c. 1999 Religion News Service
Thomas Nelson to buy 60 percent of New Life Treatment Centers
(RNS) Thomas Nelson, a Nashville, Tenn.-based Christian publishing firm, has announced plans to purchase 60 percent of New Life Treatment Centers, a group known most for its popular Christian women’s conferences.
The agreement is still under negotiation but is expected to be completed before the end of the year, the company announced earlier this month.
New Life, which is based in Laguna Beach, Calif., sponsors Women of Faith conferences, which were held at 25 sites this year and attracted more than 375,000 participants. It also runs Remuda Ranch, a therapeutic center in Arizona that treats women with eating disorders.”We have watched with great interest as various `event’ programs have evolved and become successful in both Christian and secular settings,”said Sam Moore, chairman and chief executive officer of Thomas Nelson, in a statement.”We think this transaction with New Life offers our company a unique and valuable opportunity to expand into this very attractive business.” In a separate matter, Tommy Nelson, the children’s division of Thomas Nelson, has entered an agreement with Chick-fil-A restaurants to give away 3.8 million”Veggie Tales”books for the rest of 1999.
The books, related to the popular”Veggie Tales”Christian video series for children, have helped make Thomas Nelson the first religious publisher to rank in the Publisher’s Weekly Top 10 Children’s Publishers List. The company was ranked 14th overall for 1998 after its revenue increased more than 30 percent since 1996.
The campaign at the restaurants began Monday (Nov. 22).
Greek Orthodox Bishop George of New Jersey dies
(RNS) Greek Orthodox Bishop George, who led the denomination’s New Jersey diocese, died Monday (Nov. 22), several hours after he suffered a stroke and collapsed at a church function in Bethesda, Md. He was 66.
George, a widower, was the first bishop in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America to have been married before being elevated to the episcopate. Greek Orthodox priests may be married, but bishops cannot.
George briefly served as the archdiocese’s archiepiscopal vicar, or temporary head, earlier this year in the weeks between the forced resignation of Archbishop Spyridon and the formal installation of Archbishop Demetrios, who now leads the 1.5 million-member archdiocese.
George was enthroned as bishop of the New Jersey diocese in April 1999, 10 months after he was made a bishop. The diocese covers the states of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia and the greater Philadelphia area, in addition to New Jersey. It has 51 parishes.
Prior to becoming a bishop, George served for 27 years as pastor of St. George Church in Bethesda, where he was leading services when he suffered the stroke.”This is a tremendous loss for the church,”Archbishop Demetrios said in a statement.”Bishop George has been an invaluable, dedicated worker in the vineyard of the Lord, giving everything that he had in the service of his people. In spite of the brevity of his hierarchical ministry, he achieved remarkable spiritual and pastoral results.” George, born George Papaioannou in Prodromos, Thebes, in Greece, was well-known within the Greek Orthodox church because of his popular”Tell Me Father”column that ran for 12 years in the archdiocesan newspaper, the Orthodox Observer. He was also an expert in the church’s history in North America.
His funeral has been scheduled for Saturday (Nov. 27) in Bethesda, where he will be buried next to his wife, Maria, who died in 1993. He leaves three daughters and six grandchildren.
Pope tells German bishops to stop abortion counseling service
(RNS) Pope John Paul II has told German bishops to act swiftly on his instructions to stop offering pregnant women counseling certificates they can use to obtain legal abortions.”I think in a special way of the problem of the defense of life in which it is essential that all the bishops of the church render a unanimous and unequivocal witness,”the Roman Catholic pontiff said.
John Paul raised the issue, which has split the church in Germany, Saturday (Nov. 20) at an audience for a group of German bishops making the visit to the Vatican required of all prelates every five years.
Under German law, a woman seeking a legal abortion must present a certificate stating that she has received counseling. The Catholic Church runs about one-sixth of Germany’s 1,500 counseling centers.
The German bishops have argued that by offering counseling certificates, the church attracts women who are considering abortion to its centers where counselors can try to convince the women not to terminate their pregnancies.
