c. 2003 Religion News Service

Jerusalem Christian Leader Prods Israelis, Palestinians on Peace

JERUSALEM (RNS) Michael Sabbah, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, used his Christmas message to call on Israeli and Palestinian leaders to once and for all work toward peace rather than engage in bloodshed.

Sabbah, a Palestinian nationalist and often-outspoken critic of the Israeli government, acknowledged that both Israelis and Palestinians have legitimate hopes and aspirations.

“The Christmas message is first of all a message of hope and spiritual strength that opposes all material strength. Truly nobody, neither Israeli nor Palestinian, wants war and bloodshed. Israelis are in search of their security and Palestinians are in search of their land and liberty,” Sabbah said.

Sabbah stressed that “the holy places, the arena of our daily lives and of our bloody struggle, are not places of death and hatred but rather holy places. They are places in which we put ourselves in the presence of God in order to meet God there as well as to meet the children of God of whatever nationality or religion they might be.”

The patriarch criticized Israeli and Palestinian leaders, insisting that “in this world, leaders speak peace and make war. The word of the prophet applies well to our times: `They have mislead my people by saying peace, when there is no peace.’

“In order to reach peace,” Sabbah said, “one must believe that the other is capable of wanting peace and edifying with us. The rulers must begin by professing this.”

Alluding to the Geneva initiative _ the unofficial peace proposal drawn up by former Israeli and Palestinian diplomats _ Sabbah said, “The voices that are now being heard from among the people and the diverse initiatives that call for peace and for an official change of attitude show that the two peoples want peace and that peace is indeed possible.”

In the meantime, Sabbah said, “we (Palestinians) continue to endure violence, humiliation of the human person, fear and insecurity. When we pray and meditate on the mystery of Christmas, we say that this must all change.”

During a question-and-answer session with journalists following his address, Sabbah said the Israelis “are showing very good will to allow all the festivities to go on in Bethlehem” this Christmas.

In response to another question, Sabbah said Palestinians “must make the ideological and psychological efforts to prepare for peace.”

However, he placed most of the onus on the Israelis when he added, “Their leaders must end the occupation and dismantle the separation wall” that when completed will sever Israel from the West Bank.

_ Michele Chabin

Archbishop of Canterbury Criticizes Terror Suspects’ Detention

LONDON (RNS) Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams will use his first Christmas sermon in his new post to criticize the detention without trial of terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and in Belmarsh prison in England.

In an interview with the Sunday Times, Williams said the detention of nine British Muslims at Guantanamo Bay and 14 men in Belmarsh made it harder to encourage and give the right message to moderate Muslims, like the chairman and members of the Iraqi Governing Council who are “very keen” to establish constitutional principles of religious toleration in what will clearly be a Muslim state.

“If we want to persuade moderate Muslims to sign up to toleration and pluralism of the right kind, anything that gives the impression that we are targeting Muslims is problematic,” he said. “We have a lot of ground to make up.”

Williams, who in April convened a seminar in Doha, Qatar, that brought together some 30 Muslim and Christian scholars from around the world, emphasized that one could hold out a hand of friendship without in any sense compromising belief or truth. The dialogue at Qatar showed that one could have “public disagreement and mutual respect,” he said.

Williams is also expected to use his Christmas sermon to criticize President Jacques Chirac’s decision to ban the wearing of the hijab, or headscarf, in French schools.

“The dogmatic secularism of the French government is becoming very provocative and very destructive,” he told the Sunday Times. “The argument in favor of keeping religious symbols is that there is no such thing as a neutral public space in which everybody has to put aside that which makes them distinctive.”

_ Robert Nowell

Abuse Expert Estimates 3,000 Abusive Priests, 24,000 Victims

(RNS) A California psychologist who has counseled abusive priests and their victims estimates that there have been 3,000 predatory priests and about 24,000 victims in the United States.

The estimates by Thomas G. Plante, a professor of psychology at Santa Clara University, come two months before a church-appointed oversight panel is scheduled to release its own accounting of guilty priests and their victims on Feb. 27.

Plante, writing in the Jan. 5 edition of the Jesuit magazine America, said the best estimates indicate that about 2 percent of Catholic priests have had a sexual encounter with a minor. Over the past 50 years, there have been about 150,000 Catholic priests in the United States.

The limited available research shows that each abusive priest has an average of about eight victims, resulting in his figures for priests and victims.

“To assume, however, that priests are much more likely to be sex offenders than men from other groups or from the general population is not supported by solid and current research data,” said Plante, who has been counseling victims and abusers for 15 years.

