wfn.org | NewsBriefs

[ENS.parti@ecunet.org (ENS)]

November 13, 1997
Episcopal News Service
Jim Solheim, Director
212-922-5385
ens@ecunet.org

97-2004
NewsBriefs                                                                              

South Africa Panel recommends aid for Apartheid-era victims
       (NYT) After listening to 2,000 victims of apartheid-era abuses tell
their stories and studying the written submission of 10,000 others, South
Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission recently recommended
that the government spend about $650 million on reparations. In
unveiling their recommendations, the commissioners made clear that they
had come to believe substantial reparations and rehabilitative measures
were needed to deal with the many health and financial problems of the
victims. The commissioners also made clear that the money was needed
to counterbalance the commission's own amnesty effort, which is likely
to pardon hundreds of former security officials. Without substantial
reparations it might seem as if the true beneficiaries of the Truth
Commission were those who committed countless acts of murder and
torture. The commission's chairman, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, said
that no one was laboring under any illusion that a price could be put on
people's suffering. And he said the amount awarded would always be in
some way symbolic. But, he added, "for many people it will be an
acknowledgement that something happened and the nation is saying
sorry."

CPF agrees to meet with union
       (CPF) The Church Pension Fund (CPF), responding to a letter
signed by 80 bishops of the Episcopal Church including Presiding
Bishop-elect Frank T. Griswold, recently agreed to meet with two
representatives of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) to
discuss a long-standing labor dispute involving janitors in Washington,
D.C. The CPF board of trustees authorized its social and fiduciary
responsibility committee to meet with union representatives and report
back at its December meeting. The bishops' letter asserted that CPF
could be in a position to help bring about a settlement of the janitor's
dispute. That dispute, a nine-year struggle by SEIU local 82 on behalf of
the janitors with CarrAmerica, Washington's largest private building
owner, could be resolved, the union hopes, through CPF's intervention
with Security Capital Group (SCG). SCG has a prestigious contract with
CPF as a special investment advisor and is also a 40 percent owner of
CarrAmerica through a subsidiary. CPF also has investments in a
subsidiary of SCG. Carr has persisted in using only non-union cleaning
contractors in the buildings it owns, the bishops stated in their letter to
Bishop Frank S. Cerveny, executive vice-president and manager of CPF.

U.S. has highest wage gap of any industrialized nation
       (ENS) The United States has the highest wage inequality of any
industrialized nation, according to Hunger in a Global Economy: Hunger
1998, a recently released report by Bread for the World Institute (BWI).
"We're not taking full advantage of the opportunities the global economy
provides to alleviate hunger and poverty," said David Beckmann, BWI
president. Despite a booming global economy, the report notes that 841
million people in developing countries are chronically undernourished
and recent census data shows that 4 million U.S. households suffer from
moderate to severe hunger. The report states that although governments
must invest in nutrition and education for people so they can compete in
the global economy, the United States has slashed funding for nutrition.
The 1996 welfare bill cut $30 billion in nutrition programs over six
years. BWI is urging Congress to pass the Hunger Has A Cure Act,
H.R. 1507, which would restore some of those cuts. "In many ways, the
global economy has been a positive force for increasing living standards
in many parts of the world," Beckmann said. "But governments,
corporations and citizens have a responsibility to exercise their power to
make the global economy less harsh for the less fortunate."

PB Fund approves over $1 million in grants
       (ENS) The 20-member board of the Presiding Bishop's Fund for
World Relief authorized grants for development projects and emergency
relief in the United States and abroad, totalling $1,109,839 during its
recent meeting. More than $200,000 in emergency relief grants awarded
between June 1 and November 10 were approved and more than
$880,000 was granted for worldwide development projects in areas such
as education, health care, food assistance, transportation, infrastructure,
child care, refugee support, housing and prison ministry. The board
requested approval from the Executive Council to establish an
endowment fund, the income of which will be used to support the fund's
grantmaking and program activities. "Project of Hope," a new approach
to presenting the many requests for funding that come to the fund, was
also approved. Using this new approach, the fund will create a list of
projects in need of funding, organized by specific criteria--such as
location, purpose, and financial need--and disseminate that list throughout
the existing church network, inviting churches and individuals to
respond.

