c. 1999 Religion News Service
International Roman Catholic-Orthodox dialogue to resume in Maryland
(RNS) A Roman Catholic college and seminary in Emmitsburg, Md., will host the next meeting of the official international dialogue between Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox church leaders. The talks are scheduled for June 6-15.
The session will mark the first time the ongoing dialogue _ officially known as the Joint International Commission for the Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church _ will be held in the Western Hemisphere.
The ultimate goal of the dialogue is the full unification of Christianity’s two largest segments, which together represent about 80 percent of the world’s nearly 1.5-billion Christians. The Catholic and Orthodox worlds have been divided _ often violently _ since 1054, when the leaders of both churches excommunicated each other.
In 1964, Pope Paul VI and the Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras met in Jerusalem to begin the process of reconciliation. Since then, there have been seven official dialogue meetings, most recently in 1993 in Balamand, Lebanon.
Baltimore Cardinal William H. Keeler said at a Tuesday (March 30) news conference in Baltimore that the June session at Mt. St. Mary’s College and Seminary will attempt to deal with some unresolved questions connected to a document produced at Balamand that has been criticized by some Orthodox delegates.
The document _”Uniatism, Method of Union of the Past and the Present Search for Full Communion”_ sought to end attempts by the two churches to proselytize each other’s members and to establish mutual recognition of the other’s ecclesiastical legitimacy.
Keeler and Archbishop Spyridon, head of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, agreed such”practical”_ as opposed to strictly theological _ differences are the most immediate stumbling block between the two churches. The differences also include disputes over church properties between Catholic and Orthodox churches in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.
At Emmitsburg, the Catholic side will be represented by senior Vatican officials and church representatives from various nations. Orthodox representatives are expected to come from the five patriarchates, or regional Orthodox jurisdictions, including Moscow and Istanbul (called Constantinople by Orthodox Christians). About a dozen national Orthodox churches across Europe are also expected to send representatives.
While the sessions will be private, several Catholic and Orthodox worship services, including ones in Baltimore and Washington, will be open to the public. Mt. St. Mary’s College and Seminary is about an hour’s drive west of Baltimore.
Lyons gets five years for Florida theft, racketeering convictions
(RNS) The Rev. Henry J. Lyons, recently-resigned president of the National Baptist Convention, USA, was sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison Wednesday (March 31) on Florida convictions of grand theft and racketeering.
Circuit Judge Susan Schaeffer sent Lyons, 57, immediately to prison, declining to permit him to remain free until his sentencing on related federal charges in June. He also was ordered to repay almost $2.5 million.”I cannot shake the feeling that I have let so many people down,”Lyons said in the Largo, Fla., court.
The St. Petersburg minister could have received a maximum of eight years in prison based on state sentencing guidelines, the Associated Press reported.
Lyons, who was convicted Feb. 27, resigned March 16 from the presidency of the prominent African-American denomination against the wishes of the majority of the group’s board. He was elected to the post in 1994.
He was convicted of swindling millions from corporations seeking to do business with members of the denomination and of misusing funds meant to aid burned black churches.
Lyons told the judge Wednesday he was particularly sorry for his misuse of the burned churches’ money.”It stinks in God’s nostrils and I know it stinks in the law’s nostrils and it stinks to me,”he told the judge in emotional remarks.”I’ve asked God every single night and day to forgive me for that. And I ask the court and I ask America and I ask black people to forgive me because I believe that it will haunt me the rest of my life. I really do,”he said, breaking into sobs.”I ask for mercy.” The Rev. Stewart C. Cureton of Greenville, S.C., has replaced Lyons as interim president until the denomination’s regular presidential election occurs in September in Tampa.
In addition to the state charges, Lyons pleaded guilty March 17 to five federal charges of tax evasion and fraud in exchange for having 49 other charges dropped. He is scheduled to be sentenced in federal court on June 18. Under sentencing guidelines, defense attorneys estimate he will probably serve five to 7 1/2 years on the federal charges.
The state sentence comes two years after Lyons’ wife Deborah set fire to a $700,000 waterfront home he owned with Bernice Edwards, a former NBCUSA public relations director. That fire led to investigations of Lyons’ lavish lifestyle.
Edwards was a co-defendant in the state trial but was acquitted. She pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion and is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 13.
Sikhs to mark 300th anniversary of Khalsa
(RNS) The world’s 21 million Sikhs are marking the 300th anniversary of the Khalsa, the tradition of beliefs and practices that has held sway over the faith since it was started by Guru Gobind Singh, considered the 10th and last of Sikhism’s line of prophets.
In the United States, home to about 500,000 Sikhs, about half of them in California, celebrations will be held throughout April. Local events are planned for Saturday (April 3) in East Rutherford, N.J.; Sunday in Washington and Los Angeles; April 24 in New York and Chicago; and April 25 in San Francisco.
