c. 2007 Religion News Service
Pope names 23 new cardinals, including two Americans
VATICAN CITY _ Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday (Oct. 17) said he will elevate 23 men, including two Americans, to the highest ranks of the Roman Catholic hierarchy when he makes them cardinals at a ceremony next month in Rome.
Eighteen of the newest cardinals will be under the age of 80, and thus eligible to vote for the next pope.
They include Archbishop Daniel N. DiNardo, 58, of Galveston-Houston and Archbishop John P. Foley, 71, a longtime Vatican official from Philadelphia who currently serves as Pro-Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.
While Foley’s appointment was long expected, DiNardo’s came as a surprise to many. The selection seems to reflect the rising importance of the southwestern United States, with its growing population of largely Hispanic Catholics.
“There’s been talk for years about a cardinal from the Sun Belt, but everyone expected San Antonio or New Orleans, because those are much older (archdioceses),” said the Rev. Thomas J. Reese of the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University. “I guess the Vatican chose to go with population size.”
With 1.3 million Catholics, Galveston-Houston is the largest archdiocese in the Sun Belt and the 10th largest in the American church.
The list of new cardinals is also notable for the absence of Washington Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl, 66, who had been widely predicted to receive a red hat. The reason, Reese suggests, may have been to avoid two cardinal electors from the same diocese. Wuerl’s predecessor, Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, is only 77.
The new appointments will bring the total number of American cardinal electors to a historic high of 13, more than 10 percent of the electoral college. Four other U.S. cardinals are over the age of 80.
In addition to the two Americans, the newest cardinal electors include five Italians, two Spaniards, two Africans, two Latin Americans, a Frenchman, an Irishman, a Pole, a German and an Indian.
The new cardinals will receive their titles, red hats and rings of office at a ceremony, called a consistory, on Nov. 24.
_ Francis X. Rocca
Embattled Oral Roberts University president taking leave of absence
OKLAHOMA CITY (RNS) The embattled president of Oral Roberts University will take an indefinite leave of absence but expects to return to the post “in God’s timing,” he said Wednesday (Oct. 17).
The decision by Richard Roberts, son of the charismatic Christian university’s namesake founder, came amid intense scrutiny over allegations of financial, political and other wrongdoing raised in a lawsuit by three former Oral Roberts University professors.
“I have asked the board of regents of Oral Roberts University to grant me a temporary leave of absence until such time as these matters can be resolved,” Roberts said in a written statement. “I have prayed about it and feel that it is in the best interest of my family and the university.”
In particular, he cited “untrue allegations of sexual misconduct by my wife” as having taken “a serious toll on me and my family.” Lindsay Roberts has denied charges that she spent the night with an underage male and engaged in lurid behavior with a “male 16-year-old friend,” as suggested by papers filed with the lawsuit.
Voicing full trust in the regents of the 5,300-student university in Tulsa, Roberts said he will “give myself afresh and anew to my family, and to prayer and the Word of God.”
_ Bobby Ross Jr.
Bob Jones University chancellor endorses Mitt Romney
(RNS) The chancellor of Bob Jones University, a conservative Christian school in Greenville, S.C., has endorsed former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney for the Republican nomination for president.
“As a Christian I am completely opposed to the doctrines of Mormonism,” Bob Jones III told The Greenville News on Tuesday (Oct. 16).
“But I’m not voting for a preacher. I’m voting for a president. It boils down to who can best represent conservative American beliefs, not religious beliefs.”
Jones, whose school is in a pivotal state because of its early Republican primary in the 2008 elections, said he opposed a presidential race between former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Sen. Hillary Clinton because both support abortion rights.
“This is all about beating Hillary,” said Jones, grandson of the school’s founder. “And I just believe that this man has the credentials both personally and ideologically in terms of his view about what American government should be to best represent the rank and file of conservative Americans.”
Bob Jones University posted a statement on its Web site that the school does not endorse political candidates and Jones’ comments were made in his role as a private citizen.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Campaign for debt relief to continue after 46-day fast
WASHINGTON (RNS) An Alabama congressman, hungry from a symbolic one-day fast, said Tuesday (Oct. 16) he is promoting another round of international debt relief because previous loan forgiveness has improved health care, education and security in developing countries.
