c. 1997 Religion News Service

Former Episcopal presiding bishop dead at 87

(RNS) Bishop John E. Hines, the Episcopal Church prelate who led the denomination during the tumultuous social gospel era of the 1960s and 1970s, died Saturday (July 19) in Austin, Texas. He was 87.

Hines, who was bedridden since breaking several ribs in a fall last Christmas, was bishop of the Diocese of Texas before his election in 1964 as presiding bishop. He served until 1974.

Hines became a lightning rod because of his promotion of activist approaches to social issues. During his term, he supported liturgical renewal, the ecumenical movement, the ordination of women and the inclusion of minorities on church councils.

He drew his greatest fire in his response to inner-city summer riots in 1967. He proposed to the church’s policy-making General Convention a daring plan to heal racial wounds by reordering the church’s finances. He called for self-determination and empowerment programs for the urban poor through”no strings”financial grants.

His plan, called the church’s Special Program, was accepted by the convention and its concept was followed by other denominations. However, the program, which was to be financed through special collections beyond the usual church support, backfired when many congregations revolted and withheld funds. The church’s national office and some dioceses were forced to lay off workers and to reduce programs.

In later years, Hines was quoted as saying:”I hoped the program would save the church’s soul (and) show that the church had at least a partial understanding of what the cross meant.” Hines carried his cause against racism to the international level in 1971 at a General Motors shareholders’ meeting. Backed by his church’s shares and thousands of proxies, he initiated a movement to force U.S. divestiture in South Africa as a way to end apartheid. The movement, which spread to other denominations, was credited by retired South African Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu as a key to apartheid’s eventual collapse.

Hines’ place in religious history remains open to interpretation.

Since 1974, when he stepped down two years before the end of his term, the Episcopal Church has intensified its involvement in social outreach ministries. But Hines’ emphasis for social action has been called by his critics as a primary cause of the Episcopal Church’s declining numbers.

Education Department issues guidelines for Title I instruction

(RNS) The U.S. Department of Education has issued guidelines for school districts that clarify the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling allowing public school teachers to offer remedial help to parochial school students on private school property.

Chief among the guidelines is making sure that only public employees serve as instructors in the remedial classes, which are known as Title I programs.

The education department also noted that classrooms in which Title I programs are held must be devoid of any religious symbolism and that personnel must be assigned to Title I programs without regard to religious affiliation.

On June 23, the Supreme Court ruled that private school students were entitled to Title I services, provided there were safeguards such as those outlined in the education department document released Friday (July 18).

Since 1985, when an earlier Supreme Court ruling forbade Title I instruction in private schools, public school teachers have met parochial school students in vans parked near their schools.

Now that Title I instruction is permissible on parochial school property, the schools are free to continue to offer such classes in the vans or in their buildings.

Catholic group urges ABC-TV to pull show about”irreverent”priest

(RNS) A Catholic anti-defamation group has urged Disney-owned ABC-TV to pull the drama”Nothing Sacred”from its fall lineup.

The 350,000-member Catholic League said the show about a young priest”who questions the existence of God”demeans the Roman Catholic Church, the Associated Press reported.

The show, scheduled to air Thursdays beginning in September, is”belittling what is sacred,”said Bernadette Brady, vice president of the Catholic League.

Brady also said she thought the drama’s pilot episode offered a”very, very negative portrayal of the priesthood.” The Catholic League’s protest follows complaints from other groups about the Walt Disney Co. Delegates to the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention voted in June to boycott the company, in part because of their displeasure with Disney’s offering of benefits to partners of gay employees.

ABC said it would stand by”Nothing Sacred.” The show’s executive producer, David Manson, said the pilot script was reviewed by the Los Angeles Roman Catholic archdiocese.”Everyone’s entitled to their opinion, but they have not seen the show,”Manson said.”My hope is that a lot of people see the show and make up their own minds about it.” The Catholic League has boycotted the Walt Disney Co. since 1995, when the controversial film”Priest”was released.

Poll: British companies should adopt labor condition standards

(RNS) Ninety-two percent of Britons think British companies should have a minimum standard of labor conditions for workers in Third World countries who produce goods for sale in Britain, according to a new opinion poll.

The poll, commissioned by an agency of English and Welsh Roman Catholic bishops, showed the majority of Britons think health, safety, workday length and pay standards should be adopted.

Clare Short, secretary of state for international development in Britain’s recently elected Labour government, welcomed the finding.”The cheap products which we take for granted are often produced at enormous human cost to workers in developing countries,”she said.

Britons take into account factors such as the health conditions and treatment of workers when making purchases, the poll indicated.

Sixty-one percent of those surveyed said they would not buy a product if those producing it were subject to discrimination and harassment.

Quote of the day: writer Wendy Crockett

(RNS) In her new book,”Sweetwater Wisdom: A Native American Spiritual Way”(Crossroad), Wendy Crockett writes about the spiritual value of preserving old-growth forests. Crockett, who lives in Jemez Springs, N.M., wrote:”When the oldest trees are taken from the earth, hundreds of years of history go with them. We cannot continue without an attitude adjustment. Our lives are symbiotic with all life here. We are in dis-harmony, out of contact with our world, unaware of our own breath, out of balance in the spiral of life.”

MJP END RNS