c. 2003 Religion News Service
Cincinnati Archdiocese Pleads No Contest in Abuse Case
CINCINNATI (RNS) Entering a plea of no contest to five misdemeanor counts in a Hamilton County courtroom Thursday (Nov. 20), the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati was found guilty on charges of failing to report sexual abuse involving priests and minors.
Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk, spiritual leader of the 550,000 Catholic faithful in the diocese, entered the plea, in which the archdiocese did not admit guilt.
The archdiocese was ordered by Judge Richard Niehaus to pay a $10,000 fine for the violations, which occurred from 1978 to 1982, when Archbishop Joseph L. Bernardin headed the Cincinnati church.
As part of a settlement agreement made with the prosecutor’s office, the archdiocese is creating a $3 million fund to compensate victims abused as children by clergy or other agents of the Cincinnati church. Compensation will be made available to any victim who is not suing the archdiocese, regardless of how long ago the abuse occurred, according to a spokesman.
The no-contest plea, while ending any criminal investigation by the prosecutor’s office here, does not affect 70 other civil suits pending against the archdiocese and former priests for alleged sexual abuse.
“Again, I express my sorrow and shame at the suffering that priests and other church employees have inflicted on young persons,” Pilarczyk said at a news conference following the afternoon court hearing.
“A few years ago, I never would have thought that it would be necessary for a bishop to be making apologies like these. But it is necessary, and I offer my expressions of sorrow and regret with the deepest intensity of which I am capable.”
_ Dennis P. O’Connor
Vancouver Bishop Says Conservatives May Make `Schism’ Inevitable
VANCOUVER, British Columbia _ Anglican Bishop Michael Ingham of the Diocese of New Westminster says “intransigent” conservative priests are forcing him to think about ways the protesting Anglicans can separate from his diocese.
Arguing the leaders of 10 dissident Anglican parishes are making reconciliation “almost impossible,” Ingham said Wednesday (Nov. 19), for the first time, he might have to “focus on structural separation” _ what he also called “schism.”
Ingham was responding to a public challenge made this week by the disaffected parishes, who sent a letter to the archbishop of Canterbury and other top Anglicans demanding a conservative “flying bishop” of their choice be appointed to lead them within a month.
In a bitter battle, priests at the protesting parishes have been defying the authority of Ingham since last year, when he became the first Anglican bishop in the world to openly and formally consent to same-sex blessings. The parishes have stopping paying annual dues to the diocese and started their own organization, called the Anglican Communion in New Westminster.
The parishes, which make up about 20 percent of the diocese’s membership, were swearing loyalty until last week to Yukon Bishop Terry Buckle until he withdrew as an unofficial “flying bishop” to the diocese after being ordered to by Canada’s House of Bishops.
On Nov. 16, the Rev. Trevor Walters, who heads the Anglican splinter group, wrote to the 77 million-member church’s top Anglicans calling for the appointment of staunchly conservative northern British Columbia Bishop William Anderson as their leader.
Anderson, of the Diocese of Caledonia, a remote area of British Columbia north of Prince George, has been one of Ingham’s strongest critics, publicly declaring “impaired communion” with him.
For his part, Ingham said he intends to cooperate with the church’s primates and Canada’s House of Bishops, which recently launched a task force to find a way to minister to dissenting minorities within dioceses, either conservative or liberal. He said, however, he believes the breakaway group’s divisive actions reflect a grave misunderstanding of church law and the House of Bishops’ intentions.
_ Douglas Todd
United Jewish Communities Shows Solidarity by Meeting in Jerusalem
(RNS) The United Jewish Communities, a major fund-raising and community development organization of American Jews, concluded its annual General Assembly meeting Wednesday (Nov. 19) in Jerusalem.
Giving the GA the theme of “With Israel, In Israel: Shaping Our Common Future,” the UJC broke tradition to meet outside the United States as a gesture of the solidarity that American Jews feel with Israel.
Especially in a year filled with continuing violence and a stymied peace process, GA organizers said they felt it important to show support for the Jewish homeland. The meeting drew a record crowd, with 4,000 North American participants.
To make clear its message, the group held a march of more than 5,000 GA delegates and Jerusalem residents through the city, accompanied by flag-waving, Israeli songs and speeches.
Assembly sessions included discussions of the Jewish spiritual connection to Israel, influencing America’s political relationship to Israel, and more typical GA topics like Jewish identity, demographics, fund raising and education.
