c. 2005 Religion News Service
New British Rules Increase Cost of Replacing Church Light Bulbs
LONDON (RNS) How many electricians does it take to change a light bulb? In at least one British church, more than it used to.
New British government safety regulations that came into effect last April require “safe landing areas or rest platforms” for any job more than 29 feet off the ground.
At St. Benet’s Catholic Church in East Anglia, northeast of London, replacing the halogen bulbs 40 feet above the nave used to be a two-hour job for one man and a ladder, at a cost of about $360.
But now, under the Work at Height Regulations _ which govern anyone working at a height where there is a risk of fall and injury _ the job requires two men and scaffolding _ at a cost of $2,367.
The new rules apply, for example, to a sales clerk who climbs a stepladder to take an item from a shelf, but not “to a mounted police officer on patrol.”
St. Benet’s priest, the Rev. Anthony Sutch, said he is fed up with the frequency of having to replace burned-out bulbs and is considering following the example of his Anglican colleague in town and replacing them with something longer lasting.
_ Robert Nowell
Catholic Bishops Ask Priests to Recruit New Men to the Priesthood
(RNS) America’s Roman Catholic priests will be asked to increase their dwindling ranks by personally reaching out to recruit new priests under a new program launched by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The “Fishers of Men” program is based on the idea that the church’s best hope for increasing the number of priests is for current clergy to “witness to the blessed life of being a priest” and invite men to consider serving the church.
“To be a priest is to be a privileged partaker in the mysteries of faith and in the lives of the people for whom we have care,” said Bishop Blase Cupich of Rapid City, S.D., who chairs the bishops’ vocations committee, in unveiling the program on Friday (Oct. 14) in Washington.
“It is a gift God gives us on the day we are ordained. And if we stand back for a moment to reflect on our lives as priests, it is a gift we will want to share with others.”
There are currently about 42,000 priests in the United States, down from a high of nearly 59,000 in 1965. Since then, the number of new priests ordained each year has dropped by nearly half, to 454 in 2005.
In the United States, there is an average of one priest per 1,500 Catholics, down from one priest per 777 Catholics 30 years ago, according to figures compiled by a research institute of Georgetown University.
The $200,000 program was tested in six dioceses, and Cupich said the results so far are encouraging. The four-part program involves interviewing priests about their jobs, sharing those stories with other priests in a diocese, and then sharing those testimonies with men outside the priesthood.
The Rev. Edward Burns, who oversees clergy recruitment for the bishops conference, said priests continue to score high on job satisfaction surveys, despite low pay, long hours and the clergy sexual abuse scandal.
“The image of the priesthood is not going to be defined by the men who abused children,” Burns said.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Politically Shy Amish Organize to Fight Zoning Rules
HUNTSBURG TOWNSHIP, Ohio (RNS) An uncomfortable look crosses the Amish man’s face as he explains that he didn’t desire a public policy battle, or an us-against-them dispute. Challenging authority is simply not part of the Amish culture.
But sometimes, conflict cannot be avoided. Action must be taken. This is one of those times.
Flexing rarely used political muscle, members of the Amish community are campaigning to eliminate the township’s zoning laws. Petitions circulated primarily in the Amish community _ roughly one-quarter of the township’s 3,300 residents _ have pushed the issue onto the November ballot.
The campaign is rooted in an Amish desire to work from home, which some say is difficult under current regulations that limit a home-based business to 1,000 square feet, equivalent to a 40-by-25-foot building.
Those rules don’t meet the needs of an increasing number of Amish farmers-turned-craftsmen, who want to open cabinet or woodworking shops in eastern Geauga County.
The township discussed increasing the limit, which the Amish say they’d like to see set at between 3,000 and 4,000 square feet. Several years of talks yielded no change.
“How long does it take?” asked an Amish man who, citing religious principles, asked that his name not be used. “We tried working with them, and we told them we’d go to the ballot if we had to. That’s what it eventually came to.”
