c. 2008 Religion News Service
Chicago cardinal suspends priest at center of Clinton flap
(RNS) Five days after muzzling the priest who mocked Sen. Hillary Clinton, Chicago Cardinal Francis George on Tuesday (June 3) suspended the Rev. Michael Pfleger and told him to “reflect on his recent statements and actions.”
“I have asked Father Michael Pfleger, pastor of St. Sabina’s Parish, to step back from his obligations there and take leave for a couple of weeks from his pastoral duties, effective today,” George said. “Father Pfleger does not believe this to be the right step at this time.
“While respecting this disagreement, I have nevertheless asked him to use this opportunity to reflect on his recent statements and actions in the light of the Church’s regulations for all Catholic priests.”
Pfleger, who is white, apologized Sunday after a May 25 speech at Sen. Barack Obama’s former church in which he said Clinton cried on the campaign trail because “there’s a black man stealing my show.”
Last week, George ordered Pfleger to abstain from partisan politics and the outspoken priest agreed to “not publicly mention any candidate by name” through the November elections.
In an interview with The Chicago Sun-Times published Tuesday, Pfleger said he disagreed with George that “as a Catholic priest, I’m not allowed to publicly support a candidate. I said my understanding was that, as an individual, I can support anyone I want.”
Nevertheless, Pfleger said he consented to the cardinal’s decree because “I did not want to create another distraction for him or for Barack.” Pfleger said he didn’t think his remarks at Trinity United Church of Christ were being recorded.
Asked if he was in jeopardy of being removed from his longtime pulpit at St. Sabina’s, Pfleger said, “Because of the hierarchical nature of the archdiocese, I think you’re always serving at the discretion of the cardinal.”
_ Kevin Eckstrom
UpDATE: Cal State, Quaker professor reach accord
(RNS) The California State University system and a Quaker college instructor who balked at signing a state-required loyalty oath have reached an agreement that allows her to teach and attach a statement to the oath.
Wendy Gonaver, 38, said the oath, with its promise to “defend” the U.S. and California constitutions against all enemies, contradicts her Quaker pacifist beliefs.
Under the agreement, brokered by CSU and People for the American Way Foundation, Gonaver will be allowed to attach a statement to the oath stating that “such compulsion violates my right to freedom of speech.”
“And, as a Quaker, in order to sign the oath in good conscience, I must also state that I do not promise to undertake to bear arms or otherwise engage in violence,” the attached statement continues.
Gonaver will teach two classes this fall at Cal State Fullerton, according to People for the American Way Foundation, a liberal nonprofit.
The state-run school system had objected to a previous statement Gonaver attached to the oath, believing it undermined the pledge, which is required of all state employees.
_ Daniel Burke
Pope allows diplay of Shroud of Turin
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Benedict XVI has approved the rare public exhibition of the Shroud of Turin, a linen cloth that many believe was used for Jesus’ burial.
The shroud will go on display in 2010 for the first time in a decade, Benedict announced Monday (June 3).
“If the Lord grants me life and health, I hope also to come for this display,” Benedict told a group of pilgrims from the northwestern Italian city of Turin, where the shroud is kept in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist.
Venerated since at least the 14th century as the burial shroud of Jesus Christ, the 14.5-foot long cloth shows front and back images of a bearded man with apparent wounds in his hands, feet and side.
The shroud seemed to have been discredited when Vatican-approved tests in 1988 at three separate laboratories determined its date of origin as between 1261 and 1390.
But in 2005, a study published in the chemistry journal Thermochimica Acta concluded that the cloth could be 1,300 to 3,000 years old, putting it in the same time frame as Jesus’ death.
The Catholic Church has no official position on the object’s authenticity, but endorses it as an aid to devotion. “For the believer,” said Pope John Paul II in 1998, “what counts above all is that the Shroud is a mirror of the Gospel.”
_ Francis X. Rocca
Vatican reaffirms excommunication for women priests
VATICAN CITY (RNS) The Vatican on Friday (May 30) reaffirmed its longstanding policy that women who seek to become priests, and the bishops who attempt to ordain them, will face excommunication.
