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March 28, 2002

2002-080

Episcopalians: News Briefs

Spanish priest jams cell phones at mass

(AP) A Roman Catholic priest fed up with mobile phones ringing 
during mass has installed an electronic jammer to keep his flock 
in tune with God. The Rev. Francisco Llopis, pastor of the 
Church of the Defenseless, said the beeps, tunes and other 
digital noise emitted by today's omnipresent cell phones are 
incompatible with quiet worship.

Llopis' church, in the southeast coastal town of Moraira, is the 
first in Spain to install such a device, which transmits 
low-power radio signals that sever communications between 
cellular handsets and cellular base-stations. Llopis said that 
when he flicks the switch, "I ensure that the religious service 
is celebrated within the parameters of prayer," the national 
news agency Efe quoted him as saying.

The controversial technology is designed to create quiet zones 
in places like restaurants, movie theaters and libraries. 
Commercial jamming systems are illegal in the United States, 
Canada and Britain, but some countries such as Australia and 
Japan allow limited use. Spain has a legal vacuum, says NiceCom, 
the only Spanish company which markets the technology. It has 
been doing so for two years, and lawmakers are now discussing 
the issue, NiceCom spokeswoman Inma Jimenez said.

Crown Appointments Commission chair selected

(ACNS) The Right Honorable Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss has been 
appointed to be chair of the Crown Appointments Commission 
(CAC), the body that oversees the selection of a new archbishop 
of Canterbury. The commission, which consists of thirteen voting 
members and three non-voting members, is now complete after the 
Prime Minister's announcement.

Dame Butler-Sloss is an honorary fellow of the Royal College of 
Physicians, Medicine and Psychiatry and is actively involved 
with the Institute of Family Therapy and the National 
Association of Child-Care Centres. She is a lay member of the 
Church of England, has been president of the Family Division 
since 1999 and chairs the council of St Paul's Cathedral.

The secretary general of the Anglican Consultative Council and a 
non-voting member of the CAC, the Rev. John L. Peterson, said, 
"I am thrilled with the appointment of Dame Elizabeth 
Butler-Sloss. She will bring a tremendous breadth to the 
Commission and I look forward to working with her."

Butler-Sloss has been recognized for her significant 
contribution to the judiciary and development of the law. In 
1997 and 1998, she became a familiar name in the British media 
as a result of her leadership in the Cleveland child abuse 
inquiry, and again in the following year with her rise to the 
Court of Appeal. 

A spokesman from Church House, the head office of the Church of 
England, said, "With this important appointment, the process of 
identifying the next Archbishop of Canterbury enters a new 
phase. The make-up of the Crown Appointments Commission is now 
complete and our thoughts and prayers will be with all its 
members as they undertake the complex and demanding challenges 
that lie ahead of them."

Tutu accused of being used by British to challenge Zimbabwe 
election

(The Herald, Harare) A group of bishops has accused former South 
African Archbishop Desmond Tutu of being used by the British to 
challenge the reelection of President Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe. 
"He should not be a parrot. He belongs to the British church of 
which the Queen is head and now they are using him to add his 
voice in their campaign against Mugabe," said the group Bishops 
for Peace in a statement.

Tutu told a South African television program recently that he 
was "deeply, deeply, deeply distressed and disappointed that our 
country could be among those who say the election was legitimate 
or free and fair when we are claiming to be adherents of 
democracy." The Nobel Peace Prize laureate said that he found 
Mugabe's recent behavior unacceptable and that he backed a 
Commonwealth decision to suspend Zimbabwe for a year. 

"He should not be part of axis of racism," the bishops said. 
"It's unchristian, unprincipled, uncultured and ill-advised... 
He cannot be right all the time. He is dividing the community 
and not building it. He has overstepped his goodness and 
credentials by speaking like a politician instead of a man of 
God."

Bishops for Peace in Africa is a network of bishops from 
mainline and independent churches in Eastern, Central and 
Southern Africa. "Land is the cause of conflict," the statement 
added. "The church is about justice and peace and we see land as 
the root cause of Zimbabwe's demonization by the West."

