c. 1996 Religion News Service

U.S. Catholic Conference urges solidarity with people in Holy Land

(RNS) The recent spate of violence and the protracted tensions in the Middle East are a”summons to all Catholics to show solidarity with the peoples of the Holy Land in their quest for justice, security and peace,”says Bishop Daniel P. Reilly of Worcester, Mass.

Reilly, chairman of the U.S. Catholic Conference’s international policy committee, made his comments in response to a request by the Rev. Michael Sabbah, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, to bishops of the Catholic Church around the world.”Peace cannot be made without security and justice for Israelis and Palestinians,”Reilly said.”The violent demonstrations on the West Bank and Gaza are reminders of how fragile a peace without justice can be.”At this terribly difficult time, acts of solidarity on the part of believers and men and women of goodwill with the peacemakers in the region are imperative,”Reilly added.

Sabbah’s call for prayer and expressions of solidarity was prompted by an explosion of violence Sept. 25 in Jerusalem and the West Bank towns of Bethlehem and Ramallah after Israeli officials opened an archeological tunnel along Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa Mosque despite Muslims objections. The violence left more than 70 dead.

In his statement, Reilly said that”legitimate Israeli concerns over security must be honored and addressed.”At the same time, he added,”Palestinians need to be secure in their persons and in their homes, and free to visit the holy places open to the rest of the world, and at liberty to carry out the activities of everyday life without legal impediments, harassment or humiliation.” Reilly called on Israel to allow Palestinians”to travel freely within the West Bank and to and from Jerusalem”and to honor”the right to religious worship, especially through access to Jerusalem and the holy places.”

Organizers defend their choices at French Christian film festival

(RNS) The violence of”Blade Runner”and the adultery of”The Bridges of Madison County”highlighted”La Semaine Christienne du Cinema”(Christian Week of Cinema), a festival in Paris that ended Wednesday (Oct. 23), prompting critics to ask where the”Christian”films were.

The second annual festival, funded by charitable and educational groups affiliated with the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Paris, was initiated because French Roman Catholic bishops wanted some Christian input in the 1995 centenary of the cinema.

But critics wondered why none of the 30 short and feature films had a specifically religious theme.”It is doubtful whether we could find enough religious films of quality to justify a week-long festival,”Janick Arbois-Chartier, a retired television critic who chaired the selection committee told Ecumenical News International, the Geneva-based religious news agency.”We decided it would be more valuable to select films which tackle themes with a certain resonance for Christians,”she said.”After each screening we organize a debate. The audience is invited to reflect on the meaning a Christian can draw from the film.” The week-long festival was held under the theme”evil and forgiveness.””Blade Runner,”the 1981 science-fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, generated some of the most lively debate during the festival.”The visual violence is considerable,”Arbois-Chartier acknowledged. The film tells the story of a policeman who is on a mission to kill androids but who then falls in love with one.”This humanizes him. In the end he owes his life to a destructive clone who decides not to kill him. He inspires pity thanks to the spark lit by love.” Arbois-Charitier also defended the showing of Clint Eastwood’s 1995 film,”The Bridges of Madison County,”starring Meryl Streep. She said that film looked at the nature of sin and the virtues of repentance.”When, years later, the children (of the character played by Streep) realize that their mother had an affair, they are deeply shocked and have trouble forgiving her,”she said.”But she did not sacrifice her family for the affair.”

Critics say tax proposal could reduce Roman Catholic numbers in Poland

(RNS) Polish deputy Ryszard Zajac, a leader of a group of Polish parliamentarians who support a rigid separation of church and state, has proposed that Poland institute a”church tax”similar to that of Germany.

Zajac called the proposal, which has been criticized by Roman Catholic Church leaders, a”necessary step”towards government neutrality on religious matters even though it would involve the state in collecting and disbursing the tax to religious institutions.

Currently, 95 percent of Poland’s population is nominally Catholic and, because of those numbers, the church exercises great influence on the government.

But Ecumenical News International, the Geneva-based religious news agency, said the number of declared Catholics in the country would likely plummet from the current 95 percent to the 35 percent who attend Mass regularly because many people would refuse to register as church members rather than pay the church tax.

Zajac’s proposal is based on the system of church tax in Germany where the two main Protestant and Roman Catholic denominations each receive hundreds of million of dollars in church tax funds that are collected from church members by the government and then given to the churches.

Under the proposal, registered church members would pay an additional tax, based on their income levels, which would be forwarded by state tax offices to the churches.

Currently, churches in Poland are financed through donations by church members and by fees paid for baptisms, weddings and funerals.”We need a clearer way of regulating church finances, but this idea is wrong,”said Archbishop Tadeusz Goclowski of Gdansk.”What works in Germany or Austria isn’t necessarily good for Poland, where there are no traditions or precedents for such a solution.” A spokesman for Poland’s 90,000-member Lutheran church told ENI that the proposal would”clearly hit the Catholic Church worst, by requiring it to count its members. If declaring one’s Catholic loyalty had financial consequences, we could expect a sudden drop in church statistics.”

Clinton signs law urging Nazi war crimes documents disclosure

(RNS) President Clinton signed legislation Tuesday (Oct. 22) urging federal agencies to make public any records they may have on Nazi war crimes.”Over half a century has passed since the conclusion of World War II and the end of the Holocaust, one of the most horrifying periods of genocide in world history,”Clinton said in a statement released by the White House announcing the signing.

Clinton noted that the new law comes on the heels of an executive order he issued last year making available previously classified national security documents from the era.”It is clearly in our public interest to learn any remaining secrets about the Holocaust,”he said.”Ensuring a full accounting of United States records on Nazi war criminals is an important step in preserving the memory of those who died and honoring the sacrifices of those who survived.”

Jewish group hails New York court ruling accommodating Sabbath practices

(RNS) The American Jewish Congress hailed a ruling Tuesday (Oct. 22) by the New York State Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, that said an employer is obligated to make more than a minimal effort to accommodate an employee’s Sabbath observance in assigning work schedules.

The ruling came in a case in which a Seventh-day Adventist bus driver was fired by the New York City Transit Authority because she refused to work on Saturdays, the day Adventists observe the Sabbath.”It is now clear that employers in New York … must now make a serious effort to accommodate Sabbath observance, even if it means considering multiple options,”Marc Stern, co-director of the American Jewish Congress’ Commission on Law and Social Action, said in a statement issued Wednesday (Oct. 23).

Quote of the day: Daniel Heimbach, associate professor of Christian ethics at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Wake Forest, N.C.

(RNS) In a recent interview with Baptist Press, the official news agency of the Southern Baptist Convention, Daniel Heimbach, associate professor of Christian ethics at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Wake Forest, N.C., reflected on the ethical dilemmas of voting:”There is no candidate for office who is not a sinner. I do not think we should say it’s a sin to vote for a candidate who is known to have been a sinner in some way or another. … The only candidates for government are fellow sinners.”

MJP END ANDERSON