c. 2005 Religion News Service
Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Decides to Open Financial Books to Public
(RNS) In a move expected to inspire imitation far beyond Massachusetts, the Archdiocese of Boston has pledged to disclose all of its finances to the public next year, even if the state Legislature doesn’t require it.
“During the first quarter of 2006, we will release consolidated audited reports for fiscal years 2004 and 2005 with full disclosure and explanation of the archdiocese’s organizational structure,” Archbishop Sean P. O’Malley wrote in the Friday (Oct. 21) edition of the archdiocesan newspaper, The Pilot. He explained his hopes in an interview with The Boston Globe.
“My hope is that when people realize there are not any great mysteries here, that they will be more confident in their willingness to continue supporting the works of the church,” O’Malley told the Globe.
Critics of the church have intensified calls for greater financial transparency as laypeople worried how the church would fund an $85 million clergy sexual abuse settlement. Despite staunch opposition from the Massachusetts Council of Churches, state lawmakers have been considering a proposal that would require all Massachusetts religious organizations to file financial reports with the state attorney general.
Before such proposals take root in other states, more dioceses are apt to follow Boston’s lead, said David O’Brien, professor of Roman Catholic Studies at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass.
“I expect the new Vatican regime eventually will … compel dioceses to greater financial disclosure in order to head off at least some of the court intrusions into church life which bankruptcies bring _ and to get lay leaders on board to deal with angry legislatures like ours,” O’Brien said in an interview, referring to the Massachusetts legislature.
_ G. Jeffrey MacDonald
On Canadian TV, Catholic Priest Discloses `I’m Gay’
TORONTO (RNS) “I’m a Roman Catholic priest and I’m gay.”
With that confession, 63-year-old Karl Clemens became the first priest in Canada to openly declare his homosexuality.
Clemens made the disclosure on a documentary aired nationally on Friday (Oct. 21) by Vision TV, a multifaith network in Canada.
Newspaper articles followed, reporting that Clemens’ superior, Archbishop Anthony Meagher of Kingston, Ont., immediately ordered a transcript of the program, but made no comment.
The program reported that a letter from Meagher had cautioned Clemens about his “gay lifestyle” because “people in the neighbourhood” referred to the priest’s roommate as his lover.
Clemens, a priest for 33 years who retired from the Kingston diocese seven years ago, now lives in Toronto, calling an area in the city’s gay village his parish. “I don’t have a parish,” he told Vision TV. “My parish is the street _ the highways, the byways, the bars.”
He ministers to many HIV-AIDS sufferers and lives with a man, a terminal AIDS patient, whom he takes care of. He also says he has maintained his celibacy.
He also estimates that as many as half of all priests in Canada are gay. “I don’t think that would be overstating it,” he said.
He said he refuses to worry about the consequences of coming out.
“There’s probably something more that God has for you to do that you can’t do if you don’t do this first,” Clemens said.
_ Ron Csillag
Harper San Francisco to Publish English Translation of Quran
(RNS) An American publisher has signed a deal with a top Islamic scholar to publish a rare English translation of the Quran, complete with the most extensive commentary ever published on the Muslim holy book.
Harper San Francisco, known for books tackling contemporary themes in modern religion, expects the project to take three years, according to Religion BookLine, an electronic newsletter from Publisher’s Weekly magazine.
“Arabic is a particular challenge to translate,” said Steve Hanselman, former publisher at Harper San Francisco and now an author’s agent involved in the deal. “That’s why we brought on board the foremost scholars in the field.”
They include Seyyed Hossein Nasr, a professor at George Washington University in Washington, who will head up the editing team.
The matter is sensitive because Muslims hold that Quran’s text was given directly in Arabic from Allah to the prophet Muhammad. The pure revelation, therefore, cannot be translated without ceasing to be the actual Quran. Only the meaning can be translated.
The most popular translation of the Quran’s meaning at this point is from Abdullah Yusuf Ali, who was born in 1872 and completed the work in 1937. Ali’s version is being distributed free of charge by the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations.
A team of four general editors and 28 contributing editors will deliver the new translation and commentary, according to Publishers Weekly.
_ G. Jeffrey MacDonald
Bush Administration: Religious Schools Can Get FEMA Aid
WASHINGTON (RNS) Religious schools and faith-based community service organizations that suffered damage during the recent hurricanes are eligible to receive federal disaster grants, the Bush administration said Tuesday (Oct. 18).
