c. 1999 Religion News Service

Consultation on Church Union plenary begins

(RNS) The first plenary in more than a decade of the Consultation on Church Union, an effort to foster unity short of merger between nine mainline Protestant denominations, got off to a spirited start on Wednesday (Jan. 20) in St. Louis.

Delegates of the denominations _ ranging from the Episcopal Church to the United Church of Christ _ gathered singing hymns for the opening session of the five-day meeting.

During the gathering, about 200 delegates and observers are expected to formulate a report to their respective churches about how they can move forward into the next century together while maintaining their distinct denominations.”It is definitely not a structural merger,”the Rev. Lewis Lancaster, interim general secretary of COCU told Religion News Service prior to the start of the plenary.”Each of the churches will maintain their own identity and their own polity … but there will be a connection between them more than now exists.” There are challenges to finding a way forward because all of the affiliated denominations have not completely supported two documents that have edged the groups closer to reconciling their sacraments, ordinations and missions. The Episcopal Church has yet to vote on the documents. Although the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) approved the documents, regional Presbyterian bodies have rejected steps that would make such reconciliation possible.

The plenary, which continues through Jan. 24, also will focus on racism. A statement called”A Call to Christian Commitment to Combat Racism”will be considered.

The other member bodies of COCU, which began formally in 1962, are the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, the International Council of Community Churches and the United Methodist Church.

National Institutes to fund research on embryonic stem cells

(RNS) The National Institutes of Health will fund research on embryonic stem cells, a controversial decision because the cells are derived from human embryos that are intentionally destroyed.

The decision was announced Tuesday (Jan. 19) by NIH Director Harold Varmus at a National Bioethics Advisory Commission meeting in Washington.

Scientists think the research could someday help people with heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and other ailments. But anti-abortion activists and others believe embryo cells should be treated with a special moral status, The Washington Post reported.”We have made a determination of law that it is appropriate for NIH to support this research, and we intend to do so,”Varmus told the commission. The work would begin after guidelines for federal research on the cells are drafted.

He told the commission that the Department of Health and Human Services has decided that research on embryo-like cells is not the same as research on human embryos. Based on that interpretation, Varmus said the research is not covered by a four-year-old congressional ban on federal funding of research on human embryos.

Patients advocates and scientists have urged Congress to agree with HHS’s interpretation of the ban.”It is vitally important that the view expressed by Dr. Varmus (Tuesday) should prevail in federal policy,”said Daniel Perry, executive director of the Alliance for Aging Research.

The researchers would still be banned from destroying human embryos to get the stem cells, but critics think the research could lend credibility to _ and create a market for _ the mass destruction of human embryos.”The Clinton administration now seeks to do indirectly what Congress has forbidden it to do directly: provide federal support for research in which human embryos are created and destroyed,”said Richard M. Doerflinger of the Washington-based National Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Human embryonic stem cells were first isolated in 1998 by privately funded researchers from surplus human embryos that were going to be discarded by a fertility clinic.

Current rules regarding federal research on human fetal cells require that a woman’s decision to have an abortion must be made independent of and before scientists solicit her to donate fetal tissues for research.

Promise Keepers sued by production company

(RNS) Promise Keepers, the evangelical Christian men’s ministry, has been sued by a Greenwood, Ind., production company that has charged the ministry with stealing its techniques for staging stadium revivals.

The suit, filed in federal court in Denver, seeks $2 million in damages for Encore Productions Inc., the Associated Press reported.

The suit accuses the evangelical Christian group of practices that were”unfair, deceptive, unmoral, unethical, unscrupulous, oppressive, and have caused substantial injury to Encore.” The lawsuit, filed Jan. 6, also accuses Promise Keepers of secretly videotaping Encore’s activities during 1998 conferences, the AP reported.

Religion News Service was unable to reach the lawyer for Encore Productions for comment.

Promise Keepers issued a statement responding to the suit by Encore.”The Denver-based Christian men’s ministry was surprised and disappointed at the filing of the lawsuit,”the statement reads.”It was Promise Keepers’ expectation that any potential dispute would be submitted to a Christian conciliation process, as called for in the contract with Encore Productions.” The ministry stated that it had a contractual relationship with Encore that began in 1994 and concluded in 1998.”Promise Keepers differs with the version of facts presented in the suit, and fully disputes the allegations in the filing,”the statement added.”Promise Keepers continues to hope this matter can be resolved based upon biblical principles of conciliation, as stated by the Apostle Paul in his First Letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 6:1-11 and other pertinent Scripture.”

At least 17 die in new Muslim-Christian violence in Indonesia

(RNS) New fighting in Indonesia between Christian and Muslim gangs enraged by reports that both churches and mosques had been set afire has left at least 17 dead.

The violence took place on Ambon Island, some 1,450-miles northeast of Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, the Associated Press reported Wednesday (Jan. 20). At least 100 persons were injured in the two days of fighting this week. The mobs fought with machetes, spears and crowbars.

The violence was the latest in a series of outbursts that have pitted Christians against Muslims in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Islamic nation. About 90 percent of Indonesia’s 202 million people are Muslim. Indonesia’s worsening financial and political problems have exacerbated the nation’s religious and ethnic divisions.