Episcopal Parish Services moving to Harrisburg
       (ENS) Episcopal Parish Services (EPS), currently located in
Philadelphia and New York, will move to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, with
warehouse, order entry and shipping services provided by the Morehouse
Group, by December 29, 1997. "On the surface EPS customers will
experience few differences from the current arrangement," said the Rev.
Preston Kelsey, assistant to the presiding bishop. "They will call the
same toll free number [(800) 903-5544], the phone will be answered
Episcopal Parish Services" and orders will be filled within three days or
less from the receipt of the order." The new address for EPS is P.O. Box
1321, Harrisburg, PA 17105; and the new fax number is (717) 541-8128.
Kelsey said that outsourcing parish services to Morehouse would achieve
several important goals, including the consolidation of inventory, better
sales records, and significant financial savings over the years.

Bathurst says sorry for generations of abuse
       (ENS) More than 100 aboriginal and nonaboriginal Australians
gathered at the Bathurst Bicentennial Peace Park in the territory of New
South Wales for a "Sorry Day," recognizing the wrongs inflicted upon
Australia's indigenous peoples. "I feel the most profound sorry for what
has occurred and what is continuing to occur in our country," said
Australian Human Rights Commissioner Chris Sidoti. He said while
ignorance is often used as an excuse to justify past policies, history will
judge white Australia harshly if nothing is done today to right these
wrongs. "They will say of us `they knew and still they did nothing.'"
Sorry Day was prompted by the release in Australia earlier this year of
the Stolen Generation report on the removal of aboriginal children from
their families. The Bathurst ceremony was held one week before Sorry
Day ceremonies elsewhere in Australia.

Church of England rector to quit over attitudes to gays
       (ENS) A former theological college principal recently announced
that he is leaving his parish in protest of the Church of England's
"dishonest" treatment of gays. Canon Philip Crowe, currently rector of
Overton, Shropshire, said his departure was prompted by what he called
the church's "duplicitous" behavior towards homosexuals and women
priests. He had performed numerous gay marriages during his 35 years
as a priest and he could no longer stay in a church which would not
condone them openly. His decision to leave was prompted by an
ordination service in June at which he knew one of the priests was gay
and living with a man. He claims that the bishop, whom he did not want
to identify, knew that the man was gay and had greeted his male partner
by name, but later denied this in a letter. Crowe wrote to Archbishop of
Canterbury George Carey, telling him about the ordination, but had
received no reply. "It is the sheer dishonesty of the Church of England
which I can no longer bear. This is reflected in its treatment of gay
people."

US bishops participate in consecration of Sweden's first woman bishop
       (ENS) Bishop Mary Adelia McLeod of Vermont and Bishop
Suffragan Barbara Harris of Massachusetts were among the
representatives sent by Presiding Bishop Edmond Browning to the recent
consecration of Christina Odenberg as the first woman bishop in the
Swedish national church. Harris, whose consecration in 1988 made her
the first woman bishop in the Anglican Communion, was one of the co-
consecrators. McLeod, the first woman to be elected a diocesan bishop in
the Episcopal Church, offered the final blessing. The service was held in
the Cathedral of Uppsala, the largest cathedral in Scandinavia,
consecrated in 1435. Among the worshippers were 26 bishops
representing Lutheran and Anglican churches in Sweden, Norway,
Finland, East Germany, Germany, Sudan, Jerusalem, Scotland, Ireland,
Wales, the Faeroe Islands, as well as the United States.

