c. 2000 Religion News Service
Canterbury Is No Hogwarts
(RNS) The authorities at Canterbury Cathedral have turned down a request from the Warner Bros. film company to use shots of the medieval building to portray Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for the movie it is making of J.K. Rowlings’ “Harry Potter” children’s book series.
The fourth volume in the hugely popular series, reportedly to be called “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” is to be published July 8. Earlier this week, Amazon.com reported it had received more than 245,000 pre-orders for the book, which is expected to run 750 pages.
But all of the hype around the book did not persuade Canterbury Cathedral officials to let the church be used in the film.
“Because this is the leading center of the Anglican Communion, we had to be sensitive to the feeling of some Christians that there is something anti-Christian in these books,” said Christopher Robinson, the cathedral spokesman. “We have to be sensitive to all shades of opinion.”
Some conservative and evangelical Christians object to the books’ use of magic, the occult and other supernatural elements. In the United States, some Christians in half a dozen states have lobbied to remove the “Harry Potter” books from school library shelves.
But others, including the conservative magazine First Things and the evangelical magazine Christianity Today, have voiced support for the books.
Update: Archbishop Released Unharmed After Standoff
(RNS) Texas’ top-ranking Catholic clergyman was released unharmed Wednesday evening (June 28) after a nine-hour standoff between his captor _ a man who claimed to have a hand grenade _ and the police.
“Obviously, we’re very pleased with the outcome of this,” said Police Chief Al Philippus. “God came down and really smiled on us and wrapped his arms around the situation.”
Archbishop Patrick Flores, 70, was taken hostage in his office early Wednesday by 40-year-old Nelson Antonio Escolero, police said. Escolero also held hostage the archbishop’s secretary, Myrtle Sanchez, but released her unharmed after about three hours.
Escolero, a native of El Salvador and a legal U.S. resident, was upset that he had no job and possibly faced deportation for driving with a suspended license, the Associated Press reported.
Escolero repeatedly told negotiators he did not want to harm the archbishop, authorities said. Flores is well-known for his work with immigrants and the poor. Escolero released Flores shortly after authorities agreed to his request for documents explaining his immigration status. Before leaving the archbishop’s office, Escolero laid on a table a device that resembled a grenade.
Escolero could face charges of aggravated assault, unlawful restraint,terroristic threat and possession of a prohibited weapon, said police.
He was to appear before a magistrate Thursday.
Flores, the nation’s first Mexican-American Catholic bishop, was taken to a hospital for examination.
Methodist Clergy Face Discipline for Leading Same-Sex Union Ceremonies
(RNS) Formal complaints have been filed against two United Methodist clergy who presided over same-sex union ceremonies.
The Rev. Susan Davenport of Maine and the Rev. Mark Kemling of Nebraska both face charges of violating the church’s Book of Discipline, according to the United Methodist News Service.
Kemling officiated at a June 3 union ceremony for two men at a church in Omaha. Bishop Joel Martinez of Nebraska declined to say who filed the complaint, and said he had no knowledge of when a decision in the case would be released.
Davenport, pastor of Brown Memorial United Methodist Church in Clinton, Maine, officiated at a same-sex ceremony in 1999, prompting a member of her congregation to file a complaint on April 16.
In a letter to Davenport’s congregation, Bishop Susan Hassinger said Davenport acknowledged “with deep regret” her involvement in the ceremony, and had “asked forgiveness and vows not to repeat this action.” Davenport also agreed to take the steps “necessary for just resolution” of the matter, Hassinger said.
Davenport is on sabbatical and is expected to return to Brown Memorial in September.
Presbyterians Agree Not to Cut Funding for National Council of Churches
(RNS) The National Council of Churches emerged fully funded from the General Assembly meeting of the Presbyterian Church (USA) after surviving two attempts to cut the church’s financial contributions to the troubled 50-year-old ecumenical agency.
Delegates to the church’s annual policy-setting meeting in Long Beach, Calif., overwhelming rejected two proposals that would have cut the church’s $2.7 million contribution to the NCC and $1.2 million contribution to the World Council of Churches.
The $2.7 million contribution represents a little less than 2 percent of the annual budget and averages out to about $1.10 per member.
Presbyterians are the second-largest contributor to the NCC _ just behind the United Methodist Church _ and most of the money benefits Church World Service, the NCC’s humanitarian arm. Presbyterians also gave $500,000 to help ease the NCC’s deficit and rebuild its reserve funds.
Delegates who wanted to cut the funding by almost $1 million said the NCC has not been a “good steward” of the church’s money. The NCC is struggling to pay off a $6.4 million deficit and reorganize its structure. One proposal would have made the Presbyterian contribution no more than the average of the six other largest contributors; an alternative would have put the funding at that average, plus 10 percent.
