c. 2006 Religion News Service

Group Proposes Splitting Civil, Religious Rites for Marriage

LONDON (RNS) A religious think-tank has suggested that legal marriage in Britain be scrapped and replaced with a range of civil partnerships, to make clear the distinction between a religious marriage and one defined under law.

The progressive Christian group Ekklesia said the arrangement it proposes would still allow couples to marry if they wished, but the legal aspect would be removed from the ceremony. Instead, they would register their partnership under law in a separate process.

Under existing law in Britain, a couple marrying in the Church of England are simultaneously legally and religiously wed because of its status as the state church. Couples marrying in another denomination or faith are required to have the union legally registered under a separate act of state.

In Britain, a civil ceremony by a registrar allows no religious content.

Ekklesia said it believes its proposal would remove the “anomalous status” of the Church of England. At the same time, it added, it would clarify the situation created by civil partnerships, which grant gay and lesbian couples rights similar to those in traditional marriages but does not grant comparable status.

The problem, Ekklesia director Jonathan Bartley told journalists, is marriage itself. “Legal marriage clearly isn’t working,” he said. “A divorce rate of around 40 percent is surely evidence enough of this.”

“At the moment,” Bartley said, “there is only one form of marriage defined under law, which everyone has to take or leave. It does not reflect Christian ideas of marriage, which are based on a covenant before God, rather than a legal contract and agreement between individuals.”

Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams already is on record as arguing that granting legal rights to couples who cohabit undermines marriage.

“If the Church wants to argue that Christian marriage, rooted in the grace of God, is preferable to civil cohabitation, it is free to do so,” said the Ekklesia director, who argues that there should be a clear separation of church and state when it comes to getting hitched.

“But there must surely be something wrong when the church’s defense of holy matrimony involves perpetuating what many will see as an unholy injustice against established live-in couples.”

_ Al Webb

Three Presbyterian Bodies Hold Joint Worship Service

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (RNS) A prominent theologian speaking Sunday (June 18) to a joint service of Presbyterian denominations here called their worship a historic occasion.

The Rev. Setri Nyomi, general secretary of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, addressed members of the Presbyterian Church (USA), Cumberland Presbyterian Church and Cumberland Presbyterian Church in America holding concurrent national meetings in the city.

“Your having a General Assembly together in the same place is a major expression of commitment to the Christian unity for which our Lord prayed,” Nyomi told thousands of worshippers.

“The weight we carry in this world often contradicts how we are called to stick together,” he told the gathering. “For churches which have allowed this weight to divide them for almost 200 years to have an Assembly worship together is a beautiful reversal of this trend.”

The separate, weeklong general assemblies began Thursday (June 15) and coincide with the 300th anniversary of American Presbyterianism.

The three groups hold separate business and committee meetings. But Sunday, worshippers heard music from massed choirs of the CPC, CPCA and PC(USA), joined in Holy Communion and “passed the peace” among neighbors.

_ Kim Bryan

Executive Gives $150 Million to Presbyterian Church (USA)

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (RNS) The Presbyterian Church (USA) got a jolt of good news at its general assembly when a Denver businessman pledged $150 million to help start new churches. It is the largest donation in the history of the denomination.

Stanley W. Anderson, chairman and chief executive of E-Smart Services Inc., a technology company specializing in commercial credit cards, offered the donation to the new Loaves and Fishes Church Growth Fund.

Anderson said he was frustrated by the denomination’s persistent membership loss. “I share with you that I am tired of seeing the annual report of our denomination that shows a net loss of membership, the decrease in mission giving and a struggle to balance the books,” he told more than 500 delegates on Thursday (June 15) as he announced the gift.

The money will be used to start new churches, transform struggling congregations and develop ethnic congregations. Mission causes and seminaries will also receive part of the money.

“He feels God has blessed him abundantly and he wants to share that,” John Detterick, executive director of the church’s General Assembly Council, said. “It’s the largest gift the church has ever received.”

The 2.3 million-member denomination has been struggling with steady membership loss, financial shortfalls and division over controversial issues such as homosexuality.

“This will have a galvanizing effect on the church,” Detterick said. “As our denomination faces a variety of contentious issues, here’s somebody who stands up and says, `I believe in the future of the church.”’

Presbyteries, the regional governing bodies of the Presbyterian Church, will be able to apply for grants and match a portion of the money. Presbyterian seminaries could receive up to $1 million each as a result of the donation.

_ Greg Garrison

Pennsylvania Woman Named to Lead Catholic Women’s Group

HARRISBURG, Pa. (RNS) Karen Hurley of Harrisburg is the new president general of the World Union of Catholic Women’s Organization. She is the first American to hold the highest position in Catholic organizations for women. She will serve a four-year term.

The WUCWO is made up of more than 90 organizations throughout the world. Hurley, who has been a pastoral associate in her home parish for the last 16 years, received approval from the Vatican for the post.

“As I assume this position of president general, I do it out of ministry and service to the church, to the world, particularly for women, children and all those in most need of our care from conception to natural death as outlined in the church’s social doctrine,” Hurley told the more than 700 women from 44 countries gathered for the meeting in Arlington, Va.

Looking ahead to the organization’s 100th anniversary in 2010, she views this period as a time “to nurture WUCWO’s growth in faith and love in order to embrace a future full of hope.”

Priorities until the centennial celebration will be building a culture of peace with special attention to education and poverty, she said.

Starting in the late 1980s, Hurley has been active in Catholic women’s organizations at the parish, regional and national level. Previously she was regional vice president for North America and a board member of the National Council of Catholic Women.

A native of Harrisburg, Hurley has degrees and certificates from Mount St. Mary’s College in Emmitsburg, Md., and Harrisburg Area Community College.

_ Judith Patton

Quote of the Day: Church-State Separationist Barry Lynn

(RNS) “The term `desecration’ has traditionally been used to define attacks on religious symbols and holy books. Although the flag is an important civic symbol of our nation, it has no religious meaning.”

_ The Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Washington-based Americans United for Separation of Church and State, in a statement criticizing a proposed constitutional amendment that would ban “the physical desecration ” of the American flag.

KRE/JL END RNS