Ndungane calls for partnership to eradicate poverty
       (ENS) Anglican Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane of Cape
Town recently declared that poverty could only be eradicated through the
work of a partnership of nations around the globe. Delivering the keynote
address to a conference in Edinburgh, Scotland, he noted that the 1997
Human Development Report had made it clear that poverty was not
inevitable. "The report points out that over the past three decades a
dozen or more developing countries have shown that it is possible to
eliminate absolute poverty. A century and a half ago the world
marshalled its resources and launched a successful campaign against
slavery. In our own times, moral and righteous people around the globe
campaigned for the end of apartheid and were successful," he said. It
was now time to harness all available resources to bring an end to
poverty, he concluded. Developing countries must respond in a
disciplined way to this initiative by giving up the trappings of military
power and the symbols of wealth.

Wantland announces resignation plans
       (ENS) Bishop William Wantland of Eau Claire, Wisconsin,
recently announced his resignation, citing a new church policy on
women's ordination as one of the reasons behind his decision. Wantland,
63, was one of the 10 bishops who filed charges in 1995 against the Rt.
Rev. Walter Righter, former bishop of Iowa, for ordaining a noncelibate
gay man as a deacon. He also is one of four bishops nationwide who
refuses to ordain women as priests. "I would rather resign as bishop than
put the Diocese of Eau Claire in an awkward position of having to resist
the canons of the church," he said. Wantland was elected bishop of Eau
Claire in 1980, after serving as a parish priest in Oklahoma City. He
called for the election of a new bishop at the next convention in October
1998. He will stay in office until the new bishop is consecrated in early
1999.

Lusitanian church in Portugal ordains women deacons
       (ENS) For the first time in the history of the Lusitanian Church in
Portugal, three women were recently ordained as deacons. The
Lusitanian church, which is part of the Anglican Communion, approved
the ordination of women as deacons in 1991. The church was organized
in 1880. At that time, the church consisted of Roman Catholic priests and
lay people who left the Roman Catholic church because of doctrinal
problems and formed congregations near Lisbon, using a Portuguese
translation of the 1662 English Prayer Book.

Schofield calls for Hispanic ministry plan
       (ENS) Bishop Calvin Schofield of Southeast Florida recently
called on his diocese to create a strategic long-term plan for reaching the
Hispanic population. "Nationally, the Hispanic community continues to
grow faster than any other group. And that growth is even faster within
our diocesan boundaries. That's why I am calling upon the Hispanic
commission . . . to present to us next year . . . a long-term strategic plan
for Hispanic mission and ministry. This plan will be in conjunction with
our larger diocesan plan and its call for growth and evangelism." The
diocese's Hispanic commission recently created the Hispanic Ministry
Institute to develop church leaders from the Hispanic community. 

Lilly Endowment awards $3.3 million to Episcopal program
       (ENS) Lilly Endowment, Inc. recently awarded $3.3 million to
Trustee Leadership Development (TLD), an Indiana-based national
leadership education program administered through Trinity Episcopal
Church in Indianapolis. TLD serves social service, education, civic and
religious organizations, helping them develop effective leaders who can
hold their organizations and communities in trust. "We are grateful to the
endowment for its generous support of this work," said the Rev. James
B. Lemler, rector of Trinity. "This grant will ensure the continuation of
the highest quality educational offerings for Indiana not-for-profit
organizations and will provide increased opportunities for national
dissemination of excellent resources."

Herbert Donovan named provisional bishop in Chicago
       (ENS) Bishop Herbert Donovan, retired vicar of Trinity Church,
Wall Street, in New York City, recently accepted the offer of the
Diocese of Chicago's Standing Committee to serve as interim bishop
until a new diocesan bishop is consecrated. Donovan will begin his duties
in early January, 1998, and serve until early 1999 when the new diocesan
bishop is expected to be consecrated. He was elected bishop coadjutor of
Arkansas in 1980 and became diocesan in 1981. He retired in 1993 to
become vicar of Trinity Church, where he served for four years, until his
retirement on October 1. He has been secretary of the House of Bishops
since 1986.

