c. 2008 Religion News Service
Presbyterians test new rules on gay clergy
(RNS) Minnesota Presbyterians have voted to restore the ordination of an openly gay man who has refused to pledge celibacy, the latest test of revamped pastoral guidelines in the Presbyterian Church (USA).
Paul Capetz, a seminary professor, asked to be removed from ministry in 2000 after the PCUSA voted to require that ministers be married to a member of the opposite sex or remain celibate.
But changes made in 2006 to the Presbyterians’ Book of Order allow candidates for ordination to declare a conscientious objection to church rules. Local presbyteries, or governing bodies, then must decide whether the objection “constitutes a failure to adhere to the essentials of Reformed faith and polity.”
On Saturday (Jan. 26), the Presbytery of the Twin Cities voted that Capetz’ objection, or “scruple,” did not violate the “essentials” and restored his ordination as a minister of word and sacrament.
Earlier this month, the Presbytery of San Francisco became the first to test the “scruple” policy when it voted to allow Lisa Larges, a lesbian, to continue on her path to ministry. A number of obstacles, including an appeal of the presbytery’s action in church courts, still stands between Larges and ordination, however.
An openly gay Wisconsin man is also in the beginning stages of seeking ordination.
Capetz told the Minnesota presbytery that he would follow the pastoral guidelines on sex if the church allowed gay and lesbian couples to marry, saying “if that were the case, I would have no difficulty abiding by the standard of chastity in singles and fidelity and marriage.”
_ Daniel Burke
Catholics agree to probe role in school abuse
TORONTO (RNS) Roman Catholic bishops in Canada have agreed to take part in a truth commission on abuse that occurred in church-run Indian residential schools.
The bishops, whose participation was in doubt until now, said the hearings will provide “balance” to a decades-old controversy that pitted Christian churches against the schools.
“Certainly, mistakes were made and we’re open to acknowledging that and being responsible but, most of all, we’re hoping that the story is really … balanced,” said Archbishop Sylvain Lavoie, one seven northern Canadian bishops who met Tuesday (Jan. 29) in Ottawa with Phil Fontaine, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations.
From the 1870s to about the 1970s, Canada’s federal government, together with the Catholic, Anglican, Presbyterian and United churches, removed aboriginal children from their villages and sent them to some 130 residential schools for training in Christianity and Western ways.
Thousands of former students have alleged they were beaten, neglected, and sexually abused. They have also charged that their native tongues and cultures were brutally suppressed.
Last year, the government approved a $1.9 billion compensation deal for the estimated 80,000 surviving students of the school system, to be split between the government Ottawa and the churches.
But the Catholic Church did not agree to the deal. Instead, it said it would pay $25 million toward a healing and reconciliation fund, open the church’s archives, and provide counseling and other services to survivors.
Part of the out-of-court settlement was the creation of a “Truth and Reconciliation Commission,” which will hold public hearings across Canada.
The bishops made no promises to apologize for wrongdoings or to bring the perpetrators to justice.
_ Ron Csillag
Lost bird helps raise funds for English church
LONDON (RNS) A tiny bird blown across the Atlantic Ocean from America on winters winds is helping raise funds to repair the roof of an ancient church in the tiny English village where it landed.
The white-crowned North American sparrow, a rare visitor to Britain’s shores, has become an attraction for “twitchers” _ bird spotters _ in the Norfolk village of Cley-next-the-Sea, and a fund-raiser for the settlement’s Church of St. Margaret of Antioch.
The twitcher tourists turning up in their thousands to view the seven-inch sparrow have already chipped in more than $6,000 in donations _ with possibly more to come _ that will be used to mend the east England church’s 13th century roof.
Cley resident and bird expert Mark Golley suggested the small creature could linger until spring, when its instincts probably would prompt it to wing its way further north on migration.
Meanwhile, Golley told London’s Daily Telegraph newspaper that the sparrow “ranks among the all-time crowd pullers” among Britain’s bird watchers, much to the church’s delight.
