c. 2007 Religion News Service
Catholic Lawmakers Seek Bishops’ Help in Ending Iraq War
WASHINGTON (RNS) In a rare reversal of roles, 14 Catholic members of Congress are lobbying U.S. Catholic bishops to step up efforts to end the war in Iraq.
The lawmakers, all Democrats, wrote to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops asking for a meeting to discuss how Congress “and the clergy can work together to mobilize public action to end the war,” according to a statement released Tuesday (July 3).
“As Catholic members of Congress we stand in unison with the Catholic Church in opposition to the war in Iraq,” Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., said in a statement. “Yet to attain the ideal of peace, we must not only speak the words, we must take action.”
Other Catholic politicians lobbying the bishops include Reps. Dennis Kucinich, Tim Ryan, Charlie Wilson and Marcy Kaptur, all of Ohio.
“Throughout our nation’s history Catholics have been at the forefront of the fight for social justice,” the lawmakers’ statement said. “Now, at another critical moment, we respectfully urge the (bishops) to join with us in mobilizing support for Congress’ efforts to end the Iraq war.”
Sister Mary Ann Walsh, a spokeswoman for the USCCB, said the bishops were considering the letter and that they have already made repeated statements about the war. “Certainly the bishops have made no secret about their concerns over the war in Iraq,” Walsh said.
Last fall, Bishop William Skylstad, president of the bishops’ conference, said: “In statements, letters and meetings, we have expressed grave moral concern regarding `preventive war’ and noted the moral responsibilities that our nation has in Iraq.”
In May, 18 Catholic U.S. representatives, including some who are now lobbying the bishops, criticized Pope Benedict XVI for suggesting that pro-abortion rights politicians can be considered excommunicated from the church.
“ … Religious sanction in the political arena directly conflicts with our fundamental beliefs about the role and responsibility of democratic representatives in a pluralistic America,” the Catholic lawmakers said then.
_ Daniel Burke
Welsh Church Sells Excess Solar Energy to Government
LONDON (RNS) An aging Anglican church in Wales has come up with a modern way to give _ or at least sell _ power to the people by marketing its spare electricity to Britain’s National Grid.
The power comes from the 30 solar panels that have been installed as part of a $1.5 million restoration at the crumbling, Victorian-era St. Joseph’s Church in Cwmaman, in the Cynon Valley.
Despite initial doubts from its pastor, the Rev. David Way, the church has now discovered that the $66,000 array of panels are producing far more electricity than had been expected or needed. The church will now sell off the surplus.
“The church was almost derelict and in a very bad condition,” said Way, and it took months to get the restoration work done, to make the building as environmentally friendly as possible while maintaining the church’s heritage.
Way was skeptical about the solar panels. “Cwmaman isn’t the sunniest place,” he conceded in an interview with the BBC, “and I was concerned we were going to spend all this money and get no return.”
He was astounded at the result. The panels “do work,” he said, “and they supply an amazing amount of electricity.”
St. Joseph’s is now going to peddle the spare voltage to the National Grid, “which will also generate an income for the church,” Way said.
The refurbished church, complete with the solar panels hidden on its roof, was officially blessed by Archbishop of Wales Barry Morgan.
_ Al Webb
New Orleans Prosecutor Won’t Charge Nurses in Katrina Deaths
NEW ORLEANS (RNS) District Attorney Eddie Jordan has formally refused charges against two nurses accused by the state attorney general of helping a doctor kill four patients several days after Hurricane Katrina.
A prosecutor in Jordan’s office had already signaled that nurses Lori Budo and Cheri Landry would not be prosecuted once they agreed to testify before a grand jury investigating the deaths.
The forms indicating the second-degree murder charges would be rejected were initially dated June 6, but apparently were not filed until late June.
Attorneys for the two nurses were concerned that offers of immunity in exchange for testimony wouldn’t protect the nurses against further prosecution by the state attorney general or federal officials. Three courts rejected those objections and the nurses were ordered to testify.
Budo and Landry were arrested July 17, 2006, along with Dr. Anna Pou, the surgeon whom they were accused of helping to kill four patients at Memorial Medical Center with injections of morphine and sedatives.
All three women have denied the allegations made by Foti, saying they were attempting to provide comfort and aid to very ill patients in a sweltering hospital surrounded by Katrina’s floodwaters.
Though state Attorney General Charles Foti’s office conducted the investigation, along with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ inspector general, the case has since been handed over to Jordan’s office to prosecute.
The nurses’ attorneys were also concerned that a representative from the attorney general’s office would be sitting in the grand jury room hearing the testimony, which could give Foti’s office an early preview of the nurses’ defense.
The nurses’ lawyers, along with an attorney for another nurse identified as Witness No. 3, said they were concerned that the attorney general and district attorney weren’t on the same page on the case, and worried the attorney general’s office could try to step in and prosecute the case itself.
_ Laura Maggi
Update: ACLU Files Suit Over Jesus Icon in Courthouse
SLIDELL, La. (RNS) A portrait of Jesus Christ that hangs in the lobby of Slidell City Court violates the separation of church and state, according to a a federal lawsuit that was filed Tuesday (July 3) by the Louisiana American Civil Liberties Union.
The organization filed the suit in U.S. District Court in New Orleans after court officials decided to reject the ACLU’s deadline and leave the portrait in place.
Vincent Booth, acting executive director and board president for the ACLU chapter, said after filing the suit that he thinks the portrait, along with lettering beneath that says, “To know peace, obey these laws,” violates laws upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.
City Court Judge Jim Lamz, who is named as a defendant in the lawsuit, said Saturday he consulted with a constitutional scholar at the University of Michigan before concluding that the display’s constitutionality remains an open legal question.
Lamz declined to comment further Tuesday, saying through a spokeswoman that he is forbidden to speak about pending litigation. He referred questions to Mike Johnson, an attorney for the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian organization that has agreed to represent the city court for free.
Johnson, who is based in Shreveport, did not return a call for comment, but he did release a statement.
“The ideas expressed in this painting aren’t specific to any one faith, and they certainly don’t establish a single state religion,” he said in the statement. “The reason Americans enjoy equal justice is because we are all created equal, endowed by (our) creator with certain unalienable rights. This painting is a clear reflection of the ideas in the Declaration of Independence.”
The ACLU is representing an anonymous complainant who said he has come into “direct and unwelcome contact” with the display, and he expects to do so again to fulfill legal obligations at the court. The display hangs in the court’s lobby, which has only one main entrance for visitors, according to the lawsuit.
The display has been in place since the courthouse opened in 1997 and has been maintained with taxpayer money, the lawsuit says. The display endorses the Christian faith, or specifically the Eastern Orthodox sect of Christianity, to the detriment of all other Christian denominations and all non-Christian religions, according to the suit.
_ Christine Harvey
Quote of the Day: Outgoing Seminary President Thomas H. Graves
“I would absolutely reject any idea that God sends suffering our way. The issue for me is not, `Why me?’ It is, `Why not me?’ I’m not exempt from the difficulties that come to everyone else.”
_ Thomas H. Graves, outgoing president of Baptist Theological Seminary in Richmond, Va., who is departing his post on July 1 because of disability issues related to multiple sclerosis. He was quoted by Baptists Today.
KRE/JM END RNS