c. 2005 Religion News Service

Pope Invites Methodists to Join Catholic-Lutheran Agreement

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Benedict XVI encouraged Methodist leaders on Friday (Dec. 9) to join a landmark 1999 agreement between Lutherans and the Vatican that overcame centuries of disagreement on the nature of salvation.

In his first official meeting with top-ranking officials of the World Methodist Council (WMC), Benedict urged the council to endorse the Joint Declaration, a 1999 Catholic-Lutheran accord on how humankind achieves salvation.

“Should the World Methodist Council express its intent to associate itself with the Joint Declaration, it would assist in contributing to the healing and reconciliation we ardently desire, and would be a significant step towards the stated goal of full visible unity in faith,” Benedict told the delegation led by WMC President Bishop Sunday Mbang of Nigeria.

Martin Luther sparked the 16th century Protestant Reformation by challenging the Catholic doctrine of “justification,” which holds that good works are essential to attaining salvation. Lutherans held that salvation was God-given and achieved by faith alone.

In the 1999 compromise, both sides agreed that salvation is achieved through God’s grace, which is reflected in good works.

Bishop Michael Putney, a Vatican negotiator for Catholic-Methodist relations, said he expects the council to endorse the declaration at its worldwide conference in Seoul, South Korea, next summer.

Representatives of the WMC, which brings together more than 70 Methodist churches, could not be reached for comment.

Putney said Methodism’s relatively short history _ it emerged as an 18th century renewal movement in the Church of England _ could be an asset to future dialogue. “We don’t have the historical baggage to deal with that has caused centuries of pain and distrust with other” denominations, Putney said.

Despite the push for unity, however, Methodists and many other Protestant groups remain wary of the Roman Catholic hierarchy and the centrality of the Virgin Mary to the Catholic faith.

_ Stacy Meichtry

N.J. Governor Who Resigned Under Scandal Finds Gay-Friendly Church

NEWARK, N.J. (RNS) Former Gov. James McGreevey, who struggled to square his Catholic faith with his political positions even before he declared himself a “gay American” last year, has been regularly attending services at Episcopal churches.

A former Catholic altar boy, McGreevey, 48, said at a recent Hackensack fundraiser that for the past several months, he’s been splitting time between the Church of the Holy Comforter in Rahway, N.J., and St. Batholemew’s Church in Manhattan.

McGreevey would not say whether his attendance at the two Episcopal churches signaled a break from the Roman Catholic Church, and he declined to answer additional questions posed by a reporter.

“I’m just here to support a good cause tonight,” he said.

McGreevey was a “guest of honor” along with actor Matthew Broderick at the fundraiser, held to raise cash for “Claiming the Blessing,” a national group that promotes a greater acceptance of gays and lesbians in the Episcopal Church.

McGreevey was invited to the fundraiser by Louie Crew, a prominent figure in the Episcopal Church and the founder of Integrity, an Episcopal gay and lesbian group.

Asked whether it was appropriate to honor McGreevey, who resigned in scandal last year after publicly acknowledging an extramarital affair with another man, Crew said McGreevey had made a “horrible mistake” but that he had “paid a huge price.”

Crew, in making a toast at the fundraiser, touched on McGreevey’s exit from government and on the long-running speculation, dating to his days as mayor of Woodbridge, that he might be gay. Addressing McGreevey, Crew said, “You know what it means to go from presumed to no longer presumed.”

The Episcopal Church is far more liberal on gay rights than the Catholic Church. Throughout his political career, McGreevey highlighted his Irish Catholic roots, but some of his personal beliefs _ including support for abortion rights and the death penalty _ run counter to church teachings.

The divide between McGreevey’s political positions and the church’s stance came to a head in April 2004, when Trenton Bishop John Smith singled out the former governor for criticism.

At the time, McGreevey said the Vatican was forcing on politicians a “false choice between one’s faith and the importance of governing in an open, democratic society.”

_ Jeff Diamant and Mark Mueller

World Council of Churches Says Global Warming a Spiritual Crisis

(RNS) The World Council of Churches on Friday (Dec. 9) told a major environmental meeting in Montreal that global warming and climate change is not only a technological and economic issue but a spiritual crisis as well.