“The money is going into the church’s restoration fund,” said Richard Bending, a retired clergyman whose cottage is visited by the sparrow for sprinkled food. “It is most welcome, as significant amounts of money are always needed to keep it in good repair.”
_ Al Webb
Accused priest Marcial Maciel dies at 87
VATICAN CITY (RNS) The Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado, founder of a conservative movement of Roman Catholic priests and laity who was disciplined by the pope amid charges of sexual abuse, died Wednesday (Jan. 30) at the age of 87.
The Mexican priest died of “natural causes” in an unspecified location in the United States, according to a joint statement by the Legionaries of Christ (or Legion of Christ), the religious congregation he founded in 1941, and its affiliated lay movement, Regnum Christi.
Funeral rites would be “quiet and private” in accordance with Maciel’s wishes, the statement said.
The Legionaries of Christ, which enjoyed Vatican favor under Pope John Paul II, claims more than 600 priests and 2,500 seminarians in 40 countries, including at least 75 priests in the United States. Regnum Christi reportedly has some 65,000 lay members.
In 1997, nine former Legionaries accused Maciel of sexually abusing them decades earlier, when they were studying to become priests under his authority.
The allegations set off a drawn-out Vatican investigation conducted by the office of then-cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) from 1998 to 2005.
In 2006, with Benedict’s approval, Maciel was asked to limit himself to a “life reserved to prayer and penitence, renouncing all public ministry.”
The Vatican did not release details from the investigation, and Maciel was spared a church trial, a proceeding that could have resulted in his permanent removal from the priesthood.
The Vatican said at the time that Benedict had decided not to try Maciel because of his advanced age.
The Legionaries responded with a statement that Maciel had accepted the pontiff’s decision as a “new cross that God, the Father of Mercy, has allowed him to suffer and that will obtain many graces for the Legion of Christ.”
Barbara Dorris, outreach director of the Chicago-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) called Maciel “one the world’s most prominent and powerful predatory priests,” and expressed the hope that “his passing brings some relief and closure to those he has so severely injured and are still suffering.”
_ Francis X. Rocca
Pope defends statement on uniqueness of Catholic Church
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday (Jan. 31) defended a controversial Vatican statement on the uniqueness of the Catholic church, saying that it would enhance, not derail, ecumenical dialogue.
Benedict made his remarks in a meeting with members of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the church’s highest doctrinal body.
The pope commended the Congregation on a document it published last July, which reaffirms the teaching that the “one Church of Christ … subsists in the Catholic Church” alone.
The document describes non-Catholic Christian churches as defective, and says that Protestant denominations are not even churches “in the proper sense.”
Although some Protestant leaders criticized the Congregation’s statement upon its release, the pope on Thursday insisted that it would facilitate dialogue between Catholics and other Christians.
“Far from impeding authentic ecumenism, it will help ensure that discussion of doctrinal questions be undertaken always with realism and full awareness of the aspects that still separate Christian confessions,” Benedict said.
The Pope also praised another Congregation document, published last Dec. 14, which said that Catholic missionaries should aim to win souls and not restrict themselves to humanitarian good works.
Respect for other religions and a “spirit of collaboration” with their adherents “must not be understood as a limitation on the missionary task of the church, which requires it incessantly to announce Christ as the way, the truth and the life,” the pope said.
_ Francis X. Rocca
DNC lodges complaint over evangelical polling
WASHINGTON (RNS) Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, has sent a public letter to national election pollsters, blasting them for only asking Republicans about their religious practices.
“So far, exit polls, media reports and pundits have largely missed the story because they’re using an outdated script, which leaves the impression that religion and faith matter only to Republicans,” Dean said in a letter on Friday (Feb. 1).
Following on earlier complaints by progressive evangelicals, Dean notes that Democratic voters in the Iowa caucuses and Michigan primary weren’t asked about their religion, while Republicans were. In South Carolina, exit pollsters asked Republicans extensively about their faith, while Democrats were only asked how often they attend worship services.
“And this bias in polling questions has in turn shaped news coverage,” Dean said “making it appear that one party has a monopoly on religion in this race.”