Despite concerns from groups saying the government shouldn’t finance religiously affiliated groups, Jim Towey, director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, said money will be available through the Federal Emergency Management Agency for rebuilding facilities damaged in hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Towey said a policy change in 2002 cleared the way for providing such relief. At that time, the Bush administration changed FEMA rules to provide a $550,000 grant to the Seattle-based Hebrew Academy, which was damaged in an earthquake.
The Archdiocese of New Orleans suffered significant damage to its schools. Towey said they will be eligible for FEMA grants after they have exhausted private insurance and have sought low-interest loans from the Small Business Administration. He said that other faith-based organizations, including those providing assisted living and critical health care, also would be eligible.
Alyssa McClenning, a spokeswoman for Towey’s office, said houses of worship will not be eligible for assistance. “Any facility that is used primarily for inherent religious activities will not be covered,” she said.
The plans drew criticism from Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which has protested the administration’s faith-based initiative.
“This policy is incoherent, unworkable and unconstitutional,” said the Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of the Washington-based watchdog group. “Towey and FEMA seem to believe that religious schools aren’t primarily religious. What a ridiculous assertion.”
_ Bill Walsh and Adelle M. Banks
`God Bloggers’ Gather for First Annual Convention
LOS ANGELES (RNS) Evangelical Christian bloggers are relatively few in number, but there are enough of them to hold an annual convention.
The first national conference of “God bloggers” was a smallish affair that ended Saturday (Oct. 15) at Biola University. It emphasized how evangelical Web logs, called blogs, should be distinct from conventional, secular blogging.
“I’m not sure that the average Christian is using blogs; they’re just beginning to become aware of them,” said the Rev. Andrew Jackson, pastor at the Word of Grace Church in Mesa, Ariz.. “To me, blogging is not a hobby. It’s part of my vocation as a minister. I don’t see it as faddish.”
The chief organizer of the three-day conference was Matthew Anderson, a 23-year-old home-schooling tutor in Southern California. He said the gathering of about 125 Christian bloggers was meant to emphasize “the need to be Christians first and bloggers second.”
Workshops covered blogging basics plus topics such as “Blogging Christian Philosophy,” “Christian Political Blogging” and “Intelligent Design and Blogging.”
The Web site (http://www.godblogcon.com) featured “liveblogging” accounts of workshops and other sessions in progress. The two main convention sponsors were Multnomah Publishers of Multnomah, Ore., and The DeMoss Group, a faith-based public relations company based in Duluth, Ga.
Christian radio host Hugh Hewitt hosted his talk show from the Biola library during GodBlog. Jackson predicted bloggers would not acquire Christian radio’s influence but instead be “a parallel medium to it.”
_ David Finnigan
Church Groups Declare Victory in Preserving Food Stamp Funding
WASHINGTON (RNS) Religious groups are claiming victory in the fight to preserve funding for food stamps after a key Senate panel voted to keep $574 million for the program.
The Senate Agriculture Committee rejected proposed cuts that Bread for the World, an ecumenical anti-hunger group, said would have removed 300,000 people from the program.
The victory may only be partial, however, because a similar $1 billion measure to cut funding is pending before the House. Church groups hope the Senate action pushes House leaders to maintain the funding in their proposals.
“With hunger on the rise and the forces of nature exposing poverty anew, we will continue to challenge our political leaders to drop any further plans to cut this vital and proven program,” said the Rev. David Beckmann, Bread for the World’s president.
Congress is looking to cut at least $35 billion, and as much as $50 billion,from next year’s budget. Other programs in the sights include Medicaid (health care for poor Americans) and student loans.
Religious groups, particularly mainline Protestant churches, which have made the 2006 budget their top domestic priority, have lobbied hard to maintain the food stamp funding. Those groups thanked Sen. Saxby Chambliss, the Georgia Republican who chairs the Agriculture Committee, for keeping it in place.
“This is a victory, the first of many in which we hope that Congress will reorder our national priorities and protect our most vulnerable citizens,” the Rev. Jim Wallis, founder of the anti-poverty Call to Renewal campaign, said Wednesday (Oct. 19).
The measure now heads to the Senate Budget Committee, then to the Senate floor.
The New York Times reported Thursday (Oct. 20) that House leaders have postponed a vote on their budget-cutting bill in order to round up support. The high cost of recovery from Hurricane Katrina has put pressure on Congress to reign in government spending.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
U.S. Commission Protests Arrest of Afghan Editor for `Insulting Islam’ (RNS) The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom is protesting the Oct. 1 arrest of a journalist in Afghanistan on charges of blasphemy and “insulting Islam.”