“Many Presbyterians do not feel adequately represented by the NCC and WCC,” said Martha Gerber, a church elder from Ohio. “The actions and political statements from the NCC seem to reflect only one segment of our church and one segment of the larger church.”
Supporters of the NCC said the organization’s new leadership team _ led by General Secretary Bob Edgar and President Andrew Young _ have turned the NCC around and it would send the wrong message to other churches to cut the funding.
“I have been proud that our church has been the leader in the ecumenical movement, and I would be ashamed if we voted to send a message that we no longer have faith in the movement we have tried to lead for years,” said Jill Brison, a youth delegate from Oklahoma.
The NCC recently announced plans to formally study a plan to radically restructure the organization by 2003 and possibly re-emerge as an entirely new body that could attract the sought-after participation of Roman Catholics, Pentecostals and evangelicals. Edgar said the vote reaffirmed the progress made by the NCC.
“What this does is give the NCC a period of time to show it can manage its finances, set priorities and continue its commitments to alleviating poverty, caring for children and easing the pain of emergencies around the world,” Edgar said.
Pope Calls for Christian Unity, Confers Pallium on Egan
(RNS) Pope John Paul II, marking the church feast devoted to Sts. Peter and Paul, said Thursday (June 29) Christian unity is “all the more urgent” at the start of the new millennium.
The Roman Catholic pontiff spoke at an early evening Mass on the steps of St. Peter’s Basilica at which he conferred the pallium, or badge of office, on 24 new metropolitan archbishops, including Edward Egan of New York.
Egan, 68, a former professor of canon law, judge on the Roman Rota and bishop of Bridgeport, Conn., was installed as archbishop of New York on June 19 to replace Cardinal John O’Connor, who died last month.
John Paul renewed his call for unity in greeting a delegation of Orthodox prelates customarily sent to Rome by Bartholomew I, the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople (Istanbul), for the Solemnity of the Apostles Peter and Paul. The delegation was led by Metropolitan Athanasios of Helioupolis and Theira and included Archbishop Vsevolod of Skopelos and Archdeacon Tarasios of the Phanar.
“The full unity of the church!” the pope said. “I feel echoing in me the order of Christ. It is an order all the more urgent in this beginning of a new millennium. We pray and we work for this without ever losing hope.”
The pope and all heads of ecclesiastical provinces wear a pallium, a circular band of white wool decorated with six black crosses, on their shoulders. The pallium is woven from wool blessed each Jan. 21 at a ceremony held in the Church of St. Agnes Outside the Walls of Rome.
Noting that the new metropolitan archbishops came from 15 countries on four continents, John Paul told them, “Your presence makes the universal dimension of the church stand out in eloquent relief.”
Update: Elian’s Father Grateful for Support From Religious Community
(RNS) The day before returning to Cuba to resume life there with his son, the father of Elian Gonzalez visited the United Methodist Building in Washington, D.C., to thank the faith community for its support in his campaign to regain custody of the boy.
“I wanted to come again to meet you all on behalf of my family and the people who accompany me to express our deepest appreciation for everything you have done,” Juan Miguel Gonzalez, speaking through an interpreter, said Tuesday (June 27). “Words are not enough to express our deepest appreciation to you.”
The Rev. Thom White Wolf Fassett, head of the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, praised the religious community for rallying to reunite Gonzalez with his 6-year-old son.
“We have withstood the great negative opposition, the politicizing on an issue that has to do with a father and his child, to bring us to a point that we hope and pray that, at least by tomorrow, we can celebrate completely,” said Fassett, whose organization came under fire in March for establishing a fund that helped Gonzalez retain legal counsel in the United States.
While visiting the Methodist building, Gonzalez gave Fassett an envelope full of the monetary contributions he had received, and asked Fassett to make sure the money was delivered to his attorney.
“I think it’s important to note that this is probably the last batch of contributions for defraying the cost of legal counsel for Juan Miguel,” Fassett said, noting that “the largest number of contributions have come from Cuban Americans, and a large portion of those have come from Cuban Americans in the Miami area.”
On Wednesday, Gonzalez and his son boarded a plane and returned to Cuba, bringing to a close a political tug-of-war over custody of Elian, who was rescued off the coast of southern Florida last November after the boat in which he rode with his mother and several other Cuban refugees capsized. Nine people died in the wreck, including the boy’s mother.
Elian’s relatives in Miami, with whom he lived after he was rescued, objected to returning the boy to communist Cuba and sought political asylum on the child’s behalf. But months of legal wrangling ended Wednesday when the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a last-minute appeal from the family that would have allowed Elian to remain in the United States.
Presbyterians Criticize Southern Baptists on Women’s Ordination
(RNS) On a day dedicated to a celebration of ecumenical Christian unity, the Presbyterian Church (USA) passed a resolution that largely condemns the Southern Baptist Convention for refusing to let women be pastors.
