c. 2007 Religion News Service

Williams Meets With Bishops, Marks New Orleans Recovery

NEW ORLEANS (RNS) Episcopal bishops opened a crucial summit Thursday (Sept. 20) on how the issue of homosexuality may threaten their status within the worldwide Anglican Communion _ but still found time for a jazz-fueled prayer party, New Orleans style.

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, spiritual leader of the world’s 77 million Anglicans, led some 2,000 worshippers at an ecumenical service celebrating the city’s efforts to recover from the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina.

“All things are possible with God,” Williams declared. He clapped and swayed to the beat as the congregation waved handkerchiefs and several hundred people danced in the aisles to strains of “When the Saints Come Marching In.”

The service was held in the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, where thousands of storm victims took shelter as the city flooded two years ago. The bishops presented offerings totaling $931,000 to aid in the recovery.

“This place was the site of so much suffering and so much pain,” New Orleans Bishop Charles E. Jenkins III said. But, he said, good can come from the suffering if New Orleans succeeds in building a more “just and inclusive society.”

Some 150 bishops held seven hours of talks with Williams, Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, and a dozen representatives of other churches from the Anglican Communion.

Williams was scheduled to leave New Orleans Friday, but the talks will continue through Tuesday. The U.S. bishops face a Sept. 30 deadline from Anglican leaders to promise to stop consecrating openly gay and lesbian bishops and refrain from blessing same-sex union.

“Our conversation has been respectful, looking at all the issues before us,” Maryland Bishop John Rabb said Thursday afters closed-door talks at a downtown hotel.

In a statement, Jefferts Schori deplored the “abundant disdain, violent words and destructive action toward those who hold positions at variance with their own. None of us is wholly free of blame in this game.”

_ Peggy Polk

Bishop Ordained With Vatican, Beijing Approval

VATICAN CITY (RNS) In the latest sign of improved relations between China’s state-run Catholic church and the country’s “underground” church loyal to Rome, another Chinese bishop was ordained Friday (Sept. 21) with the approval of both China’s communist government and the Holy See.

The Rev. Giuseppe Li Shan, 42, was ordained Friday morning in Beijing’s Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.

Although Li was chosen by the state-run Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, the Vatican’s AsiaNews agency reported that his appointment was approved by Rome.

Li’s ordination comes less than two weeks after Paolo Xiao Zejiang, 40, became coadjutor bishop of the southern diocese of Guizhou, also with Vatican endorsement.

The two events suggest a significant easing in a historically tense relationship.

Chinese Catholics have been divided for half a century between an underground church loyal to Rome _ many of whose leaders have been imprisoned for long periods by the government _ and an “official” church that now claims 5 million members. The total number of Catholics in China today is estimated at 12 million to 15 million.

In an open letter to Chinese Catholics in June, Pope Benedict XVI reiterated the Vatican’s longstanding demand that the Chinese church be free of state control, and emphatically described government-approved bishops as “illegitimate” unless their appointments are confirmed by Rome.

Earlier this month, the U.S.-based Cardinal Kung Foundation reported that Han Dingxiang, 71, the underground bishop of Yong Nian, died on Sept. 9 under what it described as suspicious circumstances after eight years in police custody.

_ Francis X. Rocca

N.J. Revokes Tax-Exempt Status for Methodist Group

NEWARK, N.J. (RNS) State officials have revoked the tax-exempt status of a Methodist-run seaside pavilion that church officials have said is off-limits to gay and lesbian civil union services.

Lisa P. Jackson, who heads the state’s Department of Environmental Protection, withdrew the Green Acres program tax exempt status because “… it is clear that the Pavilion is not open to all persons on an equal basis.”

“Simply put, the Pavilion needs to be available equally to all persons to retain its tax exempt eligibility under this particular statute,” Jackson said in a letter to the Methodist Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association.

Several lesbian couples were denied when they asked to hold civil union ceremonies in the boardwalk gazebo overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. The Methodists call the open-sided structure a chapel, and say civil unions conflict with Methodist doctrine.

The lesbian couples filed a complaint with the state civil rights agency, claiming discrimination. The Camp Meeting Association, in turn, filed a federal lawsuit, claiming its constitutional rights would be violated if it were required to allow civil unions.

Gay activists called Jackson’s decision “a significant victory” for local residents. “It’s time for the Camp Meeting Association to see the handwriting on the pavilion, and end its discriminatory ban now,” said Steve Goldstein, chairman of Garden State Equality.

Jackson said the association can continue to claim a tax exemption “for the remainder of the Association’s property” on the parcel, but Neptune Township Tax Assessor Bernard Haney insisted a single block and lot number cannot be separated into parts.

“If the state withdraws tax exempt status, it applies to the entire parcel, which is 21.72 acres of oceanfront,” Haney said. “It’s all or nothing.”

Haney said the parcel that includes the pavilion was reassessed in 2004 at $21 million. At the current tax rate, the taxes on it would be about $378,000. He stressed, however, that because the land is zoned historic/recreation, a “more realistic evaluation” would be $500,000, with estimated taxes of $11,000.

_ Judy Peet

Quote of the Day: Mariposa (Calif.) County Supervisor Brad Aborn

(RNS) “I’m sorry, maybe I’m missing something in my upbringing as a Methodist, but Paintball for Jesus? God help us all. Seriously, this teaches bad habits of shooting each other.”

_ Mariposa (Calif.) County Supervisor Brad Aborn on a proposal to bring “Paintball for Jesus” to public land. He was quoted by the Contra Costa Times.

KRE DS END RNS