Afghanistan’s attorney general ordered the arrest of Ali Mohaqiq Nasab, editor of the women’s rights magazine Haqooq-i-Zan, after the journalist questioned the use of traditional Islamic punishments such as amputation and public stoning.
Officials detained Nasab, 50, after the religious advisor to Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai filed a complaint against him. The editor faces a 15-year jail sentence for speaking out against Islamic, or Sharia, law, and allegedly stands in violation of a 2004 press law banning publication of “matters contrary to the principles of Islam or offensive to other religions and sects.”
The U.S. commission monitors the status of religious freedom abroad and offers policy recommendations to the U.S. government. It has criticized Afghanistan’s 2004 constitution for not providing ample protection against “unjust accusations of religious crimes.” It is urging the U.S. government to become involved in the Nasab trial.
“The Commission has warned in the past that because of undemocratic provisions in that country’s new constitution and in other laws, this very kind of incident could occur,” Michael Cromartie, chairman, said in a statement. “Clearly, even today in Afghanistan, protections for human rights and democracy remain under threat from state-sponsored religious extremism.”
_ Jason Kane
Archbishop Warns of Mass Starvation in Zimbabwe
(RNS) Archbishop Pius Ncube, the outspoken Roman Catholic leader of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, and fierce opponent of Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe, has warned of mass starvation in the African country if emergency measures are not taken.
Ncube, speaking at a news conference on Wednesday (Oct. 19) in Johannesburg, South Africa, said a combination of the forced removal of some 700,000 people from their homes by the government, a critical food and fuel shortage and hyperinflation meant the hunger crisis was entering a new dangerous stage.
He said the economic meltdown, if not addressed, could result in as many as 200,000 deaths.
“Hunger is due to the Zimbabwean government refusing food aid,” the BBC quoted Ncube as saying. AllAfrica.com quoted Ncube as calling the government “hopelessly bankrupt” and unable to do anything about the food crisis.
But Michael Huggins, the United Nations’ World Food Program spokesman for southern Africa, said, “It’s difficult to predict at this early stage how many people may starve to death in Zimbabwe.”
The Zimbabwean government has downplayed the need for food aid, and earlier this fall kept an emergency relief convoy from the South African Council of Churches waiting for weeks at the border.
The aid was meant to help some of those evicted from their homes as a result of Mugabe’s “clean up” operation against urban slum dwellers and street vendors involved in Zimbabwe’s “informal” economy. Many Zimbabweans and human rights activists believe the “clean up” campaign was aimed at crushing the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, which is centered in the cities.
_ David E. Anderson
Anglican Archbishop Upset over Accusation of `Financial Inducements’
(RNS) An Anglican archbishop from Nigeria is vehemently denying an allegation that African church leaders have been offered money to distance themselves from more liberal churches in the United States and Canada.
Such “irresponsible accusations” are “outrageous, uncharitable and untrue,” said Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola in an open letter.
Akinola referred to remarks attributed to Irish Archbishop Robin Eames during a recent visit to the United States, where the issue of homosexuality has divided the Episcopal Church and caused a rift within the worldwide Anglican Communion.
According to a press release issued by the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, Eames said in an interview that he was “quite certain” many church leaders in the developing world had been offered financial inducements to distance themselves from U.S. and Canadian churches.
“I think it is happening,” he was quoted as saying. “I just don’t think it is moral.”
In his open letter to Eames, Akinola asked for proof.
“If you have any evidence of such financial inducements I challenge you, in the name of God, to reveal them or make a public apology to your brother primates in the Global South for this damaging and irresponsible smear,” wrote Akinola, who is primate, or highest ranking bishop, in Nigeria.
In a written clarification sent to Akinola Thursday (Oct. 20), Eames said he was “very disturbed” by any speculation about the role money might play among Anglican alliances.
“I in no way question the sincerity and integrity of the leaders of the Global South. As they are well aware, I have personally endeavored at all times to maintain and understand the integrity of their argument.
“I categorically state (that) I have never believed that any financial offer was accepted by any of those who represent the Global South on any other than terms of Christian outreach.”
Eames is a significant Anglican leader. He chaired the Lambeth Commission set up to work out how the Anglican Communion could stay united despite the deep divisions that have opened up over homosexuality.