The statement was prepared for presentation at Friday’s final session of the United Nations-sponsored Nov. 28-Dec. 9 meeting of some 90 nations on extending the Kyoto Protocols aimed at reducing global warming by reducing emissions from fossil fuels.

Some 10,000 official delegates, observers, environmentalists, business representatives and religious leaders are attending the meeting.

It used a refrain _ “We would like to light a candle” _ to introduce each section of the seven-paragraph statement outlining the international ecumenical organization’s views on the controversial issue of global warming and how it should be combated.

The United States, for example, has not ratified the Kyoto accord and President Bush has said it would be an economic disaster if implemented. The accord came into force in February, without the United States’ participation.

“We would like to light a candle because we want to remind us all of the pain and disaster that is already suffered in various regions of the Earth due to climate change,” the WCC statement said. It said climate change had already caused forced migration of people and said future disasters could affect people living in the Artic and the Pacific islands.

“We would like to light a candle because by burning down the candle we want to remind us all that time is running out,” the statement said in another section.

“We pray that an agreement may be reached for negotiating equitable and sustainable targets for post-2012,” the WCC said.

However, it seemed unlikely the final document that will be adopted by the UN delegates at the end of the session would have any of the commitments called for by the WCC.

Instead, the delegates appeared to be near an agreement outlining a vague road map extending the Kyoto Protocols _ without a timetable or new goals. Currently, the agreement calls for emission cuts of 5.2 percent below 1990 levels by the 2008-2012 period. The Kyoto agreement expires in 2012 but requires that participants begin talks now.

_ David E. Anderson

Membership Trends Spell Doom for Canadian Anglicans

TORONTO (RNS) A grim new report says the Anglican Church of Canada is losing 13,000 members each year and faces extinction by the middle of this century if trends are not countered.

Membership in the Anglican Church has fallen by 53 percent over the past 40 years and continues to drop by 2 percent a year, the steepest recorded decline of any mainstream Canadian church, the study says.

The report, presented in October to a closed-door meeting of the church’s House of Bishops, is a wake-up call, concedes the primate of the Canadian Anglican Church, Andrew Hutchison.

“It’s causing us to refocus our efforts on issues that we haven’t been able to address effectively in recent years,” Hutchison told the National Post newspaper.

He said that for several years the church has thrown its “energy and attention” into settling abuse cases at Indian residential schools, at the expense of “Church development.”

After years of legal wrangling, the federal government last month offered a $1.9 billion compensation package to tens of thousands of aboriginal Canadians who attended church-run Indian residential schools.

Observers say the worldwide Anglican Church’s protracted debate over homosexuality is also thinning the pews.

The Canadian report, prepared by Keith McKerracher, a volunteer adviser to the church, shows that between 1961 and 2001, Anglican dioceses’ rolls in Canada plunged from 1.36 million to 642,000.

And the decline is accelerating: Membership fell by 13 percent from 1981 to 1991, and by a further 20 percent between 1991 and 2001.

McKerracher says his warning to Anglican bishops was clear: “My point was, `We’re declining much faster than any other church. We’re losing 12,836 Anglicans a year. That’s 2 percent a year. If you take that rate of decline and draw a line on the graph, there’ll only be one person left in the Anglican Church by 2061.’

“The church is in crisis. They can’t carry on like it’s business as usual.”

McKerracher suggested the church conduct marketing research to find out why people are fleeing. “But I don’t think the Anglicans will do anything. They talk things to death.”

_ Ron Csillag

Quote of the Day: Secularized `Silent Night’ Lyrics

(RNS) “Cold in the night, no one in sight/winter winds whirl and bite/How I wish I were happy and warm/safe with my family, out of the storm.”

_ Lyrics to an altered version of “Silent Night” that will be sung during Ridgeway Elementary’s “winter program” in Dodgeville, Wis., cited by Citizen Link, an e-newsletter produced by the conservative Christian group Focus on the Family, as the latest affront to the religious significance of Christmas.

KRE/RB END RNS