c. 1997 Religion News Service

Group urges boycott of nun dolls

(RNS) The National Coalition of American Nuns (NCAN), a Chicago-based group of Roman Catholic sisters, has called on church members and others to boycott a line of museum-quality”nun dolls”being produced by Michigan-based Blessings, Expressions of Faith.

According to NCAN, the company _ which is selling a line of dolls dressed in exact replicas of the habits worn by women’s religious orders in the pre-Vatican II era _ is exploiting the image of nuns for its own profit. The handmade dolls sell for between $139 and $199 each and come with a booklet explaining how a young woman becomes a nun.”The issue that really bothers us is that our image is used for money-making,”said Sister Beth Rindler, co-chair of NCAN.”That’s not our image. Our purpose is social justice. That’s why we exist.” Given nuns’ work on behalf of the poor and working class, NCAN said, the”image”of religious should only be lent or used for nonprofit purposes and to support worthy causes.

Rindler said if Blessings wishes to continue selling the nun dolls, the revenue, excluding production and administrative costs, should be donated to the Retirement Fund for Religious, a fund established to meet the financial crisis of many religious orders faced with spiraling health costs for aging nuns and a declining membership base to finance those needs.

But David Cholewa, company spokesman and one of the five brothers who operates Blessings, said the 18-month-old company will most likely not break even for five years and cannot afford such a move.”The company is a for-profit venture,”Cholewa said.”We have different ways of raising money (for charity).” For example, he said, the company, which sells religious products other than the dolls, donates a portion of its proceeds from sweatshirt sales to the Retirement Fund for Religious. In the company’s forthcoming catalog, he said, a page will be devoted to the company’s Blessings Foundation and will include information on how to support retired nuns.

Furthermore, Cholewa said, the primary purpose of the dolls is to honor nuns.”We do this with the utmost respect,”he said.”It’s being used as a vocational incentive and a teaching tool. We’re very proud of what we’re doing.” Cholewa said he has spent years researching to ensure the dolls accurately depict the 32 orders of women religious and many nuns have offered their assistance in the project.”I don’t really think much of the coalition,”he said.”It’s a small group of sisters that do not represent the American nun. Others do not share the views (of NCAN).” Orthodox patriarch warns against NATO spurning Romania

(RNS) The Orthodox ecumenical patriarch has warned that NATO’s exclusion of Romania could cause new tensions between Catholics and Protestants and Orthodox Christians in Europe.

The statement by Bartholomew, the spiritual head of Orthodox Christianity, was viewed by observers as an indirect endorsement of Romania’s bid to join NATO, Reuters reported Monday (May 12).

Romania is the only former Soviet bloc nation seeking entry into NATO that has a majority Orthodox population. It’s chances of acceptance during the first round of the defense organization’s expansion are considered slim.

However, Bartholomew, speaking to the Bucharest newspaper Adevarul, said”preserving the unity of Europe is the foremost duty of all churches today. The opinion now prevailing in some Western circles is the return toward some kind of isolationism of the Western world, seen by some as genuinely Roman Catholic or Protestant.”This aims to create a new division of Europe and to have only countries with a Roman Catholic or Protestant tradition admitted to NATO.” Poland, Hungry and the Czech Republic _ all nations in which Catholics or Protestants predominate _ are the former Soviet bloc nations with the best chances of gaining entry into NATO at this time. The only current NATO member with an Orthodox majority is Greece.

Last month, Romanian Orthodox Patriarch Teoctist called upon other Orthodox clerics to publicly support Romania’s bid to join NATO, a move opposed by the United States and Great Britain. Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexii II, however, has sided with Moscow’s opposition to any NATO expansion.

NCC gathers 20,000 signatures urging climate protection

(RNS) National Council of Churches (NCC) officials have announced they will present petitions signed by more than 20,000 urging the federal government to do more to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that some scientists fear is having a negative impact on the Earth’s climate.”We believe that the voices of scientists and politicians alone are not sufficient to slow the climate change scientists generally agree is happening,”said the Rev. Joan Brown Campbell, general secretary of the NCC.”This climate petition helps demonstrate the concern of our members for faster governmental actions on this issue.” The petitions will be presented to Undersecretary of State Timothy Wirth on Saturday (May 17) in Estes Park, Colo., when he addresses a meeting of officials from the NCC’s member denominations involved in environmental justice issues.