Such a step is unusual, to say the least. The Amish rarely go to such extremes, says Paul Miller, executive director of the Amish and Mennonite Heritage Center in Holmes County. Most are reluctant to become remotely involved in any political matters, even shying from casting a ballot.
But the community will act in unison if it’s deemed absolutely necessary.
“This sort of decision is not entered into lightly,” Miller said.
Huntsburg officials expressed surprise at the scope of the Amish request. Dismantling the township’s entire zoning code would, in essence, allow a building “free-for-all” in the rural township.
Clark Adams, a longtime township trustee, said it’s clear the current regulations and the unwieldy legal process to appeal them aren’t satisfactory.
“It’s time to go back to the drawing board and see if we can find an effective solution that’s quicker and better,” Adams said. “We can find a mechanism to work things out.”
_ John Horton
Jewish Organizations Praise $25 Million in Grants for Security
(RNS) Several Jewish organizations are lauding Congress’ passage of a Homeland Security spending bill that will, for the second year in a row, include $25 million in grants for nonprofit groups at high risk of becoming targets of terrorists.
In the wake of Sept. 11 and consequent Al-Qaida threats to Jewish targets, Jewish organizations across the country _ from community centers to houses of worship _ began beefing up their security. But the exorbitant costs of erecting physical and technical barriers prompted many Jewish officials to ask Congress for financial aid.
Led by the United Jewish Communities, the coordinating body for North American Jewish federations, the coalition included groups from the American Red Cross to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
But Jewish groups have comprised a huge portion of the constituency _ and reaped significant reward.
Of the recently announced Homeland Security grants, for example, 32 organizations in the Washington, D.C,, region applied for grants providing up to $100,000. Twenty-one of those 32 groups were Jewish organizations, receiving a total of some $1.7 million, according to Ronald Halber, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington.
For a congregation like Adas Israel, Washington’s largest conservative synagogue, the $100,000 Homeland Security grant it was recently awarded means money saved.
“Every dollar spent on security is a dollar taken away from religious services or programming or other building needs,” said Glenn Easton, the synagogue’s executive director.
Nathan Diament, director of the Orthodox Union’s Institute for Public Affairs, said that rationale formed the basis of the lobbying. “Unlike the private sector where increased security costs can be passed along to the customer,” the nonprofit world responds to new costs with either more fund-raising or budget cuts, he said.
_ Rachel Pomerance
Episcopal Church Will be Asked to Apologize in 2006 for Slavery
(RNS) The Episcopal Church will be asked to apologize next year for its “complicity” in slavery, and could be asked whether economic “benefits” _ what many call reparations _ should be shared with black Episcopalians.
A resolution approved Monday (Oct. 10) by the church’s Executive Council would ask the church’s General Convention to express “profound regret” for its support of slavery, which was partially rationalized using Scripture.
The resolution calls on the church to “apologize for its complicity in and the injury done by the institution of slavery and its aftermath” and urge the church to mark a “Day of Repentance and Reconciliation.”
Many of the country’s founders were prominent Episcopalians and slave owners, including George Washington.
Some churches have already apologized for their role in condoning slavery. In 1995, the Southern Baptist Convention issued a mea culpa that also bemoaned its opposition to the civil rights movement in the 1960s.
Slavery and the Civil War split many churches into northern and southern branches, including Baptists, Methodists and Presbyterians, while the Episcopal Church managed to stay intact.
John Vanderstar, a member of the council, said “it seemed time to quit cutting bait and start fishing” after several church statements that opposed racism but never addressed slavery directly, according to Episcopal News Service.
A similar resolution would investigate whether the church profited from slavery and explore ways the church could “share those benefits” with black members.
Those benefits “would essentially be reparations, although some do not want to use that word,” the Rev. Kwasi Thornell said. The church’s presiding bishop, Frank Griswold, said the move could be “costly … in terms of our immediate resources.”
