c. 1997 Religion News Service

Lawyer says Kevorkian helped woman die in Catholic church

(RNS) The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit has rejected as untrue a claim by the lawyer for Dr. Jack Kevorkian who said the assisted suicide-advocate had helped a woman die at an archdiocesan church led by a”sympathetic priest.” Attorney Geoffrey Fieger said Kevorkian helped 74-year-old Nadia Foldes of New York, who was suffering from liver cancer, die by inhaling carbon monoxide Thursday (Nov. 13).

Fieger told the Detroit Free Press that Kevorkian had helped the woman die in a Catholic church, as she wished, even though she was reportedly Eastern Orthodox. Fieger did not name the parish in which the death purportedly occurred. Nor did he name the allegedly cooperative priest.

Richard Laskos, a spokesman for the archdiocese, dismissed Fieger’s claim as untrue.”We have no knowledge of this and we don’t believe it’s true,”said Laskos.”We just don’t believe Dr. Kevorkian or his attorney based on past statements they’ve made that turned out to be false.” Laskos declined to give an example of the sort of past statements to which he was referring.

Kevorkian delivered Foldes’ body to the emergency room of POH Medical Center at about 7:30 p.m. Thursday, the Associated Press reported.

The retired pathologist has acknowledging helping at least 55 people commit suicide. He has been tried four times in Michigan for his role in the deaths. Three of the trials ended in his acquittal. The fourth was declared a mistrial.

Emory University to allow same-sex ceremonies on campus

(RNS) Gay and lesbian couples may hold same-sex commitment ceremonies at Emory University chapels if an ordained campus minister from one of the 24 recognized groups at the United Methodist-affiliated school in Atlanta conducts the ceremony, the institution’s trustees ruled Thursday (Nov. 13).

Currently, only two campus clergy _ the United Church of Christ minister and the Reform Jewish rabbi _ are willing to perform same-sex unions. Emory’s parent body, the United Methodist Church, disapproves of such unions.

Georgia Methodist leaders have been outspoken opponents to such unions since the issue surfaced last spring at Emory’s branch campus at Oxford in neighboring Newton County.

Officials at Emory in Oxford refused to allow two gay men to hold a union service last April. But Emory’s president, William Chace, overruled them, citing equal employment opportunity guidelines. He also publicly apologized to the two men seeking the ceremony.

The North Georgia United Methodist Conference protested Chace’s ruling and asked trustees to intervene. In June, trustees set a temporary ban on same-sex unions until the policy could be revisited.

Ann Rector, co-chair of the school’s Commission on Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Concerns, praised Emory’s board of trustees for their decision.”It’s constructive rather than divisive,”she said.”It shows they are not committed to closing the door, but on working to reduce prejudice.”

Baptists, Campus Crusade to work together in overseas evangelism

(RNS) Officials of the Southern Baptist International Mission Board and Campus Crusade for Christ have signed an agreement to work together on evangelistic causes.

Foreign missionaries for the denomination will work to start local churches with overseas college graduates who have been involved with Campus Crusade, an evangelical ministry best known for its work with students.”We’re entering a new era (in Christian missions), where we are coming to realize that there is so much left to do and that no one organization can hope to accomplish it all,”said Bailey Marks Sr., vice president for Campus Crusade, based in Orlando, Fla.”It is necessity for us to find partners.” Marks and other Campus Crusade leaders met with International Mission Board officials on Nov. 5 in Richmond, Va., reported Baptist Press, the official news service of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Jerry Rankin, president of the mission board, called the agreement”one of the most significant evangelistic developments in recent years.” The mission board already has cooperated with Campus Crusade in its use of the evangelistic film”Jesus,”which has been distributed widely by the evangelical ministry. Now, they also will combine forces to enhance Baptist church movements in foreign cities where Campus Crusade has a presence at colleges.

Would-be papal assassin’s brother meets with pope

(RNS) The brother of the Turkish man who tried to shoot to death Pope John II in 1981 has met with the pontiff in an apparent bid to help gunman Mehmet Ali Agca win his freedom.

Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said Thursday (Nov. 13) that the pope met briefly with Adnan Agca the previous day. But he gave no details of the meeting, according to the Associated Press.

Mehmet Ali Agca is serving a life sentence for attempting to kill the pope on May 13, 1981, in St. Peter’s Square. Agca’s family has long sought to gain his release _ which would be up to Italy, not the Vatican _ and apparently wants the pope’s recommendation.

John Paul met his assailant in prison in 1985, however, the Vatican has repeatedly stated it doubts the sincerity of Mehmet Ali Agca’s declarations of repentance.

Quote of the Day: California Gov. Pete Wilson

(RNS) Addressing a Christian Coalition convention in Long Beach, Calif., Nov. 8, California Gov. Pete Wilson, long an opponent of legally mandated affirmative action programs, said:”We are all God’s children, all of us in his sight, each of us entitled to equal opportunity in this world as we strive to deserve a place in the next. How, then, can a government impose inequality of opportunity, giving preference to a gender, an ethnic group or a religion at the expense of all others?”

MJP END RNS