The decree was published in the Vatican’s official newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, and was signed by the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal William Levada.
Excommunication bars Catholics from receiving the sacraments or participating in acts of public worship. The decree said it was absolute, universal and of immediate effect.
Church law already states that only a baptized male can become a priest, in part because Jesus chose only men as his apostles.
But the Vatican had never been as explicit in condemning the ordination of women. The decree is meant to safeguard “the nature and validity of the sacrament of the Holy Orders.”
Opponents of the church’s position believe that Christ never argued explicitly against the ordination of women, and that by choosing only male apostles he was conforming to the customs of his time.
The controversy over women priesthood intensified over the last couple of years after the formation of the group Roman Catholic Womenpriests in 2002. While attempts to ordain women remain rare, last March St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke excommunicated three people for participating in a woman’s ordination service.
_ Bernd Bergmann
Groups pool resources to help rebuild Gulf Coast
NEW ORLEANS (RNS) A diverse group of faith-based organizations has raised $4.5 million for two disaster relief funds that will aid affordable-housing projects, help rebuild small businesses and develop community centers on the Gulf Coast.
The Isaiah Fund LLC, a project of Catholic, Jewish, Mennonite and Baptist institutions, is believed to be the first national interfaith fund for long-term domestic disaster recovery.
The groups, which have been active in volunteer efforts after Hurricane Katrina, say they recognize that some of the hardest rebuilding work still lies ahead. Providing long-term, low-cost, flexible capital is one of the best ways they can continue to help.
“We looked at the tremendous needs that exist throughout the region,” said Jeffrey Dekro, senior vice president of Jewish Funds for Justice in Philadelphia, which will manage the funds.
The partners in the fund said they realized that if they pooled their resources, they could create a more ambitious and high-profile program than going it alone. They named the fund for a biblical passage that says, “You will restore the age-old foundations and be called repairer of the breach, restorer of the streets in which to dwell.”
The two funds, one for loans and one for grants, will initially focus on low-income communities on the Gulf Coast, but the founders hope the Isaiah Funds will become a blueprint to create other funds to support recovery from future disasters.
The goal is to grow the program to $10 million for loans and $1 million for grants by the end of 2009 with the help of other foundations and faith-based institutions. The money will be disbursed through local financial institutions.
The first loan, of $500,000, will be awarded to Gulf Coast Housing Partnership, which has finished about 600 units of affordable housing since the storm and is working on an additional 500 units.
“We in the faith community are not interested simply in the rebuilding of New Orleans, because much of what was need not be recovered,” said Episcopal Bishop Charles Jenkins III. “I still think that New Orleans is America’s opportunity. If it can be done here, it can be done anywhere. This is the least likely place.”
_ Rebecca Mowbray
Midwife to Amish wins court appeal
HARRISBURG, Pa. (RNS) A Pennsylvania appeals court has said a state board was wrong to fine and shut down the practice of a Lancaster-area midwife who has delivered thousands for babies for the Amish.
But it is unclear whether it’s illegal for Diane Goslin and other “lay midwives” to deliver babies, even with the May 23 decision by a panel of judges on the Commonwealth Court.
The court concluded Goslin didn’t receive due process in facing charges of practicing midwifery without a license. The state Board of Medicine brought charges against Goslin last year and eventually fined her $11,000 and ordered her to stop working as a midwife. Goslin appealed.
Goslin, 50, said that she interprets the decision as clearing her to resume guiding women through childbirth.
“I feel we’ve been told that I can continue to attend women and childbirth. I feel this is a victory for women throughout the commonwealth,” she said.
The decision doesn’t address the question of whether what Goslin did is legal, said Gerald Smith, a senior lawyer for the Pennsylvania Department of State, which oversees the medical board.
He said he’ll have to study it further before advising the medical board on whether it has legal authority to regulate midwives such as Goslin.
The case resulted in several rallies in which hundreds of Amish men, women and children came to Harrisburg to support Goslin.
Supporters argue that deliveries performed by lay midwives are more natural, safe, and more in keeping with their culture. The supporters, which include some non-Amish, abhor the use of drugs and medical technology that are present during hospital births, and they believe births should occur at home.