Greek Orthodox convinced that membership in World Council of 
Churches is positive

(WCC) The work of a special commission to take a closer look at 
participation of Orthodox churches in the World Council of 
Churches "will result in many positive decisions that will 
benefit not only the Orthodox churches but many other member 
churches of the WCC which have voiced similar concerns," 
according to the leading Greek Orthodox archbishop.

Archbishop H.B. Christodoulous of Athens and All Greece made the 
remarks in welcoming a delegation that will look at complaints 
about the direction of the WCC, especially on social and 
political issues, and the role of the Orthodox. He affirmed that 
the church cannot "close its eyes to the current everyday 
problems faced by its faithful and the society in which they 
live." Metropolitan Amvrosios added that "many problems and 
challenges can no longer be met and dealt with individually and 
in isolation. Concerted and coordinated efforts are needed since 
most of these challenges affect all the churches collectively."

General Secretary Konrad Raiser of the WCC offered a positive 
assessment of the visit, noting a new spirit of openness for 
ecumenical collaboration. "The Church in Greece is conscious of 
its tradition going back to the times of the Apostles and of the 
witness of those who defended the faith in times of persecution 
and oppression." While critical of "tendencies that could weaken 
the principles and the ecclesiological identity of the Church of 
Greece," her leaders have "clearly affirmed their will to 
continue her active participation in the WCC," Raiser said.

Church leaders write letter of solidarity to churches caught 
in turmoil in Madagascar

(PCUSA) Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold joined his 
Presbyterian and Lutheran counterparts in writing to church 
leaders caught in turmoil in the troubled island nation of 
Madagascar.

"We greet you mindful of the faithful and united witness of your 
churches in these troubled times in your society. We press our 
solidarity with you as you fulfill your prophetic and pastoral 
responsibilities in the Gospel of the Lord in this time of 
crisis," said the letter signed by Griswold, the Rev. Clifton 
Kirkpatrick, Stated Clerk of the Presbyterian Church (USA), and 
Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson of the Evangelical Lutheran Church 
in America.

The church leaders pledged their intention "to accompany you as 
we address our governments and civil leaders with our concerns 
for justice and peace, that the will of the Malagasy people 
expressed in the December elections may be heard." The letter 
said that the US church leaders were "mindful that the 10 
million members of your churches seek and pray that God's will 
for all people may be realized," pledging that churches in 
America would pray for church and government leaders in 
Madagascar, "a prayer of intercession that justice and peace may 
prevail for all."

The letter was addressed to the Rev. Edmond Razafimahefa, 
president of the Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar; 
Archbishop Remi Joseph Rabenirina of the Anglican Diocese of 
Antananarivo in the Church of the Indian Ocean; and the Rev. 
Benjamin Rbenorolahy, president of the Malagasy Lutheran Church.

Dutch Protestants attracted to Catholic Lenten rituals

(ENI) An increasing number of Protestants in the Netherlands are 
attracted to Lenten rituals more traditionally associated with 
the Roman Catholic Church, such as stations of the cross and Ash 
Wednesday services. More Protestant congregations are holding 
services on all three days before Easter as well.

For the first time the Council of Churches in the Netherlands 
this year offered model liturgies for services on these three 
days, a milestone for the church body given the vast differences 
in liturgical practices among its member churches. The council 
represents 17 churches, including the Roman Catholic Church, the 
largest in the country, as well as the Uniting Protestant 
Churches in the Netherlands, the largest Protestant church body.

"It is already quite something when the member churches of the 
council--from Roman Catholic Church to Remonstrants [a small 
liberal Calvinist church] and Quakers--produce something other 
than a declaration about this or that social ill," said the 
daily newspaper Trouw. In one Reformed congregation, for 
example, participants in an Ash Wednesday service were asked to 
write down something they regretted. The letters were then 
burned and the ashes were used to mark a cross on the forehead 
of each worshiper.

"The need for pictorial material about the Passion story is 
clearly on the rise among Protestants," said Allet Dopmeijer, a 
staff member of a Roman Catholic youth organization in 
explaining the appeal of stations of the cross.

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