c. 1997 Religion News Service

Dallas diocese asks Vatican to nullify molester’s priestly ordination

(RNS) The Roman Catholic diocese of Dallas said Wednesday (Sept. 3) it has asked the Vatican to nullify the priestly ordination of Rudolph Kos, the central figure in a sexual-abuse lawsuit that led to a $119.6 million judgment against the diocese.

If approved by the Vatican, the rare action would mean that Kos, who was ordained to the priesthood in 1981, was never really a Catholic priest in the eyes of the church.”We are asking nullification under church law on the grounds that he deliberately deceived church officials about his background and sexual orientation before he entered the seminary and even at the time of his ordination,”said Monsignor John Bell, chancellor of the diocese.”We’re taking this action to further protect the interests of the community,”Bell said.

On July 24, a jury awarded $119.6 million to 11 plaintiffs _ 10 victims and the family of an 11th who committed suicide five years ago _ who alleged that Kos had sexually molested them when they served as altar boys at Kos’ parish between 1981 and 1992. In a unanimous ruling, the jury found that the diocese was grossly negligent and concealed information on its handling of the Kos case.”The civil trial made it clear how much he deceived and defrauded the diocese concerning his lifestyle,”Bell said.

Bell, an expert in church law, said the last nullification case of which he was aware happened in 1950 and involved a Polish priest. A 1928 case, he said, set forth the principles for nullification of ordination in cases of deception.”Usually, bishops simply ask the Vatican to laicize priests who leave the church or who have been involved in some misconduct,”Bell said. But nullification would mean that Kos was never validly ordained a priest.

Kos left the diocese and moved to California in 1993. He has been indicted on two counts of criminal charges involving sexual abuse of minors and awaits trial in Dallas County.

Unification Church says Catholics seeking to expel it from Guatemala

(RNS) A lawyer for the Unification Church, the controversial denomination founded by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, has charged Guatemala’s Roman Catholic hierarchy with trying to drive it out of the country.”The Guatemalan Archbishop Prospero Penados del Bario called on the evangelical churches to unite with him to kick Rev. Moon’s sect out of Guatemala,”Nilton Herrera, a lawyer and church member, told Reuters on Aug. 28.

Carlos Aldana, a spokesman for the archbishop, denied the Catholic Church had put any pressure on the government to expel the Unification Church but said the church is”warning the people that this (Unification Church) was a dangerous sect.”We respect the constitution of the republic, which guarantees freedom of religion, but we strongly criticize this sect because we are worried that it manipulates people,”Aldana said.

Guatemala’s immigration director told Reuters it had received anonymous complaints about the Moonies, as church members are known, and it was looking into whether Japanese church workers are in the country legally.

Herrera said 120 female Japanese church members were in the country on tourist permits but he denied they were proselytizing. It is against the law in Guatemala for foreigners on a tourist visa to proselytize.”They (Japanese women) are in a phase of getting to know the country,”Herrera said.”They are just letting people know their way of thinking. It’s not to convert. It’s not religious proselytizing.” The Japanese women work in groups in parks and markets, approaching strangers to talk about divorce, marriage and the family, he said.

Kentucky Baptists vote against women’s ordination

(RNS) A Muhlenberg County, Ky., association of Southern Baptist churches has voted to remove a woman’s name from its official list of ministers and give the church where she is a member one year to agree with the association’s position against women’s ordination or be ousted from the group.

The Aug. 28 vote at the meeting of the Muhlenberg County Baptist Association comes seven months after a failed attempt to oust the church from the association.

The controversy focuses on Angie Flack, an ordained pastoral counselor whose husband, David, is the pastor of First Baptist Church in Drakesboro. Mrs. Flack, who was ordained by a North Carolina church in 1993, holds no official position in the Kentucky congregation.

