c. 2003 Religion News Service
Nordeman Wins Seven Dove Awards
(RNS) Christian singer Nichole Nordeman walked away with seven awards, the most of any winner, at the 34th Annual Dove Awards ceremony in Nashville, Tenn., on Thursday (April 10).
Nordeman won Song of the Year and Pop/Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year for “Holy” from her “Woven & Spun” album, and was recognized for her performance and co-writing of the song. She also was honored as Female Vocalist of the Year and garnered Doves for Pop/Contemporary Album of the Year and her performance on the Special Event Album of the Year, “City on a Hill _ Sing Alleluia.”
Right behind her with six honors was Michael W. Smith, another contemporary Christian singer and songwriter, who was named Artist of the Year for the second year in a row. Smith also was honored with Doves for top male vocalist and his performances and production of “Worship Again,” which was named the top praise and worship album. His “Worship” video was honored as the top long form music video.
Smith’s musical colleagues celebrated his 20th anniversary in music with an all-artist performance of “Friends,” his signature song.
“Michael and Nichole have each created music that has obviously connected with people in a powerful way and these awards are well-deserved,” said Gospel Music Association President John W. Styll in a statement.
Third Day was named Group of the Year for the third consecutive time. The group also was honored with an award for the top recorded rock song, “40 Days,” and its role in the year’s special event album.
Other winners with multiple awards included Amy Grant, Vince Gill, the Crabb Family, Phil Keaggy, the Lewis Family, Out of Eden and Souljahz.
The Paul Colman Trio was named this year’s new artist and Brown Bannister was named the top producer.
Three artists were officially inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame during the ceremonies at the Gaylord Entertainment Center _ Grant, Pat Boone and the Blind Boys of Alabama.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Partial List of Winners for the 34th Annual Dove Awards
_ Song of the Year: “Holy” by Nichole Nordeman and Mark Hammond
_ Songwriter of the Year: Nichole Nordeman
_ Male Vocalist of the Year: Michael W. Smith
_ Female Vocalist of the Year: Nichole Nordeman
_ Group of the Year: Third Day
_ Artist of the Year: Michael W. Smith
_ New Artist of the Year: Paul Colman Trio
_ Producer of the Year: Brown Bannister
Catholic League Says Sex Scandal Fueled Bigotry in 2002
(RNS) Last year’s Catholic sex abuse scandal provided ample fodder for anti-Catholic bigots, according to a group that defends the church in the media.
William Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, said legitimate criticism of church policy was needed, but that cartoonists, pundits and screenwriters hijacked the scandal to demean all Catholics.
“The scandal gave rise to some of the most sweeping and vitriolic comments in memory,” Donohue said in his recent 2002 Report on Anti-Catholicism. “The you-deserve-it crowd simply couldn’t get enough.”
Donohue praised most media outlets for providing balanced, fair and unbiased coverage of the scandal. But he said television shows like “Law and Order” and “The Practice” sought to “sensationalize” the scandal and tried to indict all Catholic priests.
“Those who criticized the church for its shortcomings should not, ipso facto, be lumped with those who sought to exploit it,” he said.
Donohue’s New York-based group got radio hosts Opie and Anthony fired when they sent a couple to have sex in St. Patrick’s Cathedral last August. He also criticized abuse lawyers and prosecutors who wanted to single out Catholic priests, but not other clergy, for new laws to clamp down on sexual abuse.
“Our adversaries saw an opening in 2002 and sought to drive a Mack truck through it,” he said. “It is the job of the Catholic League to help close the hole and get the reckless drivers pulled over.”
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Pope Urges Youths to Become `Promoters of the Culture of Peace’
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Setting the stage for international World Youth Day celebrations in Germany next summer, Pope John Paul II urged young people Thursday (April 10) to become “promoters of the culture of peace” in a world threatened by terrorism and war.
The pope made no direct reference to the war in Iraq, but earlier Thursday the Vatican Secretariat of State issued a statement noting that “an important turning point in the Iraqi conflict” had occurred when Baghdad fell to coalition forces on Wednesday.
