c. 2000 Religion News Service

20,000 European Organs May Soon Be Beyond Repair

(RNS) More than 20,000 European church organs, especially those in poor Eastern European countries, are on the brink of extinction unless expensive repairs are made, according to a recent congress of organ experts.

Meeting last month in Croatia, the gathering of organists and organ builders said more than half of these priceless “musical works of art” are virtually beyond repair and may soon be unsalvageable.

“Churches and their contents, including church organs, are important elements of civilization and form part of Europe’s cultural heritage,” Wolfgang Braun, a master German organ builder, told Ecumenical News International, the Geneva-based religious news service. “European countries should not remain indifferent to the gradual disappearance of these beautiful historic monuments.”

The organs in the grand cathedrals and small churches of Europe served as the springboard for classical musicians such as Bach and Beethoven, and sacred and classical musical arts flourished under church sponsorship.

The costs for repairing a historic organ are staggering; labor and materials cost at least $66,000 per organ, and repair specialists need seven to eight years of experience to qualify as organ restorers, according to ENI.

The situation is especially desperate in Eastern Europe, where churches and governments have never been able to pay for upkeep and routine maintenance. “Unfortunately, these countries currently find themselves in an economic downturn and cannot contribute to the upkeep of these instruments,” Braun said.

The organ congress that met in Croatia intends to launch a public awareness campaign about the plight of the organs, and each European country is being asked to designate five organs in the most urgent need of repairs. Delegates hope to establish a foundation to help collect money to save the organs.

Thomas Nelson Launches E-book Publishing Program

(RNS) The Christian publishing company Thomas Nelson has launched an e-book publishing program and will begin releasing best-selling books through Internet retailers in November.

The company announced that it will release more than a dozen best-selling titles through e-tailer channels, including Amazon.com and bn.com (Barnes & Noble’s online service), starting Nov. 15.

Consumers will be able to purchase the titles and download them into their computers.

“We have observed the escalation of e-publishing activity and support from major retailers, including bn.com and Amazon.com, in recent months,” said Philip Stoner, chairperson of Thomas Nelson’s e-publishing initiative. “We feel confident that there is a rapidly growing market for the unique focus of our publications in these new e-book formats.”

Among the titles to be included in this new market are “Failing Forward” by John C. Maxwell, “Rachel’s Tears” by Darrell Scott and Beth Nimmo, “He Chose the Nails” by Max Lucado, “Jesus Among Other Gods” by Ravi Zacharias, “Just Give Me Jesus” by Anne Graham Lotz and “Wounded Spirit” by Frank Peretti.

Thomas Nelson is a Nashville, Tenn.-based publisher of Christian products, including books, Bibles and religious reference materials.

Pennsylvania Synagogue Fire Possible Hate Crime

(RNS) A fire that destroyed part of a Pennsylvania synagogue on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur may have been set deliberately, authorities have said, and could be a hate crime.

The fire swept through two floors of Temple Ohev Sholom’s three-story school building in Harrisburg early Monday (Oct. 9) morning. The congregation’s main sanctuary was untouched, and no one was harmed.

Authorities believe the fire was probably not an accident since the building was under construction and had no heat-producing sources or electrical system, an official with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms told the Associated Press.

Authorities have not identified any suspects, but are “considering the possibility that this was a hate crime,” said Fire Chief Donald Konkle.

“If it is true that someone did this on purpose, they have not dampened our Yom Kippur,” said congregation member Ceria Mitchell. “This building is just where we meet. We are the temple.”

The fire coincided with the arrival of Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year, and came amid a fresh wave of violence between Israelis and Palestinians in the Middle East that has killed at least 80 people in the past two weeks.

Chief Episcopal Ecumenical Officer Announces Retirement

(RNS) The chief ecumenical officer for the Episcopal Church will retire from his post on Jan. 31, 2001 after a ceremony celebrating a historic full communion agreement with Lutherans.

The Rev. David W. Perry, who has led ecumenical relations for the 2.5 million-member church for the past four years, will retire to his native Oregon in January, the church announced.

