c. 2006 Religion News Service
Cardinal Keeler Injured, Priest Killed in Car Accident in Italy
(RNS) Cardinal William Keeler of Baltimore was injured and a retired Pennsylvania priest was killed Saturday (Oct. 7) in a car accident near Terni, Italy. A third priest who was a passenger in the car was also injured.
The Rev. Bernard Quinn, who was 78 and retired, was riding in the back seat of the car when the clerics’ car was hit by another vehicle. Keeler, riding in the front passenger’s seat, suffered a broken ankle. Monsignor Thomas Smith, 75, pastor of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Lancaster, Pa., who was driving, suffered cracked ribs.
Keeler, 75, is the former bishop of Harrisburg, Pa., and knew both priests from his time there. The three men were vacationing in Italy when the accident occurred.
“Father Quinn was a very humble, pious priest; a brilliant man and a well-learned scholar,” said Marge Graney, who was parish council president during Quinn’s ministry at Holy Infant Parish in York Haven, Pa. “He had the ability to bring people together and was a great organizer. Nobody could say no to him.”
Harrisburg Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades said: “Cardinal Keeler said to me that, as they were driving on Saturday, Father Quinn started talking about how happy he was and how much he was at peace in his life. And he even said, you know, `I’ll be ready to meet the Lord whenever he calls me,”’ Rhoades said.
“And it was only hours later, of course, that the accident occurred and Father Quinn lost his life.”
Sean Caine, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Baltimore, said Keeler was wearing a seat belt and the air bag deployed when the car was hit on the passenger side.
“Father Quinn loved being the world traveler, and he was with his two dear friends,” Graney said.
_ Judith Patton
Indian Catholics Target `Moral Depravity’ Among Call Center Workers
CHENNAI, India (RNS) Roman Catholic leaders in India have launched a “pastoral care” program to help “cleanse” the minds of young people working in the country’s burgeoning call center and BPO (business process outsourcing) industry.
A prime focus of the church’s program _ which includes a series of retreats and counseling sessions _ is the southern metropolis of Bangalore, popularly known as “the Silicon Valley of India.” The program aims to educate young people about the adverse effects of extramarital affairs, live-in relationships and one-night stands.
Many call centers and outsourcing offices handle customer calls, direct marketing and data processing for American companies. Because of the time difference between the U.S. and India, many call center employees work off-hours.
Mumbai’s Daily News and Analysis newspaper said that, alarmed by reports of “moral depravity” in call centers, the church has begun a move to “cleanse” young minds which give way under the stress of irregular working hours. It said the church is especially worried about the large number of young Christians in the BPO industry who are “straying from God’s path and succumbing to temptations.”
The Bangalore program was launched a few weeks ago by the local unit of Jesus Youth, an international Catholic youth movement, in response to a request from Archbishop Bernard Moras. Mass, confession sessions and spiritual counseling will help call center employees who work odd hours.
Moras said, “We don’t want to do moral policing, but we want to advise young people that being `modern’ doesn’t mean losing their family traditions or moral values.”
In New Delhi, the Indian capital, Father Dominic Emmanuel, spokesman for the Delhi Catholic Archdiocese, said youth programs in every archdiocese would be mobilized to help. “We have to show them we care by giving them guidance and showing them the dangers of adultery and casual sex. It is important to tell the youth what to do and not do to be on the right path. This is not being patronizing towards them, but simply letting them know the price they have to pay for leading such lifestyles.”
Industry representatives, however, refuted the church’s claim that their offices are dens of depravity.
“It’s a misconception that call centers harbor extramarital affairs and one-night stands. These can happen in any industry where men and women work together,” said Shanmugam Nagarajan, founder and chief operating officer of the company 24/7 Customer. “Negative statements tarnish the industry’s image.”
_ Achal Narayanan
Houston Preacher Says GOP Delaying Second Coming
CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio (RNS) Voters should oust congressional Republican leaders because U.S. foreign policy is delaying the second coming of Jesus Christ, according to a evangelical Houston-based preacher.
K.A. Paul railed against the war in Iraq on Sunday (Oct. 8) before a crowd of 1,000 at the New Spirit Revival Center here, his first stop on what he hopes is a 30-city campaign.
Paul said he believes the Bush administration has delayed the second coming because U.S. foreign policy has blocked Christian missionaries from working in Iraq, Iran and Syria.
“Somebody needs to say enough is enough,” he said as worshippers stood, waved and called out in support.
Paul, who claimed to support conservative political leaders in the past, is launching “a crusade to save America from the wrath of God and Republicans abusing their power,” according to his press materials.
His focus Sunday was on national races. “God is mad at this country,” Paul told the congregation. He described the war in Iraq as “unnecessary genocide.”
But his own tactics have also drawn criticism. Paul runs a group called Global Peace Initiative, based in Houston, and a ministry outgrowth called Gospel to the Unreached Millions.
Critics accuse the group of sinking cash into refurbishing and operating a Boeing 747 he calls Global Peace One.
“Paul flies around the globe using Jesus to pull in worldwide donations _ unfortunately spending more money on jet fuel than orphans,” according to a June article in the weekly Houston Press.
The Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, which monitors charitable, religious and other nonprofit groups, severed its ties with Paul’s group last year when Paul’s office failed to provide information about its board of directors and the use of its resources.
It’s also unclear how far this tour will go. Paul on Sunday didn’t have a firm list of the cities he’ll visit before Nov. 7.
_ Becky Gaylord
Appeals Court Reopens Suit Against School Policy on Religious Songs
NEWARK, N.J. (RNS) A federal circuit court has reinstated a lawsuit challenging the Maplewood-South Orange school district’s ban on religious songs, ruling that the judge who dismissed the suit relied on a document that should not have been in the case.
The 3-0 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit sends the case back to U.S. District Judge William Walls in Newark, opening a new front in a battle that has attracted national attention.
The Maplewood-South Orange district enacted a policy in 1990 that banned the singing of religious songs in school performances. It stirred up new controversy in 2004 by extending the ban to include instrumental versions of religious songs as well as vocals.
Michael Stratechuk, a parent and musician, filed suit in December 2004 with the help of the Thomas More Law Center, a public interest law firm in Ann Arbor, Mich., that promotes religious freedom for Christians.
The lawsuit contends the ban on all religious music amounts to government hostility toward religion, which it said is a violation of First Amendment protections of freedom of worship.
But the school district responded that the First Amendment prohibits government from promoting any one religion, while allowing it to provide information about religion for educational purposes.
Attorneys for the school district filed a motion to dismiss the suit, based on the district’s official policy on religious material. The policy permits religious music as long as it “achieves specific goals of the written curriculum” and “neither inhibits nor advances any religious point of view.”
Over the objection of Stratechuk’s attorneys, the judge relied on the official policy in dismissing the lawsuit on Sept. 29, 2005.
But the circuit judges agreed with Stratechuk’s lawyers, saying the plaintiff had never mentioned the official policy and was challenging a practice that existed independent of the policy.
_ William Kleinknecht
Quote of the Day: Episcopal Presiding Bishop-elect Katharine Jefferts Schori
(RNS) “We can’t say that this part over here doesn’t like God or that person over there doesn’t. If God created all that is, then God’s image has to be embedded in it somewhere and it’s our job to find it.”
_ Episcopal Presiding Bishop-elect Katharine Jefferts Schori. She was quoted by Episcopal News Service.
KRE/PH END RNS
