c. 2005 Religion News Service
Daughter Says Graham is `Depressed’ About Inability to Aid Storm Victims
(RNS) Anne Graham Lotz, the daughter of famed evangelist Billy Graham, said her father is “a little depressed” that he can’t do more to help victims of Hurricane Katrina.
In a phone interview with The Grand Rapids (Mich.) Press, Lotz said her 86-year-old father wishes he could do more. He and his wife, Ruth, took in an evacuated family at their guest house, Lotz said.
“Right now he is a little depressed,” Lotz said. “Because of his age, he can’t do anything about it. He said, `If I was younger and strong, I’d be down there building houses.”’
Lotz, 57, speaks across the country at her “Just Give Me Jesus” seminars. She said the hurricane and its aftermath are “a wake-up call to the church.”
“That’s God himself just working through the local church to embrace these people and give them hope and a new life. If he were here in a visible presence, he’d be right there in the muck with them, wiping away their tears.”
Samaritan’s Purse, the relief organization run by her brother, the Rev. Franklin Graham, is pouring resources into the hurricane area. But her father only can watch the devastation from afar.
She described the legendary evangelist as”doing really well,”despite ailments that forced him to end his crusades. Lotz said Billy Graham’s New York City revival in June was his last, although he cautioned at the time,”Never say never.” “He may preach again, at one of my brother’s crusades or some special event. But as far as putting on a Billy Graham crusade with a year and a half preparation, he won’t be doing that anymore.”
Lotz said she is learning powerful messages about growing older from both her ailing parents, as well as the “Christ-like character” she sees in both of them.
“My daddy’s come to the point where he’s passing the baton. I want to be one of the thousands that’s picking up the baton, then passing it off to the next generation,” she said. “But I don’t believe there will ever be another Billy Graham.”
_ Charles Honey
Catholic Church in Italy Gears Up for Fight Over Gay Unions
ROME (RNS) As Italian lawmakers renew debate over the rights of gay couples, a top Cardinal on Monday (Sept. 19) warned against granting legal status to unmarried couples, saying neither homosexual nor heterosexual couples favor of the idea.
Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the pope’s vicar for Rome and president of the Italian Bishop’s Conference, described legal recognition for unmarried couples as “something for which there is no real desire and that … would obscure the nature and the value of the family and gravely damage the Italian people.”
Ruini’s comments come in the wake of growing controversy over the decision of Italian opposition leader Roman Prodi to support civil unions for both gay and heterosexual couples.
Prodi, a devout Catholic who will challenge Prime Minister Berlusconi in Italy’s national election next year, sent a letter to the Italian gay rights group Arcigay last week, promising to back contentious legislation that aims to introduce civil unions into Italian law.
That pledge earned Prodi a rebuke from the Vatican’s newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, which in a headline accused him of “Lacerating the Family in Search of Votes.”
Ruini dismissed the idea that support for the legal recognition of gay couples was growing in Italy, echoing Pope Benedict XVI’s condemnation of “pseudo marriages between people of the same sex.”
“Homosexual couples aren’t always looking for legal recognition. In fact, many of them refuse it on principle and desire to remain exclusively private,” Ruini said.
As Italy’s most powerful cardinal, Ruini does not shy away from political fights, at times testing the lines that separate church and state in this overwhelmingly Catholic country. Last spring, Ruini spearheaded a successful campaign to defeat a referendum that sought to relax Italy’s ban on artificial insemination and stem cell research.
Luigi Valeri, a spokesman for Arcigay, said he would like to see Italy follow the Netherlands and Spain in allowing gay marriage, but is aware of political limitations. “For now we are only asking for civil unions because that is what seems politically possible,” he said.
_ Stacy Meichtry
Gospel Artists to Raise Funds for Hurricane Victims
(RNS) Members of the Gospel and Christian music industry will raise their voices on behalf of those devastated by Hurricane Katrina in a televised benefit concert.
The Thursday (Sept. 22) event, titled “Gospel Angels: A Concert to Restore Hope,” will be hosted by Gospel artist CeCe Winans and will be broadcast live nationwide from Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park.
The concert, a joint effort of the Gospel Music Channel and the Gospel Music Association’s Project Restore, will be broadcast on the Gospel Music Channel, the Worship Network, i (formerly PAX TV), and XM Radio.
Artists performing include Third Day, Nicole C. Mullen, Israel & New Breed, Blind Boys of Alabama, Natalie Grant, NewSong, Barlow Girl, George Huff and Aaron Shust.
All proceeds will be divided between World Vision and Feed the Children, organizations extensively involved with the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.
“With the financial donations received from this concert, World Vision will continue to use its resources to come alongside the local churches in the hardest hit areas to bring not only needed funds and supplies, but also spiritual counseling and support,” Marty Lonsdale, vice president of World Vision, said in a statement.
In a similar event, the Inspiration Networks collected nearly $135,000 during a Sept. 3 telethon. “A Concert of Hope” provided the network with the resources to send more than 180 truckloads of ice, water and food, in addition to 6 million pounds of relief supplies, to the ravaged region. The three-hour broadcast featured Christian leaders, musical performances and first-hand accounts of the devastation.
