c. 1996 Religion News Service
Archbishop of Canterbury decries”privatization of morality” (RNS) Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey has strongly criticized”the privatization of morality,”which he said is undermining society.
Carey, the spiritual leader of the 70 million-member worldwide Anglican Communion, said one of”society’s greatest difficulties is the cultural tendency to regard morality as no more than a matter of individual opinion.”This”moral relativism,”he said,”weakens our sense of common ideals and our very capacity to work together for the common good.” With faith generally relegated to the private sphere, Carey continued,”many people now find it embarrassing to talk about either religion or morality in public, and the traditional vocabulary of moral discourse _ for example, virtue, sin, good, bad, right, wrong, morally wholesome, goodly, righteous and sober _ all these terms have come under acute contemporary suspicion, as if their validity has disappeared along with traditional sources of moral authority.” Carey offered his comments in a talk before Great Britain’s House of Lords Friday (July 5), and in a column published the same day in The Daily Telegraph, a national newspaper.
His remarks touched off a flurry of responses from various corners of British society.
Nigel de Gruchy, general secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters and Union of Women Teachers, the second largest teachers’ union in England and Wales, said when it comes to morality, British leaders need to lead by setting a proper example.”What is needed is a better example from the leaders of society,”he said.”From the royal family downwards, they all proclaim moral principles and then do their own thing.”
Image of Virgin Mary attracts pilgrims, sightseers
(RNS) An image of the Virgin Mary on a South Australian church wall has attracted over a thousand pilgrims and sightseers, according to Reuters.
The parish priest of the 140-year-old Anglican Christ Church in Yankalilla said that when the vision first appeared in late 1994, it received little attention outside the parish.”But now everybody’s coming in. Skeptics, secular humanists, atheists, doubters, people who have no time for the church, and people who are faithful, see it,”the Rev. Andrew Nutter told Reuters.”When (the vision) first appeared I shared it with people in the congregation and they said, `Well, yes, if you squint your eyes, think good thoughts, maybe … maybe,'”he said.
Nutter said the image of Mary, carrying her child, has grown stronger since it first appeared.”This has become a people’s shrine,”he said.
An article which appeared in early July in a church newspaper alerted the mainstream media to the image. The volume of visitors prompted the church to schedule a weekly service for pilgrims to celebrate the vision.
Nutter said the vision may be additionally significant because Yankalilla is where Australia’s first prospective saint, Mary MacKillop, founded the first school of her order, the Sisters of St. Joseph.
MacKillop has been beatified by the Roman Catholic Church, the penultimate step towards sainthood.
Diocesan Bishop Graham Walden said the Anglican Church did not have a formal process of proclamation or authentication for such visions. However, Walden said, the vision did not seem to have been caused by salt, damp or mold, so he believes the church could be hosting something genuine.”If people receive something as being of God, then it is of God, they don’t have some sort of mechanism for accreditation,”the bishop said.
Episcopalian traditionalists urge severing sacramental relationships
(RNS) The Episcopal Synod of America (ESA), a group of traditionalists in the Episcopal Church who oppose the ordination of women and gays to the priesthood, says supporters should refuse to receive Holy Communion from bishops and priests who accept homosexual priests.
The ESA, which claims 21,000 members, has adopted a resolution arguing that those”who knowingly ordain practicing homosexuals, authorize the blessing of same-sex unions, or teach the same, have broken communion with orthodox Christians until they publicly recant.” In theological terms, to break communion is to sever sacramental relationships.
The resolution, adopted by the group’s legislative body while meeting in Belleville, Ill., June 27-29, also urged supporters to cut off funding for dioceses and church institutions which fail to”hold to the scriptural standards and the orthodox and catholic faith.” The action is the latest fallout from the May 15 verdict in the church trial of retired Bishop Walter Righter in which the court found that Righter did not violate any”core doctrine”of the church in ordaining a non-celibate gay as a deacon.
Last year, heresy charges were leveled against Righter, the retired bishop of Iowa, as a result of his 1990 ordination in Newark, N.J., of Barry Stopfel as a deacon, the first step toward priesthood.
In its resolution, the ESA said supporters of allowing gays and lesbians into the priesthood”sow false doctrine”and traditionalists”should not be participants at any official functions led or sponsored by”bishops, priests or others who support such ordinations.
Archaeologists unearth wine jug from King Herod’s time
(RNS) Archaeologists in Israel have discovered some of the first evidence of daily life at the Masada fortress during the time of King Herod, including the remains of a 2,000-year-old clay wine jug inscribed with Herod’s name, the Associated Press reported Monday (July 8).
Hebrew University archaeologist Ehud Netzer told AP the Latin inscription either says”Herod, King of Judea”or”Herod, King of the Jews.” This is the first time Herod’s full title has been found in an inscription, Netzer said. Herod was king of Judea from 37 B.C. until his death in 4 B.C.
The jug, which dates from about 19 B.C., was found in an ancient garbage dump near the synagogue at Masada, Netzer said.
In addition to the jug, archaeologists discovered food remains from people who lived in Masada in Herod’s time, including nuts, eggshells, dates and olive pits, and pieces of cloth and basketware.
Masada, a citadel Herod built atop an isolated cliff on the edge of the Judean Desert and the Dead Sea Valley, was the last outpost for zealots during the Jewish revolt against Rome that began in 66 A.D. When Roman battering rams breached the fortress’ gate, hundreds of Jews committed suicide rather than fall prisoner.
Netzer said that most previously found artifacts dated from the period when the zealots lived at Masada. The new artifacts show archaeologists a glimpse of life during the time of Herod.
Vatican criticizes planned embryo destruction
(RNS) The Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano sharply criticized reports that doctors in Great Britain are preparing to destroy 2,500 unwanted human embryos.”The fate of embryos conserved in these London clinics clearly and forcefully re-emphasizes the point that there is an ethical Rubicon that science must not cross,”the newspaper said Monday (July 8).”From the start, the (Roman) Catholic Church had declared illegal both the production of embryos and their conservation, and, with even more justification, their destruction,”the editorial said.
The criticism was sparked by reports in British and Italian newspapers that fertility clinics in London were planning to destroy 2,500 frozen embryos that have not been claimed by the parents who provided the genetic material. Under British law, embryos are not to be preserved for more than five years without the consent of the parents.
Reuters said the editorial was signed by the Rev. Gino Concetti, a moral theologian whose views reflect those of Pope John Paul II.
Quote of the day: The Rev. Phil Wogaman, senior pastor of Foundry Methodist Church in Washington, D.C., on love and marriage.
(RNS) The Rev. Phil Wogaman is senior pastor of Foundry Methodist Church in Washington, D.C., the congregation attended by President and Mrs. Clinton. Wogaman also writes a regular column for United Methodist News Service, the denomination’s official news agency. In a recent column, Wogaman reflected on the commitment’s demanded by love:”Spouses are committed to love each other despite the inevitable flaws. Love, thus, is not just romantic; it is a commitment that can be counted. In the intimacies of marriage, two people get to know each other better than anybody else on earth. If the person who knows you best of all, including your flaws, rejects you, that can be devastating. But if that person continues to love, it is wonderfully humanizing.”
MJP END ANDERSON