“If you do something that worked so well, you wonder, `Why not go back and do more?”’ Rep. Spencer Bachus said.
Bachus is the lead Republican sponsor on the latest attempt to cancel more longstanding international debt, this time for up to 67 countries where even interest payments can be crushing. His motivation is a mix of religious conviction and concern for human rights and national security, and dates to 2000 when the first of two debt relief measures was approved.
“Tens of millions of schoolchildren in Africa alone are attending class that weren’t seven years ago,” Bachus said. “The fact that their future prospects are so much greater and poverty will begin to fall with education, the benefits of that to our country and to the world are unimaginable.”
Bachus and other congressional advocates of debt cancellation ended their 24-hour fast Tuesday morning at a prayer breakfast on Capitol Hill, where religious groups gathered to promote an expanded debt relief bill.
The legislation, known in shorthand as the Jubilee Act of 2007, is sponsored by Rep. Maxine Waters, a liberal Democrat from California who acknowledged the unusual partnership she’s had with the Alabama conservative. She called their friendship, developed over the debt relief bill, a “miracle.”
“As a Christian, and I don’t speak for all religions, but it is wonderful that all the great religions of the world preach really the same thing when it comes to debt relief,” said Bachus, a Baptist.
_ Mary Orndorff
City Council drops Lord’s Prayer before meetings
AKRON, Ohio (RNS) For decades, the Akron City Council opened its weekly meetings with “Our father, who art in heaven … .”
Council president Marco Sommerville said the practice “goes way, way back.” Reciting the Lord’s Prayer was most likely meant to show citizens that council members looked for outside guidance, he said.
But after a Washington, D.C., group threatened litigation, council members decided Monday (Oct. 15) to instead pray privately before meetings. They’re also working on finding a nonsectarian prayer to replace the Christian prayer.
“I’m delighted that the Akron City Council did the right thing and that no one attending those meetings now feels like a second-class citizen because they don’t believe in the Lord’s Prayer,” said the Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. “The people who wanted to pray are going to do so before they go into council chambers, and that’s fine.”
The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio also applauded the move.
“Government is there for people of all faiths and people of no faith,” spokesman Gary Daniels said.
City Councils can pray, but the prayers can’t be specifically suited to one religion. Such a safeguard is inherent in the U.S. Constitution, said William Rich, a University of Akron professor consulted by the Akron City Council.
“The Constitution requires this degree of separation in part to protect religion from being influenced or co-opted by the government,” he said.
_ Laura Johnston
Court rules against Messianic Jewish postman
COLUMBUS, Ohio (RNS) For 10 years, the Chagrin Falls Post Office allowed a mail carrier to take Saturdays off to observe the Sabbath.
But in 2002, with a staff shortage and pressure from other mail carriers upset at more having to cover weekend assignments, the post office ended its arrangement with Martin Tepper and began scheduling him to work on Saturdays.
Tepper, who joined the post office in 1980 and became a Messianic Jew a few years later, filed a complaint with the Postal Service that was rejected. He then sued the Postal Service in federal court in Cleveland in 2004, and lost again.
Tepper then appealed to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. But on Monday (Oct. 15), the appeals court upheld the lower court, saying Tepper cannot prove he has been discriminated against or that his employer failed to accommodate him.
“The removal of the accommodation did not result in a change of title, job status, pay or job responsibilities and conditions,” a three-judge panel ruled.
“While Tepper now has to work on Saturdays, this is simply a requirement of the job for which he was hired; it is not an adverse change in employment,” the unanimous ruling stated.
Tepper could not be reached for comment, and his attorney, Edward Icove, did not return calls for comment. They could ask the appeals court to reconsider the decision or appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Full-time mail carriers work five days a week and could be scheduled any day Monday through Saturday.
In 1992, Tepper requested and was granted his special scheduling arrangement, which also included allowing him to be off on certain Jewish holidays.
