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2002-015

News Briefs

Poll of General Synod shows archbishop of Wales leading candidate to succeed 
Carey

     (ENS) A poll by the London Times of members of the General Synod, the Church 
of England's top decision-making body, reveals that the clear choice to succeed 
Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey is Archbishop Rowan Williams of Wales.

     The survey of 220 of the synod's 516 clergy and lay representatives gave the 
more liberal Williams 61 votes, or 28 percent, to 41 votes, 19 percent, for 
Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali of Rochester. Third with 29 votes was Bishop Richard 
Chartres of London, followed by Bishop James Jones of Liverpool and Bishop 
Christopher Herbert of St. Albans. In the survey 34 members said that they were 
undecided.

     Williams is a theologian from an Anglo-Catholic background who supports 
women bishops and gay clergy, viewpoints, which make him unacceptable to most 
evangelicals. If chosen he would be the first archbishop of Canterbury from 
outside the Church of England in over 300 years. Yet he was a distinct favorite 
among the clergy members of synod with 39 votes to 17 for Nazir-Ali, who is 
supported by laity and the evangelical wing of the church.

     Pakistani-born Nazir-Ali has been the target of a smear campaign because of 
his race and Roman Catholic background. In an interview with the BBC he also 
indicated his interest in the position.

     The 13-member commission--a lay chairman appointed by Prime Minister Tony 
Blair, two bishops, three lay and three clergy from the General Synod and four 
representatives from the Diocese of Canterbury--will meet in secret to produce 
two names. The names then go to the prime minister who either chooses one to 
present to the queen or sends the names back to the commission for 
reconsideration.

Russian Church still not interested in papal visit

     (ENI) Despite public statements by Russian president Vladimir Putin, the 
Russian Orthodox Church is opposed to a visit by Pope John Paul II until the 
Roman Catholic Church ceases what the Russians regard as "expansion" in former 
Soviet territories.

     In an interview during a visit to Poland, Putin said that he expects to host 
a visit by the pope during his tenure as head of state. "There are no problems in 
ties between Russia and the Vatican and I'm ready at any time to invite the 
pope," he said. "But if he's to go to Moscow, he himself wishes the visit to have 
full value, which means achieving full relations with the Russian Orthodox 
Church. And this, unfortunately, doesn't depend on me."

     Patriarch Alexy II said, however, that "as long as the Catholic church 
continues its expansion in western Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and as long as three 
of our church's dioceses in western Ukraine remain crushed, a visit by the Roman 
pope to Russia is impossible." Relations between the two churches have been 
strained over complaints of Catholic missionary activity in traditionally 
Orthodox regions of the former Soviet Union, as well as repossession of churches 
by Ukraine's Greek Catholic Church, which was outlawed under communism.

     Attempts in the last decade to arrange a meeting between the pope and the 
patriarch have not been successful, largely because Alexy maintains that the 
disagreements must be settled first.

     "I can only help and encourage full relations between the churches--and I 
can give assurances that I'm hastening in this direction," Putin said. "But this 
is one instance in which less should be said and more should be done, showing 
tact and patience. We'll see how it will end."

     

Senator Danforth's peace mission to the Sudan runs into obstacles

     (ENS) President Bush's special envoy for peace in the Sudan has run into 
major obstacles. Retired Senator John Danforth of Missouri said that he was not 
able to convince the Khartoum government to end its attacks on civilian targets 
in the country's 19-year-old civil war that has claimed some 2 million lives and 
displaced another 4 million. "The direct, intentional and egregious attacks on 
civilians is the key to our proposal," he said after returning from the region 
January 15. "I am sorry to say we have made no real progress on these issues."

     Danforth will recommend to Bush this spring whether the United States should 
continue its efforts in pursuing a peace process.

     President Omar Hassan Bashir did offer to suspend bombing for four weeks but 
only if the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army accepted an unconditional cease-
fire. Danforth pushed Khartoum to accept independent monitors as a means to 
verify civilian casualties but Khartoum said that such a suggestion was 
"embarrassing."

     Speaking at a service in Khartoum's All Saints Anglican Cathedral, Danforth 
said he didn't know whether the leadership in either the Arab Muslim north or the 
African animist and Christian south were ready or willing to make peace. 
"Christians are called by their lord to be peacemakers," he told the 
congregation. "We are called to bring wholeness where there is brokenness."

     Danforth told United Press International that he intended to raise issues of 
religious freedom with the government. "A country that persecutes minorities, 
that tries to impose religion on another, such a country will never be close to 
the United States."

     

National Council and Sierra Club launch ad campaign on Alaskan drilling

     (ENI) The National Council of Churches (NCC) and the Sierra Club have 
launched an advertising campaign to promote alternatives to controversial plans 
to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.

     The campaign's ads argue that the nation's energy needs can be met from 
"quicker, cleaner, cheaper and safer solar energy-efficient technologies and 
alternative energy power like solar and wind." The ads are part of a wider NCC 
effort to make environmental protection a more prominent part of its ministry.

     "People of faith take seriously the biblical mandate to be good stewards of 
creation--and that means finding smarter, cleaner, safer ways to satisfy our 
energy needs without damaging the irreplaceable gifts of nature with which our 
nation has been so blessed," General Secretary Robert Edgar said in a statement 
about the campaign. He added that conservation would provide "much greater 
benefits that are more permanent, and in the long run less costly, than a modest 
and short-lived increase in oil supply at the price of a ravaged environment."

     The NCC provided staff assistance and consultation for the ads, which 
were paid for by the Sierra Club. They are appearing on local television stations 
and newspapers in Georgia, Arizona, North Dakota, Indiana, Missouri and Delaware.