By a vote of about 86 percent to 13 percent, delegates to the 2.5 million-member church’s General Assembly Wednesday (June 28) expressed “respectfully and publicly its Christian concern for and solidarity with women who are being denied the exercise of their pastoral gifts.”
Presbyterians are meeting in Long Beach, Calif., through Saturday (July 1) for their annual General Assembly policymaking session.
The resolution, however, made no direct reference to the Southern Baptist Convention; all direct references in the original resolution were deleted by a church committee. The resolution had specifically named the 15.7 million-member Southern Baptist Convention, which earlier this month formally voiced its opposition to women in the pulpit.
Just 45 minutes earlier, delegates had approved a new “Ecumenical Vision Statement” and celebrated the church’s involvement in the Churches Uniting in Christ dialogue, which is seeking to bring nine Protestant denominations closer together. The statement lamented divisions in the Christian church, saying that “the one church is not a theological abstraction; the divided church is not a sociological necessity.”
Committee members also deleted a section of the resolution inviting women in the Southern Baptist Convention to become Presbyterian ministers, and encouraging local presbyteries to “consider such candidates for ordination in light of our oneness in Christ, despite the significant differences in our traditions of biblical interpretation and freedom of theological expression.”
The Presbyterian Church (USA) has ordained women as ministers since the mid-1950s. The resolution expressed the church’s desire that other Christian denominations would open their pulpits to women.
“We are saddened by the continuing reality that other faith traditions do not hold the same beliefs about God’s call to women and men for ministry and leadership,” the resolution said. “Even though our noble words do not always meet the realities that exist for women and men in ministry in the Presbyterian Church (USA), we continue to struggle to live out our own commitment to equality.”
Boat Capsizes, Killing Hundreds Escaping Religious Violence in Indonesia
(RNS) Nearly 500 people fleeing religious fighting in eastern Indonesia’s Maluku islands died Thursday (June 29) when their boat sank about 1,500 miles northeast of the country’s capital.
The wooden-hulled ship sank in stormy weather, which hampered the efforts of rescue boats responding to the disaster, the National Search and Rescue Agency told the Associated Press.
Of the boat’s 492 passengers, 290 came from Duma, a predominantly Christian village where more than 100 people were killed June 19 during a raid by Muslims. Also aboard the vessel were 186 regular passengers and 16 members of the crew.
The islands, known as the Spice Islands during Dutch colonial rule, have been plagued by 18 months of clashes between Christians and Muslims that have claimed some 2,500 lives on both sides.
Doomsday Group Member Sentenced to Death for Nerve Gas Attacks
(RNS) A second member of a Japanese doomsday religious group was sentenced to death Thursday (June 29) for participating in a 1995 nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway during rush hour.
Yasuo Hayashi, 42, was one of five members of the Aum Shinri Kyo (“Supreme Truth”) group accused of releasing the poisonous sarin nerve gas in a March 20, 1995, attack on Tokyo subway trains that left 12 people dead and sickened thousands.
Prosecutors claimed Hayashi should be held directly responsible for the deaths of eight of the 12 people killed since he released three plastic bags of the nerve gas in a crowded subway train, the Associated Press reported. Tokyo District Court Judge Kiyoshi Kimura said Hayashi deserved the death sentence because he spread the most sarin gas during the attack.
Prosecutors also charged Hayashi with participation in other criminal activity, including a 1994 nerve gas attack in Matsumoto that killed seven people, and an unsuccessful 1996 attempt to spread cyanide gas in one of the busiest railway stations in Tokyo.
Hayashi’s attorneys maintained their client did not know the harm sarin gas could cause, and was simply following the orders of group leader Shoko Asahara, who is on trial now for orchestrating the Tokyo attack and more than 15 other crimes.
Hayashi is the second member of Aum Shinri Kyo sentenced to death in connection with the 1995 subway attack. Masato Yokoyama, 35, was sentenced to death by hanging last September for his participation in the gassing. He has appealed the sentence.
Three other group members implicated in the nerve gas attack have received life sentences, and four others have not yet gone to trial.
Aum Shinri Kyo, which is now known as Aleph, has apologized for the crimes and said it will offer victims compensation. More than 2,000 people are believed to belong to the group, which the Japanese government placed under three-year surveillance in February.
Quote of the Day: The Rev. Jesse Jackson:
(RNS) “We should start where (executed Texas inmate Gary Graham) left off. He left this world with his eyes fixed on organizing a worldwide movement. He said: Organize the world to stop killing people.”
_ The Rev. Jesse Jackson, quoted by the Associated Press, at a memorial service June 28 for Graham, executed in Texas on June 22.
DEA END RNS