The pope wrote to the bishops in September that they could no longer issue counseling certificates. He said a compromise proposal to state on the documents that they”cannot be used for legally carrying out abortions”had proved unsatisfactory because abortion clinics continued to accept the certificates.
Defying the order from Rome, the German bishops conference said the church intended to keep counseling pregnant women,”especially those in conditions of particular need and difficulty.”Some of the bishops, however, called for a new service that provides counseling without issuing certificates.
John Paul told the bishops, in effect, that counseling could continue but in a new form that does not involve the issuing of certificates.”From letters written by me or by my representative on this question, you know how much I have counseling for pregnant women at heart,”the pope said.”I hope that this significant activity of the church in your country may soon be reordered in a definitive way according to my directive.”I am convinced that ecclesial counseling, which is distinguished by its quality, will become an eloquent sign for society and constitute an effective means to encourage women in difficulty not to refuse the new life that they carry in their womb,”he said.
The pope also strongly reiterated his opposition to the ordination of women, saying the church has made the decision”not as an act of its power but in the knowledge of the duty of obedience to the will of the Lord.” He warned of the danger of confusing the roles of laity and priests and attacked a tendency among laity to criticize the church as though it were”a sort of multinational governed by men more or less intelligent.” Catholic film company forced removal of Christian art
(RNS) A Catholic film production company had 17 Christian paintings moved out of a main lobby foyer at a recent ecumenical film festival in Los Angeles because it objected to the content of some of the artwork.
Hollywood-based Family Theater Productions _ which claims it coined the phrase”the family that prays together stays together”_ demanded on Nov. 6 that paintings by New Mexico artists Emilia and Zbigniew Fitz be removed from the lobby walls of the Directors Guild of America (DGA) building during the sixth annual City of Angels Film Festival.
The Hollywood Reporter trade newspaper on Nov. 19 quoted two sources as saying that Family Theater officials felt the Fitz paintings were objectionable.
In addition to being a festival sponsor, Family Theater also was hosting its own Angelus Student Film Awards in the DGA building that same weekend.
The 17 paintings put up by City of Angels organizers included a 15-painting series called”Stations of the Cross,”depicting Christ’s crucifixion juxtaposed against a backdrop of 20th century images of violence, war and Adolf Hitler.
Family Theater spokesman Dan Pitre told The Hollywood Reporter the issue was that”we didn’t contract with the DGA for an art exhibit.”The dispute also involved exactly what the 52-year-old Family Theater company contracted to use for its student awards event. The paintings were removed from the lobby atrium.
Hindus in United States, Nepal counter evangelistic plans
(RNS) Hindus gathered in the United States and abroad on Sunday (Nov. 21) and presented united fronts to counter plans by Christians to evangelize them.
In Boston, following previous protests in Houston and Atlanta, four dozen Hindus picketed outside Beacon Hill Baptist Church to criticize a Southern Baptist Convention prayer booklet that encouraged Baptists to proselytize Hindus.
The booklet, released during the Hindu festival of Divali, said Hindus have”darkness in their hearts that no lamp can dispel.”That and other phrases were considered offensive by Hindus.”At any sign of religious intolerance, we have to speak up,”said Chandra Kany Panse of New England Hindus Against Religious Intolerance, which organized the Boston protest.”We would like the convention to drop this attack and apologize.” David Draper, pastor of the Boston church, acknowledged the booklet was”arrogant”and”poorly timed,”but said he still planned to distribute it, the Associated Press reported.
Across the globe in Nepal, Hindu and Buddhist priests gathered for a three-day conference in southern Nepal and passed a resolution to remain united against proselytism. The resolution made no direct reference to Pope John Paul II, who recently called for missionaries to spread Catholicism throughout Asia.
