c. 2003 Religion News Service
Catholic Bishops Not Convinced War Is Justified, Bishop Says
WASHINGTON (RNS) The nation’s Roman Catholic bishops remain unconvinced that war with Iraq can be morally justified, says the bishops’ point man on international issues.
Bishop John H. Ricard of Pensacola-Tallahassee, Fla., chairman of the bishops’ international policy committee, said a diplomatic and political offensive by the Bush administration has failed to change the bishops’ minds.
When the bishops met last November, they said, “Based on the facts that are known to us, we continue to find it difficult to justify the resort to war against Iraq, lacking clear and adequate evidence of an imminent attack of a grave nature.”
Ricard, in a Feb. 7 letter to bishops, said, “The serious questions and concerns that we raised at that time remain valid and useful as Catholics and others reflect on the morality of a possible war with Iraq.”
Ricard asked for prayers for the “long-suffering people of Iraq, the men and women in our armed forces who are being deployed, and our national leaders who have the responsibility to make wise judgments in service of the common good.”
Pope John Paul II has strongly opposed a pre-emptive war with Iraq, calling war a “defeat for humanity” that is “not always inevitable.” The pope will meet with Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz on Friday (Feb. 14) and has dispatched Cardinal Roger Etchegaray to Baghdad on a peace mission.
In a separate statement, the country’s nine leading Eastern Orthodox bishops issued a call for peace without specifically mentioning Iraq. The bishops urged government leaders to “seek a peaceful resolution to the present challenge to the security and happiness of all humankind.”
“Death, terror, destruction and endless suffering are formidable enemies with which we are not ever going to be reconciled,” said the joint statement by the Standing Conference of the Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
New Mississippi Bishop Is Third in Family to Hold Post
(RNS) The new Episcopal bishop of Mississippi is following in the family business behind his father and grandfather, who also served as bishops in the state.
Bishop Duncan Montgomery Gray III was installed at St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Jackson on Sunday (Feb. 9), succeeding Bishop Alfred Clark Marble Jr.
Gray’s father, Duncan M. Gray Jr., served as bishop of Mississippi from 1974 to 1993. Gray’s grandfather, Duncan M. Gray Sr., was bishop from 1943 to 1966, according to Episcopal News Service.
The current bishop and his father both pastored St. Peter’s Church in Oxford, as did the senior Gray’s father-in-law. In 1962, the senior Gray helped battle for civil rights, declaring that “God made us for these times and God made these times for us.” His son, then serving at St. Peter’s Church, worked at the same time to help bridge racial differences during the desegregation of the University of Mississippi.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Muslims Mark End of Annual Hajj With Feasts, Charity
CAIRO, Egypt (RNS) With one swift move, Abdel Reheim Farag, a butcher, slides his razor-sharp knife across a cow’s neck, severing its main arteries, thus giving it a quick death in the Islamic method of animal slaughter.
His son, 12-year-old Reda, helps his father slice open the animal and cut slabs of meat and bone so that they may be packed into plastic bags. Reda has helped his father slaughter dozens of animals on this Feast of Sacrifice or Eid al-Adha, one of Islam’s holiest days, which falls on the 10th day of the 12th month of the Islamic calendar.
This year, the four-day feast _ which also marked the end of the hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca _ started Tuesday (Feb. 11).
In Islam, Eid al-Adha commemorates the Prophet Abraham’s willingness to obey God by sacrificing one of his sons, Ismael (in Jewish and Christian Scriptures, it is Isaac who is almost sacrificed). According to the Quran, Abraham was about to sacrifice Ismael when a voice from heaven stopped him and allowed him to sacrifice a ram instead.
Muslims around the world traditionally celebrate the start of Eid al-Adha by slaughtering a camel, cow or sheep and sharing the meat with the poor. The owners of the animal must keep a third of the meat for themselves.
The owner of this slaughtered cow, Soha Youssef, said she chose to sacrifice a cow this year because it produces more meat than sheep _ the usual choice for Muslims. This particular cow produced about 450 pounds _ enough to feed more than 100 families.