Roman Catholic criticizes gay protest at Melbourne cathedral
       (ENI) The Roman Catholic archbishop of Melbourne, Dr. George
Pell, recently warned that Catholics openly engaging in adultery or
homosexuality would be banned from
Communion. Pell made his warning after three gay men, including a
Catholic priest, wore gay symbols as they received Communion at a
major celebration at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne, Australia's
second-biggest city. "When people publicly reject the church's teaching
on any important matter they effectively make it impossible for them to
receive Holy Communion," Pell said. He accused the three men of using
Communion to stage a publicity stunt. During a mass on October 27
attended by 2,000 worshippers to mark the centenary of the neo-gothic
cathedral's altar consecration, two priests gave Communion to three men
wearing rainbow sashes. The rainbow flag is a symbol of homosexual
and lesbian movements worldwide. A fourth man was refused
Communion after declaring he was openly gay. The Archbishop of New
York, Cardinal John O'Connor, who like Pell holds conservative views,
was the principal preacher at the centenary mass. A strong presence of
both uniformed and undercover police at St. Patrick's suggested the
church had been expecting protesters among the congregation. Pell
accused the men of mocking the sacraments of Communion for political
reasons. "Here a difficulty is being created not by the teaching of the
church, but by the calculated orchestration of dissenting individuals with
a flair for publicity," he said.

Beijing denies there is religious persecution in China
       (ENI) The Beijing government recently released an official "White
Paper" on religion, denying that there is religious persecution in China.
The 10,000-word document issued by the State Council, which exercises
executive power in China, promised to protect religious freedom as a
basic right for all citizens, provided that those who practice religion
register with the government and "hold aloft the banner of patriotism."
The White Paper--on "The Situation of Religious Freedoms in China"--
was published following protests about persecution of underground
Christian congregations, Muslim groups and Tibetan Buddhists. The
White Paper dismissed such allegations and insisted that only criminals
were punished.
"Some of the heads of these pseudo-religions deceive the masses, refuse
to obey state laws and decrees, and incite people to overthrow the
government," the White Paper stated. "The punishment of criminals has
nothing to do with religious belief." Beijing officially recognizes several
major religious groups, including major Protestant and Catholic
organizations. These churches are allowed to operate provided they
function as purely Chinese bodies, not subject to any foreign religious
authorities.

Dutch Interchurch Aid rejects offer of $500,000 a year from lottery
       (ENI) Dutch Interchurch Aid, a major church agency coordinating
relief and aid for developing countries, recently turned down an offer of
donations totalling $500,000 a year from a major Dutch lottery. Hans
Schravesande, an official with the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands
who works with the agency, said that the churches had good reasons for
refusing the money from the Dutch Postcode Lottery, a privately-run
national lottery. Although the aid agency did not condemn people who
took part in lotteries, its decision to refuse the money was based on its
concept of "diakonia," the service work of the church, Schravesande
said. Dutch Interchurch Aid believed it would be inappropriate for
church agencies to benefit from a "prize-circus like the lottery in which
consumers were being tempted with prizes of 15 million Dutch guilders [
U.S. $7.5 million], with the aim of rolling in money as their greatest
wish." Besides the risk of becoming addicted to gambling, Schravesande
said that taking part in lotteries could in fact cause poverty. In Britain, he
said, it was mainly people with a low income who spent money every
week on the lottery. In The Netherlands, he added, an average family
spent about U.S. $300 a year on games of chance.

Russia's religion law could be dangerous, says Moscow Catholic priest
       (ENI) The new religion law in Russia is potentially dangerous,
but all depends on its implementation, according to a Roman Catholic
priest ministering in Moscow. "Law does not function in Russia as it
does in the United States and Western Europe," said Vadim Shaikevitch. 
"All will depend on the way it is interpreted." The controversial new law
describes Orthodox Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Buddhism--but not
Roman Catholicism or Protestantism--as traditional religions in Russia.
The law required registration by religious bodies, Shaikevitch said, but
the government had yet to develop guidelines for the application of the
law. "It is very unclear," he said.  "We don't know what it means."
Shaikevitch spoke after giving a report on the religious situation in
Russia during a conference in Colorado, on the subject, "A Light From
and On the East." 