Ambon police said six houses of worship were set afire, as well as more than 30 homes. The Indonesian Antara news service said the fighting started Tuesday (Jan. 19) after Muslims from the village of Baturerah attacked a man from a neighboring Christian-dominated village whom they accused of being drunk and insulting Islam. Islam frowns on the use of alcohol.

More than 700 riot police were needed to stop the violence, which began during the Eid al-Fitr feast that ends the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Five Tibetan monks reported arrested; others beaten

(RNS) Five Tibetan Buddhist monks have been arrested in the continued crackdown by Chinese authorities seeking to stamp out support for the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled religious and political leader.

The arrests took place in November and December, the London-based Tibet Information Network said Tuesday (Jan. 19).

The group said one of the monks was given a three-year prison sentence. It added that a Tibetan businessman and a former monk were also arrested. In addition, the group said two other monks were severly beaten while in detention.

The Tibet Information Network said the arrests and beatings were part of an ongoing campaign by Tibet’s Chinese occupiers to lessen widespread support among Tibetans for the Dalai Lama. The group said the five arrested monks were identified by the Chinese as leaders of pro-Dalai Lama protests last year at the Kirti monastery, home to more than 2,000 monks, according to the Associated Press.

The Dalai Lama fled Tibet in 1959 and has since lived in India while lobbying for Tibetan freedom. Recently, he has stopped calling for full independence for Tibet and has said he would settle for greater Tibetan autonomy.

As pope prepares for Mexico, landowners ask for removal of bishop

(RNS) A group of conservative and wealthy landowners in Mexico’s troubled, southernmost state of Chiapas, have asked Pope John Paul II to remove an activist bishop who has sided with the poor in their struggles with the landowners.

In a public letter released two days before the pontiff is scheduled to arrive in Mexico City to formally conclude the synod of the Americas _ a gathering of bishops in Rome in late 1997 _ the landowners accused Bishop Samuel Ruiz of supporting leftist guerrillas, especially the Zapatista movement.

Ruiz”has falsified Catholic doctrine in favor of a Marxist socialist revolution,”the letter said.

The letter was delivered to the Vatican’s representative in Mexico City, the Associated Press reported. It asked John Paul to replace Ruiz with”a pastor who teaches the authentic Catholic doctrine.” Ruiz has repeatedly denied his work among the Indians is politically motivated but had no comment at the moment.

Catholic Cardinal Hume: Anglican Carey should lead nation in 2000 prayer

(RNS) Cardinal Basil Hume, Roman Catholic head of the archdiocese of Westminster, said he wants to see the Archbishop of Canterbury lead the nation in prayer as the year 2000 begins.

Preaching Tuesday (Jan. 19) at an ecumenical service in London organized by Churches Together in England, the body linking all the mainstream churches in the country, Hume said church members should concentrate not so much on what type of world they wanted to create in the new millennium but rather on what sort of people they should become.”We will not, and cannot, change the world unless and until we change ourselves,”he said.”We should thus all aim to cross the threshold of the third millennium different, and better, people.”Would it not be quite wrong if the Archbishop of Canterbury were not seen and heard to be leading the nation in prayer at midnight when the new millennium begins? We should press for this,”he said.

The cardinal also called on Christians to focus their millennium celebrations on the commemoration of the birth of Jesus at Christmas.”The crib will always be more important than the dome,”he said, referring to the Millennium Dome which is being built as the official focus for the British celebration of the millennium and in which religion will be commemorated in a”spirit zone.”

Pope names new bishops for two U.S. dioceses

(RNS) Pope John Paul II has named new bishops for the dioceses of Stockton, Calif., and Boise City, Idaho, the Vatican announced Tuesday (Jan. 19).

Bishop Stephen E. Blaire, presently an auxiliary in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, will become bishop of Stockton, succeeding Bishop Donald W. Montrose, who has reached the retirement age of 75.

Blaire, 58 and a native of Los Angeles, was ordained a priest in 1967 and became auxiliary bishop in 1990. He has received master’s degrees in religion and administration, done graduate work in education and taught at area high schools.

He also has served on the Committee for Evangelization of the Episcopal Conference and is a member of the board of directors of the Agency for Immigration.

Bishop Michael P. Driscoll, an auxiliary in the diocese of Orange, Calif., will fill the vacant position of bishop of Boise City.

Driscoll, 59, is a native of Long Beach, Calif. He was ordained a priest in 1965 and became auxiliary bishop in 1990. He received a master’s degree in social work after his ordination, and has served as vicar general of the vicariates for Catholic Charities and for Religious in Orange.

Quote of the Day: Rabbi Eric H. Yoffie

(RNS)”All nations of the world will ultimately have to atone for their complicity in these acts if they permit the slaughter to continue.” _ Rabbi Eric H. Yoffie, president of Reform Judaism’s Union of American Hebrew Congregations, in a Tuesday (Jan. 19) statement on the continued killing of ethnic Albanians by Serbian forces in Kosovo.

DEA END RNS