c. 2003 Religion News Service
Donations to Nation’s Charities Decline for First Time in 12 Years
(RNS) Donations to the nation’s largest charities dropped in 2002, a first in 12 years, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reported.
Contributions decreased 1.2 percent, compared to an average annual increase of 12 percent in the previous five years, the newspaper said.
The publication’s 12th annual “Philanthropy 400” ranks the nation’s largest nonprofits based on how much money they raise from private sources. Total donations amounted to $46.9 billion, down from $47.5 billion the previous year.
The American National Red Cross ranked number one, forcing the Salvation Army into the second highest spot. The Salvation Army had previously ranked first for the history of the survey.
The Red Cross received $1.74 billion, an increase of 161 percent from the 2001 fiscal year.
The newspaper said money collected in connection with the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks boosted fund raising for several groups, including the Red Cross.
The other top 10 charities were: 3. Gifts in Kind International; 4. American Cancer Society; 5. Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund; 6. Lutheran Services in America; 7. YMCA of the USA; 8. Nature Conservancy; 9. University of Southern California; 10. Feed the Children.
The newspaper attributed the overall decline in giving to uncertainties about the economy and increased competition for money among charities.
Religious Abortion-Rights Group Marks 30 Years
WASHINGTON (RNS) As his organization marked its 30th anniversary, the president of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice said the recent passage of legislation forbidding a late-term abortion procedure is a “wake-up call” for coalition supporters.
“We have serious work to do,” said the Rev. Carlton Veazey in an interview Thursday (Oct. 23) during the annual meeting of his interfaith organization.
“That was just a wake-up call that all abortions are in jeopardy.”
Veazey said groups concerned about women’s, civil and human rights are working together to seek greater support for their causes.
“All of us know that the Supreme Court is very fragile in terms of this issue and Roe v. Wade,” he said, referring to the 1973 decision that legalized most abortions.
“And the … next president will have an opportunity to name several Supreme Court justices and that could turn the tide and possibly overturn Roe v. Wade, so people are waking up to that reality.”
In a keynote speech during the annual meeting, the Rev. J. Philip Wogaman, professor emeritus of Christian ethics at Wesley Theological Seminary, spoke on the need for religious people who support abortion rights to use religious terms when making their arguments.
“People of faith who seek to do the will of God need to remind themselves that God’s work of creation necessarily sets limits,” said Wogaman, adding that “the Earth cannot sustain an unlimited number of people.”
Wogaman, a retired United Methodist minister, also said that religious people must approach the debate by remembering to link their views with humility and love _ for pregnant women, those born, those yet unborn and medical professionals.
“Will a woman be compelled to have an unwanted child, regardless of circumstance?” he asked. “That is profoundly, deeply against the love we profess as people of faith.”
_ Adelle M. Banks
Newspaper: United Methodists Cut 259 Jobs in Two Years
(RNS) The United Methodist Church has cut 259 jobs over the past two years _ a 21 percent drop _ according to The United Methodist Reporter, an independent newspaper.
The nation’s second-largest Protestant denomination, facing a drop in revenues because of the lagging economy, laid off 65 people between Sept. 30, 2001 and Sept. 30, 2003. Sixty additional empty positions were kept vacant, while others were not filled after retirements.
In addition, statistics provided by the church and compiled by the newspaper showed that the church has lost 305 missionaries _ 14 percent of its overseas force _ since 2001.
Four-year budgets for the church’s 13 agencies were set in May 2000 before the current recession set in. Agencies were directed to spend more of their reserve funds, but since then health care costs have skyrocketed and income from investments has dropped.
Income to the church’s World Service Fund, which funnels money to most church operations, has consistently fallen about 10 percent below budget goals. Income for 2003 so far is about 2.9 percent below the same point in 2002.
The church’s Board of Global Ministries saw a $29 million deficit last year and has already trimmed next year’s budget by $4 million since last spring. During the first eight months of 2003, the agency ran a deficit of $9.2 million.
