c. 1998 Religion News Service

Cardinal: Papal visit has changed way world sees Cuba

(RNS) Pope John Paul II’s January visit to Cuba seems to have altered the way the world sees the long-isolated island, but no one should expect papal pressure to spark changes with the speed of those that swept Eastern Europe, the archbishop of Havana said Thursday (June 4).”Countries which had cut off diplomatic relations with Cuba have now re-established these ties and other countries, such as Spain, have normalized them,”Cardinal Jaime Ortega told a meeting of the Catholic Press Association here.

In addition, the Clinton administration cited the papal trip in easing U.S. restrictions on aid and travel to Cuba, and on money sent to relatives there by Cuban-Americans, he said.

But Westerners should not expect the 40-year-old Cuban revolution to collapse like communism in Eastern Europe in the late 1980s, Ortega told editors of Catholic newspapers and magazines.

The economic and political rhythms of Africa and Latin America are slow, and too-rapid change brings its own”new evils”like those found in the economic turmoil of Russia, he added.

Still, there are signs tiny changes are under way that may slowly grow into larger changes, he said.

Ortega gave two examples: the government’s willingness to permit increasing Catholic relief to the rural poor in Cuba and state television’s decision to report Canadian Premier Jean Chretien’s call on Ortega during Chretien’s visit to Havana in April.

That would have been unheard of before the papal trip in January, Ortega said, adding it was a small sign,”but Cubans know how to interpret small signs.”

Retired Episcopal bishop calls for `new beginning’ in N.J. diocese

(RNS) Saying the Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey seems to “thrive on rumor,” retired Bishop George Hunt has called on the clergy in the diocese to end a split with Bishop Joe Morris Doss.

After months of controversy over the bishop’s leadership, Hunt said yet another attempt at reconciliation was essential to the life of the diocese.”Failing such a new beginning, I fear the ministry of the whole diocese will be hobbled for the foreseeable future,” Hunt wrote in an eight-page report to Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold of the Episcopal Church.

Hunt presented his report to the Diocesan Council in late May. At the same meeting, the council voted to cut funding for Doss to travel to this summer’s Lambeth Conference in England, a once-a-decade meeting of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

In his report to Griswold, Hunt also defended Doss against various allegations, including the assertion that the bishop has an abrasive and manipulative leadership style.”Personally I have no experience of his being manipulative, nor of his blaming others,” wrote Hunt.

But Hunt did confirm an allegation that Doss had used a vulgarity in discussing the efforts of a group of black clergy.”The bishop did use some coarse language when referring to his belief that the Black Caucus had given him no agenda,” said Hunt. “But he did not refer to the agenda in any coarse way.”

Hunt’s report also addressed allegations that Doss made improper use of his discretionary fund.”The discretionary fund is one issue which has repeatedly been subjected to ill-founded rumor and misrepresentation,” Hunt

Hunt, who at Griswold’s request was a mentor to Doss for six months, acknowledged that Doss has made mistakes and “been his own worst enemy” at times.

But Hunt also chastised the bishop’s opponents, saying he believed conscientious dissent had often degenerated into a smear campaign.”Clearly, some few persons have used rumor and innuendo to `get at’ the bishop,” Hunt says in his report. “Rumor in the Diocese of New Jersey in recent years and months has been particularly destructive in the common life of Christ’s church. This has further polarized the people of God.”

Hunt said the two top elected church bodies, the Standing Committee and Diocesan Council, “seem to have grasped virtually every opportunity to publicly embarrass the bishop.”

In March, Doss’ critics swept the elections of church officers at the annual diocesan convention. In April, the Standing Committee and Diocesan Council again called for Doss to resign. They had previously done so last October.”The current situation would seem to be almost untenable,” Hunt wrote.”Short of being charged and convicted of some canonical offense, there is no way the bishop can be removed or forced to resign.”

Reno won’t challenge Oregon assisted-suicide law

(RNS) Attorney General Janet Reno said Friday (June 5) federal drug agents will not pursue doctors who make use of Oregon’s doctor-assisted suicide law.

Reno’s announcement removes one of the final obstacles to implementing the landmark legislation in Oregon, the first and only state to adopt a law permitting physicians to prescribe lethal doses of drugs for patients with less than six months to live.

The Clinton administration opposes the law and had been exploring whether it could use federal anti-drug laws to arrest or revoke the drug licenses of Oregon doctors who use the law.