10 modern martyrs will have place of honor in medieval abbey
       (ENI) Statues of ten 20th-century Christian martyrs, including
Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Martin Luther King Jr., are to be installed in the
main west front of one of Britain's most historic churches, Westminster
Abbey in central London. The ecumenical range of stone figures will fill
niches that have been vacant ever since the west front of the abbey was
completed in the late Middle Ages, more than 500 years ago. The church
authorities in charge of the Anglican abbey--scene of the coronation of
English monarchs since the Middle Ages--say the 20th century has seen
more martyrs for the Christian faith than any other period of history.
They also claim that there were more martyrs in Russia under Stalin than
in the great persecutions of the Roman Empire during the Church's first
three centuries. The ten figures selected for the niches are (according to
the year of their martyrdom): 

þ 1918, Grand Duchess Elizabeth of Russia (saint in the Orthodox
Church, killed by the Bolsheviks); 
þ 1928, Manche Masmeola, South Africa (Anglican catechist, aged 16,
killed by her mother); 
þ 1942, Lucian Tapiedi, New Guinea (one of 12 Anglicans killed by
Japanese invaders during the Second World War); 
þ 1943, Maximilian Kolbe, Poland (saint of the Roman Catholic Church,
Franciscan priest killed by the Nazis); 
þ 1945, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Germany (Lutheran pastor and theologian,
killed by the Nazis); 
þ 1960, Esther John, Pakistan (Presbyterian evangelist, killed by her
brother); 
þ 1968, Martin Luther King Jr., US (Baptist pastor and civil rights
campaigner, assassinated); 
þ 1972, Wang Zhiming, China (Protestant pastor and evangelist killed in
the Cultural Revolution); 
þ 1977, Janani Luwum, Uganda (Anglican archbishop, assassinated
during the rule of Idi Amin); 
þ 1980, Oscar Romero, El Salvador (Roman Catholic archbishop,
assassinated).

Russian Adventists get green light under new religion law
       (ENI) The Russian government recently informed the Seventh-day
Adventist Church that the new law regulating the registration of religious
groups will not have any adverse affects on Adventists. The controversial
law, approved by President Boris Yeltsin on September 26, 1997, has
drawn sharp criticism from minority churches in Russia and from
Protestant and Roman Catholic churches abroad because it makes a
distinction between religious "groups" which are relatively new in Russia
and therefore have only limited rights, and religious "organizations"
which have been in Russia for at least 15 years and therefore  have
greater rights. In a letter to the Adventist Church headquarters in
Moscow, the deputy
director of the government's Public and Religious Organizations Affairs
Department has confirmed that the Seventh-day Adventist Church has
legal recognition from the Russian authorities. According to Adventist
Press Service, the deputy director said in the letter that the Adventist
Church had operated within the Russian Federation for 110 years, far
longer than the minimum 15 years required by the new law.  He also
explained that "according to article 9, the requirement of proof that a
religious entity has been in a certain territory for 15 years applies only to
those religious organizations that do not belong to a centralized religious
organization."

Sydney's spending cuts criticized by Carey
       (ENS) The decision by Australia's largest diocese, Sydney, to
redirect funding designated for general support of the Anglican
Communion drew fire from Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey
during his recent visit to that diocese. "Yes, it disturbs me," he said
during a press conference in Sydney. "And the reason why it disturbs me
is that it's not by withholding grants that we penalize the central
bureaucracy. It actually is penalizing of the very poor. The people who
suffer will be people in Africa." Carey pointed out that Sydney is a
wealthy diocese and said the matter urgently needed to be addressed. "I
hope that my visit in some small way might encourage Sydney to have a
positive attitude towards the Anglican Communion, that it's worth
supporting, and by supporting the Anglican Communion we are actually
supporting the mission of the church in needy parts of the world."
Instead of supporting general Anglican Communion operations, the
Diocese of Sydney chose to specify that their contribution be used to help
bishops from undeveloped countries attend next year's Lambeth
conference.