During the assembly, which featured 1,000 delegates from across Asia, delegates spoke of their concern about the pope’s remarks. Many described conversions as a”spiritual crime”and a”war against Hindus and Buddhists.””We are worried about our identity,”said Acharya Dharmendra, a Hindu religious leader and a policy maker of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, or World Hindu Council of India.”If we become one, we will become a majority and no one will be able to touch us.”
Payne Stewart’s death sparks inquiries about Christianity
(RNS) A pastor at the Orlando church that held the memorial service for golfer Payne Stewart says the congregation has been flooded with inquiries about the service and about Christianity.
First Baptist Church of Orlando, Fla., put the first 500 copies of a video of the service on sale on Nov. 14 and they were quickly purchased. The church also has received phone calls, letters and e-mail messages about the service from across the globe.”I wish we had him back,”said J.B. Collingsworth, an assistant pastor at the church.”But God seems to have worked through the hearts of men in a way I’ve never seen. He’s touched hearts through Payne’s life in a way that’s unbelievable. Payne could have lived to 80 and not had the impact he’s had dying in a plane crash.” Stewart died at age 42. He and his family attended services at the church regularly, Collingsworth said, though they did not formally join the congregation.
The church is planning to arrange a retail distribution of the video, but is currently selling copies for $15 each, reported Baptist Press, the news service of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Former Southern Baptist Convention President Jim Henry, the pastor at First Baptist Church, spoke of his hopes that the memorial service, which was broadcast nationwide, would continue to change lives.”Professional golf’s top 30 money winners were in our church for the memorial service and heard the gospel,”Henry told delegates to the Kentucky Baptist Convention during their recent annual meeting.
Other golfers across the world paused to attend services to remember Stewart at other sites, he said.”With those seeds sown, who knows what crop will come up later?”Henry asked.
Eds: Copies of the video of Stewart’s service are currently available by sending $15 to Tape Ministries, Stewart Memorial, First Baptist Church, 3000 S. John Young Pkwy., Orlando, Fla. 32805-6691.)
Newspaper: British government ready to end bar on Catholic sovereign
(RNS) The British government is denying a report in Saturday’s (Nov. 20) Daily Telegraph it is prepared to support a move by a Scottish Conservative peer to end the constitutional bar on the British sovereign becoming or marrying a Roman Catholic.
Lord Forsyth of Drumlean _ the former Conservative Scottish Secretary Michael Forsyth _ is planning to introduce a bill into the House of Lords to remove the Catholic ban embodied in the 1701 Act of Settlement, which bars from the throne”all and every person and persons who … is, are or shall be reconciled to or shall hold communion with the see or church of Rome or shall profess the popish religion or shall marry a papist.” Last month the prime minister, Tony Blair, who is himself married to a Catholic and whose children are Catholics, wrote to another Scottish Conservative politician, Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, MSP, ruling out the prospect of amending the 1701 Act on the grounds that it would be”complex in the extreme,”involving amending or repealing eight other pieces of legislation and requiring identical legislation to be passed by at least 15 other Commonwealth countries.
The English sovereign is supreme governor of the Church of England, but apparently as far as the Church of England is concerned, a Roman Catholic king or queen of England would present little difficulty, according to Brian Hanson, legal adviser to the church’s general synod. The monarch, as supreme governor, needs to be in communion with the Church of England, and the Church of England is quite willing to welcome Roman Catholics to communion, so it would be happy to administer communion to a Roman Catholic monarch.
But what the Vatican would make of such a situation is quite a different story.
Meanwhile at least 65 of the 129 members of the Scottish Parliament, which has no jurisdiction in this matter, have signed a motion calling for the repeal of the 1701 Act.
Quote of the day: Ken Powell, bidder at Heaven’s Gate auction
(RNS)”They might go for a couple of grand each. You don’t know. There are some weird people out there.” _ Ken Powell, on why he spent more than $700 to purchase seven bunk beds, which he intends to resell, at a San Diego auction Saturday (Nov. 20) of items that belonged to members of the Heaven’s Gate group who committed mass suicide nearly three years ago. He was quoted by the New York Times.
DEA END RNS