Pennsylvania requires nurse midwives to have state licenses. Goslin is certified by the North American Registry of Midwives, which isn’t recognized in Pennsylvania.
Smith said the state’s goal is “to make sure the people who are providing health care to our citizens are competent to do so.”
The case against Goslin followed the 2005 death of an Amish infant 21 hours after birth. The Lancaster County coroner concluded the baby died of causes that weren’t Goslin’s fault.
_ David Wenner
Few churchgoers tithe, study says
(RNS) Linda Pateo of Gardendale, Ala., says she and her husband, Robert, try to give 5 percent of their income to their church and 5 percent to Christian charities, but it’s difficult with three children in college.
“I have strong feelings that God expects first fruits,” Pateo said. “Sometimes we fall short. It’s something we are all called to do.”
A recent poll by pollster George Barna shows that only 5 percent of Americans say they tithe, or give at least 10 percent of their income to religious congregations and charitable groups.
According to other studies on church giving, congregants give an average of 2.58 percent of their income to their churches. That’s down from 3.11 percent of their income in 1968, according to studies published by Empty Tomb, a ministry that studies church finances.
“Tithing is in decline,” said the Rev. William Hull, a research professor at Samford University and a Baptist minister. “The older generation was taught to tithe. It’s not being taught very much any more.”
Decades ago, the church was a focal point of philanthropy. Now parachurch ministries, schools and charitable agencies compete for those dollars, he said.
“The church has been losing market share,” said Sylvia Ronsvalle, executive vice president of Empty Tomb. “That concerns us. There could be a crisis in the very heart of the church.”
Many major mainline denominations are suffering budget shortfalls. “The churches don’t get enough money to send on to headquarters,” Hull said.
Donors and local churches may also reduce the amount of money they forward to denominational headquarters because of disputes over national church policies on divisive issues, such as homosexuality. “In many cases it’s a boycott,” Hull said.
Pateo recalled how tight finances were when her children were in day care and her salary barely covered the costs. But she believes it’s a religious duty to tithe to her church, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton.
“It’s not easy,” she said. “But other blessings come to you if you are faithful.”
_ Greg Garrison
New leader named for United House of Prayer for All People
(RNS) An Augusta, Ga., pastor has been chosen as the new bishop of the United House of Prayer for All People.
Apostle C.M. Bailey succeeds Bishop S.C. “Sweet Daddy” Madison, who served as bishop for 17 years, The Washington Post reported. Madison died April 5 at age 86.
Bailey, who served as the church’s senior minister, is the fourth leader of the 1.5 million-member church.
He received the majority of votes _ more than 500 of about 550 _ during the church’s General Assembly on Friday (May 23).
The church, which has 150 branches in 25 states, was founded by Charles M. Grace and has been based in Washington since the 1920s.
_ Adelle M. Banks
UpDATE: Calvin professor leaves, in part over membership rules
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (RNS) A Calvin College professor who was denied an exemption from school policy that requires faculty to belong to the Christian Reformed Church said she is leaving for a teaching position in California.
Calvin officials said a deal was in the works that would have allowed Denise Isom to stay at the university and maintain dual membership in her Baptist church and a CRC congregation.
“I think we made a reasonable proposal that would have worked for both of us,” Calvin President Gaylen Byker said. “I wish she had accepted that. If she makes another decision, that’s her right.”
After being denied an exemption last fall, Isom said she reviewed a draft of the proposal in January but had reservations. While she was considering it, she received and accepted an offer from California Polytechnic State University, she said.
She said she had misgivings about staying at Calvin, and the proposed agreement did not reassure her.
“I was very disappointed and in some ways alarmed by what was being suggested I do,” said Isom, an assistant professor who specialized in race and education. “There was an awful lot being asked of me.”
The agreement called for her to meet regularly with a CRC pastor about the Reformed tradition, and for a CRC pastor and her pastor at Messiah Missionary Baptist Church to report to Calvin on her progress, Isom said. She felt there would be “someone watching my presence (in church) and reporting on it,” she added.
