c. 1997 Religion News Service

Pope names priest accused of sexual abuse to Synod for America delegation

(RNS) Pope John Paul II has named an influential priest, accused of child sexual abuse in Spain and Italy, to be a special delegate to the major Synod for America, which will meet beginning next month in Rome.

The priest, the Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado, is founder and head of the Legionaries of Christ, a semi-secret religious order established in 1941 and one of the fastest growing religious orders in the Roman Catholic Church.

No criminal charges or lawsuits have been filed against Maciel. The sexual abuse complaints against the priest were made public in February by the Hartford Courant. Since then, the newspaper said Thursday (Oct. 23), the Vatican has neither commented on nor investigated the accusations. Maciel lives at the order’s headquarters in Rome.

According to the newspaper, nine men have accused Maciel of sexually abusing them in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, when they were minors studying for the priesthood at schools run by Legionaries.”To me, this is their answer without saying that they don’t believe us,”said Juan Vace, one of the nine. Vace, a former priest, was U.S. president of the Legionaries until he quit the order in 1978.

Maciel, 77, declined to be interviewed but denied any wrongdoing through a law firm. He has said his accusers are disgruntled former Legionaries conspiring to depose him.

His appointment to the synod, which begins Nov. 16, was seen by his supporters as a vindication of his innocence in the eyes of the Vatican.”The Legionaries of Christ are pleased that the Vicar of Christ (the pope) has appointed Father Maciel to the special Synod for America,”a statement from the religious order said.”Father Maciel will undoubtedly contribute (his) … broad experience of priestly life and deep, firsthand understanding of the church in the complex cultural diversity of Latin America.” The synod, which will conclude Dec. 12, will bring together 250 bishops and other church leaders to discuss evangelization, economic justice and church cooperation in North and South America.

Albright criticizes proposed bill addressing religious persecution

(RNS) Secretary of State Madeleine Albright criticized a bill aimed at reducing religious persecution Thursday (Oct. 23), saying it could damage aspects of U.S. foreign policy.

The Freedom from Religious Persecution Act, introduced by Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., and Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., would create a White House Office for Religious Persecution Monitoring to punish other countries persecuting religious groups.”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 in an address at The Catholic University of America in Washington.”It would also establish a new an unneeded bureaucracy and deprive U.S. officials of the flexibility required to protect the overall foreign policy interests of the United States.” U.S. industries strongly oppose the bill, which would allow the proposed office to stop all but humanitarian aid to offending countries, Reuters reported.

Albright said in her speech that although religious freedom is a primary goal in the United States,”if we are to be effective in defending the values we cherish, we must also take into account the perspectives and values of others.” She added,”Even the most patriotic among us must admit that neither morality, nor religious freedom, nor respect for human rights were invented (in the United States) _ nor are they perfectly practiced here.” Assistant Secretary of State John Shattuck has previously criticized the bill but Albright is the most senior official thus far to publicly voice concerns of the Clinton administration.

Shattuck said Thursday administration officials are working with members of Congress to try to improve the bill, pending before the House International Relations Committee. The Senate has not taken the issue up.

Seventh-day Adventists will not be hit by new Russian law

(RNS) The new Russian law regulating registration of religious groups will have no adverse effects on the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the government has told church officials.

President Boris Yeltsin signed the controversial measure in September, drawing criticism from Roman Catholic and Protestant churches abroad and minority churches in Russia because it distinguishes between religious”organizations”that have been in the country for at least 15 years and relatively new religious”groups.” The newer groups have more limited rights than the more longstanding ones.

The deputy director of Russia’s Public and Religious Organizations Affairs Department sent a letter to Adventist Church headquarters in Moscow confirming the church is legally recognized by Russian officials. The letter noted the church had been in operation in the Russian Federation for 110 years.

A Russian official of the Adventist Church welcomed the letter describing the denomination’s status, reported Ecumenical News International, a Geneva-based religious news agency.”We are pleased to know officially that we can continue to function freely, invite foreign evangelists, organize new congregations, begin operating in new areas, and register as conscientious objectors from military service,”said Victor Krushenitsky, public affairs and religious liberty director for the Adventist Church in Russia.

Press reports in Russia have said the new law has caused some Pentecostal and Lutheran groups to have their registration suspended and the Salvation Army is expected to be prevented from using its meeting hall in St. Petersburg.”Even if we are not the target of this new law, we deplore the denial of religious liberty to others,”said John Graz, religious liberty director at the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s world headquarters in Silver Spring, Md.”The implementation of the law could be very restrictive and we may see misinterpretations in many places.”

