c. 1996 Religion News Service

Catholic Bishop Belo receives Nobel Peace Prize

(RNS) Declaring himself”a voice for the voiceless,”Roman Catholic Bishop Carlos Belo of Indonesia-occupied East Timor received the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway, Tuesday (Dec. 10).

Belo, a co-winner of the award with self-exiled Timorese human rights activist Jose Ramos Horta, used the award ceremony to call for peace in East Timor, which has been occupied since 1976 by Indonesia, which invaded and annexed the former Portuguese colony. The Timorese have been fighting for their independence since that time.

The people of East Timor want peace and respect for human rights, Belo said.”It is high time that the guns of war are silenced in East Timor, once and forever,”he said.”It is high time that tranquility is returned to the lives of the people of my homeland. It is high time that there be authentic dialogue.”It is my my fervent hope that the 1996 Nobel Prize for peace will advance these goals,”he added.

Belo, 48, who has headed since 1983 the diocese of Dili, capital of East Timor, is often outspoken and known as a fierce defender of human rights for the Timorese.

But he is also known as a conciliator. And while he has often spoken out against Indonesia’s harsh rule in East Timor, Belo has also called on the young resistance fighters to stop fighting and use nonviolence to advance their cause.

Indonesian security officials often call him to the scene of disputes to help calm tensions. At the same time, his residence in Dili is often used as a refuge for dissidents.

Among those attending Tuesday’s ceremony were Norway’s King Harald and Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres, whose government supports East Timor’s drive for independence. Indonesia, angered by Horta’s inclusion in the award, boycotted the ceremony.

Nobel Committee chairman Francis Sejersted, who presented Belo and Horta their Nobel gold medals and $1.12 million prize, told a solemn ceremony at Oslo City hall that the awards were being presented”for their long-lasting efforts to achieve a just and peaceful solution to the 20-year-old conflict in East Timor.” At the time the award was announced, the Nobel committee said they wanted to call attention to the long Timorese struggle for independence. The United Nations has refused to recognize Indonesia’s annexation of the territory and still considers Portugal to be the administering power of East Timor.

Sejersted underscored the committee’s intention on Tuesday, calling the conflict”forgotten.””Rarely has the cynicism of world politics been more clearly demonstrated,”he said referring to the world’s failure to condemn Indonesia’s alleged human rights abuses and the continuing willingness of other nations to sell Indonesia arms.

Last week, for example, an interfaith group of British Jewish, Roman Catholic and Anglican religious leaders called for an end to British arms shipments to Indonesia.”We are aware that the people of East Timor continue to experience oppression and the abuse of their rights at the hands of the Indonesian government, and this is assisted by British weaponry,”the group said.

Horta, in his address, called on the international community to use their influence to bring about an independent East Timor.

At a news conference on Monday (Dec. 9), however, Belo refused to be drawn into questions about the political situation back home, stressing his role as a religious leader.”As a religious leader, I am ready to collaborate with everybody who is really committed to efforts for peace and justice in East Timor,”he said.

Clinton spotlights womens’ rights in human rights day ceremony

(RNS) In a White House ceremony Tuesday (Dec. 10) marking International Human Rights Day, President Bill Clinton specifically highlighted the ongoing plight of millions of women and young girls who continue to suffer violence and oppression around the world.”We cannot advance our ideals and interests unless we focus more attention on the fundamental human rights and basic needs of women and girls,”said Clinton before signing an official proclamation designating Dec. 10 as International Human Rights Day and the beginning of Human Rights Week.”We must recognize that it is a violation of human rights when girls and women are sold into prostitution, when rape becomes a weapon of war, when women are denied the right to plan their own families, including through forced abortions, when young girls are brutalized by genital mutilation, when women around the world are unsafe even in their own homes,”Clinton said.”If women are free from violence, if they’re healthy and educated, if they can live and work as full and equal partners in any society, then families will flourish, and when they do, communities and nations will thrive,”the president added.

During the Roosevelt Room ceremony, Clinton announced several new administration initiatives to advance human rights for women including donating $1 million to projects for Rwandan refugee women; providing $500,000 to”promote access to reproductive health services”to women around the world; awarding $1 million to a consortium of Asian groups working to combat discrimination against women in the workplace and violence against women; granting up to $1 million for”projects focusing on women’s empowerment in Africa; and providing a total of $500,000 to help combat the trafficking in children and child prostitution in Nepal and Thailand.

In addition, Clinton said his administration would be renewing its efforts to convince the Senate to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. Many conservatives have opposed the U.N. treaty, which among other provisions requires that women have equal rights to work, pay and benefits.”It is, to say the least, an embarrassment that the United States has not done this, and there is no excuse for this situation to continue,”Clinton said.

Prior to the ceremony, Clinton met privately with six female human rights activists involved in fighting for human rights for women.

In his official Human Rights Day proclamation, Clinton said the concepts of human rights and human dignity have been central to the United States since the founding of the country. “Our nation’s commitment to the freedoms enumerated in the Bill of Rights _ among them freedom of speech, religion and assembly, and the right to due process and a fair trial _ serves as a beacon of hope to oppressed peoples everywhere,”the proclamation stated.

Group sees rise in teen volunteering

(RNS) A rising number of America’s teens are giving a larger amount of time to volunteer activities, Independent Sector, the Washington-based umbrella organization of the nation’s charities and major donors said Tuesday (Dec. 10).