But between 1998 and 2003, the Chagrin Falls post office dropped from 36 mail carriers to 32, which meant carriers were drawing more Saturday shifts to cover for Tepper.
_ Reginald Fields
Seventh-day Adventists see increase in worldwide membership
(RNS) Worldwide membership in the Seventh-day Adventist Church has increased to 15.4 million, according to statistics announced at a recent international gathering in Silver Spring, Md.
Membership totaled 15,435,470, a net increase of 681,448, or 4.62 percent, as of June 2007, said John Torres, media relations manger for the international church.
During the meeting on Oct. 14, Matthew A. Bediako, secretary of the international church, also provided figures that show how many members have departed, Adventist News Network (ANN) reported. For every 100 members who joined the church between July 2006 and this past June, 24 left. He called this year’s retention rate of 76 percent “healthy.”
Although statisticians found that more than 1 million people joined the church, when departures are factored in, the net growth is 681,448.
In the fiscal year ending June 2006, the church lost 45 people for every 100 new members.
Since 2000, church officials have sought membership audits to determine more accurate figures for membership. The 4.62 percent growth in membership this year and the greater retention rates should be viewed with caution, said Bediako.
“We cannot sing the doxology until we eliminate from our (membership) charts the `loss and missing’ column,” he said, according to ANN.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Anglicans in Montreal, San Francisco vote for same-sex blessings
TORONTO (RNS) A second Canadian Anglican diocese has voted to approve the blessing of same-sex marriages.
Delegates at the Diocese of Montreal’s annual synod voted Friday (Oct. 19) to request that the bishop grant permission for clergy whose conscience permits to solemnize registered civil marriages, including those between same-sex couples, where at least one party is baptized.
It also asks that the bishop authorize an appropriate rite for same-sex ceremonies and to enact regulations for their use in supportive parishes.
Clergy delegates to the synod voted 44-25 and lay delegates 59-32 in favor of the measure. The tally was similar to one passed recently in Ottawa, where delegates to that diocese’s synod also asked that priests be allowed to conduct same-sex marriages, should the priest and parish approve.
In Montreal, Bishop Barry Clarke supported the resolution, telling reporters after the vote that he is “glad we came to a place where we made a decision.”
Clarke added that he “will consider seriously what I have heard today. I will take it into serious and prayerful consideration. I am a pastor at heart.”
Both resolutions seem to fly in the face of a vote at the national church’s general synod last June, where delegates voted down a plan to let local churches decide for themselves whether to bless same-sex marriages.
The day after the Montreal vote, representatives of the San Francisco-based Episcopal Diocese of California approved use of rites for the blessing of same-sex couples, opening the way for Bishop Marc Andrus to allow them on a trial basis in Bay Area Episcopal churches.
_ Ron Csillag
Pope deplores violence in the name of religion
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Speaking to more than 300 religious leaders at a peace conference on Sunday (Oct. 21), Pope Benedict XVI denounced all violence committed in the name of religion.
“Faced with a world lacerated by conflicts, where violence is still justified in the name of God, it is important to reassert that religions must never become vehicles of hate,” Benedict said.
“On the contrary, religions can and should offer precious resources for constructing a pacific humanity.”
Among those listening to the pope’s remarks were the Anglican archbishop of Canterbury, the Orthodox patriarch of Constantinople, the chief rabbi of Israel and several representatives of Islam, Buddhism, Shintoism, Hinduism and Zoroastrianism.
Benedict spoke on the opening day of the 21st International Meeting for Peace in Naples, Italy, sponsored by a Roman Catholic lay group, the Community of Sant’Egidio. The annual event was inspired by the interreligious World Day of Prayer for Peace held by Pope John Paul II in Assisi, Italy, in 1986.
Following his remarks, Benedict joined the other religious representatives for lunch, where he sat at the same table as Ezzeddin Ibrahim, founder of the University of the United Arab Emirates and one of 138 Muslim scholars and clerics who earlier this month published an open letter seeking better relations with the Christian world.
