c. 2005 Religion News Service
New British Rules Increase Cost of Replacing Church Light Bulbs
LONDON (RNS) How many electricians does it take to change a light bulb? In at least one British church, more than it used to.
New British government safety regulations that came into effect last April require “safe landing areas or rest platforms” for any job more than 29 feet off the ground.
At St. Benet’s Catholic Church in East Anglia, northeast of London, replacing the halogen bulbs 40 feet above the nave used to be a two-hour job for one man and a ladder, at a cost of about $360.
But now, under the Work at Height Regulations _ which govern anyone working at a height where there is a risk of fall and injury _ the job requires two men and scaffolding _ at a cost of $2,367.
The new rules apply, for example, to a sales clerk who climbs a stepladder to take an item from a shelf, but not “to a mounted police officer on patrol.”
St. Benet’s priest, the Rev. Anthony Sutch, said he is fed up with the frequency of having to replace burned-out bulbs and is considering following the example of his Anglican colleague in town and replacing them with something longer lasting.
_ Robert Nowell
Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Leaders OK `Jesus Christ’ In Constitution
(RNS) Leaders of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship have unanimously approved language for a new preamble to the group’s constitution so that the legal document will once again include a reference to Jesus Christ.
“As a fellowship of Baptist Christians and churches, we celebrate our faith in the One Triune God,” the preamble begins. “We gladly declare our allegiance to Jesus Christ as Lord and to his gospel as we seek to be the continuing presence of Christ in this world.”
The new language will be considered by the fellowship’s General Assembly next June in Atlanta.
During its annual meeting in July, the Atlanta-based group adopted new language for its constitution that matched the wording of the organization’s mission statement. But the change in language omitted a reference to Jesus Christ, prompting concerns from fellowship members as well as Southern Baptist leaders who have more conservative theological views.
The second article of the constitution had originally read “to bring together Baptists who desire to call out God’s gifts in each person in order that the Gospel of Jesus Christ will be spread throughout the world in glad obedience to the Great Commission.”
The revised language adopted in July reads “to serve Christians and churches as they discover and fulfill their God-given mission.”
A special task force, headed by the fellowship’s Coordinating Council member Jack Glasgow, a Zebulon, N.C., pastor, was appointed to address concerns about the language in the document.
“This is a fresh start to make a positive statement about who we are as Fellowship Baptists,” Glasgow said in a statement. “We have a chance to say clearly that the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship is not reticent at all to stand up and say we are committed to the lordship of Jesus Christ.”
_ Adelle M. Banks
Catholic Bishops Ask Priests to Recruit New Men to the Priesthood
(RNS) America’s Roman Catholic priests will be asked to increase their dwindling ranks by personally reaching out to recruit new priests under a new program launched by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The “Fishers of Men” program is based on the idea that the church’s best hope for increasing the number of priests is for current clergy to “witness to the blessed life of being a priest” and invite men to consider serving the church.
“To be a priest is to be a privileged partaker in the mysteries of faith and in the lives of the people for whom we have care,” said Bishop Blase Cupich of Rapid City, S.D., who chairs the bishops’ vocations committee, in unveiling the program on Friday (Oct. 14) in Washington.
“It is a gift God gives us on the day we are ordained. And if we stand back for a moment to reflect on our lives as priests, it is a gift we will want to share with others.”
There are currently about 42,000 priests in the United States, down from a high of nearly 59,000 in 1965. Since then, the number of new priests ordained each year has dropped by nearly half, to 454 in 2005.
In the United States, there is an average of one priest per 1,500 Catholics, down from one priest per 777 Catholics 30 years ago, according to figures compiled by a research institute of Georgetown University.
The $200,000 program was tested in six dioceses, and Cupich said the results so far are encouraging. The four-part program involves interviewing priests about their jobs, sharing those stories with other priests in a diocese, and then sharing those testimonies with men outside the priesthood.
The Rev. Edward Burns, who oversees clergy recruitment for the bishops conference, said priests continue to score high on job satisfaction surveys, despite low pay, long hours and the clergy sexual abuse scandal.
“The image of the priesthood is not going to be defined by the men who abused children,” Burns said.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Politically Shy Amish Organize to Fight Zoning Rules
HUNTSBURG TOWNSHIP, Ohio (RNS) An uncomfortable look crosses the Amish man’s face as he explains that he didn’t desire a public policy battle, or an us-against-them dispute. Challenging authority is simply not part of the Amish culture.
But sometimes, conflict cannot be avoided. Action must be taken. This is one of those times.
Flexing rarely used political muscle, members of the Amish community are campaigning to eliminate the township’s zoning laws. Petitions circulated primarily in the Amish community _ roughly one-quarter of the township’s 3,300 residents _ have pushed the issue onto the November ballot.
The campaign is rooted in an Amish desire to work from home, which some say is difficult under current regulations that limit a home-based business to 1,000 square feet, equivalent to a 40-by-25-foot building.
Those rules don’t meet the needs of an increasing number of Amish farmers-turned-craftsmen, who want to open cabinet or woodworking shops in eastern Geauga County.
The township discussed increasing the limit, which the Amish say they’d like to see set at between 3,000 and 4,000 square feet. Several years of talks yielded no change.
“How long does it take?” asked an Amish man who, citing religious principles, asked that his name not be used. “We tried working with them, and we told them we’d go to the ballot if we had to. That’s what it eventually came to.”
Such a step is unusual, to say the least. The Amish rarely go to such extremes, says Paul Miller, executive director of the Amish and Mennonite Heritage Center in Holmes County. Most are reluctant to become remotely involved in any political matters, even shying from casting a ballot.
But the community will act in unison if it’s deemed absolutely necessary.
“This sort of decision is not entered into lightly,” Miller said.
Huntsburg officials expressed surprise at the scope of the Amish request. Dismantling the township’s entire zoning code would, in essence, allow a building “free-for-all” in the rural township.
Clark Adams, a longtime township trustee, said it’s clear the current regulations and the unwieldy legal process to appeal them aren’t satisfactory.
“It’s time to go back to the drawing board and see if we can find an effective solution that’s quicker and better,” Adams said. “We can find a mechanism to work things out.”
_ John Horton
Quote of the Day: U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman
(RNS) “I said, `Let my palm fronds go.’ … We’re trying to avoid the Egyptians from looking like the grinch that stole Sukkot.”
_ U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-N.Y., commenting on Israeli complaints that prices for palm fronds imported from Egypt have skyrocketed from $2 in 2004 to $20 this year. The palm fronds are used in the Jewish harvest festival of Sukkot. Ackerman, quoted by The Washington Post, has contacted Egyptian officials about the high prices.
KRE/RB END RNS
