c. 2008 Religion News Service
Presbyterian high court bars noncelibate gay clergy
(RNS) The high court of the Presbyterian Church (USA) has issued a landmark decision that unequivocally bars noncelibate gay and lesbian clergy and halts recent attempts to compromise on ordination standards.
Ministerial candidates in the PCUSA are required to be in faithful heterosexual marriages or remain celibate, though a compromise reached in 2006 was thought to potentially loosen those standards.
No such loosening is allowed, ruled the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission, the 16-member high court of the PCUSA, on Feb. 11. The “fidelity and chastity” requirement is “a mandatory standard that cannot be waived,” the court ruled.
While candidates for ordination may disagree with those standards, they are still required to obey them, the court said. The standards themselves can only be changed through a constitutional amendment at a biennial General Assembly, according to the court.
In 2006, Presbyterians passed an “authoritative interpretation” of the constitution that many saw as a compromise, which would allow gay and lesbian candidates to declare a conscientious objection, or “scruple,” to the ordination standard. The local presbytery, or governing body, could then decide whether the candidate’s scruple touched on an “essential” of the faith.
In January, Lisa Larges, a lesbian, used the “scruple” policy to pursue a path to ministry in the San Francisco Presbytery. Later that month, Minnesota Presbyterians approved the re-ordination of a gay man, Paul Capetz, who left ministry eight years ago because he would not take the celibacy vow.
“The San Francisco case does get stopped in its tracks,” said Jack Haberer, editor-in-chief of The Presbyterian Outlook and a member of the task force that brokered the ordination compromise. But since Capetz has already been re-ordained, someone would have to seek to defrock him, Haberer said.
Capetz said the ruling left him “baffled.” He said he would not relinquish his ordination and that he had been certain the new “scruple” policy opened the door to gay and lesbian clergy.
“Everyone I talked to saw it that way. We thought a new way had opened up,” Capetz said Tuesday (Feb. 19).
Conservative Presbyterians, however, were pleased by the ruling.
“We can now rest assured that our standards for ordination in the PCUSA continue to reflect the clear teaching of Scripture and the plain meaning of our constitution,” the Louisville, Ky.-based Presbyterians for Renewal said in a statement.
_ Daniel Burke
Catholic religious orders in midst of `spiritual weariness,’ says Pope
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Benedict XVI deplored a “crisis” in the Catholic Church’s traditional religious orders, which he said suffered from aging membership and a lack of spiritual vigor. But the pontiff celebrated the “enthusiasm, generosity and joy” exemplified by newer groups.
Benedict made his comments at a meeting of Vatican officials and heads of religious orders on Tuesday (Feb. 19).
Older religious orders are passing through “a difficult crisis owing to the aging of their members, a more or less accentuated diminution of vocations,and also at times a spiritual and charismatic weariness,” the pope said.
Linking the problem to the faithlessness of “modern globalized society,” Benedict said that the “process of secularization advancing in contemporary culture unfortunately does not in fact spare religious communities.”
The pope’s statement echoed recent remarks by the top Vatican official in charge of religious orders.
Cardinal Franc Rode told an Italian newspaper last week that the fact that many clergy, nuns and brothers do not wear traditional habits reflects a “climate of secularization” that endangers religious life.
Among other signs of secularization, the cardinal noted “devaluation of prayer, an insufficient community life, and a scarce sense of obedience.”
Last month, Rode told a gathering of Jesuits, the church’s largest order, that he felt “sorrow and anxiety” over the failure of “some members of religious families” to “think with the church” and obey the hierarchy.
_ Francis X. Rocca
Prolific Jesuit writer and professor dies
(RNS) The Rev. Walter J. Burghardt, a Jesuit priest known for his electrifying preaching style and commitment to social justice, died Saturday (Feb. 16) in a Jesuit infirmary in Merion, Pa. He was 93.
“For all his brilliance, bearing and elegance, he had wonderful simplicity about him,” wrote the Rev. Jim Connor, also a Jesuit, in a homily prepared for Burghardt’s funeral. “And this is what made him so appealing and such a good friend.”
