c. 1999 Religion News Service

Prosecutors probing 17 in fire that threatened Shroud of Turin

(RNS) Prosecutors in Turin, Italy, have notified 17 people, including the region’s superintendent of culture, that they are under investigation in connection with a fire two years ago that threatened to destroy the Holy Shroud.

The prosecutor’s office said Wednesday (May 19) that it is investigating 16 people on suspicion of criminal negligence and the 17th for alleged collusion to cover up the negligence.

The fire broke out April 11, 1997, in a chapel of the Renaissance cathedral, the Duomo di San Giuseppe, containing the cloth that some believe wrapped the body of Christ after his crucifixion and others consider a Medieval fake.

Flames gutted the chapel, which was undergoing restoration, and damaged a wing of the adjacent Royal Palace of the Savoys where U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan was attending a dinner in his honor. A firemen managed to save the shroud, which was a gift to the church from the Savoys, Italy’s former royal family.

Prosecutor Giuseppe Ferrando, who is in charge of the investigation, said it appeared that a poorly wired lamp caught fire in the chapel and set off flammable solvents and more than 120 tons of wood for scaffolding. Safety regulations require that flammable materials be removed from a work site at the end of each day.

Those under investigation include Pasquale Bruno Malara, superintendent of culture for Piedmont, members of his staff, architect Mirella Macera, owners of four companies carrying out the restoration and six guards, who allegedly failed to alert firemen.

Investigators said the fire alarm in the Royal Palace went off at 10:50 p.m., but firemen received their first call only at 11:45 p.m. from a neighbor, who saw the flames from a balcony window.

The shroud, which bears the outline of the body and face of a bearded man, is rarely shown to the public. More than 1 million people lined up to see it last summer when it went on temporary display in a specially built glass case.

Sudan government bulldozes Christian churches, church-schools

(RNS) Four Episcopal Church of Sudan bishops visited a shanty town outside the Sudanese capital of Khartoum on Friday (May 21) to comfort residents there after government bulldozers leveled a school and a Christian church.

Bishop Gabriel Roric, who is also an official in the Islamic-led government, told the mostly Christian residents of Hay Baraka that the bishops would meet with top officials and demand compensation, alternative land and guarantees against similar incidents.

A government official said the buildings had been illegally built on”unzoned”land. The demolition occurred on May 17.

The school, which served 1,200 mostly Christian children, had been built in the shanty town created by Christians fleeing the fighting in Sudan’s protracted civil war.”This is barbarism. It is discrimination,”said Solomon Ateng Amos, a local community leader, pointing to the wasteland of demolished buildings. Mosques and Koranic schools had remained untouched, Amos told Reuters news service.

Earlier demolitions included a Presbyterian-owned church and school. Four Catholic schools in the region have been given demolition notices.

Flooding washed away the original mud structures at Hay Baraka in 1988. Later, foreign aid allowed residents to rebuild the church, school and other buildings with brick. The region has been a refuge for numerous people who have fled battle areas since the civil war resumed in 1983.

In their visit, the bishops urged the church elders to trust in God and not to retaliate for the demolition.”When all the churches have been demolished, the decision of our Christian community is to share the mosques,”one community leader suggested facetiously.”The Muslims can pray there on Fridays and Christians on Sundays. Maybe this will bring religious tolerance.”

Update: Dell appeal hearing set for Aug. 9

(RNS) The committee on appeals of the United Methodist Church’s North Central Jurisdiction has set Aug. 9 as the date for hearing the appeal of the Rev. Gregory Dell, who has been suspended from the ministry for violating church rules by performing a same-sex union ceremony.

Dell’s suspension, effective July 5, was imposed after he was found guilty of disobedience to the”order and discipline”of the denomination in a March church trial.

Dell is appealing the ruling, alleging that the trial court”did not apply the evidentiary standard of clear and convincing evidence in relation to the verdict.” The suspended pastor’s lawyer said he will also argue that the suspension is unconstitutional because it is”an indefinite penalty designed to extract a pledge based on future action.”The trial court said Dell could be restored to the ministry if he pledged not to perform any more same-sex ceremonies.”We’re hoping that the committee on appeals, as they evaluate the verdict and penalty, will conclude it was not an appropriate finding by the trial court.” Dell does not dispute the charge that he performed the same-sex ceremony. Such rites are barred by the church law.

Under church law, the committee on appeals has the option of reversing part or all of the findings of the trial court, remanding the case for a new trial, modifying the penalty or letting the original judgment stand.

Woman injured in intra-Jewish fray at Jerusalem’s Western Wall

(RNS) Four ultra-Orthodox Jews were arrested Friday (May 21) after throwing plastic water bottles _ some filled _ at Reform and Conservative men and women praying together at Jerusalem’s Western Wall in violation of Orthodox ritual.

One worshipper was slightly injured in the melee, which took place on the Jewish holiday of Shavuot. The holiday celebrates the traditional receiving of the Torah by Moses at Mount Sinai.

The Western Wall, a retaining wall that is the only remaining remnant of Jerusalem’s Second Temple destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 70, has the status of an Orthodox synagogue. Orthodox religious law prevents men and women from freely mixing during prayer.

More liberal Reform and Conservative Jews have sought equal recognition in Israel, frequently demonstrating that demand by attempting to pray together at the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest site. Ultra-Orthodox men often react by attacking the mixed-gender worshippers.

Chicago Catholics get steel statue of Virgin Mary

(RNS) The Archdiocese of Chicago has dedicated a new 33-foot, 8-inch steel statue, Our Lady of the New Millenia, to tour the archdiocese’s 350 churches. The statue is made from strips of stainless steel and includes slits that allow wind to go through the hollow statue.”It overpowers you, the sheer height,”said Carl Demma, the 67-year-old retired retailer who created the statue. He would not disclose the cost of the privately funded statue.

Demma said during January’s papal visit to St. Louis, Pope John Paul II gave the endeavor his blessing. The statue is mounted on a large, industrial truck that will take it to each parish over the next three to five years, Demma said.

On May 9, Cardinal Francis George dedicated the statue outside downtown Chicago’s Holy Name Cathedral. He described the Virgin Mary as”the first of our disciples. She is our exemplar and model in holiness. The church raises her eyes to Mary. Mary is the new Eve, through whom (God) restored what the first Eve lost. Bless her path through our archdiocese.” British Catholic paper recognizes journalist’s union

(RNS) The publishers of Britain’s largest circulation Roman Catholic weekly, The Universe, have signed an agreement recognizing the National Union of Journalists in order to settle a dispute with five reporters and editors _ including the two leaders of the NUJ chapel (office branch) who were fired last August.

It is the first new recognition agreement the union has negotiated in several years.

Eight of the nine journalists at Gabriel Communications Ltd., publisher of The Universe, are members of the NUJ. The agreement sets minimum salaries and provides for full collective bargaining.

Eighty percent of the shares in Gabriel Communications Ltd are owned by a number of dioceses and religious orders through the Catholic Media Trust, headed by Bishop Crispian Hollis of Portsmouth, England.

The five fired journalists brought their case to an industrial relations tribunal, charging they had been unfairly dismissed.

Four of them have accepted an out-of-court settlement as part of the recognition deal, but one of them, Paul Burnell, an eight-year veteran of the newspaper, said he was not very impressed by the terms offered and is continuing his action.

Quote of the day: pop singer Madonna

(RNS)”I can disagree with doctrines and dogmas and still celebrate them.” _ Pop singer Madonna explaining to TV talk show host Charlie Rose why she had her daughter baptized Roman Catholic even though she has rejected the church.

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