Speakers at the GA included Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who spoke about the importance of American solidarity with Israel. “The solidarity you demonstrate here touches the heart of every Israeli,” he said in his speech.
Former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu also addressed the assembly, saying Israel must focus on security and its economy in order to ultimately live peacefully in the troubled region.
_ Holly Lebowitz Rossi
Home Furnishings Store Launches Ramadan Campaign
(RNS) IKEA, the furniture and home decor company, has launched a public relations campaign in its Canadian branch aimed at Muslims celebrating the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
Eid al-Fitr, which falls on Monday (Nov. 24) with the sighting of the new moon, is the celebratory day ending Ramadan, which is marked by daily fasting and prayer. On Eid, as it is called, Muslims traditionally gather together, exchange gifts and share in a festive meal.
IKEA, the Swedish-based company, posted an advertising and public relations package on its Canadian Web site on Nov. 17, presenting IKEA products that could be used in the Eid celebration.
Products included carpets, dishes to display sweets, tables for piling festively wrapped gifts, candles and cultural symbols like artistic framed photographs of Middle Eastern spices.
Also advertised were children’s gifts such as a plush heart with outstretched arms, to symbolize the joy of the holiday.
The store incorporated the values associated with Eid, which is a day of thanksgiving and celebration, into its campaign.
The Web site, which featured photographs of Muslims enjoying the IKEA products and showed beautifully appointed tables and sitting areas, also suggested that children “pick one gift they received for Eid and have them donate it to a family in need.”
Muslim leaders in Canada mostly welcomed the campaign although some were suspicious of an over-commercialization of the Muslim holiday.
“There is always a commercial side to every festival. At Eid we traditionally get something new. All in all, it doesn’t diminish the spiritual aspect,” Riad Saloojee, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations Canada, told the Toronto Star.
IKEA’s Canadian public relations manager developed the Ramadan campaign after launching a similar campaign in October for the Hindu festival of lights, Diwali.
_ Holly Lebowitz Rossi
Christian Artist Steven Curtis Chapman Records Hallmark Christmas CD
(RNS) Contemporary Christian artist Steven Curtis Chapman will be featured in Hallmark’s traditional holiday CD this year.
The “Christmas Is All in the Heart” CD will include new recordings of three original songs from Chapman as well as his versions of traditional holiday melodies.
“I’m excited to share some of my favorite Christmas songs with everyone who shares the joy of celebrating this special season,” Chapman said in a statement.
He has won four Grammy Awards as well as dozens of Dove Awards from the Gospel Music Association.
The CD will be sold at Hallmark Gold Crown stores.
_ Adelle M. Banks
English Prelate Demands Bovine Transfer Fee
LONDON (RNS) One of the Church of England’s leading fund-raising experts is moving from one diocese to another _ for a transfer fee of two cows.
He is American-born Canon Jim Pendorf, who since 1995 has been diocesan stewardship adviser for the diocese of Birmingham.
Bishop John Sentamu, a lawyer who had to flee his native Uganda to escape Idi Amin, became a priest of the Church of England, and is now bishop of Birmingham, insisted the Diocese of St. Edmundsbury and Ipswich agree to buy two cows for Uganda under the “Send a Cow” plan before he would release Pendorf to take up his post as parish resources adviser next February.
In a recently published table ranking the Church of England’s 43 dioceses in order of generosity, Birmingham came in second while St. Edmundsbury and Ipswich came in 39th.
The “Send a Cow” charity began in 1988 when Uganda had been devastated by a long civil war and most of the quality dairy cows had died. A Ugandan bishop, aware of British milk surpluses, appealed to British farmers for help, and a group of Christian farmers responded by sending not milk but cows.
Pendorf, 58, came to Britain in 1971 after studying at Drew University in New Jersey and the Episcopal Theological School, Cambridge, Mass. His role in his new diocese will be to work with parishes to improve giving by church members.
“It is really about the outward and visible sign of our faith _ money,” he said. “As Jesus said, Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also: it is not the other way around.”
_ Robert Nowell
Quote of the Day: President Bush
(RNS) “It’s rightly said that Americans are a religious people. That’s in part because the `good news’ was translated by Tyndale, preached by Wesley, lived out in the example of William Booth. At times, Americans are even said to have a puritan streak _ where might that have come from? Well, we can start with the Puritans.”
_ President Bush, in an address at Whitehall Palace in London on Nov. 19.
DEA END RNS