_ Francis X. Rocca
Falwell’s church grows under son’s leadership
(RNS) Thomas Road Baptist Church, the Virginia megachurch founded by the late Rev. Jerry Falwell, had the largest numeric growth recorded in a new list of the nation’s fastest-growing churches.
In a special issue this month, Outreach magazine reported that the church in Lynchburg, Va., saw an increase in overall weekly attendance of 4,750 within the last year. The church ranked No. 9 on the magazine’s list of fastest-growing churches because researchers averaged numerical and percentage growth of attendees to determine the rankings.
Thomas Road was listed No. 8 in the magazine’s ranking of largest U.S. churches, with an average attendance of 17,445.
In a statement, the church said more than 1,000 people have joined the church since Falwell’s death on May 15.
“The Thomas Road Baptist Church has not faltered since my father’s passing because it has not faltered in its mission,” said Jonathan Falwell, who now leads the church. “Dad founded this church in 1956 for the purpose of reaching the world with the Gospel of Christ. We have done this for 51 years, and I can assure this church will continue to pursue this exact same mission as long as I serve as its pastor.”
Outreach, a church leadership magazine based in Vista, Calif., compiled the lists in partnership with Ed Stetzer, director of research at LifeWay Research, which is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention’s LifeWay Christian Resources. The attendance figures are based on self-reported data from the churches cited.
The top five fast-growing churches listed are:
1. Iglesia Cristiana Segadores de Vida, Hollywood, Fla.
2. Community of Faith, Cypress, Texas
3. Valley Bible Fellowship, Bakersfield, Calif.
4. Community Christian Church, Naperville, Ill.
5. The ROC (Richmond Outreach Center), Richmond, Va.
The top five largest churches listed are:
1. Lakewood Church, Houston, Texas (47,000)
2. Willow Creek Community Church, South Barrington, Ill. (23,500)
3. Second Baptist Church, Houston, Texas (23,198)
4. Saddleback Church, Lake Forest, Calif. (22,000)
5. LifeChurch.tv, Edmond, Okla. (19,907)
_ Adelle M. Banks
Court sidesteps dispute over Muslims’ dowry
(RNS) A dowry arrangement made by a Muslim couple is a religious agreement and not a legal contract, and therefore not enforceable by the courts, an Ohio judge has ruled.
When Raghad Alwattar and Mohammed Zawahiri agreed to be married in Franklin County, Ohio, about two years ago, the couple and their families agreed the bride would receive a $25,000 payment.
Called a “mahr,” dowries are typically part of a marriage contract between Muslim couples. Because some Muslim women do not work, the payment is considered security so they are not left destitute should their husband leave. The monetary amount depends on the bride’s social status and the groom’s financial prospects.
Now they are divorcing and Alwattar is suing for the money.
But Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Dana Priesse ruled Oct. 10 that because the “obligation to pay $25,000 is rooted in a religious practice, the dowry is considered a religious act,” instead of a legal contract.
Alwattar’s attorney, Noure Alou, said the ruling _ the first of its kind in Ohio _ represents a departure from rulings in New York and New Jersey, which have upheld dowries as legally enforceable.
Alwattar will appeal the Common Pleas court decision, Alou said.
Zawahiri, the husband, argued in court that the mahr is not a prenuptial agreement and that he did not realize the implications of the agreement when he signed it, just a few minutes before the wedding ceremony.
The judge said Zawahiri should have been allowed to consult an attorney before signing the mahr.
Alwattar, 21, was born of Syrian parents and raised in the United States, where she is a student at Ohio State University. Zawahiri, 29, is Syrian.
_ Daniel Burke
Quote of the Week: Presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani
(RNS) “You and I know that I am not a perfect person. I’ve made mistakes in my life. But I’ve always done the best that I could to try to learn from them. I pray for forgiveness, I pray for strength, I pray for guidance. I feel my faith deeply, although maybe more privately than some, because of the way I was brought up, maybe for other reasons.”
_ Presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani, addressing religious conservatives at the Family Research Council Values Voter Summit in Washington.
END RNS