The petition asks the U.S. government to fulfill a pledge it made in 1992 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2000, to adopt a binding international agreement to achieve even greater reductions in the emissions after 2000, and to initiate a public debate on the risks of climate change.

A large number of scientists have warned that climate change, which they say is brought about by an increase in carbon dioxide that traps the sun’s rays in the atmosphere, could create new and erratic weather patterns, the loss of species, the spread of infectious diseases and rising sea levels.

Peace, justice, feminist groups urge ban on late-term abortion procedure

(RNS) A coalition of peace and justice groups Monday (May 12) called on Congress to once again pass legislation that would ban a controversial late-term abortion procedure its opponents call”partial-birth abortion.” The coalition, which calls itself the Seamless Garment Network, includes such groups as Pax Christi USA, the Roman Catholic peace organization; Sojourners, the evangelical social justice network; Feminists for Life, a non-sectarian group that supports both feminist and anti-abortion causes; the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee, a group organized around support of the jailed American Indian activist; and the Pro-Life Alliance of Gays and Lesbians.

The group takes its name from an idea proposed by the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, who argued that opposition to abortion should not be considered a single issue but be linked to opposition to the death penalty, war, euthanasia and other life-denying issues in a”seamless garment.” In its statement, the coalition, which includes more than 150 groups, said:”Abortion, war, poverty, racism, euthanasia, and the death penalty are not disconnected items of an agenda that splinters us into competing interest groups, setting us off against one another in a zero-sum game that generates winners and losers.””Our message is straightforward,”said Rachel MacNair, a Quaker and vice president of the network.”If we refuse to support life for one vulnerable group, then the basis for the protection against violence to any group is greatly diminished.” Last year, Congress passed legislation banning the controversial procedure but it was vetoed by President Clinton.

The House is expected to debate and vote on a new ban in the coming days.

Mother Teresa going to Rome after `fantastic’ recovery

(RNS) Mother Teresa, 86, described by her physician as having made a”fantastic”recovery from recent heart, kidney and lung problems, has returned to work and is scheduled to fly to Rome on Thursday (May 15).

The trip to Rome is her first international journey since the rash of recent medical problems that largely confined her to bed or a wheelchair.

Mother Teresa will be accompanied on the trip by Sister Nirmala, who was elected in March to succeed her as head of the Calcutta-based Missionaries of Charity, the order Mother Teresa established in 1947.

While in Rome, Mother Teresa will meet with Pope John Paul II, officiate at the taking of final vows by novitiate sisters joining her order, and visit a project designed to rehabilitate prostitutes and other”sex workers,”the Associated Press reported.

After Rome, Mother Teresa is scheduled to continue on to Poland, New York and Washington to visit charitable centers established by her order.

Mother Teresa underwent her third angioplasty in December to clear blood vessels leading to her heart and soon after suffered kidney and lung problems. Ashish Kumar, Mother Teresa’s physician, said her kidneys are now functioning well and her blood pressure and pulse rates had steadied.

Heaven’s Gate group left video for Hollywood

(RNS) Members of the Heaven’s Gate sect videotaped a message 21 years ago, apparently in the hope that Hollywood would want to make a movie about the group after they”left Earth”for what they believed to be a higher plane of existence.

The”last statement”featured sect leader Marshall Applewhite describing the group’s beliefs _ including giving up sex and other earthly desires _ for”those people who care to know what we were all about,”The Los Angeles Times reported Sunday (May 11).

Applewhite and 38 followers committed suicide in March, believing that by leaving their bodies they would be able to hitch a ride to a higher level of existence with a space ship that was trailing the Hale-Bopp Comet. Two former Heaven’s Gate members also tried to commit suicide last week. One died while the other survived.

The video includes instructions that it could be made available for sale 30 days after the group’s”departure.”The William Morris Agency is now trying to sell the two-hour video for use as the basis for a TV special or movie.

Quote of the day: Daniel Block, professor at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

(RNS) Daniel Block, a professor of Old Testament interpretation at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said in a recent chapel address at the school that the evangelical movement in the United States is in need of a spiritual revival. “You know there is something wrong with the church when attendance is one-half the membership, when the rate of divorce among supposedly born-again folks is virtually indistinguishable from the rate among pagans, when the notes in the study Bible have more authority than the text itself, when in our worship we spend more time lauding ourselves for our love of God than confessing our sin, when the ripened harvest cries for reapers, but we concentrate on filling our church with spectators.

MJP END RNS