However, the board’s interim treasurer, Roland Fernandez, told United Methodist News Service that improvements on Wall Street have resulted in $6.5 million in growth for the agency’s stock portfolio _ compared to a $12.2 million depreciation for the first eight months of 2002.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Gay Bishop-Elect Says Potential Split Not Enough Reason to Withdraw
WASHINGTON (RNS) The man elected as the Episcopal Church’s first openly gay bishop said his scheduled Nov. 2 consecration is the right thing to do, even if it causes a split in the worldwide Anglican Communion.
One week before his ordination as bishop of New Hampshire, the Rev. V. Gene Robinson said Sunday (Oct. 26) that “almost anything worth doing has caused conflict and a period of chaos and confusion.”
“And I have no doubt that on the other side of all of the chaos and confusion _ and even a split in the church _ we will find unity again,” Robinson said on ABC’s “This Week With George Stephanopoulos.”
Leaders of the Anglican Communion, which includes 2.3 million Episcopalians in the United States, warned that Robinson’s consecration threatens to “tear the fabric of our communion at its deepest level.”
Robinson said “the church needs to do what in its best judgment is right to do, even if it means some kind of sacrifice.” He said the controversy surrounding his election will be “a little bit of a distraction” in New Hampshire, where he has been a priest for 28 years.
On Saturday, Robinson spoke by satellite to a conference in Manchester, England, for gay Christians. Robinson likened his experience to the trial of Jesus before his crucifixion.
“It was the religious establishment that were often enraged by what Jesus said and did,” Robinson told the conference. “It is the marginalized who rejoiced. In some ways, the world hasn’t changed.”
Also speaking to the conference was Bishop Michael Ingham of Vancouver, British Columbia, who was also rebuked by the primates for allowing the blessing of same-sex unions in his Canadian diocese. Ingham said his opponents are trying to impose a narrow view of orthodoxy that has never been embraced by Anglicanism.
“The hatred, contempt and vilification of God’s gay and lesbian children that claims the name of orthodoxy today is not condoned nor blessed by Jesus Christ,” he said. “It has more to do with those forces of religious fearfulness that crucified Jesus than with the love for which he gave up his life.”
_ Kevin Eckstrom
English Catholics Put Child Protection Panels in Place
LONDON (RNS) Every one of the 22 Catholic dioceses of England and Wales now has a child protection commission in keeping with recommendations on how the church should deal with cases of child abuse, according to the first report of the Catholic Office for the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults.
The office is an independent national body set up in response to the review of the church’s practice and procedure conducted by the committee headed by Lord Nolan.
In addition, every diocese has a child protection coordinator, while 12 dioceses have recruited a lay professional to act as child protection officer.
During 2002, the 22 dioceses received a total of 148 reports of child abuse requiring action _ 132 of them relating to sexual abuse and the others relating to physical abuse. COPCA’s report noted the figures needed to be treated “with caution” for three reasons: first, because they included both reports of clear allegations of abuse as well as lower levels of concern that would not need to be referred to child protection agencies; second, they included both current allegations and allegations from the past only now being brought forward; and third, the level of reporting would be influenced by “the confidence of victims that they will receive a sympathetic and understanding hearing.”
In its first year, COPCA cost the church $292,810, and it is thought its annual operating costs will be in the region of $340,000.
Introducing the report, the director of COPCA, Eileen Shearer, said: “There is no quick fix. There are no easy answers. What this report marks is the beginning of a new approach to child protection in the Catholic Church. The church has absorbed the lessons of Lord Nolan’s independent review and has begun to put in place a number of practical and realistic measures to create an environment in which children, vulnerable adults and their parents and carers have every reason to feel safe and confident.”
_ Robert Nowell
Quote of the Day: Italian Cardinal Ersilio Tonini
(RNS) “I am speechless. You can’t remove the symbol of a people’s religious and cultural values. The majority of the Italian people are offended by this verdict.”
_ Italian Cardinal Ersilio Tonini, reacting to a judge’s Oct. 25 ruling that a school in Ofena, Italy, must take down a crucifix from the wall of a classroom used by the children of a Muslim activist. He was quoted by The Washington Post.
DEA END RNS