The Rev. Jan Nunley, a church spokeswoman, said it is unclear what those “benefits” would look like. However, she said some people question whether wealthy 19th century parishioners contributed “tainted money” to the church that had been gained through the slave trade.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Ramadan _ and Islamic Literature _ Arrive in French Supermarkets
PARIS (RNS) Along with peas, pretzels and deck chairs, shoppers in French supermarkets can snap up another item this Ramadan season: The Quran.
Some 150 hypermarkets like Carrefour _ the French answer to Wal-Mart _ are selling the Muslim holy book as part of a “Ramadan box” of Islamic literature, published by the Paris-based Editions Albouraq.
“We felt that during the month of Ramadan, people were interested in spiritual books along with practical ones about Islam,” said Albouraq’s 33-year-old French-Lebanese head Mansour Mansour, referring to the Muslim month of fasting. “And I think that selling books on Islam via large-scale distributors helps the integration of the Muslim community in France.”
Albouraq first began promoting its Ramadan box to Paris-area supermarkets two years ago. The initial results were promising, and last year the Muslim publishing house extended its scope to other regions of France. Today, nearly half a dozen large-scale chains are selling the box of literature, which contains 24 different Islamic books.
Besides two editions of the Quran, the stores sell books on Islamic history, the prophet Muhammad, cooking and practical tomes on the Muslim faith. A sample title: “How to Pray, 400 Questions/Answers to Understand Islam.”
Like many of Albouraq’s publications, most of the books are written in French.
Indeed, making Islam accessible to France’s 5 million-strong Muslim community _ the largest in Europe _ has been the main mission of the family-owned publishing house, Mansour says.
“The large majority of second-generation Muslims here don’t speak Arabic, only French,” Mansour says. “And we opened in the early 1990s when this generation wanted access to Islam in a language they understood. So did French who had converted to Islam.”
_ Elizabeth Bryant
Mainline Leaders Rally Against Proposed Budget Cuts
WASHINGTON (RNS) Mainline Protestant leaders are urging Congress to scrap a budget blueprint that could mean deep cuts in programs for poor Americans, with a top Episcopal bishop suggesting Washington is guilty of “blasphemy.”
Leaders from the Episcopal Church, the United Church of Christ and 52 local Lutheran bishops said Congress should cancel $70 billion in tax breaks if it also needs to cut $35 billion in domestic spending.
“For a nation to declare itself under God and neglect the poor in its midst is tantamount, in my mind, to blasphemy,” Episcopal Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold said Thursday (Oct. 13) in a teleconference with reporters.
Congress is poised to take up President Bush’s $2.6 trillion budget, and must find $35 billion in cuts. A Republican-led budget bill proposes $10 billion in cuts to Medicaid (health care for low-income Americans), with hundreds of millions in additional cuts to food stamps and student loans.
In addition to the spending cuts, Congress will consider tax cuts worth up to $70 billion over five years. Critics say the two separate bills will increase the budget deficit by $35 billion, and tax breaks will favor high-income Americans.
Mainline churches who have made the 2006 budget their top domestic priority say the budget continues to be “unjust” and “immoral,” particularly after Hurricane Katrina exposed the unseen problem of poverty.
“What we saw in New Orleans, quite frankly, was the reality that there are millions in this country that are left behind not by the biblical rapture but by the rupture of the social contract in America,” said the Rev. John Thomas, general minister and president of the United Church of Christ.
Griswold and Thomas joined Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., in trying to derail the streamlined “reconciliation” process that guides the budget process and limits lawmakers’ ability to offer amendments. “I think this budget … is an embarrassment to our country. We can do better,” Reid said.
Separately, 52 of the 65 bishops in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America wrote to Congress and said many of the programs that face cuts are the same programs that would help the victims of Katrina.
“Even as the number of people living in poverty and without (health) insurance has increased dramatically in the last five years, the last few tragic weeks in the Gulf Coast area have put a face _ indeed, thousands of new faces _ on poverty in the heart of our society,” the bishops said.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Mission Agency is Dumbfounded by Eviction Order from Venezuela
(RNS) A Christian missionary group being expelled from Venezuela vehemently denounced charges by President Hugo Chavez that the group is involved with the CIA.