“In many ways it reaffirmed in me the idea that it would be difficult to return to Calvin and simply be another faculty member,” Isom said.
Calvin Provost Claudia Beversluis said the meetings with a CRC liaison were meant to promote “mutual learning” and “a genuine relationship with both churches.” Talks between the pastors simply would have addressed how well the arrangement was working, she said.
_ Charles Honey
Pastor turns pulpit over to wife to focus on Atlanta church
NEW ORLEANS (RNS) Bishop Paul S. Morton, the leader of what’s probably the largest church in New Orleans, has turned over his pulpit to his wife so he can spend more time building a post-Katrina satellite branch in the Atlanta area.
After the change, Debra Morton, 53, will take lead responsibility for the care of Greater St. Stephen Full Gospel Baptist Church with the title of senior pastor. Paul Morton, 57, will assume her old title of co-pastor.
Paul Morton will devote most of his energy to building an offshoot of Greater St. Stephen he planted in Decatur, Ga., a few weeks after the storm.
The Georgia congregation now numbers about 6,000. It plans to relocate to 67 acres of land near Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Paul Morton said.
Meanwhile, Greater St. Stephen in New Orleans now numbers about 5,000 people worshipping at two locations; a third location in eastern New Orleans was destroyed by Katrina.
Before the storm, Greater St. Stephen enrolled an estimated 20,000 people at three locations, making it the largest church in the city by a wide margin.
Since Katrina, the Mortons, married 31 years, has maintained residences in Atlanta and New Orleans.
For nearly three years the Mortons have regularly shuttled back and forth between cities, often on separate schedules, to keep preaching schedules in Atlanta and New Orleans. With their new duties they will be together about 31/2 days of each week, they said.
The transition does not involve a large cultural adjustment for church members in New Orleans. Debra Morton became co-pastor 15 years ago; for years she shared a full preaching schedule with Paul Morton at home and on the road and also ran some major church ministries.
“As a girl I never heard of a woman preacher, certainly not a woman co-pastor,” said Debra Morton, whose grandmother was one of St. Stephen’s founding members. “I never dreamed of it. Certainly never desired it.”
_ Bruce Nolan
Missionaries accused of `hate crime’ in Muslim neighborhood
LONDON (RNS) Two U.S. Christian preachers say there were accused by police of a hate crime after they handed out evangelical tracts on the streets of a predominantly Muslim area in Britain.
The two, Arthur Cunningham and Joseph Abraham, complained to police in Birmingham that a Muslim community police officer told them, “If you come back here and get beat up, well, you have been warned.”
Cunningham and Abraham, backed by the activist group Christian Institute, said Officer Naeem Nagutheney stopped them in a predominantly Muslim neighborhood, told them they could not preach there and accused them of committing a hate crime by trying to convert Muslims to Christianity.
“He was very intimidating, and it concerns me that somebody holding his views can become a police officer, albeit at PCSO level,” said Abraham.
A PCSO is a police constable support officer, a relatively low-level member of the police force recruited to help authorities patrol communities.
Abraham was born a Muslim in Egypt but became a Christian after he gained U.S. citizenship. Cunningham was identified as an American Baptist missionary. Nagutheney joined the West Midlands Police after eight months on unemployment rolls.
West Midlands Police authorities in Birmingham said in a statement that the officer “has been offered guidance about what constitutes a hate crime and advice on communications style,” although they insisted that he had acted “with the best of intentions.”
Cunningham, however, said he was “dumfounded that the police seem so nonchalant … This is a free country, and to suggest that we were guilty of a hate crime for spreading God’s word is outrageous.”
_ Al Webb
Quote of the Week: New Orleans Archbishop Alfred Hughes
(RNS) “They’re hurt; I’m hurt. But that’s to be expected. I think it would be a bad thing if it didn’t hurt.”
_ Archbishop Alfred Hughes of New Orleans, after he was confronted by angry parishioners of a church he has ordered closed as part of a massive post-Hurricane Katrina downsizing plan. He was quoted by the Times-Picayune of New Orleans.
KRE/LF END RNS