_ Robert Nowell
Dallas Church Officials Say Supreme Court Nominee Was Never a Catholic
(RNS) Catholic officials in Dallas say they have no record of Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers ever being Catholic, despite reports that she was raised in that church before attending an evangelical Christian church.
Catholic News Service reported that church officials examined “all known sacramental records,” including baptism certificates, and found no evidence that Miers was ever a Catholic.
“The Diocese of Dallas has no record of Harriet Miers or her immediate family ever having been a member of the Catholic Church,” church spokesman Bronson Havard told CNS.
Much has been made of Miers’ evangelical faith, including her apparent born-again experience in the late 1970s and membership at Valley View Christian Church, as well as her recent move to a new evangelical church with other Valley View members.
Critics accuse the Bush administration of focusing too heavily on Miers’ religion. Speaking to reporters on Oct. 12, President Bush said “part of Harriet Miers’ life is her religion.”
Havard said Miers may have occasionally attended Catholic churches but was never considered a Catholic. CNS also reported that White House spokeswoman Maria Tamburri said “Harriet Miers did not grow up Catholic.”
Havard told the Associated Press that “we don’t normally check for things like this, but this was a prominent situation and we wanted the record to be straight.”
Evangelical Christians Promote `Counter-Divestment’ of Israel
JERUSALEM (RNS) A large evangelical Christian organization has launched a campaign to encourage Christians around the world to invest in Israel.
The International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem, an Israel-based evangelical group that brings thousands of pilgrims to Israel every year and supports both Jews and Arabs in the Holy Land, is organizing the effort.
In an Oct. 20 announcement, the group said it is starting a “counter-divestment” campaign intended to counterbalance a divestment campaign launched by the Presbyterian Church (USA) in 2004.
Leaders of the U.S.-based Presbyterian Church have urged their members to divest from companies that, in their view, facilitate what they perceive to be Israel’s “occupation” of the Palestinian people.
Malcolm Hedding, the ICEJ’s executive director, said during a press briefing that “in light of the troubling divestment campaign as well as the ongoing rebound in the Israeli economy, our ministry has committed to redoubling its efforts to promote Christian investment in Israel.”
Hedding said that his organization will work with the International Christian Chamber of Commerce, which is based in Belgium, to pair potential Christian investors with Israeli companies, including the hi-tech start-ups at which Israelis excel.
Because new ventures can be risky, he said, “we are setting up a vetting process” to help investors identify the best, most solid companies.
David Parsons, the ICEJ’s communications director, insisted that the counter-divestment campaign “is not against the Palestinian people. We have 25 years’ worth of commitment to them. At the same time, we need to know that the money (invested) there does not feed the terror chain.”
_ Michele Chabin
Religious Movies Win Awards at Conservative Film Festival
WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (RNS) A Jewish filmmaker’s portrait of “radical Islam” was named best feature film at the second annual gathering of conservative filmmakers seeking a voice in Hollywood.
The 70-minute documentary “Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West,” by filmmaker Wayne Kopping, took top honors at the three-day Liberty Film Festival, which ended Sunday (Oct. 23). It showcased dozens of religiously and politically themed documentaries, short films and dramas.
Now in its second year, the festival is a growing venue for conservative filmmakers who feel alienated from more liberal venues like the Sundance and Toronto film festivals.
At one point during the Liberty festival, the audience of about 350 booed “Obsession” footage of controversial filmmaker Michael Moore, then cheered at seeing Winston Churchill, the late British prime minister.
The 30-minute film “Brainwashing 201,” about political correctness on college campuses, won the festival’s best short film award. Other short films explored religious symbols on government seals, religion in the workplace and a Catholic priest who brings families closer together by making them well-cooked dinners.
The success of Mel Gibson’s 2004 film “The Passion of the Christ” remains an inspiration for both conservative filmmakers and Hollywood studios.
“They’re all going after the `Passion dollars,”’ said author and talk show host Michael Medved, a prominent Liberty festival supporter.
_ David Finnigan
Quote of the Week: Coretta Scott King
(RNS) “Surely Mrs. Rosa Parks was sent to us by God, because few among us were so well prepared to play such a momentous role in history,”
_ Coretta Scott King, widow of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., on the Monday death of Rosa Parks, a woman whose refusal to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Ala., bus launched the civil rights movement. Mrs. King was quoted by The Birmingham News.
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