Clinton, Reno said in a statement,”continues to maintain his longstanding positions against assisted suicide and any federal support for that position.” But Reno decided the DEA does not have the authority to block the doctors who provide the lethal doses of drugs in ways that conform to Oregon state law.”There is no evidence that Congress, in the Controlled Substance Act, intended to displace the states as the primary regulators of the medical profession, or to override a state’s determination as to what constitutes legitimate medical practice in the absence of a federal law prohibiting the practice,”Reno said.

Lori Hougens of the National Right to Life Committee in Washington, D.C., called the Reno decision”unconscionable.””We think for this government, for this Justice Department, to pull the safety net out from under the most vulnerable people in our society, people who are terminally ill, people with severe disabilities, we think it’s unconscionable, and right now we call on Congress to act promptly to prevent any more tragic deaths in Oregon,”she said.

But advocates of the Oregon law hailed the decision.”This ruling … clearly supports our society’s belief that decisions about health care should be made based on local community standards and enforced by local authorities,”said Barbara Coombs of Compassion in Dying in Portland, Ore.

Salvation Army says no to San Francisco

(RNS) The Salvation Army is stopping some programs in San Francisco because the city’s”domestic partners”law violates their religious beliefs, the group announced Thursday (June 4).

The Army also said it will lay off 60 of its 390 employees in the city and cut three charitable programs as a result of the decision.”The (partners) ordinance, does conflict with our basic theological position, primarily the recognition of the traditional family,”said Salvation Army spokesman Lt. Col. Richard Love.

The ordinance, passed last year, requires all companies doing business with San Francisco to give the same medical and retirement benefits they give to married couples to employees who live with domestic partners.

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco brokered a compromise with the city allowing Catholic groups to continue to work in San Francisco without explicitly giving their approval of the domestic partner law. Catholic Charities, for example, will offer”spousal equivalent”benefits to anyone an employee designates. That person could be a sibling, spouse or unmarried housemate.

Some groups, including the United States Tennis Association and Blue Cross, received exemptions under a”sole provider”clause in the San Francisco ordinance allowing the city to waive the domestic partner law in situations where no alternate supplier is available.

The Salvation Army worked for 11 months to achieve”sole provider”status through negotiating with the city but when the negotiations fell through it decided not to seek the same kind of agreement as the Catholic archdiocese, Reuters reported.”It’s unfortunate the Salvation Army is being so narrow-minded,”said city supervisor Tom Ammiano.”We did come to an understanding with the archdiocese, and were hoping to use that as a model.” However, the Salvation Army said their religious beliefs were as important as the new law. “The army felt it was necessary to speak with a national voice,”Love said.”We cannot make a decision unilaterally in San Francisco that is not in concert with the rest of the country.” New woman Baptist pastor crosses gender line in Texas

(RNS) The Rev. Julie Pennington-Russell has been elected pastor of a Southern Baptist church in Waco, Texas, becoming the first woman senior pastor in Texas.

Pennington-Russell will head Waco’s Calvary Baptist Church, the independent Associated Baptist Press news agency reported.

The current leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention opposes women clerics and while some women have been called as ministers and clergy by local congregations, their numbers remain small and the practice controversial.

Some 30 states have at least one woman Baptist pastor but most are in the East, said Sarah Frances Anders, an expert in women in ministry at Louisiana College.

Paul Stripling, director of missions for Waco Baptist Association, said he will treat Pennington-Russell just like the pastors of the other 102 churches in the association.

Pennington-Russell, who was pastor of Nineteenth Avenue Baptist Church in San Francisco, said she hopes to move beyond the issue of gender since it”has been a non-issue for a long time”with the California church.

Knox named editor of Texas Baptist Standard

(RNS) Veteran Baptist journalist Marv Knox has been elected editor of the Texas Baptist, the weekly news journal of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, the largest state group in the Southern Baptist Convention.

Knox, currently associate editor of the Texas Baptist, will succeed Toby Druin when he retires Dec. 31, reported Baptist Press, the official news agency of the SBC.”Marv Knox has distinguished himself in every area in which he has served,”Druin said.”He has been associate editor of two Baptist state papers, editor of another and has served three national Southern Baptist agencies. He knows Baptists, he is an outstanding journalist and he is a dedicated Christian, churchman, husband and father.” For his part, Knox said,”The opportunity to walk in the path worn smooth by a succession of saintly Standard editors is both humbling and an honor of the highest magnitude.”

Quote of the day: The Rev. Robert Vanden Bosch

(RNS)”Every child in the state of Illinois who took this test has already been mentally molested by the state Board of Education.” _ The Rev. Robert Vanden Bosch, director of Concerned Christian Americans, reacting to reports a health test containing questions about explicit sexual activities was given to 11th-graders at 61 Illinois high schools.

DEA END RNS