c. 2007 Religion News Service

Update: Billy Graham Released from Hospital

(RNS) Evangelist Billy Graham, who had been hospitalized for episodes of intestinal bleeding, went home Thursday (Aug. 30), his staff announced.

Graham, 88, entered Mission Health & Hospitals in Asheville, N.C., on Aug. 18 and underwent a colonoscopy four days later. The procedure revealed an area of active bleeding, which was treated with cauterization.

“We have been pleased that he has been able to come back from this incident as well as he has,” said Dr. Lucian Rice, an internal medicine specialist at the hospital, in a statement shortly before Graham’s discharge.

“He will continue to have therapy at home, and I feel that he can have a very good recovery.”

The colonoscopy showed that the bleeding problem was consistent with an arteriovenous malformation, which is a tangle of small blood vessels in the colon’s lining.

Medical staffers reported that the evangelist had been in good spirits and took frequent walks in the hospital, which is near his home in Montreat.

Graham suffers from Parkinson’s disease and other ailments and has been mostly homebound in recent years. Ruth Graham, his wife of more than 63 years, died in June.

_ Adelle M. Banks

Survey Says Women Solo Pastors Earn More Than Men

(RNS) Women clergy who serve as full-time solo pastors earn more than their male counterparts, a new study of church workers shows. But women who serve as senior pastors _ with other clergy serving beneath them _ earn less than males in the same position.

An overwhelming majority of solo pastors responding to a survey by Your Church, a ministry of Christianity Today International, were male. But the 6 percent of respondents who were female reported a total compensation that was 10.4 percent higher than male counterparts.

Looking at salaries and housing alone, researchers found, on average, that the earnings of female solo pastors were 8.7 percent higher than those of males.

The total compensation for female solo pastors was $62,472, compared to $56,558 for their male counterparts. In comparison, the average total compensation for women serving as senior pastors was $66,218 while their male counterparts had an average of $81,432.

Total compensation included the sum of salary and benefits, such as housing, retirement, continuing education, and life and health insurance.

The survey found the only other position where females reported higher compensation than their male counterparts was secretary/administrative assistant.

Information for the survey was gathered through mail and the Internet from January through May from subscribers of publications such as Church Law & Tax Report, Leadership Journal, Church Treasurer Alert! and Christianity Today International e-newsletters. Of the more than 5,750 respondents in 13 different church positions, 661 were solo pastors and 899 were senior pastors.

_ Adelle M. Banks

Orthodox Seminary Appoints Lawyer as Dean

NEW YORK (RNS) The flagship U.S. academic institution of Orthodox Judaism has appointed a rabbi with a law degree from Yale University as the new dean of its seminary.

Rabbi Yona Reiss will become dean of Yeshiva University’s Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary in New York. Reiss, who received his college degree from Yeshiva University and was ordained there, will replace Rabbi Zevulun Charlop. He officially assumes the post in July 2008.

“The kind of study they get there has to be of the highest levels of rigor and insight in terms of the discipline of Jewish learning,” University President Richard Joel said. “But it also has to be in a kind of seamless whole, with a sense of wonder about the world and discovery. For that task, Rabbi Reiss is kind of like the poster child.”

The appointment is significant because it comes at a time when there is some tension in the Modern Orthodox movement about how modern it should be, said Sylvia Barack Fishman, professor of contemporary Jewish life at Brandeis University.

“One response has been to reject modernity, to close it off,” Fishman said. “What the appointment of Rabbi Reiss seems to say to observers is, `No, we are not going to reject modern scientific knowledge and modern culture. We are going in the direction of embracing those things and using them to create a stronger traditional Judaism.”’

Reiss has worked in both the secular and religious worlds. He was an attorney with a New York law firm, and since 1998 has served as director of the largest rabbinical court in the U.S., the Beth Din of America.

Reiss said that experience fueled his passion for community service, something he hopes will influence the 340 students who are studying for the rabbinate at the seminary.

“I want others to be proud of having the benefit of this type of enlightened exposure to Torah Judaism and to bring the benefits of that education to the world,” he said. “I think the greater community is looking for guidance and would benefit from what Yeshiva University has to offer. We can reach out more.”

Reiss will be the fourth dean of the seminary, which has ordained 2,700 students since it was founded in 1896.

_ Ansley Roan

Quote of the Day: Catholic Writer James Martin

(RNS) “Mother Teresa’s ministry with the poor won her the Nobel Prize and the admiration of a believing world. Her ministry to a doubting modern world may have just begun.”

_ The Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and author of “My Life With the Saints,” responding to a new book of Mother Teresa’s writings, in which she often struggles with faith and doubt. Martin’s op-ed appeared in The New York Times.

KRE/LF END RNS