c. 1998 Religion News Service

Canadian police close Sikh temple fearing factional feud

(RNS) Police in Vancouver, British Columbia, closed one of Canada’s largest Sikh temples Sunday (Aug. 2), fearing a clash between moderate and conservative factions.

Vancouver Police Chief Bruce Chambers said the officers acted after failing to mediate a long-running religious dispute at the temple, the Associated Press reported.

The streets around the temple were reopened Sunday afternoon after a crowd of about 1,000 people dispersed, a police spokesman said. But the temple building will remain closed indefinitely.

The dispute revolves around an edict from the religion’s ruling body in India to remove dining hall tables and chairs, which conservatives consider an improper addition to a temple.

But leaders of several Sikh temples across British Columbia have refused to remove the tables and chairs despite the order from high priest Ranjit Singh, the AP said.

Six high-ranking Canadian Sikh leaders _ including the priest, president and secretary of the Vancouver temple _ have been excommunicated for failing to appear Singh in India to defend their decision.

Publisher destroys book on women’s ordination at Vatican’s order

(RNS) Liturgical Press of Collegeville, Minn., has destroyed 1,300 copies of a book promoting the ordination of women as Catholic priests, the National Catholic Reporter, an independent newsweekly, has reported.

The publisher acted on a request from Bishop John Kinney of St. Cloud, Minn., who in turn was acting on a directive from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, headed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.

The book,”Women at the Altar,”was written by Sister Lavinia Byrne of Cambridge, England, and was first published in England in 1994, shortly before Pope John Paul II insisted the ban on women priests was to be”definitively held”by all Catholics.

Liturgical Press had bought the North American rights to the book and began distributing it in 1995. It is owned by the Benedictine monks at St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville.”We are one of the publishers of the church … not a private business,”Mark Twohey, managing editor of Liturgical Press, told NCR.”We agree that the book is against the stated policy of the church. We want to be in compliance, so we removed the book from sale.” The book is still being circulated in England because its publisher is a secular concern.

Byrne, a member of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is well known in English theological circles and is a former co-editor of The Way, a quarterly journal on Christian spirituality, and regular contributor to The Tablet, a London-based Catholic publication.

According to the Rev. Michael Barnes, a Jesuit who edits The Way, Byrne is under investigation by the Vatican and has been told to retract arguments in the book that violate church teaching.

Jehovah’s Witness in Singapore sues to reclaim job

(RNS) A Jehovah’s Witness in Singapore, fired from his teaching job for refusing to sing the Singapore national anthem, has gone to court in an effort to win back his position.”Based on my constitutional rights, I believed that my refraining from singing the national anthem and (reciting) the national pledge … would not be prejudicial,”Peter Nappalli told the court Monday (Aug. 3), Reuters reported.

Reciting the pledge and singing the anthem during morning assemblies were made mandatory in 1988. Nappalli was fired for misconduct in 1994 for not saying the words to the anthem or the pledge.

The Jehovah’s Witness movement has been banned in Singapore since 1972 on the grounds it is prejudicial to public welfare and order. Jehovah’s Witnesses consider pledges and anthems as acts of worship and, therefore, against their faith.

During Monday’s hearing, Nappalli’s lawyers argued there is no law in Singapore compelling either the singing of the anthem or the recitation of the pledge and that the republic’s constitution protects his right not to do so.

But lawyers for the school said Nappalli had intentionally supressed information about his religious beliefs on his employment application form.

Spring Arbor Distributors founder to retire

(RNS) The founder of Spring Arbor Distributors, the largest independent wholesaler of Christian books and related products, retired Saturday (Aug. 1).

James E. Carlson began Spring Arbor Distribution Co. in Belleville, Mich., with a staff of 34 in 1978. He aimed to provide centralized distribution of Christian products, connecting Christian publishers to Christian retailers.

The company now has more than 500 employees.

Spring Arbor merged with Ingram Book Group in May 1997 and became Spring Arbor Distributors, a subsidiary of Ingram Industries.”Over the past two decades, Jim Carlson created Spring Arbor through his tremendous understanding of the industry and his devotion to solid customer relations,”said Larry A. Carpenter, Spring Arbor’s president.

Carlson also founded the first Logos Bookstore in Ann Arbor, Mich., and is a former executive director of the Association of Logos bookstores.

Quote of the day: Retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu

(RNS)”We are overwhelmed by the awfulness of evil that has been revealed, but we are exhilarated by the incredible magnanimity of people. Let us shut the door on that past and now move forward together to enjoy the glorious future which God is holding out to all of us.” _ Retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu, chairman of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, commenting July 31 on the panel’s end of its probe into human rights abuses during the apartheid era.

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