c. 2003 Religion News Service
New Priests Are Younger, More Educated
WASHINGTON (RNS) This year’s class of new Catholic priests are slightly younger and better educated than in the past, according to statistics released by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
About 500 men will be ordained as priests in May and June. The average age of the new priests is almost 37 _ the same as last year _ but half are under the age of 35. The average age for the nation’s 45,000 priests is 61.
Twenty-eight percent of new priests were born outside the United States, which is slightly lower than last year’s figure of 32 percent, but up from 24 percent in 1998, the first year statistics were collected.
Mexico and Vietnam continue to provide the largest numbers of foreign-born priests; 14 percent are Hispanic (6 percent of new priests are from Mexico), and 11 percent are Asian (5 percent of new priests are from Vietnam and 4 percent are from the Philippines).
The survey of 348 of the new priests showed that they are better educated than previous classes _ 30 percent hold a master’s or other professional degree, up from 13 percent five years ago.
Among individual dioceses, the Archdiocese of Chicago ordained the highest number of new priests _ 16 _ followed by 11 in Rockford, Ill., 10 in Cleveland and nine in Boston.
“This year’s class demonstrates once again that the Lord is calling gifted and talented men from all walks of life to the priesthood,” said the Rev. Edward J. Burns, director of the bishops’ vocations office.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
First Historic Preservation Grant for Active Religious Site Announced
(RNS) Secretary of the Interior Gale A. Norton announced Tuesday (May 27) the approval of the first U.S. historic preservation grant that will be used for religious purposes.
The $317,000 grant to the Old North Foundation of Boston will help restore windows in that city’s historic Old North Church and make the building more accessible to the public.
“This structure played a role in the nation’s quest for freedom and independence and the legendary ride of Paul Revere,” said Norton in her announcement.
“I am delighted to share in advancing the protection and preservation of this national legacy for future generations to learn from and enjoy.”
It was from the steeple of the 280-year-old church that two lanterns were displayed in 1775 to signal to Revere that British troops were advancing on nearby Lexington and Concord. The church continues to have an active Episcopal congregation.
The grant marks a change from previous policy whereby historically significant properties that continue to be used for religious purposes were ineligible for historic preservation grants.
“This new policy will bring balance to our historic preservation program and end a discriminatory double standard that has been applied against religious properties,” Norton said.
Leaders of groups known for their support of church-state separation criticized the move.
The Rev. Barry Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State called the new policy “a shocking abuse of taxpayer rights” and Ellen Johnson of American Atheists said it is “just another unconstitutional step toward the public funding of organized religion.”
The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America welcomed the change.
“This new policy is the right one as it recognizes that historic preservation serves all Americans of all faiths and that faith institutions must be treated fairly and equally,” said Nathan J. Diament, the group’s director of public policy.
_ Adelle M. Banks
President Signs Legislation to Fight Global AIDS Pandemic
(RNS) President Bush’s signature Tuesday (May 27) on legislation that will provide $15 billion to fight AIDS globally was cheered by religious leaders concerned about prevention and treatment of the disease.
“The suffering in Africa is great,” the president said just before signing the bill in a State Department auditorium. “The suffering in the Caribbean is great. The United States of America has the power and we have the moral duty to help. And I’m proud that our blessed and generous nation is fulfilling that duty.”
The legislation provides additional financial support to the Global Fund for AIDS Relief. It also will help provide medicine, train doctors and support abstinence-based education on prevention. Faith-based and community groups will be among those that will be assisted in providing services to treat and prevent HIV/AIDS.
Conservative Christian groups particularly praised the measure’s focus on abstinence.
“We are grateful that President Bush rejected a strategy centered on the distribution of condoms _ the same faulty approach that has only increased sexually transmitted diseases here in America,” said Tom Minnery, vice president of public policy for Focus on the Family, a Colorado-based ministry.
In a statement issued the day of the signing, Family Research Council President Ken Connor added: “Simply tossing out condoms and creating the illusion of safe sex does not work. Teaching abstinence and funding fiscally accountable organizations does.”
Bush praised the work of religious and educational groups that are working to address the pandemic, including the Catholic Medical Mission Board, which runs clinics in southern Africa and Haiti.
Before Bush signed the bill, religious leaders hailed the recent passage of the legislation in Congress.
“Congressional passage of a comprehensive U.S. Global AIDS Initiative demonstrates our capacity to respond to the desperate needs of the millions of people worldwide affected by HIV/AIDS,” Episcopal Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold said in an Episcopal News Service report.
Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, also applauded member of Congress.
“The lives and health of millions will be protected because of their actions,” he said in a statement.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Iranian Film on Afghanistan Takes Cannes Ecumenical Award
(RNS) A film on post-Taliban Afghanistan by a 23-year-old Iranian filmmaker has won the Ecumenical Jury Award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
“Through this story of an Afghani family, the filmmaker Samira Makhmalbaf evokes the tension between tradition and the modern world,” said the six-person jury in making the award, reported Ecumenical News International, the Geneva-based religion news agency.
The film, “At Five O’Clock in the Afternoon,” which takes its title from a poem by Gabriel Garcia Lorca, tells the story of a young Afghani woman who defies her father to attend a secular school and dreams of becoming president of Afghanistan.
“Because of the symbolism of this religious award, I wanted to say … I am a Muslim. I am Christian. I am Buddhist. I am Hindu. For me, the love of God is the love of humankind,” Makhmalbaf said after receiving her award.
She is the daughter of Moshen Makhmalbaf, whose film “Kandahar” was widely distributed at art houses in the United States and won the 2001 Ecumenical Jury Award.
She said that in making the film, she wanted “to show reality, not the cliches on television.”
“Though the Taliban have gone, their ideas are anchored in people’s minds, in their traditions and culture,” she said.
The Ecumenical Jury is co-sponsored by Interfilm, an organization founded by European Protestant churches and agencies to support the study and use of film in understanding faith in society, and Signis, the World Catholic Association for Communication.
Quote of the Day: Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson
(RNS) “The full weight of the U.S. leadership must now be exercised not as domination over the world but our standing with those who are suffering, as together we work to bring an end to violence and to bring peace.”
_ Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, in a May 25 sermon at the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in Jerusalem. He was quoted by ELCA News Service.
DEA END RNS