Perry has been a staff member at the church’s New York headquarters for more than two decades. Prior to his ecumenical work, Perry began as national coordinator of religious education in 1973. In 1982, he accepted an education post at a Pasadena, Calif., parish, but returned to New York in 1987 to be executive of the Education for Ministry and Mission office.

Perry was named chief ecumenical officer in 1996 after the retirement of the Rev. William Norgren. Perry leaves his mark on the church as the chief negotiator of the “Called to Common Mission” agreement with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Under the agreement, which was approved last year by the Lutherans and this year by Episcopalians, the two churches will be able to swap clergy and join in common mission projects. Perry will join in a Jan. 6 celebration service at the Washington National Cathedral and then travel to a meeting of the World Council of Churches before retiring.

Britain to Get First State-Funded Muslim Secondary School

(RNS) Britain will soon have its first state-funded Muslim secondary school, according to government officials.

David Blunkett, secretary of state for education and employment, says the government is “favorably disposed” toward allowing Feversham College Muslim Girls’ Independent School in Bradford, England, to move into the state-maintained sector as a voluntary aided school.

“I hope that this new facility will improve the educational opportunities in the area, particularly for Muslim girls,” Blunkett said Monday (Oct. 9). “I am satisfied that, with the support of the local education authority and their external consultants, this school should provide a good standard of education.”

Approval of Feversham is linked to its move to a new site, which was formerly a Roman Catholic school, and to the satisfactory provision of resources for pupils with special needs, which may range from dyslexia through behavioral problems to physical disabilities.

In 1998 two Muslim primary schools, in north London and Birmingham, received state recognition and funding for the first time.

Most voluntary aided schools, where the state pays the operational costs and a portion of the capital costs, are Roman Catholic, Anglican or Jewish, but since 1997 recognition has been given to two Sikh schools, one Greek Orthodox, and one Seventh Day Adventist.

Feversham College was unsuccessful in applying for voluntary aided status in 1995. At present it has 213 pupils, with a sixth form _ pupils ages 17 and 18 _ of 19. With state recognition, it plans to expand to 580 pupils, 130 of them sixth-formers.

Eileen Egan, Co-Founder of Pax Christi USA, Dies at 88

(RNS) Eileen Egan, a relentless advocate for nonviolence and co-founder of the Catholic lay organization Pax Christi USA, died Oct. 7 at the age of 88.

Egan’s social justice work began just after World War II with Catholic Relief Services, where Egan worked to resettle Polish survivors of Siberian exile and expelled ethnic Germans.

Among her close friends was Dorothy Day, founder of the Catholic Worker Movement and a strong force for social justice work. In 1962, Egan was a co-founder of the American Pax Association and began a 10-year campaign of educating Catholics about peace, nuclear weapons and conscientious objection.

“Eileen is a legend whose life has spoken for justice with a special concern for the disadvantaged,” Kathleen Pruitt, Pax Christi USA ambassador for peace, said in a statement. “She was a gentle, forceful presence.”

In 1972, Egan launched the U.S. chapter of Pax Christi, a Catholic lay organization that had been operating in Europe since 1945. For the next 28 years, Egan pushed for peace and challenged the Roman Catholic Church over its support of a “just war” theory.

In her last book, “Peace Be With You: Justified Warfare or the Way of Nonviolence,” Egan wrote the only theory of violence that the church can support is nonviolence.

“Only by boldly teaching the words of Jesus and renouncing the teaching of just war as an unworthy graft on the Gospel teaching of love can we hope to wake up Catholics to witness to the world as a true peace church,” she wrote.

Quote of the Day: World Council of Churches General Secretary Konrad Raiser

(RNS) “This is not a time for ultimatums or threats of more violent acts of retribution, but the hour to join together in declaring a truce and days of public mourning for the victims of the violence on all sides.”

_ The Rev. Konrad Raiser, general secretary of the World Council of Churches, writing to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and welcoming the Security Council’s encouragement of the end of violence between Israelis and Palestinians.

DEA END RNS