c. 2007 Religion News Service
Pope offers `working meeting’ with Muslims
VATICAN CITY (RNS) In response to a letter from Muslim leaders seeking better relations with the Christian world, Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday (Nov. 29) invited those leaders to the Vatican for a “working meeting” on inter-religious dialogue.
Writing on behalf of the pope, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican secretary of state, expressed Benedict’s “gratitude” and “deep appreciation” for an open letter that 138 Muslim scholars and clerics sent to the pope on Oct. 13.
That letter invoked the common principles of “love of the One God, and love of the neighbor” as the ultimate basis for peace between Muslims and Christians. Bertone’s reply acknowledged and reaffirmed those points.
“Without ignoring or downplaying our differences as Christians and Muslims, we can and therefore should look to what unites us, namely, belief in the one God,” the cardinal wrote.
Bertone noted that Benedict was “particularly impressed by the attention given (by the Muslim letter writers) to the twofold commandment to love God and one’s neighbor.”
Dated Nov. 19 but published only on Thursday, Bertone’s letter was addressed to Jordan’s Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal, a signatory of the Oct. 13 letter.
The cardinal invited Ghazi and a “restricted group of signatories” of the prince’s choosing to visit the Vatican, for both an audience with Benedict and a “working meeting” with Vatican experts on inter-religious dialogue.
“It is significant that the pope does not simply engage with the letter of the 138 in an impersonal way at the level of ideas, but invites the parties to meet and proposes the beginnings of a process,” said the Rev. Daniel A. Madigan, a visiting fellow at Georgetown University’s Woodstock Theological Center.
According to John L. Esposito, director of Georgetown’s Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, Benedict’s proposal is “important but only a starting point.”
The Vatican’s response to the Muslim initiative had been long awaited. Several Protestant leaders immediately welcomed the Oct. 13 letter but Benedict’s silence drew a complaint from a group of Muslim leaders in a late-October open communique.
_ Francis X. Rocca
Joyce Meyer says $23,000 `commode’ is not a toilet
(RNS) Joyce Meyer Ministries said it plans to respond to a Senate investigation into lavish spending, and clarified reports of a $23,000 “commode.”
The Fenton, Mo.-based ministry is one of six evangelical TV ministries that has until Dec. 6 to respond to a request for financial information issued by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.
Grassley, the top-ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, said his requests came after public complaints and news media reports alleged large salaries and affluent lifestyles by various religious leaders.
Grassley’s staff plans to meet with representatives of Joyce Meyer Ministries on Tuesday (Dec. 4), said Jill Gerber, his committee press secretary.
In his Nov. 5 letter to that ministry, Grassley said the Jefferson County, Mo., real estate assessor’s office had recorded a purchase of a $23,000 “commode with marble top.” He asked for verification of the cost and an explanation of its tax-exempt purpose.
Responding to that query, the ministry said: “While many have mistakenly associated this piece of furniture with a common household toilet, this particular term actually refers to the classic definition of commode identified by Webster’s Dictionary as, `a tall elegant chest of drawers.”’
The ministry said it was one piece of a 68-piece furniture purchase in 2001 for a total of $261,498, but the $23,000 figure was an “errant value assigned by the selling agent.”
“Joyce Meyer Ministries takes financial stewardship and accountability very seriously, and this oversight serves as an opportunity to only improve future practices,” the ministry said in a statement.
_ Adelle M. Banks
NCC fills five top staff jobs
(RNS) The National Council of Churches has filled five new senior positions, one month after the New York-based ecumenical agency cut staff due to budget restrictions.
Coping with a $1 million budget shortfall in its last fiscal year, the ecumenical agency reduced programming and cut 14 staff jobs down to five in November.
All five of the new hires had been NCC employees before the cutbacks.
“We are delighted that these dedicated and experienced colleagues will remain part of the NCC,” said the council’s new General Secretary, the Rev. Michael Kinnamon.
Filling the new positions will be:
_ Clare Chapman as chief operating officer;
_ Wesley M. (Pat) Patillo will as senior program director for justice, advocacy and communication;
_ The Rev. Garland F. Pierce as senior program director for education and leadership ministries;
_ Antonios Kireopoulos as senior program director for international affairs and peace;
_ The Rev. Eileen Lindner as director of organization development.
Founded in 1950, the NCC counts some 35 member “communions” representing approximately 45 million Protestant, Anglican and Orthodox Christians.
_ Daniel Burke
British church roofs get unique `DNA’ markers
LONDON (RNS) British clergy, fed up with losing their church roofs to thieves, are striking back by daubing the lead and copper coverings with a high-tech liquid to provide each church with its own traceable “DNA.”
The chemical, called SmartWater, makes an individual _ and invisible _ identification mark that experts say can be read even if the metal has been melted down.
If the lead or copper can be recovered in usable form, then so much the better. But in any case, the “DNA” mark will enable police to pinpoint exactly which church the metal came from and give them a far better chance of apprehending the culprits.
Police authorities also believe that once would-be criminal gangs get the message that the roofs they are targeting are clearly marked, they will be inclined to lay off. Meanwhile, police also are cracking down on scrap dealers, warning them about the use of SmartWater and advising them not to accept scrap metal from churches.
The Church of England says it has been forced into action by a sharp increase in the number of thefts of church roofs, from 80 recorded cases in 2005 to some 1,800 already this year. Insurers have paid out some $12 million worth of claims in 2007 alone.
Police authorities say a dramatic surge in the price of copper and lead on international markets has spurred criminal gangs to strike at churches, which they have seen as particularly easy targets _ at least until now.
“This is bad news for metal thieves and good news for everyone else,” said Oxford Bishop John Pritchard, whose diocese has been victimized by 40 thefts of church metal this year.
The Rev. John Kinchin-Smith, whose St. Andrew’s Church in Chinoor, England, was stripped of its lead earlier this year, said “it is a sad reflection of these days, that nothing is sacred anymore.”
_ Al Webb
Quote of the Day: Muhammad Abdul Bari of the Muslim Council of Britain
(RNS) “This is a disgraceful decision and defies common sense. There was clearly no intention on the part of the teacher to deliberately insult the Islamic faith.”
_ Muhammad Abdul Bari, secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, on Sudanese officials charging a British schoolteacher with inciting religious hatred for having a teddy bear students named “Muhammad” in her classroom. Bari was quoted by The Washington Post (Nov. 29)
KRE DS END RNS
