c. 2008 Religion News Service

Priest scraps plans for anti-abortion society of priests

(RNS) An outspoken Catholic priest has scrapped plans to build a religious society of priests dedicated solely to fighting abortion, just two years after its founding.

The Rev. Frank Pavone said the religious community he founded in 2006, the Missionaries of the Gospel of Life, was diverting attention and resources from his primary goal: ending abortion.

“We don’t want to get bogged down,” Pavone said in an interview. “Once we started the community, all our time and energy were going into priestly formation.”

Nine seminarians were studying to join the society based in Amarillo, Texas, Pavone said, but he was its only member. The goal was to ordain and train an army of priests free from diocesan duties and dedicated to fighting abortion across the country.

“It is the raising up of a professional band of men who are really going to engage in battle,” Pavone said in 2006.

The nine seminarians will return to their home dioceses, Pavone said.

Two years ago, the Missionaries for the Gospel of Life held a high-profile groundbreaking ceremony for its Amarillo headquarters attended by Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, as well as Alveda King, niece of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Priests for Life, founded by Pavone in 1991 and one of the largest anti-abortion groups in the U.S., will continue as a “private association of the faithful.”

“It seems best that the association remain focused specifically and exclusively on the pro-life work itself,” Pavone said, “and leave to dioceses and religious communities the specific task of forming men for the priesthood.”

Pavone’s strident style of anti-abortion activism has at times vexed the Catholic hierarchy. In 2001, Cardinal Edward Egan of New York, where Pavone was living, forced him to step down as head of Priests for Life and accept a parish position. Egan eventually allowed Pavone to transfer to Amarillo.

_ Daniel Burke

Presbyterians launch fast to build solidarity with poor, hungry

WASHINGTON (RNS) The Presbyterian Church (USA) is inviting all Presbyterians to participate in a monthly church-wide fast for “repentance, reflection, and coordinated actions” to empathize with those suffering from hunger and famine around the world.

Over the next year, the denomination will study aspects of the world hunger crisis, including trade policies, climate change and the rising cost of food. It will release its findings along with scriptural studies during each fasting period.

Starting on the first Friday of every month and ending the next day, individuals will abstain from food for 40 hours. The fasting will end with a communal meal and a time for people to respond to the crisis by donating time and money to the cause.

“We hope that people will understand the food crisis in a much bigger way,” said Ruth Farrell, coordinator of the Presbyterian Hunger Program. She believes the spiritual discipline of fasting will spark creativity with how people will respond to the crisis.

“They can respond by changing their lifestyle,” she said. Buying from local farmer’s markets and being aware of how trade agreements affect other countries, she added, are ways that people can help.

The first weekend of the fast will focus on trade agreements and food costs around the world. “Food and water should not be treated like commodities subject to trade agreements,” said Andrew Kang Bartlett, associate of the Presbyterian Hunger Program. “Food should be separate and treated differently because lives are stake.”

Bartlett hopes the monthly fasting will be a catalyst for change.

“We are open to God’s guidance,” he said. “Our strength in numbers and our collective discernment will bring us to a different place than where we would have been before.”

_ Ashley Gipson

Anti-Muslim, Anti-Jewish views on rise in Europe

(RNS) A growing number of Europeans have negative views of Jews and Muslims, according to a new survey from the Pew Research Center.

The survey, released on Sept. 17, found that 46 percent of the Spaniards, 34 percent of Russians and 36 percent of Poles view Jews unfavorably. Slight majorities of Spaniards (52 percent) and Germans (50 percent) rated Muslims unfavorably. France had fewer people express negative views about Jews and Muslims.

Higher percentages of people have unfavorable views of Muslims, but Europeans who view Muslims negatively also tended to view Jews negatively. Both percentages have increased since the Pew study conducted in 2004.

The increase in anti-Semitic opinions peaked around 2006, but anti-Muslim sentiment has lingered longer since it first peaked between 2004 and 2006.

Great Britain reported the lowest percentages of anti-Semitic views, just 9 percent, which has remained largely stable over time. A larger number, about one in four Britons, expressed negative views of Muslims.

The survey found that older people and those with less education are more likely to hold negative views of both Jews and Muslims, whereas younger people and those who have attended college are less likely to have negative sentiments.

The report shows that Muslim support for suicide bombings in Pakistan (5 percent), Turkey (3 percent) and Nigeria (32 percent) all continue to decline; support has dropped 28 percentage points in Pakistan since 2002, for example.

The percentage of Lebanese Muslims who say suicide bombing and other acts of violence are justifiable defenses for Islam has dropped from 74 percent to 32 percent. Still, significant percentages of Muslims in Nigeria (58 percent), Indonesia (37 percent) and Pakistan (34 percent) support al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

_ Ashley Gipson

Quote of the Day: Controversial sect leader Tony Alamo

(RNS) “We don’t go into pornography; nobody in the church is into that. Where do these allegations stem from? The anti-Christ government. The Catholics don’t like me because I have cut their congregation in half. They hate true Christianity.”

_ Tony Alamo, leader of Tony Alamo Christian Ministries, whose Arkansas headquarters were raided Sunday (Sept. 21) by police as part of a child-pornography investigation. He was quoted by The Associated Press.

KRE/RB END RNS