c. 2008 Religion News Service

UpDATE: Priest says he had permission to allow Maher to film in church

PARK RIDGE, N.J. (RNS) The pastor of a Catholic church, facing criticism from his archbishop for letting comedian Bill Maher film part of his movie “Religulous” there, said he actually had been given advance permission by the archdiocese to do so.

The contention by the Rev. Charles Grandstrand came after reports that Archbishop John J. Myers of Newark was upset that the priest let Maher shoot the scene on church property at Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church.

The controversial movie derides organized religion of all kinds. Myers’ spokesman, James Goodness, had said he had told Grandstrand not to let Maher film there because the archdiocese forbids commercial filming on its property.

Grandstrand had not responded to requests for an interview.

But on Thursday (Oct. 16), in a letter to the editor of The Star-Ledger, Grandstrand wrote that Goodness had told the church’s administrative assistant that it would be all right to let Maher talk to his mother in the church, which the Maher family attended decades ago. He said Goodness told the church to reject the production company’s request to film a Mass.

“Mr. Maher and his family were parishioners of Our Lady of Mercy,” Grandstrand wrote. “Mr. Maher was baptized and received his first Communion at Our Lady of Mercy. Based on the information I had, I chose to allow a former parishioner access to his childhood church.”

Goodness, reached Thursday for comment, said he remembered the events unfolding differently. He said he had told Grandstrand not to let the company film anything inside the church.

_ Jeff Diamant

Mercy Corps spreads its message in the Big Apple

NEW YORK (RNS) Aid workers for Mercy Corps have battled misery in the world’s most desperate corners for three decades. They have brought malaria medicine to sickened African kids, built schools amid Iraqi gunfire, loaned seed capital to Afghan weavers and helped Indonesian fishermen launch tsunami-battered boats.

Now the relief workers want to put you in their place _ at least virtually _ to gain support for helping more people.

In a prominent Manhattan location on Thursday (Oct. 16), Portland, Ore.-based Mercy Corps launched a multimedia center designed to raise the nonprofit’s U.S. profile and attract a new generation of supporters. A similar center will open next September in Portland.

Packed with high-definition video screens, the first-of-a-kind center will enable visitors to think and act like relief workers, taking real-world steps to advance the humanitarian cause.

The “action centers” are the most visible features of Mercy Corps’ move to redefine what aid agencies do. The agency, which ranks eighth among U.S.-based humanitarian organizations by revenue, is also taking risks.

It’s running its first bricks-and-mortar capital campaign, gunning for $25 million during a global financial crisis. It’s acquiring an Indonesian commercial bank to support microlending. It’s driving up overhead to 11 percent of its ballooning $308 million annual global budget, a share that could concern donors.

Even the action centers are risky, given the organization’s lack of experience creating public attractions and drawing visitors.

But Chief Executive Neal Keny-Guyer notes that governments, foundations and other organizations committed a record $165 million to Mercy Corps during its most recent quarter. Keny-Guyer believes the agency can stave off bureaucracy and stay nimble.

“That culture is just really baked into our DNA and the kind of people we attract,” Keny-Guyer says. “The driving force still has to be innovation and front-line flexibility and moving decision-making as close to the program action as you can.”

Founded in 1979 to aid Cambodian refugees, Mercy Corps employs 3,500 in 38 nations. The organization helps victims of wars and natural disasters help themselves, moving swiftly from cash-for-work programs to locally shaped recovery projects.

Mercy Corps’ example has influenced other humanitarian agencies in moving away from conventional handout programs that foster dependency. Now the organization aims to inspire a generation of high school students, among others, to become activists and donors.

The lower Manhattan center occupies a 4,000-square-foot corner storefront between a new Hudson River commuter-ferry terminal and the former World Trade Center towers.

Inside, on short video clips, field workers show vignettes of their days helping build roads or install wells. A giant interactive Google Earth display enables visitors to zoom in on humanitarian hot spots.

Visitors gravitate to touch-screen displays that brief them on themes and countries _ governance and Indonesia, for example _ the way aid workers size up conditions when they arrive at emergencies. Visitors collect facts, hear from a wide spectrum of people at the scene and consider actions.

“The idea is to listen to people talk, strategize about what to do _ and then you can actually do something,” says Ed Schlossberg, founder and principal at ESI Design, an internationally known New York firm that designed Mercy Corps’ $5.3 million center.

_ Richard Read

Quote of the Day: Baylor University sophomore Emanuel Gawrieh

(RNS) “We’re at a Christian institution where morals and values are supposed to be all that it’s about. That was stretched and left behind in this decision.”

_ Baylor University sophomore and student advisory board member Emanuel Gawrieh, quoted by The Lariat, the school newspaper, about revelations that the school offered to pay incoming freshman to retake the SAT and attempt to increase their scores. Baylor has reportedly said it “goofed” and is reconsidering the practice.

KRE/PH END RNS