“Some of these families wait from Eid (festival) to Eid to taste meat,” she said.
As Abdel Reheim and Youssef packaged the meat, onlookers gathered near her house to receive their share. Some were dressed in new clothes as is the custom of the feast.
Across Cairo, Muslims celebrate the feast in different ways. Children flood playgrounds and gardens, holding colorful balloons and singing, and some Muslims place flowers at family grave sites.
Eid al-Adha marks the end of the hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, Mina, Muzdalifah and Mount Arafat _ Islamic sites in Saudi Arabia where Muslims believe God’s word was revealed to the prophet Muhammad.
Almost 2 million Muslims made the trip this year.
The hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam, and all Muslims who are able-bodied and can afford to must make the pilgrimage at least once in their lives.
_ Dalia Dabbous and Christina Denny
Two Florida Churches Meet Together for First Time in 138 Years
TAMPA, Fla. (RNS) _ For the first time in 138 years, two Baptist churches here, divided since the Civil War, worshipped together under the same church roof.
Members of the Beulah Baptist Institutional Church, which was founded by former slaves, came to the First Baptist Church of Tampa on Sunday (Feb. 9) for the worship service. “All together, we must have had 700 people here,” said Jim Knight, pastor of First Baptist Church.
Founded in 1859 in Tampa, First Baptist was originally based in a wooden frame house where slave owners sat in pews on the bottom floor and their slaves sat in the balcony.
When the Civil War ended in 1865, the freed slaves in the area were given financial aid by First Baptist Church to built a separate church. Thus, Beulah Baptist Institutional Church was founded in 1865 and was the first Baptist church for African-Americans in Tampa.
“I was going through some documents last year and I discovered that First Baptist is really the mother of Beulah Baptist, so to speak,” said W. James Favorite, pastor of Beulah Baptist.
During the Sunday evening joint service, both pastors “talked about the continuing need to share,” said Favorite. “For example, both churches have evangelical programs and I’m sure that their program has good points that we could borrow and I know that our program has good things that First Baptist could borrow.”
After Favorite made the discovery last year, he informed Knight, who quickly suggested the reunion for February _ Black History Month. Favorite agreed to bring members of his congregation to First Baptist, the mother church.
Symbolically, the balcony of First Baptist was closed during the joint service. Next year, members of First Baptist will visit Beulah Baptist. The churches are about 10 miles from each other.
_ Mark Weisenmiller
Irish Anglican Archbishop Accuses Allies of `Propaganda’ on Iraq
LONDON (RNS) Anglican Archbishop of Dublin John Neill has accused advocates of military action against Iraq of using propaganda devoid of moral principle to advance their cause.
“With increasing unease people of peace and goodwill watch the rush towards military confrontation in the Middle East,” Neill said in remarks Tuesday (Feb. 11) in which he aligned himself with the growing chorus of religious critics of the looming war.
“The apparently endless attempts being made by those who are committed to war to persuade and cajole public opinion have all the characteristics of a propaganda exercise devoid of moral principle,” he said.
Emphasizing that the Christian voice calling for peace must now be heard “without ambivalence,” the archbishop said, “Whatever conditions may have been accepted in the past for just warfare, the horrors of modern warfare make any justification ring very hollow indeed.”
Calling on Irish Christians to pray for peace and to encourage those trying to make peace, he said that besides condemning the present Iraqi regime, they should take note of the many Western interests that had been a contributory factor in the present tense situation.
“It is urgent that we resist any attempts to stir up racist and religious prejudice against those of other religions, especially those of the Islamic and Jewish faiths,” he said.
_ Robert Nowell
Quote of the Day: Retired Marine Maj. Gen. Charles F. Bolden Jr., shuttle mission veteran
(RNS) “Up there it’s no different than down here. Only there’s no kneeling around your bed, because you’re floating around.”
_ Retired Marine Maj. Gen. Charles F. Bolden Jr., veteran of four shuttle missions, talking about praying in space. He was quoted by The Washington Post.
DEA END RNS