A national march from the Lincoln Memorial to the Capitol is scheduled for April 10 in Washington. Some 30,000 Sikhs are expected to attend, according to Dr. Rajwant Singh, a Kensington, Md., dentist who heads the newly formed Sikh Council on Religion, Heritage and Education.
Sikhism _ a monotheistic, revelatory faith emphasizing personal devotion to God and struggling for justice _ began some 500 years ago in what is now western India, still home to the majority of Sikhs. Religion scholars regard the faith as combining elements of Hinduism and Islam.
Sikhism teaches that a guru, or spiritual teacher, is required for spiritual growth, and that extreme asceticism is to be rejected.
In 1699, Gobind Singh initiated the Khalsa, a fraternity of religious warriors that came to define the Sikh faith. He did so on the Hindu New Year’s Day, which corresponds this year to April 13, Rajant Singh said.
Male Sikhs who adhere to Khalsa all have the last name of Singh, or lion. Women are named Kaur, or princess. Male Sikhs can be visibly identified by their turbans that cover their unshorn hair.
Farrakhan hospitalized in Washington
(RNS) National of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who suffers from prostate cancer, has been hospitalized at Washington’s Howard University Hospital.
Nation of Islam Chief of Staff Leonard F. Muhammad said in a statement Wednesday (March 31) that Farrakhan’s”treatment continues to be successful and his prognosis is excellent. He is stable and resting.” Farrakhan’s personal physician, Dr. Abdul Alim Muhammad, declined comment, as did hospital officials.
Farrakhan, 65, was admitted to Howard on Tuesday for what the Washington Post said were”tests in the radiation-oncology department.”The newspaper quoted anonymous sources who noted that Farrakhan generally has been treated at his homes in Chicago and Phoenix and it was”highly unusual”for him to check into a hospital.
Word that Farrakhan was seriously ill first surfaced in The Final Call, the Nation of Islam’s weekly newspaper, which reported in early March that he was”gravely ill”and”struggling to overcome the forces of death.” However, after various mainstream media reported on Farrakhan’s condition, Nation of Islam officials denied their controversial leader was near death. They did say that Farrakhan would take a four-month sabbatical to regain his strength, which Farrakhan himself said had been diminished by a flu and radiation therapy for his cancer.
Farrakhan was quoted in The Final Call as saying he had lost more than 20 pounds in less than two weeks, was anemic and suffered a lack of appetite and night sweats. Farrakhan’s prostate cancer dates back to 1991.
The most recent Final Call, dated March 30, quoted Leonard F. Muhammad as saying some mainstream media reports about Farrakhan’s health were designed to”destabilize our community.” Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam is estimated by observers to have less than 40,000 active members, although his influence extends far beyond the group into the larger African-American community. Recently, Farrakhan has sought to steer his followers toward a more orthodox practice of Islam.
Judge: IRS can lift church’s tax-exempt status for political action
(RNS) A federal judge in Washington has approved the Internal Revenue Service’s decision to lift the tax-exempt status of an evangelical church in Vestal, N.Y., that bought newspaper ads during the 1992 president campaign saying voting for Bill Clinton was”a sin.” U.S. District Court Judge Paul L. Friedman noted in his decision Tuesday (March 30) that this marked the first time a legitimate church had been denied a tax exemption. The ruling means church members cannot legally deduct donations to the church from their taxable income.
The chief attorney for the American Center for Law and Justice, which argued the case in court on behalf of the Church at Pierce Creek, said it would appeal the decision.”Obviously we’re disappointed, but this is not over yet,”attorney Jay Sekulow said Wednesday. The American Center for Law and Justice was founded by religious broadcaster Pat Robertson.
In his ruling, Friedman drew a distinction between oral statements made by a political candidate or minister in a house of worship, and written statements intended for those outside the institution, such as the newspaper ads paid for by the Church at Piece Creek.
Sekulow called the distinction”artificial”and a basis for his appeal of the decision.
In October 1992, the Church at Pierce Creek ran full-page advertisements in USA Today and The Washington Times urging Christians not to vote for then-presidential candidate Clinton. The ads claimed Clinton had promoted”policies that are in rebellion to God’s laws,”specifically”abortion on demand,””the homosexual lifestyle,”and”giving condoms to teenagers in public schools.” The Church at Pierce Creek was once a 300-member independent congregation and the home church of militant anti-abortionist Randall Terry. The congregation now goes by the name Landmark Church and has moved to Binghamton, N.Y.
The IRS began investigating the church after Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a Washington-based constitutional watchdog group, brought the ads to its attention. In 1995, the agency revoked the church’s tax-exempt status, leading to the court case.
The Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United’s executive director, called Friedman’s decision”a major blow to TV preacher Pat Robertson and other religious right leaders who have tried to politicize churches. This landmark ruling sends a strong message that churches must obey the prohibition on partisan politicking if they expect to remain tax exempt.”
Robertson unveils $7 million campaign to promote Bible reading
(RNS) The Christian Broadcasting Network launched a massive media campaign Wednesday (March 31) it hopes will encourage millions more Americans to read the Bible.
