c. 1997 Religion News Service

Vatican sets ties with Libya, seeks inroads in Muslim world

(RNS) _ The Vatican, in a further attempt to improve relations in the Muslim world, established diplomatic ties with Libya on Monday (March 10).

The move was a clear disappointment to the Clinton administration, which has argued for continued isolation of Libya _ including the maintaining of existing U.N. sanctions _ for its support of terrorist groups and its refusal to turn over two Libyan agents implicated in the 1988 Pan Am bombing that killed 269 people.

But the Vatican, which opposes all forms of economic sanctions, said it hoped relations would”boost international dialogue.”In a statement, it said such measures would lead to an”unavoidable engagement among all countries looking to take on specific responsibilities for the well-being of all.” U.S. officials were annoyed with the decision, which had been in the works for some time, but did not want to create tension with the Holy See over the matter.”In general we don’t like it,”said Louis Nigro, deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See.”We’re not thanking the Vatican for doing it but we’re not excoriating them for doing it.” State Department spokesmen last week tried to put a positive spin on the expected recognition, saying they hoped the move would”bring a spotlight to bear on some of the shortcomings of the Libyan leadership.” Vatican officials have sought to improve relations with Libya since 1994 to ensure the safety of what it says are 50,000 Catholics of third country origin living and working in the Islamic country. Many of the workers are from the Philippines, Italy and other parts of Europe.

On Monday the Vatican praised Libya’s treatment of religious minorities, citing its cooperation”in the area of religious liberty.” The church is also trying to ease strains that have developed in recent years between Catholicism and Islam, which are vying for converts, particularly in Africa.

In addition to establishing a diplomatic office, or nuncio, in Tripoli, Libya will permit the Vatican to appoint a vicar to a second apostolic office in Benghazi, on the Mediterranean Sea. A third diplomatic office in Derna, east of Benghazi, will remain vacant.

John Paul II appointed Archbishop Jose Sebastian Laboa, who has been ambassador to Malta, as the new Libya ambassador. The Rev. Sylvester Carmel Magro will serve as apostolic representative in Benghazi.

Fund-raiser John Bennett Jr. driven by”religious fervor,”defense says

(RNS) Defense attorneys for John G. Bennett Jr., founder of the now-defunct Foundation for New Era Philanthropy, plan to argue he was filled with religious fervor and was sure God and phantom voices had blessed his work.

Bennett, 59, is charged with defrauding religious institutions and others of hundreds of millions of dollars in an investment scheme. The former drug counselor collected more than $354 million from universities, museums, evangelical ministries, charities and other groups that invested in New Era.

Gregory P. Miller, Bennett’s attorney, said his client is not a con man, but rather a zealot who so fiercely believed in his missionary purpose he thought imaginary benefactors were an essential part of a”mission from God to change the world,”the New York Times reported.”He was not motivated by greed, but by an unchecked religious fervor,”Miller said.

Bennett was aware of his lies but a personality disorder and brain damage from two car accidents made him think he was working for a higher good, Miller said.

Lawyers for Bennett have sought the approval of Judge Edmund V. Ludwig of the Federal District Court in Philadelphia to offer psychiatric testimony in Bennett’s upcoming trial, which is scheduled to start April 7.

The judge heard conflicting testimony in pre-trial proceedings in March. One psychiatrist said Bennett was faking his symptoms while another said the New Era founder could”rationalize anything he did.” Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Goldberg said the defense was untrue for Bennett and worthless in theory.

He said tests after Bennett’s 1984 accident”showed no brain damage at all.” Goldberg also questioned the notion that Bennett was moved by charitable thoughts.”He only deposited $29,000 in what he called `God’s account,'”Goldberg said.”But he spent over $1 million on himself, buying a $630,000 house and funding a luxury trip for six to New Zealand.” Bennett is charged with 82 counts of fraud, tax violations and money laundering.

NCC mass mailing for Earth Day

(RNS) The National Council of Churches (NCC) is asking members of 51,000 Protestant and Orthodox congregations to lobby President Clinton to raise automobile fuel economy standards so as to decrease the harmful emissions responsible for global warming.

In preparation for Earth Day on April 22, the NCC said it wants people of faith to send the president letters and pictures of children to urge him to”protect our children’s and our grandchildren’s future”from the dangers of climate change.”Concern for the environment is a matter for people of faith, not only because we are called to be stewards of God’s good creation, but because we are part of God’s redemption of the world,”said the Rev. Richard Killmer, director of the NCC Environmental Justice Department.

