholars and clerics has accepted the invitation of Pope Benedict XVI for a “working meeting” on inter-religious dialogue at the Vatican.
According to Catholic News Service, Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal of Jordan wrote to Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican secretary of state, on Dec. 12 to accept the pope’s invitation.
Representatives of Muslim participants at the meeting will travel to the Vatican in February or March to prepare for the event, Ghazi wrote.
The Vatican’s proposal was itself a response to an open letter published Oct. 13 by 138 Muslim leaders seeking better relations with the Christian world.
That letter invoked the common principles of “love of the One God, and love of the neighbor” as the ultimate basis for peace between Muslims and Christians.
On Nov. 29, Bertone wrote on the pope’s behalf to Ghazi, a signatory of the Oct. 13 letter, inviting the prince and a “restricted group of signatories” of his choosing to visit the Vatican, for both an audience with Benedict and a “working meeting” with Vatican experts on inter-religious dialogue.
While thanking Bertone for the invitation, Ghazi’s reply alluded to tensions besetting Muslim-Catholic dialogue, mentioning “some recent pronouncements emerging from the Vatican and from Vatican advisers … as regards the very principle of theological dialogue with Muslims.”
That reference is apparently linked to comments by Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, who told a French newspaper that Muslim belief in the Quran as the literal word of God makes theological dialogue with Christians “difficult.”
Ghazi said theological differences should not prevent Christians and Muslims from seeking and affirming areas of agreement, “whether we wish to call this kind of dialogue `theological’ or `spiritual’ or something else.”
_ Francis X. Rocca
Former British PM Blair converts to Catholicism
LONDON (RNS) After months of speculation, former British prime minister Tony Blair converted to Roman Catholicism in a low-key ceremony at an archbishop’s chapel in London just before Christmas.
During his 10 years as prime minister, Blair steadfastly sidestepped attempts to pin him down on all questions of his faith. But his resignation from power last summer appeared to open the way to the formal step into the Catholic Church.
On Dec. 21, he rode with his Catholic wife, Cherie Blair, to the chapel of the Archbishop’s House in London, where he was received into the Roman Catholic Church by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor.
“I am very glad to welcome Tony Blair into the Catholic Church,” the cardinal said in a statement. “For a long time he has been a regular worshipper at Mass with his family, and in recent months he has been following a program of formation to prepare for his reception into full communion.”
Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, spiritual head of the 77 million-member worldwide Anglican Communion, said his own farewell to the former prime minister.
“Tony Blair has my prayers and good wishes as he takes this step in his Christian pilgrimage,” Williams said in a statement. “A great Catholic writer of the last century said that the only reason for moving from one Christian family to another was to deepen one’s relationship with God. I pray that this will be the result of Tony Blair’s decision in his personal life.”
Blair was baptized as an Anglican but has shown keen interest in Catholicism in recent years. He made no move toward joining the Catholic Church during his years in power, possibly because of political sensitivities in a nation that has never had a Catholic prime minister.
His position was made even more awkward because under his administration, the government pursued policies that Catholics opposed, including allowing civil partnerships and adoptions for gay couples, failure to restrict abortions and conducting the war in Iraq.
_ Al Webb
Unitarians take ad campaign to college bowl games
(RNS) When college football fans open their programs at 13 upcoming bowl games, they’ll get a taste of religion _ but not the kind that gets players thanking Jesus on the gridiron.
Instead, they’ll see advertisements from the Unitarian Universalist Association, a Boston-based denomination that doesn’t expect members to believe in God. It’s an organization better known for defending same-sex marriage and environmental causes than for winning hearts in red-state America.
But the UUA in October embarked on its first national media campaign in 50 years, and bowl games now offer a perfect audience.
“This opportunity was simply too good to pass up,” said UUA President William G. Sinkford in a written statement. “We’ve said for years that we want to be in the center of the conversation rather than on the margins. In our nation, there are few things closer to the center than holiday football games.”
The UUA’s national marketing campaign began with advertisements in TIME magazine. The denomination has also put together a 30-second television ad, which has run in the San Francisco area, as well as a DVD introduction to the denomination.
Print advertisements in the football programs begin with a play on a Biblical expression: “Find us and ye shall seek.” The text continues: “If you’re searching for a spiritual home where questions are as welcome as answers, find us.”
Outreach efforts build upon research the UUA conducted in test markets in 2003-’04 through a campaign dubbed “The Uncommon Denomination.” The UUA says advertising in TIME will continue for several months.
_ G. Jeffrey MacDonald
Questions surround firing of Methodist ecumenical officer
NEW YORK (RNS) Leaders of three predominantly black Methodist churches are unhappy with the process that led to the firing of the head of the United Methodist Church’s main ecumenical and interfaith agency.
And the man dismissed, the Rev. Larry Pickens, head of the UMC’s Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns, said the fact that the church leaders are raising concerns “should at least give us pause.”
Pickens, who is black, was dismissed as head of the New York-based agency on Dec. 5. The black church leaders say the commission was never given the chance to vote on re-electing Pickens. Instead, they were asked to approve a motion to elect retired UMC Bishop Fritz Mutti as interim leader of the commission and begin a search to replace Pickens.
Three leaders of historically black Methodist denominations sit on the UMC commission to strengthen relations among denominations. Non-UMC members include Bishop E. Earl McCloud Jr. of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Lula K. Howard of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, and Juanita Bryant of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church.
While the eventual vote, 21-19, to appoint Mutti did not strictly fall along racial lines, McCloud told United Methodist News Service that it also did not “seem very fair” to Pickens. McCloud said it was not “a right signal” as the UMC addresses issues of institutional racism.
Asked in a recent interview if racism was a possible factor in the firing, Pickens said he can’t “judge what the people (who voted against him) were thinking,” but said those raising the concerns “have the most objectivity in the process because they don’t have an axe to grind.”
He added that, “Racism is a reality in the United Methodist Church and we need to address that.”
Pickens had earlier said his dismissal was likely due to disagreements over his advocacy of social justice issues and his leadership style, which he said in retrospect, could have been more “consultative.”
United Methodist Bishop Ann Sherer, the commission’s president, has said she would not comment beyond saying that the commission’s decision was a personnel issue conducted in executive session. She said it was routine for the body to annually re-elect a chief executive or approve new leadership.
_ Chris Herlinger
Quote of the Day: Dina Cellini of Bal Harbour, Fla.
(RNS) “I don’t anticipate this will ever happen again, but we may need to rely on technology to save our savior.”
_ Dina Cellini, who oversees a Nativity scene displayed in Bal Harbour, Fla., speaking about the baby Jesus statue getting a Global Positioning System locator as a protection against thieves. She was quoted by the Associated Press.
KRE/LF END RNS
