c. 2004 Religion News Service
N.H. Episcopal Church Leaves Over Clash With Gay Bishop
(RNS) A New Hampshire Episcopal church that did not want to be subjected to the authority of an openly gay bishop has effectively left the church, according to local church leaders.
The decision of the Church of the Redeemer in Rochester comes after months of conflict between the church and its openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson, whose election last year has prompted criticism around the world.
Problems began last year after then-Bishop Douglas Theuner suspended the church’s priest, the Rev. Don Wilson, because he opposed Robinson’s election as the diocese’s new bishop.
Since then, the church has requested that a visiting bishop from the conservative Anglican Communion Network be given oversight over the congregation.
Robinson said he is “heartbroken” over the Redeemer vestry’s decision to leave the church rather than accept him as bishop.
“We offered them 95 percent of what they were seeking,” Robinson said. “They chose not to accept any offer, would not grant the final 5 percent of authority that allows the tiniest thread of relationship with their bishop.”
In his five-page proposal, Robinson offered to allow Bishop Daniel Herzog of Albany, N.Y., who is a member of the Anglican Communion Network, to preside over the parish. Robinson said he approved of Herzog because the bishop agreed he would respect Robinson’s authority and “do nothing that would assist Redeemer, Rochester, in leaving the Episcopal Church.” Robinson also said he would reinstate Wilson as the church’s priest.
In exchange, the church would allow Robinson to fulfill his official responsibility to visit the church once every three years. Robinson also requested that the church invite him once a year to an informal parish event, such as a potluck dinner or a Bible study.
“This seems like an act of mutual hospitality that would make Jesus happy,” Robinson said.
The vestry, in a 36-3 vote, rejected all the bishop’s proposals and turned over the keys to the church.
“We don’t want to leave the Episcopal Church, we just want to be under the care of a different bishop,” Kathy Lewis, the church’s treasurer, said before the meeting.
Robinson said Sunday services would be held this weekend at the church and invited all church members to “come back” to the parish.
_ Juliana Finucane
Israeli Supreme Court Overturns Pork Ban
JERUSALEM (RNS) In a landmark decision, Israel’s Supreme Court has ruled that pork may be sold in certain areas around the country so long as it does not upset the majority of local residents.
Last week’s ruling nullified all pork bans that have been imposed by various municipalities over the years, but leaves open the possibility that local governments will issue new bans based on the religious and ethnic character of individual neighborhoods and communities.
Although it has always been possible to purchase non-kosher meat in many locations, the 1956 Law of Authority granted municipalities the authority to ban the sale of pork, which is considered unkosher for Jews.
While some permitted pork to be sold in certain neighborhoods, others imposed a total pork “blackout,” forcing pork purchasers to travel a distance.
The pork ban _ a small part of the greater religious-secular struggle that has always existed between certain segments of Israeli society _ has caused considerable tension in communities where religious and secular Jews (and non-Jews) live in close proximity. It has become even more contentious during the past decade, since the arrival of 1 million mostly secular Russian immigrants, one-quarter of them non-Jews.
While many secular citizens celebrated what they viewed as a victory for individual human rights and an end to what they termed “religious coercion,” Orthodox Jews bemoaned the ruling.
Jonathan Rosenblum, the director of Am Echad, an Orthodox media company, said, “It’s distressing that the High Court of the `Jewish State’ attributes no value to reinforcing Jewish identity, and does not recognize any legitimacy to ensuring the Jewish character to the public square.”
_ Michele Chabin
Pope to Visit French Shrine of Lourdes in August
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope John Paul II will visit the French shrine of Lourdes in August to mark the 150th anniversary of the proclamation of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, the Vatican said Thursday (June 24).
The two-day trip will be the 104th that John Paul will have made outside Italy in 25 years and eight months as pope. He will fly to France on Aug. 14, celebrate Mass on Aug. 15 and return that night.
Because of his increasingly frailty, the 84-year-old pontiff has confined his travels to Europe for the past two years but is reported to be considering a visit to Mexico in October for a World Eucharistic Congress. His last trip was to Switzerland on June 5 and 6 to address a gathering of Swiss youth.
Pope Pius IX proclaimed on Dec. 8, 1854, that the Virgin Mary was conceived without original sin and its consequences because she was to become the mother of Christ. The church celebrates the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on Dec. 8.
Aug. 15 is also a major holy day devoted to Mary, the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The doctrine of the Assumption holds that Mary was taken up body and soul into heaven because of her immaculate conception.
John Paul made a similar pilgrimage to Lourdes on Aug. 14 and 15, 1983, when he was still in good health. This time he will return like many other pilgrims, ailing and in a wheelchair.
The shrine marks the 18 visions of the Virgin Mary that 14-year-old Bernadette Soubiroux reported having between Feb. 11 and July 16, 1858, in the rock cave of Massabielle on the River Gave.
A popular site of pilgrimage for healing, Lourdes attracts an estimated 6 million visitors a year. Some 6,000 cures have been reported over the years, and 65 of them have been certified as miracles.
_ Peggy Polk
Pope and Leader of Latter-day Saints Honored With Presidential Medals
WASHINGTON (RNS) Pope John Paul II and Gordon B. Hinckley, president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, are among the 2004 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Honor.
Hinckley appeared at the White House ceremony Wednesday (June 23) on his 94th birthday, while Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, the papal representative to the United States, stood in for the pontiff.
“Millions of Americans reserve a special respect for Gordon B. Hinckley, who still works every day as president of the Mormon church,” President Bush said. “He’s always shown the heart of a servant and the gifts of a leader. … His church has given him its highest position of trust, and today this wise and patriotic man receives his country’s highest civilian honor.”
In a statement released upon learning he would receive the award, Hinckley said he shared the honor with others in his church.
“I am profoundly grateful,” he said. “In a larger sense, it recognizes and honors the church which has given me so many opportunities and whose interests I have tried to serve.”
The president personally presented the pope with the medal when he visited Vatican City on June 4. During the East Room ceremony, Bush described the pope as “a world leader who is known, respected and loved as perhaps no other figure of our time.”
He added that John Paul’s 26 years as leader of the Roman Catholic Church have prompted global improvements.
“From his days as a young seminarian to this very hour, he’s been a foe of tyranny, a minister of true authority, and a person of great wisdom and kindness and moral courage,” Bush said.
Others among the 13 recipients were actress and singer Doris Day, the late entrepreneur Estee Lauder and golfer Arnold Palmer.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Quote of the Day: Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett, R-Md.
(RNS) “I remember the king and queen thing. But we have the king and queen of the prom, the king and queen of 4-H, the Mardi Gras and all sorts of other things. I had no idea what he was king of.”
_ Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett, R-Md., responding to an inquiry from The New York Times about a controversy ceremony in March in which the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the leader of the Unification Church, donned a crown and declared himself the Messiah before members of Congress gathered in a Senate office building.
KRE/PH END RNS
