c. 2003 Religion News Service

Faith Groups Address Same-Sex Marriage

OTTAWA (RNS) The world’s major faiths all understand marriage as being between one man and one woman, an interfaith coalition has told Ontario’s Court of Appeal.

In one of three legal cases challenging the traditional definition of marriage, the Interfaith Coalition on Marriage and Family told Ontario’s top court last week that the world’s largest faith groups “do not and cannot accept a fundamental redefinition of marriage to include same-sex partnerships.”

In its factum (brief) to the court, the coalition, which includes evangelical Protestant, Catholic, Sikh and Muslim representatives, said clergy in nearly all denominations would be unwilling or unable to solemnize same-sex marriages.

The court is hearing an appeal of a lower court ruling last summer which held that the traditional definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman was unconstitutional. A Quebec court arrived at the same conclusion last year, while a British Columbia court last year upheld the traditional nature of marriage, and said Parliament could not redefine marriage. All three rulings are under appeal.

Meantime, the House of Commons’ Justice and Human Rights Committee is scheduled to wrap up cross-country hearings on the redefinition of marriage. Many faith groups have appeared before the committee, which will make recommendations to Parliament on how same-sex marriages could be recognized.

Bishop Reminds Catholics That Eulogies Are Banned

CALGARY, Alberta (RNS) Roman Catholic Bishop Frederick Henry of Calgary, Alberta, has triggered a controversy by issuing a pastoral message reminding priests and parishioners that eulogies are banned during the funeral Mass.

Henry said eulogies are permitted at the graveside or during visitations at funeral homes, but not in the church.

“At a funeral, there is storytelling to be done _ a real person’s story _ not on its own but in relation to God,” the memo said.

The bishop cited the Order of Christian Funerals, which dictates that a brief homily encouraging those present to consider the deceased’s life and death in relation to God is acceptable at a funeral in a Catholic church, but a eulogy is not.

“A eulogy is a certain kind of rhetoric or public speaking, focused on the deceased person with the intention of praising him or her,” the memo said, whereas a funeral should praise only God. “In (a eulogy), there may be an implication that the praise is exaggerated or even untrue.”

Community Mourns Deaths of Four Nuns

CALGARY, Alberta (RNS) The deaths of four nuns in an Easter Sunday car crash have devastated Calgary’s Roman Catholic community, reports the Calgary Herald.

Church officials said the April 21 accident is an enormous loss, especially for the city’s poor who relied on the nuns’ help.

The women, members of the Sisters of Charity of St. Louis, were killed in a crash on the Trans-Canada Highway near Canada Olympic Park. Two died instantly. The others died later in the hospital. A fifth nun remained in critical but stable condition.

The community is mourning the loss of Theresa Tetrault, 72; Joan Flaherty, 82; Norma Basso, 77; and Rita Proulx, 74. Helen Hengel, 79, is expected to survive. Her injuries are described as serious but not life-threatening.

The small religious order, which next month will mark the 200th anniversary of its founding in France, works with society’s most disadvantaged.

Supreme Court to Hear Case Involving Sukkot

MONTREAL (RNS) The Supreme Court of Canada has agreed to hear an appeal from a group of Montreal condominium owners who want the right to erect sukkot, or Jewish ceremonial huts, on their balconies.

The plaintiffs were forbidden by the condo’s management to erect the temporary huts associated with the weeklong holiday of Sukkot, which marks the end of the agricultural year. The booths symbolize God’s protection of the people of Israel during their desert wanderings.

The residents will argue the policy limits their religious freedom.

The case has been before the courts since 1998, when the condominium corporation, Syndicat Northcrest, won a permanent injunction in Quebec Superior Court against the sukkot, citing a clause in the contract signed by owners that forbids any construction on balconies. The residents say there was a sudden change in attitude by the corporation, which until that time had allowed sukkot.

The residents appealed and lost 2-1 in the Quebec Court of Appeal, which avoided the religious issue and based its decision on the contract signed by the owners.

Bill on Sexual Orientation Could Pass Soon

OTTAWA (RNS) Faith groups have circled May 15 on their calendars as the day the House of Commons is scheduled to vote on a contentious bill they fear could label the Bible as hate literature.

Bill C-250, introduced by British Columbia New Democratic Party MP Svend Robinson, seeks to add sexual orientation to the list of identifiable groups subject to protection from hate propaganda under the Criminal Code. This has raised fears, mainly among Christians, that if passed, the law could leave the Bible, and possibly the Catechism of the Catholic Church, open to being interpreted as hate literature because of their condemnations of homosexuality.

Robinson has assured faith groups his bill will not limit or threaten religious expression.

Meanwhile, Ontario Liberal MP Dan McTeague, who last summer said the bill would be shot down, now says the bill’s wording will have to be worked out so that it does not trample on religious perspectives.

New Interfaith Foundation, Magazine Launched

MONTREAL (RNS) Complete with an endorsement from the Dalai Lama, Canada is getting a new foundation and magazine dedicated to interfaith dialogue.

Along with the inaugural issue of Voice Across Boundaries next month, the Across Boundaries Multifaith Institute hopes to provide a “venue in which people from diverse traditions and beliefs can begin to communicate with one another, in a context of growing mutual understanding and sympathy,” according to its Web site.

The Toronto-based foundation will sponsor regular lectures, seminars and mini-courses; develop study materials; organize multifaith conferences and summer retreats; and maintain a Web site.

The Montreal-based magazine promises a high-quality publication that will represent “a variety of faith stances (that will) share their insights into social, cultural, ethical and spiritual questions.” It will appear three times in 2003, and bimonthly starting in 2004 under the editorship of Robert Chodos, former editor of the Jesuit publication Compass.

The foundation will also revive Vox Feminarum, a journal of feminist spirituality.

New President for Evangelical Fellowship

MARKHAM, Ontario (RNS) The influential Evangelical Fellowship of Canada has named Bruce Clemenger as its next president. He succeeds Gary Walsh, who left the organization last summer.

EFC chair Paul Magnus reported there was “unanimous support to offer the presidential leadership of EFC to Bruce Clemenger for the next chapter of EFC’s history.”

“We believe Bruce is not only our choice but also God’s choice for this chapter of EFC history,” Magnus said.

Clemenger has served with the EFC since 1992, most recently as director of its Center for Faith and Public Life in Ottawa.

Zoroastrian Youth to Gather in Toronto

TORONTO (RNS) Toronto has won the right to host the Tenth North American Zoroastrian Youth Congress, to take place July 24-27.

According to the Zoroastrian Society of Ontario, the greater Toronto area has the largest population of Zoroastrian youth of any North American city.

Sessions and workshops at the congress, dubbed NeXus 2003, will examine Zoroastrian, or Parsi, scriptures and myths, marrying into the faith, and energizing “our Zarathushti entrepreneurial spirit.”

DEA END CSILLAG