Chavez announced in a nationally televised address on Wednesday (Oct. 12) that he wants to oust New Tribes Mission, a U.S.-based missionary group specializing in evangelism among indigenous groups.
The move is an attempt to purge Venezuela of U.S. “imperialist infiltration” and was based on intelligence that some of the missionaries are undercover CIA agents, Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel told reporters Thursday.
“The president’s decision was based on reports that their actions create situations that compromise the country’s sovereignty,” Rangel said.
In a statement on the organization’s Web site, New Tribes denied the allegations, saying the group has had no governmental ties in its 59 years of service in the South American nation.
“We have the highest regard and respect for the people, laws and country of Venezuela. New Tribes is not and has never been connected in any way with any government agencies. Our goal is to serve indigenous people,” the statement said.
The group further called for dialogue with Chavez to clarify the “misunderstandings and misinformation.”
Nita Zelenak, a spokeswoman for New Tribes Mission, told the Associated Press the organization does not plan to immediately remove its 160 personnel from the region and hopes to convince Chavez to rethink his decision.
“When you consider the people that we’re with, there really isn’t any sense of strategic information they would have,” Zelenak told AP.
The group said a recent remark by religious broadcaster Pat Robertson that the United States should “take him (Chavez) out” sparked investigations into the organization, the AP reported.
_ Jason Kane
Editors: empty tomb is lowercase in accordance with organization’s spelling.
Report Shows Protestant Giving to Overseas Missions on the Decline
(RNS) Giving to overseas missions by Protestants has dropped significantly over the last 80 years, according to a new report by empty tomb, a Christian research organization.
A survey of 28 Protestant denominations found that for each dollar donated to a congregation, denominations spent two cents on overseas missions in 2003, a decrease from seven cents in the 1920s.
The survey, conducted by Champaign, Ill.-based researchers Sylvia and John Ronsvalle, measured total contributions to denomination-related congregations from individual members. It also determined how much of those contributions congregations determine will be used for congregational finances and benevolences, which include overseas missions and other causes outside the congregation.
“The prayer before the congregational offering will often refer to the importance of giving in order to share the good news throughout the world,” she said. “On a practical level, less than two cents of the dollars is going to be directed to that.”
Total contributions to congregations decreased from 3.11 percent of members’ income in 1968 to 2.59 percent in 2003, a decline of 17 percent.
The amount designated for congregational finances dropped from 2.45 percent in 1968 to 2.21 percent in 2003, a decline of 10 percent.
The amount earmarked for benevolences decreased from 0.66 percent in 1968 to 0.38 percent in 2003, a drop of 42 percent.
The authors found that denominations that grew in membership had a higher level of overseas missions support, while those that decreased had a lower level of missions giving.
The 14 that had membership growth gave almost three cents on the dollar to overseas missions, while the 14 with membership declines gave less than one cents on the dollar.
“Perhaps the key is that a sense of larger purpose, consistent with professed beliefs, is attractive to people,” the Ronsvalles observed in a statement.
The emphasis on overseas missions is a new aspect of empty tomb’s research.
“Previously, people have just sort of assumed overseas missions was the priority of congregations and denominations,” Sylvia Ronsvalle said. “These numbers suggest that’s not that case.”
The results of the report are featured in a new book, “The State of Church Giving through 2003,” which was released on Oct. 14. The book, released each fall, is in its 15th edition.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Quote of the Week: Patrick Mahoney, Director of Christian Defense Coalition
(RNS) “Do not patronize us by assuming that we will immediately support Ms. Miers as a Supreme Court justice because we hear she is an evangelical Christian.”
_ The Rev. Patrick Mahoney, director of the conservative Christian Defense Coalition, criticizing President Bush for asking conservatives to support Miers’ nomination because she is an evangelical Christian.
END RNS