According to the group, the total number of teens giving time to volunteer activities has risen by 7 percent since 1992, from 12.4 million youths to 13.3 million.

Additionally, the group said, the total number of hours given to volunteer activities by teens between the ages of 12 and 17, rose from 2.1 billion hours to 2.4 billion.

It said that 1.8 billion of those volunteered hours were in formal commitments to organizations and 600 million were in the less formal pattern of helping neighbors or informal assistance to organizations.

The report,”Volunteering and Giving Among American Teenagers 12 to 17 Years of Age,”was based on in-home personal surveys with 1,007 teens by the Gallup Organization. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent. The study follows up on a previous report issued in 1992.”The major reasons for volunteering, according to the teens surveyed, remained consistent with the reasons cited in 1991: they felt compassion for people in need; they could do something for a cause that was important to them; and they held a belief that if they helped others, others would help them.”As in the 1992 survey, the highest rates of volunteering were found among teens who ranked as high personal goals the giving of time to voluntary, religious or community organizations, being active in their communities, making a strong commitment to their spiritual lives, and making a contribution to charities,”the report said.

Independent Sector President Sara Melendez, however, said that behind all the good news, there were some areas that needed improvement.

She noted, for example, that teens reported they were four times as likely to volunteer if they were asked than if they were not asked. Among the 51 percent who were asked to volunteer, 93 percent responded. Among the 49 percent who were not asked, 24 percent volunteered.

While there was little difference in the percentage of teens who were asked to volunteer by gender, there were differences by race and ethnic group, with persons of color far less likely to be asked to volunteer than whites.”The young people of our minority populations are an untapped resource,”Melendez said.”Organization leaders, teachers, religious leaders, and parents must cultivate all our youth equally to contribute their talents and time to helping others.”

Pope John Paul II won’t lead Christmas day Mass this year

(RNS) For the first time since he became pope 18 years ago, John Paul II is not scheduled to celebrate Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on Christmas Day, the Vatican said Tuesday (Dec. 10). He will, however, celebrate the traditional Christmas Eve midnight Mass, often televised around the world.

John Paul also missed last year’s Christmas day Mass because of a fever, the Associated Press reported, and later cut short his Christmas greetings from his window overlooking St. Peter’s Square. But this is the first year the Christmas day Mass has not appeared on John Paul’s holiday schedule.

In releasing the pope’s holiday schedule, the Vatican gave no reason for his decision not to celebrate the Christmas day Mass, but doctors have urged the 76-year-old pontiff to ease up on his schedule as he continues his recovering from his Oct. 8 appendectomy .

Although he will not celebrate the Christmas day Mass, John Paul will deliver his traditional”Urbi et Orbi”(To the City and the World) message at noon on Dec. 25, according to the schedule released by the Vatican.

Mercer University trustees affirm president in face of heresy charges

(RNS) The trustees of Mercer University, a Southern Bapitst-related school in Macon, Ga., have voiced their support for school president Kirby Godsey in the face of charges that a book he wrote”departed significantly from Baptist doctrine.” The trustees’ resolution, adopted unanimously at a Dec. 5 meeting, was to be reported to the Georgia Baptist Convention’s executive committee on Tuesday (Dec. 10). The committee had passed a resolution in September asking the Mercer trustees to formally respond to concerns about the book,”When We Talk About God … Let’s Be Honest”(Smith & Helwys).

The Georgia Baptist Convention sponsors Mercer University and provides the school with about $2 million a year, most of which is used for scholarships.

Among the concerns raised about the book were that Godsey appeared to be arguing that the Bible should not be taken literally and questions he raises about traditional church teachings, including original sin and the Virgin Birth of Jesus.

Some Georgia Baptists have demanded that Godsey be censured for his views.”We think the publication of this book is well within the bounds of appropriate scholarly work,”said David Hudson, chairman of the executive committee of Mercer’s board, according to Associated Baptist Press, an independent news agency.

The trustees’ resolution said that they had”carefully considered”the Georgia Baptist Resolution.”Respectfully, we respond that the views of President Godsey do not exceed the boundaries of academic independence in a Baptist university,”the resolution said.

Godsey, at a news conference, said he had no intention of recanting any of the views expressed in the book although he said he might state some things differently.”In no way do I wish to separate myself from the views I’ve express in the book,”he said.

Quote of the day: The Rev. Konrad Raiser, general secretary of the World Council of Churches

(RNS) In his annual Christmas message to the member churches of the World Council of Churches, the Rev. Konrad Raiser, general secretary of the international council made up of 330 Orthodox and Protestant denominations, reflected on the birth of Jesus as a refugee and displaced person:”Jesus was born away from home while his parents were on the move against their will, forced to go to Bethlehem for a census. The gospel of Matthew tells us that soon after his birth the family had to flee to Egypt to escape persecution.”Today, to remember and celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ is to do so in a world where millions of people are also compelled to be on the move: refugees driven from their towns and villages by war, children on the road without a home, asylum seekers rejected and deported from a country of refuge, migrants separated from their families. They all knock at our door. Will we open it for them? “In Jesus Christ, God came into our human world. But God came as a stranger, unacknowledged. There was no place for the one sent by God and finally he was pushed out of the world and on to a cross as a criminal. This Christmas, God is still on the move with the millions of uprooted people who look for a safe place to be received.”

MJP END RNS