_ Jason Kane
Anglicans in Nigeria Delete References to Archbishop of Canterbury
LONDON (RNS) The Anglican Church of Nigeria no longer defines itself as a Church in communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury _ something that historically has been the fundamental definition of being a member church of the worldwide Anglican Communion.
The Anglican Church in Nigeria is the largest province in the 77 million-member Anglican Communion. Its archbishop, Peter Akinola, has been among the most outspoken critics of pro-gay policies in Anglican provinces of the West, especially the Episcopal Church in the United States.
At its general synod in Onitsha this month, the Nigerian church deleted from its constitution the requirement that it should be “in full communion with the see of Canterbury and with all dioceses, provinces and regional churches which are in full communion with the see of Canterbury.”
The Archbishop of Canterbury, currently Rowan Williams, leads the Church of England and is considered the first among equals and spiritual head of the Anglican Communion.
Instead the synod laid down that the Church of Nigeria “shall be in full communion with all Anglican churches, dioceses and provinces that hold and maintain the historic faith, doctrine, sacrament (sic) and discipline of the one Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church as the Lord has commanded in His holy word and as the same are received as taught in the Book of Common Prayer and the ordinal of 1662 and in the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion.”
The synod went on to delete a further subsection stating that the Church of Nigeria “may accept any alterations” to these classic formulations of Anglican belief “as may hereafter be adopted by the Church of England.”
In a separate action, the Nigerian church adopted a new provision that empowers the church to create convocations and chaplaincies and appoint clergy to “like-minded faithful outside Nigeria.” That action would recognize the Convocation of Anglican Nigerians in America, allowing Akinola to directly minister to Anglicans in North America who are at odds with the policies of their own church with regard to homosexuality.
The Nigerian move was downplayed by John Rees, the registrar of the province of Canterbury, who pointed out that several other Anglican provinces make no direct reference to Canterbury in their constitutions.
“I do not see a difficulty,” he told The Times of London. “It does not seem to me to change the legal position at all. There is nothing in what they have done that suggests to me that a clergyman from Nigeria would no longer be able to come and function in the Church of England in the same way that they might have done the day before yesterday.”
_ Robert Nowell
`Good Morning America’ Host Retracts Atheist Comments
LOS ANGELES (RNS) “Good Morning America” weekend anchor Bill Weir on Sunday (Sept. 18) retracted on-air remarks he made earlier this month that upset atheists.
“A few weeks ago, we did a story on worshippers returning to the shattered churches of the Gulf Coast, and I made an offhand comment based on an old expression that said, `There are no atheists in foxholes or hurricane zones,”’ Weir said.
“Well, many have since pointed out that there are 30 million atheists in this country and among them, Katrina victims, first responders and relief donors. I stand corrected.”
Ellen Johnson, president of American Atheists, said her organization was “absolutely delighted with Mr. Weir’s gracious handling of this matter.”
Weir’s retraction shows the news media’s sensitivity to people with no religious belief, who constitute about 13 percent of the U.S. population, Johnson said.
Weir’s initial comment on Sept. 4 sparked outrage from atheists who launched a phone, e-mail and letter-writing campaign directed at Weir, ABC and its parent company, Walt Disney, demanding a retraction.
On Thursday (Sept. 15), Weir personally apologized to Johnson. He also sent the group a letter, expressing regret for his “tardy response” and promising an on-air retraction over the weekend.
“A sincere mea culpa for not responding earlier,” Weir wrote. “The network gets so much viewer feedback, some is inevitably filtered (for better or worse) from those who need it most … . As for the comment itself, your members are absolutely right.”
_ Sarah Price Brown
Abernathy, Lobenstine Honored by Religion Communicators Council
WASHINGTON (RNS) A prominent religion journalist and a Washington community leader received high accolades at the third annual Faith Communicators Forum in the nation’s capital.
The Washington Chapter of the Religion Communicators Council honored Bob Abernathy, executive editor and host of “Religion Ethics NewsWeekly,” and the Rev. Clark Lobenstine, executive director of the InterFaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington, at the second annual Winston Taylor Awards.
The awards were presented at the National Press Club on Sept. 14 during a four-day conference of film producers, Web site designers, radio broadcasters, writers, editors, communication executives, and public relations and marketing directors.
Abernathy received the Winston Taylor 2005 Communicator of Values award for thorough coverage of religion in the United States through the PBS news magazine program “Religion and Ethics NewsWeekly,” which he helped to create and develop in 1997.
Lobenstine was awarded the 2005 Communicator of Faith award, presented annually to a member of the religious media, for his efforts in initiating dialogue among a wide spectrum of faith communities in the Washington area.
Both awards were named in honor of Winston Taylor, former national president of the organization. Taylor died Sept. 8 at age 83.
The Religion Communicators Council, an international and interfaith association of religion communicators, has worked since 1929 to promote effective communication and discussion of faith and values in the public arena.
_ Jason Kane
Quote of the Day: Bishop Carlton D. Pearson of Tulsa, Okla.
(RNS) “God is a good God and doesn’t have or need to throw temper tantrums like a spoiled and undisciplined child, in order to get his way or because he appears not to have it. We should not attempt to reduce God to such mundane human variables.”
_ Bishop Carlton D. Pearson of Higher Dimensions Ministries in Tulsa, Okla., commenting on his belief that Hurricane Katrina was not an act of God.
KRE/RB END RNS