The NCC request came in a mass mailing to congregations centered on a study guide,”It’s God’s World: Christians, the Environment and Climate Change.”The guide points out the dangers of man-made global warming, which is caused by an increase in carbon dioxide from gasoline and coal-powered engines.

According to the NCC resource guide, possible affects of climate change include new and erratic weather patterns, a loss of species, the spread of infectious diseases and rising sea levels.

Gas emissions were named a cause of global warming by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report published in December 1995.

UFMCC HIV/AIDS director resigns

(RNS) The Rev. A. Stephen Pieters has announced he is resigning from his position as director of HIV/AIDS Ministry for the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches (UFMCC), a Christian denomination that ministers to gays and lesbians.

In his role as the first full-time AIDS ministry director of any religious denomination or faith community, Pieters has held public policy discussions with President Clinton and Vice President Gore and has represented UFMCC in meetings at the Carter Center, the United Nations and the White House.

But Pieters, an AIDS survivor diagnosed in 1982, said he wants to explore new avenues of ministry and service to the AIDS community.”AIDS isn’t over … there are still tremendous challenges to be faced. It is, however, time for new people and fresh approaches, and I believe it’s time for me to move this battle to new fronts,”he said in a statement released by the church on Friday (March 7).

The Rev. Troy D. Perry, founder and moderator of UFMCC, described Pieters’ ministry as”visionary”and said he is pleased that Pieters will continue to serve as AIDS director for the denomination through the end of the year.”Steve Pieters has set the highest standards for AIDS ministry and activism. He is an international pioneer in this field. I shall continue to rely upon his advice and wisdom in the days to come,”Perry said.

Pieters said living with AIDS has changed him forever.”In 1984, I first coined the credo, `God is greater than AIDS.’ What was once a statement of faith is now a known reality. While I continue to grieve for all the wonderful people we’ve lost, I have learned to look forward to the future with faith and hope,”he said.

O’Connor tells Clinton to restrict late-term abortions

(RNS) The nation’s top Roman Catholic leaders, including all seven cardinals, have asked President Clinton to”seize the opportunity”‘ to encourage Congress to pass a bill outlawing a controversial late-term abortion procedure called”partial birth abortion”by its opponents.

In a letter to Clinton, the cardinals, joined by Bishop Anthony M. Pilla, president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, referred to a recent confession by Ron Fitzsimmons, executive director of the National Coalition of Abortion Providers, in which he claimed the procedure was performed more frequently than he had led people to believe.

Cardinal John J. O’Connor quoted from the letter to Clinton during morning mass Sunday (March 9) at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York.

The letter stated that the procedure is often used on healthy mothers and babies and is used primarily in the fifth and sixth months of pregnancy.”Clearly, any claim that partial-birth abortion must be available to protect a woman’s health has no basis in fact,”the letter said.”Hundreds of doctors, most specialists in maternal and fetal medicine, have explained why partial birth abortion itself poses, not avoids, significant risks to women’s health and future fertility.” O’Connor also noted that the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) has reversed its position on the procedure, saying now that it”may not be”the safest procedure in a particular circumstance.”The College is clear in saying that partial-birth abortion is never the only procedure that will preserve a woman’s health or fertility in any situation,”O’Connor quoted the letter to Clinton as saying.

Pakistan says its OK to marry for love

(RNS) Pakistan’s High Court, in what some call a landmark ruling, has said the weddings of couples who marry for love rather than having their marriage arranged by their parents are valid and permissible under Islamic law.”I feel as if I am reborn,”said Saima Waheed, the principal in the case who flaunted tradition and in February 1996 wed the man she wanted to marry. She has been living in a women’s shelter while her parents have sought to have her marriage declared invalid.”This verdict proves that one can can still get justice in Pakistan and that the rights granted to women in Islam and our constitution are genuine,”the Associated Press quoted her as saying Monday (March 10).

In Islamic Pakistan, arranged marriages are the norm.

Waheed’s husband, Arshad Ahmed, was jailed for four months after the wedding and then released on bail pending the court’s decision.

Quote of the day: Andreas Wimmer, a volunteer with Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity

(RNS) As leaders of Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity seek to find a successor to the Nobel peace prize-winning nun as head of the religious order, questions have been raised about the future of the order’s work. Speaking with the New York Times, Andreas Wimmer, a native of Munich, Germany, who volunteers at one of the order’s projects in Calcutta, says not to worry:”She has told us, `If the work were mine, it would die with me, but it is the work of God, so he will look after it.”

END RNS