Albright says religious-rights bill is wrong goal
       (NYT) Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright recently attacked
a religious-rights bill pending in Congress as bureaucratic and damaging
to foreign policy interests. Her criticism of the bill, which seeks to
punish countries that persecute members of certain religions, came in a
speech at Catholic University of America. The bill would set up a White
House office to monitor persecution and to impose sanctions on offending
countries. "Although well intentioned, this bill would create an artificial
hierarchy among human rights, with the right to be free from torture and
murder shoved along with others into second place, Albright said. "It
would also establish a new and unneeded bureaucracy and deprive U.S.
officials of the flexibility required to protect the overall foreign policy
interests."

Group says China is holding leaders of underground church
       (NYT) Supporters of the underground Catholic movement in
China recently said that authorities had detained Bishop Su Zhimin, a
prominent Catholic church leader who has repeatedly defied government
attempts to control religious worship. Joseph Kung of the Cardinal Kung
Foundation in Stamford, Connecticut, a group advocating religious
freedom in China, said that Su was taken into custody on October 8 in
Xinji, a town in Hebei province that is about 200 miles south of Beijing.
An official at the Public Security Bureau in Hebei said no information
was available about Su. Underground Catholics from separate provinces
have reported facing heavy fines, bans on home churches, constant
detentions of religious leaders and official requirements to register with
authorities. In some cases, the authorities have even used military forces
to block unauthorized religious gatherings.

Traditionalist bishops call for `Orthodox Province'
       (ENS) Several bishops and deans, members of the traditionalist
Forward in Faith movement in the Church of England, have called for a
separate province or independent church within the Church of England.
The plan, reportedly devised during the past year, involves setting up an
independent Anglican church which would be treated the same way as the
Church in Wales or the Scottish Episcopal Church, according to press
reports from London, where the announcement was made in early
November. Further proposals are likely to be announced by Christmas,
according to reports. Bishop Edwin Barnes of Richborough and Bishop
John Broadhurst of Fulham indicated the new church--deemed the most
serious potential split with the established Church of England since the
Methodist movement 200 years ago--would seek to be "independent and
self-governing." They also indicated that deans are examining how
church buildings and other properties could be divided. The group claims
the English church's "liberal drift" has created a divide within the
church, especially over the ordination of women as priests. "We have
already got a schism," Broadhurst claimed. "There is now a readiness to
act in the event of further crisis." The archbishop of Canterbury has been
clear in past statements that separate provinces within the Church of
England, or elsewhere within the Anglican Communion, would not be
acceptable.    

Debate over homosexuality flares up in England
       (ENS)  Debate over homosexuality erupted in the Church of
England in early November after the Bishop of Oxford, Richard Harries,
endorsed a proposal to reduce the age of consent for homosexual activity
to 16. Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey immediately denounced
Harries' statement, saying that lowering the age of consent is "counter to
the traditional understanding of Christian teaching." A spokesman for the
archbishop said Carey was "worried by the signal it would send out that
homosexual practice is on par with and equal to heterosexual
relationships." Harries, who chairs the English bishops' committee on
homosexuality, said in a newspaper interview that he had "changed his
mind" about the age of consent, citing recent studies and a court ruling.
"The idea of prosecuting people of 17 for having sex really is very
unproductive," Harries said. The comments arose as the bishops prepare
for a debate in January prior to the British Parliament's vote on the issue
next spring. A recent European Court ruling, which lowered the age of
consent from 18 to 16, sparked the debate. 

People

Rebekah Webb, 24, a Church of England laywoman from Devon,
England, was recently named intern in the World Council of Churches'
(WCC) United Nations Liaison Office in New York. As intern, she will
monitor selected issues at regular and special sessions of the United
Nations General Assembly, including social and economic development,
human rights disarmament and U.N. reform. She will also assist the staff
of the WCC's Commission of the Churches on International Affairs
which researches and interprets United Nations issues to WCC member
churches.