The National Election Poll consortium, which includes the polling directors of ABC, CBS, CNN, FOX, NBC and The Associated Press, has said they “have limited real estate on our questionnaires,” and “routinely do not talk publicly about what questions are on our surveys,”according to Faith in Public Life.
Dean called on the pollsters to “honor the religious diversity of our country by including Democrats when asking about faith,” in the upcoming Feb. 5 Super Tuesday contests.
_ Daniel Burke
Atheists angry after Myspace page goes dark _ again
(RNS) It isn’t easy being godless online.
For the third time in as many years, what may be the largest group of organized atheists in the world is struggling to stay on MySpace, according to a Cleveland State University assistant professor who founded the site for nonbelievers.
MySpace deleted the 35,000-member “Atheist and Agnostic Group” on Jan. 1, a little more than a month after hackers broke in and renamed the group’s site “Jesus Is Love,” Bryan Pesta said Wednesday.
MySpace has ignored repeated requests to restore the group’s site, including an online petition with more than 500 signatures, said Pesta, who was the group’s moderator.
“These actions send a clear message to the 30 million godless people in America that we are not welcome on MySpace,” Pesta said.
A MySpace spokeswoman did not return calls seeking comment.
Pesta started the group in 2004 as a social networking site “specifically for godless people.” Atheists are more likely to be geographically spread out, and the online group provided a sense of community, he said.
“We’re regular people, just like Christians, Muslims and Jews,” he said. “We like to network.”
The site grew by about 10,000 people a year to just under 35,000 members by the end of 2007, Pesta said.
But it was never without controversy. Two years ago, Pesta said, MySpace deleted the group after an organized campaign from Christians opposing the site. MySpace restored it and promised it would be protected, Pesta said.
Last Thanksgiving, hackers broke into the group’s site, deleting material and renaming it “Jesus Is Love.” MySpace restored the site three weeks later but then shut it down this year, Pesta said.
_ David Briggs
Specter moves to allow churches to show Super Bowl
WASHINGTON (RNS) Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, has introduced legislation to allow churches to show the Super Bowl on widescreen televisions, just as bars do now.
“There’s absolutely no reason why you ought to be able to have a big screen in a bar but not in a church, where a church is having a social event,” said Specter in an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Sunday (Feb. 3), hours before the National Football League championship game.
He was responding to NFL rules that bar churches from holding events featuring TV screens that are larger than 55 inches.
“I think when the NFL has sent out letters to churches saying you can’t have a social event, they have sort of lost touch with their duty of accountability to the American people,” the senator said.
Specter also is seeking information from NFL officials about the destruction of videotapes related to the New England Patriots’ spying on the New York Jets early in the season.
John W. Whitehead, president of the Rutherford Institute in Charlottesville, Va., has tried unsuccessfully to find a church willing to sue for the right to host large Super Bowl parties.
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy has said NFL rules protect the network that paid to broadcast the game because large gatherings _ in churches or theaters _ could erode ratings and affect advertising revenues.
“It’s not a church issue, it’s a copyright issue,” he said.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Orthodox dating site now welcomes all `marriage-minded’ Jews
NEW YORK (RNS) A dating Web site once strictly limited to Orthodox Jewish singles now welcomes all “marriage-minded” Jews, and has changed its name to appeal to a less traditional demographic.
Frumster.com, derived from the Yiddish “Frum” for “pious,” launched alter ego Jwed.com last month, offering the same services under a different name. The site’s motto morphed from “Connecting Orthodox Jews Online” to “Jewish Dating for Marriage.”
The shift comes after years of juggling complaints and kicking off members who turned out not to be Orthodox, said Ben Rabizadeh, Frumster’s CEO.
Faced with a growing number of Reform and Conservative Jews seeking alternatives to JDate.com, a popular site that is deemed too casual by some serious spouse-seekers, Frumster began allowing users to choose from a range of religious designations a few years ago, he added.
“This wasn’t in our business plans at all,” Rabizadeh said. “We were forced into it, to make sure that people were representing themselves correctly.”