Churches vow cooperation in fight against poverty

(RNS)”The cold war among religious groups over the poor is over,”according to the Rev. Richard Cizik, an official of the National Association of Evangelicals.

Cizik made his comment following the Oct. 16 Christian Roundtable II, a gathering of 37 leaders from religious denominations, church-based service agencies, international relief and development groups and national coalitions brought together by Call to Renewal, the evangelical-based network seeking to create a”third way”between religious conservatives and liberals on social policy issues such as poverty, racism and welfare reform.

Participants in the roundtable talks ranged from the National Council of Churches and National Conference of Catholic Bishops to the NAE, the Family Research Council, the Salvation Army and World Vision.”We can say there were different positions taken on the welfare reform bill,”Deanna Carlson of the Family Research Council said of the odd alliance.”But now that is behind us.” The groups first gathered in April in Philadelphia on the eve of the Presidents’ Summit for America’s Future _ the so-called volunteers’ summit _ to see if religious groups could forge any kind of consensus on how to respond to the passage of welfare reform legislation.

Among the steps agreed to at the October meeting was establishment of an Internet database focusing on successful church-based efforts in dealing with poverty. The database will aid interested churches in replicating successful programs in their own communities.

Jim Wallis of the Washington-based Sojourners and a convener of the Call to Renewal, said he was proud of the consensus that roundtable participants _ often at odds over social policy matters _ had been able to forge.”We have worked hard to find common ground,”Wallis said.”The ground rules for this group are that we stay committed to focusing on the issue of overcoming poverty, that we actively listen to one another, and that we do not question each other’s motivations.”We are now moving from common ground to concrete action,”he said.

Cincinnati court again OKs anti-gay rights ordinance

(RNS) A federal appeals court Thursday (Oct. 23) upheld its previous decision supporting a Cincinnati voter initiative barring mention of sexual orientation in the city’s human rights ordinance.

While a city official cheered the decision, a representative of a gay rights group called the ruling”a renegade decision”because the U.S. Supreme Court threw out a similar Colorado measure.

The high court had ordered the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati to review its May 1995 ruling. The same panel of judges opted to sustain their initial ruling.”It’s a big win for us,”said Karl Kadon III, a Cincinnati assistant city solicitor.”The whole case is about the right of people to decide what their government can do. It’s the notion of American democracy; everything else is wrapping around it.” But Patricia Logue, a Chicago-based lawyer for the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, said the decision is not defensible, the Associated Press reported.”This is a renegade decision approving a clone of the Colorado ballot measure thrown out by the Supreme Court,”she said.

In 1991, Cincinnati’s city council passed an equal employment law that included sexual orientation along with race, color, age and religion as anti-discrimination classifications. In 1992, the council enacted a human rights ordinance that included similar protections for public accommodations and public housing. Voters approved a charter amendment in 1993 forbidding the council from passing any measure that granted protections based on sexual orientation.

In 1994, U.S. District Judge S. Arthur Spiegel ruled the amendment violated equal-protection and free-speech rights of gays and was unconstitutionally vague. The 6th Circuit Court reversed the decision the following year, saying homosexuals were a group that could not be identified and therefore could not be entitled to specific legal protection.

The U.S. Supreme Court struck down the similar Colorado amendment in May 1996 and later ordered the 6th Circuit to reconsider its decision.

Former president of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary dies

(RNS) Harold K. Graves, the president of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary from 1952 to 1977, died Tuesday (Oct. 21).

Graves had suffered heart problems. He was 85.

Graves directed the construction of the seminary’s 130-acre campus in Mill Valley, Calif., and moved it from a single building in Berkeley, Calif. It is one of the six seminaries of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Prior to his inauguration as the seminary’s third president, Graves served as a pastor in churches from Kentucky to Oklahoma and held numerous state and national leadership positions in the Southern Baptist Convention, reported Baptist Press, the denomination’s official news service.

Quote of the day: Santeria priest Jose Montoya

(RNS)”It is very difficult to perform a ceremony or a spiritual investigation of an entire team. It is much easier with a boxer. But it is definitely possible to try and curse the opposing pitcher.” Santeria priest Jose Montoya, in an interview with Reuters on efforts by Miami believers in the Afro-Caribbean religion to help the Florida Marlins win the World Series.

DEA END RNS