Over the course of his career, the prolific Burghardt penned 25 books and 300 articles for theological journals.
His memoir, “Long Have I Loved You: A Theologian Reflects on His Church,” was honored by the Catholic Press Association.
Burghardt was born July 10, 1914, in New York City. He was ordained a Jesuit in 1941 at Woodstock College in Woodstock, Md., where he began his 32-year teaching career.
From 1946 to 1990, he worked as an editor for the Catholic journal, Theological Studies. During that time, Burghardt was also a visiting professor at schools such as Princeton Theological Seminary, and Union Theological Seminary in New York.
When he was nearly 80, Burghardt started the “Preaching the Just Word” program through the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University. Despite going blind due to macular degeneration, Burghardt led the program’s countrywide retreats to help priests address social justice issues in their communities.
“My own growing vision of justice is being brought to light despite the darkening of my world,” Burghardt wrote.
_ Greg Trotter
WCC head decides against second term
(RNS) The Rev. Samuel Kobia, general secretary of the World Council of Churches, announced Monday (Feb. 18) that he will not seek a second term as head of the Geneva-based ecumenical body, citing personal reasons.
WCC moderator the Rev. Walter Altmann said he would not speculate as to why Kobia, a Kenyan Methodist and the first African to lead the WCC, decided not to seek another term. Kobia’s current term ends in December.
The WCC’s main governing body, the central committee, “received this news with regret but accepts the decision of the general secretary,” Altmann said in a statement.
The announcement comes less than a week after the WCC said a Louisiana-based institution that granted Kobia a doctorate in 2004 had lost it accreditation to grant degrees while Kobia was enrolled.
Kobia’s decision also came after a prominent member of the WCC central committee, Bishop Martin Hein of the Evangelical Church in Germany, told a reporter that Kobia was traveling too much outside of Geneva.
Hein said that the WCC had not been able to develop “visions and perspectives that are able to be communicated,” reported Ecumenical News International (ENI), a Geneva-based news agency with ties to the WCC.
Altmann said Kobia “has our full support to carry on his duties until the end of his term.” He said the WCC’s executive committee would meet in September to appoint an acting general secretary who would begin work in 2009, ENI reported.
Kobia informed the committee of his decision just prior to deliberations on whether to re-appoint him to a second term. Kobia was appointed to head the WCC in 2003. Among Kobia’s priorities as general secretary has been dialogue with Pentecostals, a faith group with little formal affiliation with the WCC, a body of 349-member denominations.
_ Chris Herlinger
Canterbury preserves death warrant for Catholic queen
LONDON (RNS) The Archbishop of Canterbury’s library has rescued a copy of the 16th century death warrant for Mary, Queen of Scots, who many feared would try to return England to Roman Catholic rule.
The Lambeth Palace Library in London announced it had paid about $142,000 for the document, the original of which was signed by England’s Protestant queen, Elizabeth I.
Queen Mary was executed on Feb. 8, 1587, which the Church of England describes as “one of the most dramatic episodes in British history.” The execution was a turning point after Elizabeth’s father, King Henry VIII, broke with the Catholic Church because the pope refused to allow him a divorce.
In addition to ruling Scotland, Mary claimed the crown of England, and Elizabeth’s adherents feared that she would rally dissidents determined to restore Catholicism as the state religion in England.
The copy of the warrant was grabbed up by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams’s library and record office after its unidentified private owner applied for a license to take it overseas.
It is all that is left of the legal documents surrounding the beheading of the Queen of Scots. The original warrant, the Church of England says, “disappeared in the recriminations which followed.”
_ Al Webb
Quote of the Day: Robin Thac of Houston, Texas
(RNS) “I am thrilled my son has a role model to accept responsibility the way Calvin has. There are way too many men who don’t accept responsibility.”
_ Robin Thac, a member of Elim Church in Houston, after youth minister Calvin Wayne Inman surrendered to police for killing a convenience store clerk in 1994. She was quoted by the Associated Press.
(Zachary Lewis is a staff writer for The Plain Dealer of Cleveland. He can be contacted at zlewis(at)plaind.com.)
DSB/CM END RNS