The more inclusive philosophy has alienated some “extremely right-wing” members, he admitted, but he said there haven’t been any reports of problematic pairings or diluted devotion.
Of the 10,000 people currently signed on to Frumster/Jwed, about 60 percent identify as Orthodox, Rabizadeh said. The site recently celebrated its 1,000th marriage.
In contrast, JDate boasts more than 500,000 members worldwide, with about 10 percent self-described as “traditional.” The site doesn’t keep official count of marriages, said spokeswoman Gail Laguna.
The two sites also differ in price; Frumster/Jwed costs $10 to $15 a month, a fraction of JDate’s rates.
Playful competition and religious snobbery aside, both sites serve an important purpose, said Mindy Lurie, 28, who met her husband, Joel, on Frumster after each had failed to find love on JDate. They wed in 2006 and now live in Dallas, where they keep kosher but don’t identify with a particular stream of Judaism.
“I hate labels, I think they only serve to divide Jews,” Lurie said. “As long as we can get them to meet each other in some way, whether on JDate or Frumster, that’s the important thing.”
_ Nicole Neroulias
Judge lowers judgment against Phelps’ church
(RNS) A federal judge in Baltimore on Monday (Feb. 4) cut the $10.9 million judgment against an anti-gay church and three of its members who protested outside a fallen Marine’s funeral.
U.S District Judge Richard D. Bennett awarded $5 million to Albert Snyder, “for acts of intentional infliction of mental and emotional distress (and) invasion of privacy” by the protesters outside his son’s 2006 funeral.
Members of Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., carried signs with such slogans as “Thank God for dead soldiers” and “God hates America” at the funeral of Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew A. Snyder, who was killed in Iraq.
Bennett maintained the $2.9 million awarded to Albert Snyder for compensatory damages, but reduced the punitive damage award from $8 million to $2.1 million.
The Westboro Baptist Church Web site, http://www.godhatesfags.com, reflects the church’s belief that God hates America and is allowing U.S. soldiers to die because of America’s tolerance of homosexuality.
“Now, God is America’s enemy, dashing your soldiers to pieces,” the front page of their Web site reads.
The church is currently awaiting a decision on their appeal to overturn the verdict.
_ Brittani Hamm
Orthodox Jews unveil `kosher’ phone service
JERUSALEM (RNS) In a move designed to increase its market share of religious customers, Israel’s leading telephone company has introduced a “kosher” phone service that will prohibit outgoing calls to unsavory businesses, including ones that promote pornography.
Although the country’s cell phone companies already provide such a service, those using land lines have never had this option.
Avi Gabbay, CEO of Bezeq Israel Telecom, which held a telecommunications monopoly until 2006, said the free “kosher line” was introduced in consultation with prominent rabbis, who have long warned of the risks of uncensored phone use and prohibit surfing the Internet.
“Obviously our main customer is the ultra-Orthodox, but a lot of parents don’t want their children to be exposed to these kinds of numbers,” said Itamar Harel, vice president of Bezeq’s residential customers division.
Presumably, such a service will also appeal to many members of Israel’s Muslim and Christian minorities, which constitute roughly 20 percent of the population.
Though they make up less than 10 percent of Israel’s Jews, the ultra-Orthodox represent an important and growing niche market. Their insular lifestyle, based on strict Torah law, has spurred an entire industry _ ultra-kosher food, modest clothing, Sabbath-friendly technology _ geared toward their unique needs.
Jonathan Rosenblum, director of the Am Echad, a Jerusalem-based information center about ultra-Orthodox Jewry, predicted the kosher phone service “won’t be just for religious Jews. I think a lot of secular and (moderately religious) people will find it useful as well.”
_ Michele Chabin
Quote of the Week: Episcopal Bishop John Howe of Central Florida
(RNS) “The litigation going on in so many places is a travesty. And although some seem to be trying to do so, I don’t think you can hold a church together by taking everybody you disagree with to court.”
_ Episcopal Bishop John Howe of Central Florida on the legal battles between the Episcopal Church and conservatives who’ve seceded over homosexuality and the Bible. He was quoted by The Living Church.
END RNS
