c. 2007 Religion News Service

Arkansas Nuns Excommunicated for `Army of Mary’ Ties

VATICAN CITY (RNS) The Roman Catholic Diocese of Little Rock, Ark., has excommunicated six nuns for their membership in a Canadian movement whose founder claims to have been inspired by the Virgin Mary.

Earlier this month, the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the church’s highest doctrinal authority, ruled that the Quebec-based Army of Mary promoted heretical teachings, and that its members faced automatic excommunication.

The group was founded in 1971 by Marie-Paule Giguere, 86, who claims to have experienced visions of the Virgin Mary. According to Canada’s National Post newspaper, the group once claimed as many as 20,000 members in Europe and the Americas.

The Army of Mary was an officially recognized Catholic organization for more than 20 years, but lost that status in 1987 after the Congregation’s head at the time, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI), denounced its “erroneous doctrines.”

Members have disputed press reports that Giguere claims to be the reincarnation of the Virgin.

“You may believe a person can be possessed by the devil,” Chantal Buse, one of Giguere’s secretaries, told the Arkansas Democrat Gazette. “We believe a person can be completely possessed by the spirit of Mary.”

Earlier this week, the Congregation’s No. 2 official denounced a British group that also claims to have received inspiration from the Virgin.

Archbishop Angelo Amato described as “exaggerated” and “hysterical” the teachings of Patricia De Menezes, 67, of Surrey, England, founder of the Community of Divine Innocence.

De Menezes, who reportedly has followers in close to 50 countries, teaches that the Virgin Mary wants the Catholic Church to proclaim all aborted fetuses as martyrs.

Amato described the spirituality of the Community as “flawed at the root.”

“A martyr is someone who bears witness to Christ,” the Vatican official wrote in a letter to Archbishop Kevin McDonald of Southwark, England. “If the victims of abortion were to qualify for martyrdom, it would then seem that all victims of any moral evil should be likewise deemed martyrs.”

_ Francis X. Rocca

Bureau of Prisons Changes Course On Banning Religious Texts

WASHINGTON (RNS) After receiving criticism from religious leaders and Capitol Hill, the Federal Bureau of Prisons says it will scale back its effort to ban religious texts from prison libraries.

The New York Times reported that the bureau sent an e-mail message Wednesday (Sept. 26) about its change in plans concerning its Standardized Chapel Library Project. The newspaper previously reported that chaplains were directed to remove books and other materials from prison shelves that were not on a list of approved resources.

“In response to concerns expressed by members of several religious communities, the Bureau of Prisons has decided to alter its planned course of action with respect to the Chapel Library Project,” the bureau’s message said. “The bureau will begin immediately to return to chapel libraries materials that were removed in June 2007, with the exception of any publications that have been found to be inappropriate, such as material that would be radicalizing or incite violence. The review of all materials in chapel libraries will be completed by the end of January 2008.”

Mark Earley, the president of Prison Fellowship, a Christian prison ministry, was among the leaders who contacted the bureau in hopes that it would change course. He applauded its response to concerned faith leaders.

“We appreciate the bureau’s commitment to keeping the small number of materials that incite violence out of prison chapel libraries,” Earley said. “By returning to the common-sense approach of getting rid of only those materials that incite violence, they ensure that prisoners have access to a wide range of quality religious materials that will help them become productive members of society when they are released back to our communities.”

Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, had written to Bureau of Prisons Director Harley G. Lappin, saying the original plans seemed to inhibit the religious freedom of prisoners. Members of the Republican Study Committee, a conservative group of House Republicans, also wrote to Lappin with similar concerns.

_ Adelle M. Banks

Clergy, Democrats Rally Around Kids’ Heath Insurance

WASHINGTON (RNS) Invoking President Bush’s theme of compassion, Senate Democrats joined religious leaders Wednesday (Sept. 26) to argue that Bush’s threatened veto of a bill providing health insurance coverage to some 10 million children is anything but compassionate.

“The test of a great nation, of a great civilization, is how it cares about its children,” Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., said in response to Bush’s veto pledge on the proposed extension and expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Plan (S-CHIP).

S-CHIP covers approximately 6 million children in families with incomes above the Medicaid cutoff, yet unable to afford private insurance. The expansion would provide coverage for an additional 4 million children. An increase in the tobacco tax would help offset funding increases.

The program is set to expire Sunday (Sept. 30).

The move to provide an additional $35 billion to the program has received wide bipartisan support in both the House and the Senate, but supporters doubt they have the House votes to override a Bush veto.

Religious leaders joined Kennedy and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to say urgent action is necessary.

“S-CHIP provides critical health care access to families who don’t qualify for Medicaid, but do not make enough money to secure private health care coverage,” said the Rev. Clarence Williams, director of Racial Equality and Diversity Initiatives for Catholic Charities.

Over the past year, Williams said the number of uninsured children in America increased by more than 700,000.

“We must work for the common good of our children because it is the right thing to do. What an opportunity to construct a culture of compassion as S-CHIP becomes the bridge to a healthy society for our children and a brighter future for us all,” he said.

The Rev. Donald Meir, pastor of First Baptist Church in Fall River, Mass., called on Bush to remember a 2004 pledge to support providing health care coverage for children.

“We’re deeply troubled, we’re perplexed that Mr. Bush is now threatening to veto legislation that would provide health coverage to 4 million uninsured children,” said Meir, representing People Influencing Change through Organizing, a national network of faith based organizations and congregations in 18 states.

Organizers also released a letter to Bush signed by more than 2,000 religious leaders nationwide expressing concern over a veto.

_ Sarah McCann

Nigerian Anglican Says Episcopal Action Falls Short

(RNS) The Episcopal Church failed to appease at least one powerful Anglican when it pledged Tuesday (Sept. 25) to restrain its policies on gay bishops and liturgical rites for same-gender unions.

Archbishop Peter J. Akinola of Nigeria, a conservative ringleader who heads one the world’s largest Anglican provinces, said “our pleas have once again been ignored.”

Akinola is one of a number of Anglican leaders who say the Episcopal Church, the U.S. branch of the global Anglican Communion, is breaking with traditional Christianity by allowing a gay bishop and same-gender ceremonies.

On Tuesday, Episcopal bishops meeting in New Orleans reiterated their pledge to “exercise restraint” by not consecrating any more gay or lesbian bishops and not authorizing any church-wide rites for same-gender unions.

But some bishops allow same-sex blessings in their diocese and Akinola, who is asking for a full moratorium on the blessings, said the bishops haven’t done enough to stop them.

“Instead of the change of heart (repentance) that we sought, what we have been offered is merely a temporary adjustment in an unrelenting determination to `bring the rest of the Communion along,”’ Akinola said.

Akinola also pushed for another meeting of Anglican leaders to deal with what one of his allies has called “the American problem.”

Missionary Bishop Martyn Minns, who Akinola appointed to head the Virginia-based Convocation of Anglicans in North America, also called for another meeting of Anglican leaders before the end of the year.

“The Anglican Communion is waiting for some clarity on these subjects,” Minns said Wednesday.

_ Daniel Burke

Quote of the Day: Anti-torture activist, the Rev. George Hunsinger

(RNS) “Torture undermines victim and torturer alike. It corrodes the society that permits it. It overthrows the rule of law, and then destroys the tyrannies that it spawns. Corrupting the soul, it eventually corrupts everything in its path. Torture is itself the ticking bomb.”

_ The Rev. George Hunsinger, founder of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, in testimony he submitted Wednesday (Sept. 26) to a closed hearing of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

KRE DS END RNS