The Drakesboro church listed Mrs. Flack in the category of”ordained ministers other than pastors”for the association’s 1996 Book of Reports. Several pastors in the association objected to a woman’s name being included. Critics said the congregation should have denied membership to Mrs. Flack because she is ordained, reported Associated Baptist Press, an independent Baptist news service.

Bob Lowery, pastor of First Baptist Church of Central City, said that although he doesn’t support women’s ordination in his church, the association should permit individual churches to decide the issue.”I fear we strain at gnats,”said Lowery.”We’re talking about striking somebody’s name out of a book of reports. I thought our job was to make sure names are written in the Book of Life.” Bob Kubasch, pastor of Macedonia Baptist Church in Greenville, said he feared that tolerating a church with an ordained woman could lead to churches accepting divorced pastors or homosexuals.

In criticizing the motion, Mr. Flack said,”Certain men are attempting to control churches in Muhlenberg County Baptist Association. This vote decides whether to allow a few pastors in the association to control your church.” Mrs. Flack could not address the meeting because the association does not permit women to serve as delegates.

Southern Baptist commission unveils legislative agenda

(RNS) The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention has sent members of Congress a list of its legislative priorities for the remainder of this year and for 1998.

The list, outlined in an Aug. 28 letter, includes issues relating to the”sanctity of human life,”religious liberty and”empowering families.” The Southern Baptist commission supports bans on human cloning and a late-term abortion procedure called”partial-birth”abortion by its opponents. It also supports passage of legislation to reduce religious persecution abroad and a constitutional amendment that aims to enhance religious freedom at home. The commission favors putting an end to a federal tax penalty on married couples and the passage of a measure that would provide education savings accounts with tax incentives to finance schooling of elementary and secondary students.”These are necessary and imperative steps,”wrote Richard Land, commission president.”However, they are merely the beginning steps in responding to the American people’s yearning for a government that is as concerned about the moral structure of the nation and its religious freedoms as are its people.” The action by the Baptist division, formerly known as the Christian Life Commission, followed the announcement Aug. 26 by the Christian Coalition of its legislative priorities. The coalition and the commission agree on some agenda items, incluing reducing religious persecution, ending the marriage tax penalty, supporting the constitutional amendment dealing with religious freedom and enacting education savings accounts for school children.

Will Campbell to receive Religious Freedom Award

(RNS) Author, philosopher and preacher Will Campbell has been selected as the recipient of the 1997 Religious Freedom Award by the Associated Baptist Press.

Campbell, the inspiration behind the comic-strip character Will B. Dunn, is known for his role in the civil rights movement, his support for human rights, and his 1977 autobiography”Brother to a Dragonfly.””Will Campbell has demonstrated in both word and deed an unswerving commitment to the highest principles of religious freedom, including the sacredness of truth and the freedom of the soul,”said Greg Warner, executive editor of Associated Baptist Press, an independent Baptist news service based in Jacksonville, Fla.

Campbell is scheduled to receive the award at a Sept. 19 banquet in Memphis, Tenn.

Longtime staffer at Navigators becomes group’s U.S. director

(RNS) A longtime staff member of the Navigators, an international evangelical ministry, has been chosen as the group’s U.S. director.

Alan Andrews, 53, a full-time staffer since 1970, will oversee the work of more than 1,800 U.S. missionaries serving in this country and abroad.

The Navigators, based in Colorado Springs, Colo., is involved in evangelization efforts and helping Christians become more dedicated to their faith and more involved in evangelism.

Quote of the day: Sister Helen Prejean

(RNS) In the current issue of the Jesuit magazine America, Sister Helen Prejean, the anti-death penalty activist best-known for her book”Dead Man Walking,”contributed to a symposium on finding God. In her comments, Prejean observed:”When you hit something big … like working for justice in the world, or trying to connect faith with going against powerful and entrenched systems _ you have this sense of `Yes, I am doing my part.’ But then you also need to be able to put it down and let God run the universe, so you can play a clarinet or be with your friends or work in a garden.”

MJP END RNS