The church’s 12-member National Review Board, which is monitoring the church’s response to the sex scandal, will release findings compiled by researchers at John Jay College of Criminal Justice _ the first time a church-wide tally has been attempted.

Plante called the church’s sex abuse scandal “one of the strongest, most destructive and long-lasting earth-shaking events” in church history, but found some signs for hope.

Plante predicted there would be fewer cases in the future because the average abuser has either already been caught or is nearing retirement age. Plante said priests ordained in the 1970s _ which was the average “cohort” of predatory priests _ were caught up in the sexual revolution and landmark changes in the life of the church.

Plante also sees hope in increased vigilance by the laity and the media, changes in evaluating seminarians and dealing with abusers, and the fact that “priests simply do not have the kind of unlimited trust and access to children they once had.”

“The sexual abuse crisis, although horrific and painful, ultimately will make for a better church, with far less possibility for future abuse of children by priests,” he wrote.

_ Kevin Eckstrom

Vancouver Bishop Closes Church Opposed to Same-Sex Unions

ABBOTSFORD, British Columbia (RNS) The congregation of Holy Cross Church will gather on Christmas Day in a parishioner’s home after the Vancouver area’s Anglican bishop closed their church, which won’t support the bishop’s decision to bless same-sex unions.

Despite the timing of the closure, the Rev. James Wagner said he still intends to celebrate Mass on Christmas Day. “Can you imagine abandoning my people at this point and not serving them communion on Christmas Day?” said Wagner. “I can’t do that to them.”

Officials for the Diocese of New Westminster say the 50 members of Holy Cross brought the closure upon themselves by declaring the parish “independent,” which led to the diocese cutting off financial support.

Wagner’s parish is among 12 in the diocese _ out of a total of 80 _ that have rejected the authority of Bishop Michael Ingham because he has allowed same-sex unions to be blessed in the diocese.

Holy Cross was a mission church that had been surviving with the help of $110,000 (U.S) in startup donations from the diocese. The other breakaway churches don’t rely on the diocese for their money. They have stopped paying annual dues to the diocese and are seeking oversight from an another, like-minded conservative bishop.

Neale Adams, communications officer with the diocese, said Tuesday (Dec. 23) that Ingham has been “very reconciling” with Holy Cross and that the church’s termination is “purely an administrative thing.”

“It was assumed that they wanted to leave (the diocese),” Adams said in reference to Holy Cross’ application for oversight from Yukon Bishop Terry Buckle. “This isn’t because a mission church opposes same-sex blessings. It’s because the church opposes the Anglican church allowing the blessings.”

Adams said there is a possibility of reconciliation, but it depends on the parish, or the outcome of a task force set up by the Canadian House of Bishops to look at parishes opposed to the decision.

“If they said, `Sure, we’d like to be back in the diocese,’ we’d reconsider,” Adams said.

The Anglican Church in Canada is a sister church to the Episcopal Church in the United States, which has also angered conservatives by consecrating an openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson, in New Hampshire.

_ Douglas Todd

Actress and Pastor Della Reese Among Gospel Heritage Award Honorees

(RNS) Actress and pastor Della Reese will be among the honorees at an upcoming Gospel Heritage Awards ceremony.

The annual gala will be held Feb. 19 in the Atlanta area as part of an annual Praise & Worship Conference featuring African-American gospel music artists.

Reese, known for her recent starring role in the “Touched by an Angel” television program as well as her pastorate of a West Hollywood, Calif., church, will be joined by honorees and gospel artists Dorothy Norwood and John P. Kee & New Life. An additional honoree is Bishop Eddie Long, pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, the Lithonia, Ga., megachurch where the event is held.

“We’re honored to salute these legends of the gospel industry,” said Teresa Hairston, founder of the Gospel Heritage Foundation, based in Fayetteville, Ga.

In a statement, she cited Norwood for her contributions over four decades to the gospel industry and said Reese has influenced millions through her ministry and television series. Hairston congratulated Long for his ministry within and beyond his congregation of more than 20,000 members and called Kee “one of the most talented songwriters and artists in gospel.”

Past recipients of the Gospel Heritage Award have included Pastor Shirley Caesar, Bishop T.D. Jakes, Dottie Peoples and the late Mattie Moss Clark.

_ Adelle M. Banks

Quote of the Day: United Methodist Official R. Randy Day

(RNS) “The Christ child born in Bethlehem never said you must destroy a village in order to save it, or invade a country in order to save it. Describing such acts of violence as `missions’ does not fool the Creator.”

_ The Rev. R. Randy Day, general secretary of the Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church, in a Christmas commentary distributed by United Methodist News Service.

DEA END RNS