Led by CBN founder and president Pat Robertson, the organization unveiled”The Book,”the New Living Translation of the Bible, and a $7 million promotion to spread the word”that Bible reading is cool”in a music and dance-filled event at Grand Central Station.
Robertson said the effort is aimed at turning the tide of hate in America and the world.”America leads the world in a number of social pathologies _ teen pregnancy, crime, drug addiction and incarceration. We wanted to do something about it.”Robertson said.”If people read the Bible and follow its teachings maybe we’ll have a better society.” The promotion includes star-studded national television ads featuring country and western, rap, rock and gospel singers whom organizers hope will appeal to the broadest possible spectrum of society.
Surveys have found that 90 million Americans have never read the Bible and 60 percent of those said they didn’t read it because it was unreadable and they couldn’t understand it, CBN officials said.”We want to reach the masses,”said Robertson.”Our goal is 10 million more Bible readers.””The Book”is the culmination of a seven-year project that brought together 90 Biblical and language scholars who translated both the Old and New Testaments into”understandable English,”said Doug Knox, senior vice president of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., which published the first Living Bible in the 1960s.
He said the clear print and single column layout will make it possible for people to enjoy the Bible in the subway as well as in church.”The King James version is very daunting for the average person,”said Robertson.”The New Living Bible is true to the original text but is written in modern language.””The Book”features an index listing themes such as Faith, Temptation and Suffering and highlights”Great Bible Stories”such as The Burning Bush, The Last Supper and Jonah and the Fish.
Knox said his company has printed 350,000 volumes on advance order by book stores, discount retailers and Internet distributors and has another 500,000 volumes in print.”We hope to sell 1 million by Christmas,”he said.
CBN will also be distributing 10 million free pocket-sized volumes with excerpts from the book.
Latest in bioethical debate: White woman births black, white twins
(RNS) Serving as the latest source of bioethical debate, a white mother has given birth to twins _ one black and one white _ and intends to give the black infant to his genetic parents.
The unprecedented births, on Dec. 29, occurred after a fertility doctor implanted embryos into a white woman and accidentally included embryos of a black couple in addition to those belonging to the woman.
On Monday (March 29), Donna and Richard Fasano, a white couple from Staten Island, N.Y., agreed with regret to give Deborah Perry-Rogers and Robert Rogers, a black New Jersey couple, the black infant. The Fasanos insist there should be visitation rights for the two children, The Washington Post reported.”This is a kitchen-sink story; it raises almost every tough issue that has arisen from the advances in reproductive medicine,”said Glenn McGee, a bioethics professor at the University of Pennsylvania.”God help the judge that gets this case.” The Rogerses have filed suit against the Fasanos and fertility specialist Lillian Nash. They intend to drop the Fasanos as defendants when they take custody of the child developed from their embryo.
Donna Fasano said in a statement the decision to surrender custody _ pending a DNA test confirming the child is the genetic son of the Rogerses _ was made because”we both want to do what’s in the best interest of the child.” Nash has been quoted as saying she felt awful about the mix-up.”I’ve never had anything like this happen before,”she said.
George Annas, a professor of health law at Boston University, said the Fasanos legally would have the right to custody of both children, but the case demonstrates the need for regulation of the fertility industry that is growing so quickly.”This is a perfect example of the unanticipated consequences of this technology,”Annas said.”I guess the lesson here is, if you’re going to use it, be very, very careful.”
Brock Speer, patriarch of Southern gospel group, dies
(RNS) Brock Speer, the patriarch of Southern gospel music’s Speer Family, died Monday (March 29) in Nashville, Tenn.
Speer, 78, died of natural causes, his publicity firm announced.
The Speer Family was inducted into the Gospel Music Association’s Hall of Fame last year, the first year groups were inducted.
The Speer Family has recorded some 70 albums and won 14 Dove Awards from the Gospel Music Association.
Speer was inducted as an individual in the Hall of Fame in 1975, when he had been singing gospel music for 50 years. He also served as a past president, chairman of the board and permanent board member of the GMA.”If we have a model in our field of how to do it `right,’ it’s Brock Speer,”said Bill Gaither, a veteran gospel musician.”From working hard from the beginning _ learning how to sing properly _ and consistently doing his mission day after day, faithfully and with complete integrity, Brock wrote that book.” Speer, the son of G.T.”Dad”and Lena D.”Mom”Speer, was born in 1920, one year before The Speer Family group was formed. It went on to perform before congregations of fewer than 100 members and crowds as large as 200,000.
Quote of the day: The Rev. Jimmy Creech, United Methodist pastor
(RNS)”It’s going to cause a lot of people to question whether to stay … if pastors who are there to serve them are punished for serving them.” _ The Rev. Jimmy Creech, United Methodist pastor acquitted of breaking church rules by performing a same-sex union service, commenting on the potential fallout among gay Methodists and their supporters from the conviction of the Rev. Gregory Dell for also performing same-sex ceremonies.
DEA END RNS
