c. 1997 Religion News Service
Vatican official blasts WCC for aiding `subversives’
(RNS) Roman Catholic Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and one of the Vatican’s most powerful prelates, has accused the World Council of Churches (WCC) of”harming the life of the gospel”in Latin America by giving financial support to”subversive movements.” Ratzinger made his comments during a news conference Monday (June 9) at the Vatican during which a new book about Christian unity in the next millennium was released, according to Ecumenical News International, the Geneva-based religious news agency.
The book, by the Rev. Nicola Bux, a priest from Bari, Italy, accuses the WCC, the international ecumenical agency with more than 300 Anglican, Orthodox and Protestant churches as members, of helping”certain campaigns promoting revolution in Latin America”while failing to help”Christians and the `churches of silence’ in Eastern Europe.” The Rev. Konrad Raiser, general secretary of the WCC, refused to comment on Ratzinger’s remarks.”It’s clear from reports that Cardinal Ratzinger was responding to a journalist’s question,”Raiser told ENI.”His remarks were unscripted and in these circumstances we don’t wish to respond.” Ratzinger has been a longtime critic of Latin American liberation theology and its use of Marxist principles for analyzing economic injustice. The theology has been used by radical priests and bishops in their challenge to Latin America ruling elites.
On Wednesday (June 11), however, Dwain Epps, of the WCC’s Commission of the Churches on International Affairs, defended the WCC and its support for the largely Roman Catholic liberation theologians.
He argued”few, if any”liberation theologians were engaged in any armed rebel movement, adding that the WCC had not provided financial support for any such movement in Latin America.
Epps said the WCC gave”generously”to Latin American human rights groups,”nearly all of which were related to one or another of the churches”in Latin America during”one of the darkest periods of Latin American history”when thousands of people were”disappeared”by government-aligned paramilitary forces and”systematic torture of political opponents and assassinations were widespread.”
Denominations cut ties with CRC over women pastors
(RNS) Two small, conservative Presbyterian denominations severed ties with the Christian Reformed Church (CRC) this week, citing the latter body’s willingness to allow churches to ordain women to church office.
The Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), a 280,000-member denomination, meeting in Colorado Springs, Colo., voted Wednesday (June 11)”to terminate our recognition”of the CRC”as a church in ecclesiastical fellowship with the PCA immediately.””We’ve come to the conclusion that the change in the position of women is symptomatic of a far greater change on Scripture that leaves the CRC very, very vulnerable to other changes,”said the Rev. Rie Perrin, former chairman of the PCA’s interchurch relations committee.
The PCA does not ordain women as elders or pastors, believing it is contrary to biblical teaching and practice.
A day earlier, the 22,000-member Orthodox Presbyterian Church, meeting in Beaver Falls, Pa., voted to break fraternal ties with the CRC, also citing the issue of women’s ordination.
The CRC voted in 1995 to allow each of its 47 classes _ local clusters of churches _ to decide whether to allow women to be ordained as ministers, elders and evangelists. It has allowed women to be deacons for more than a decade.
United Methodist clergywomen hit `stained glass ceiling’
(RNS) After winning the right to be ordained to the ministry nearly 40 years ago, clergywomen in the United Methodist church are butting up against a”stained glass ceiling”and denied the opportunity to become senior pastors in large membership churches, according to an official of the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry.
The Rev. Lynn Scott said the lack of experience of local churches with women in leadership posts appears to be a major reason why few clergywomen are chosen as”lead”or senior pastors _ those who work with at least one other ordained minister on staff.
According to statistics released by Scott on Tuesday (June 10):
_ Of 81 churches with more than 3,000 members, none is served by women lead pastors.
_ Of 181 churches with memberships between 2,000 and 2,999, only five are served by women.
_ Of 248 churches with memberships between 1,500 and 1,999, two are served by women.
_ Of 690 churches with memberships between 1,000 and 1,499, 10 are served by women.
Overall, that means just 1.4 percent of churches with a membership of 1,000 or more are served by women as senior or lead pastors.”I don’t think all of our churches have been adequately prepared for receiving clergywomen in lead pastor roles,”said Portland (Ore.) Area Bishop Ed Paup.”It seems to me the reality is that people still think of the lead pastors in terms of Anglo males.”
Quaker agency urges religious leaders to speak out against death penalty
(RNS) The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), the Quaker humanitarian agency, is urging religious leaders to speak out against the death penalty for convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.”In light of the growing call for vengeance, religious and moral leaders must speak out against the death penalty for Timothy McVeigh,”the Philadelphia-based group said in a statement released Wednesday (June 11).”For far too long, the death penalty has been touted as a gift to victim family members,”the group said.”But the death penalty does not provide healing and closure, because that is something that must come from within.” McVeigh was convicted of bombing the federal building in Oklahoma City, Okla., killing 168 people.
The Quaker group said the McVeigh case”is not an easy case”for those who oppose capital punishment because”many of the unusual arguments”for its abolition _ racism and arbitrariness _”simply do not apply.” But, the Friends group said opponents must speak out against capital punishment even in the McVeigh case.”As religious and moral leaders, it’s time for us to state emphatically, the death penalty is never an option,”the AFSC statement said.”From the Oklahoma tragedy, we gain an opportunity to wrestle with evil and prevail,”the statement added.”Even when something as horrendous as the malicious murder of 168 people occurs, we must still recognize the value of every person’s life and continue to live our lives seeking the best in ourselves and in each other.”
White lawmakers call for apology over slavery
(RNS) A dozen white members of Congress have introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives calling on Congress to apologize to black Americans whose ancestors were enslaved.”My resolution will not fix the lingering injustice resulting from slavery but reconciliation begins with an apology,”the AP quoted Rep. Tony Hall, D-Ohio, as saying.”I hope this apology will be a start of new healing between the races.” Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., praised Hall for the bipartisan effort.”When I hear you calling me about whites apologizing for slavery, that’s the kind of attention that’s needed to have this country come face-to-face with some of the pain of our history and some our fallout even today,”she said.
Ten years ago, the Congress formally apologized for herding Japanese-Americans into internment camps during World War II.
Quote of the Day: Author Phil Catalfo on children and rituals
(RNS) In his new book”Raising Spiritual Children in a Material World”(Berkley Books), author Phil Catalfo notes that young children love hearing the same story over and over and playing the same game time and again. This makes them, he says,”natural-born ritualizers.”Both parents and children can benefit from this:”By engaging in ritual as a family, we teach our children to honor the moment, cherish the day, and observe the seasons of life. By participating in rituals with our children, we teach ourselves to remain present _ i.e., conscious, in the moment _ and really be with our children, our spouses, ourselves.”
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