“It is hoped that the military operations under way in the rest of the country can be very quickly terminated in order to save other lives, civilian and military, and further suffering to those peoples,” it said.
The statement said that Catholic social and charity institutions were ready to provide humanitarian aid and to help in the “material, political and social reconstruction of Iraq.”
Delegations from 80 countries joined an estimated 50,000 young Italians in a rain-swept St. Peter’s Square for an early evening program of music, talks and testimonials capped by the pope’s address and prayer entrusting them to the Virgin Mary.
“In this painful moment of history, while terrorism and war threaten the harmony between men and religions, I desire to entrust you to Mary in order that you may become promoters of the culture of peace, today more necessary than ever,” the 82-year-old pope told the young people.
John Paul said that at the start of the new millennium, young people still face “the torments derived from sin, hate, violence, terrorism and war.” He urged “faithful and insistent prayer” as well as human efforts to create “friendship between men, peoples and religions.”
The church holds international World Youth Day gatherings every other summer. In the alternate years, the day is marked on Palm Sunday at the parish level and at the papal Mass in St. Peter’s Square.
_ Peggy Polk
French Politicians Petition Against Anti-Semitism in France
PARIS (RNS) Top French politicians and media groups endorsed a petition this week rejecting discrimination and anti-Semitism, following a new wave of anti-Jewish attacks that appear linked to the war on Iraq.
Spearheaded by LICRA (the International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism), a Paris-based anti-discrimination group, and the Union of Jewish Students in France, the “Republican peace” pact attracted supporters ranging from French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin to the Socialist mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoe.
Heads of France’s leading political parties and several media groups also signed onto the declaration. The petition stipulates that authors of anti-Semitic acts be banned from peace marches and other demonstrations.
“The idea behind the petition was to demand that tolerance and respect for others return to our country,” said LICRA President Patrick Gaubert. “Especially toward Jews, who are considered the source of all misfortune.
“It’s time to say enough,” he added, “and who can say it better than opinion makers?”
Attacks against France’s estimated 600,000 Jews began mounting with the new wave of Palestinian-Israeli clashes more than two years ago. Some French Jews have since emigrated to Israel.
A government study found the number of attacks on Jews and Jewish institutions had grown six-fold between 2001 and 2002, marking their highest level in a decade.
Released in March, the report by the National Consultative Commission on Human Rights registered 193 officially reported, anti-Jewish acts in 2002.
Violent incidences have taken a new twist with military action against Iraq. During anti-war demonstrations last month, young ethnic-Arab youths, brandishing Iraqi and Palestinian flags, reportedly attacked several Jews in Paris.
Other incidents include the wounding of a 21-year-old Jewish student in Aix-en-Provence in early March. His aggressor gouged a Star of David into his arm with a knife.
Roughly one-third of French Jews reportedly back the U.S. and British-led attack on Iraq. Their support stands in stark contrast to the vast majority of French, who opposed the war. Indeed, an overwhelming majority of France’s estimated 5 million Muslims said they hoped Iraq would win the war, according to a recent poll.
_ Elizabeth Bryant
Canadians Bid Farewell to Beloved Cardinal Carter
TORONTO (RNS) A who’s who of Canadian political, business and religious leaders joined throngs of ordinary Canadians last Thursday (April 10) to bid farewell to a pillar of the Roman Catholic Church.
An overflow crowd packed St. Michael’s Cathedral for the solemn funeral of Cardinal Gerald Emmett Carter, the former archbishop of Toronto and spiritual leader of Canada’s largest English-speaking diocese who died last Sunday (April 6) at the age of 91.
Prime Minister Jean Chretien, whose grandson was baptized by Carter, sat in the front pews alongside Governor General Adrienne Clarkson, Ontario Premier Ernie Eves, former Prime Minister John Turner, former Premiers Bob Rae and Bill Davis, Toronto Mayor Mel Lastman and media baron Conrad Black, who converted to Catholicism under Carter’s influence.
When he became archbishop in 1978, Carter felt obliged to look out not only for Catholics but for the community at large, said his successor, Cardinal Aloysius Ambrozic.
“Cardinal Carter provided us with very solid leadership,” Ambrozic said during the service, which included a telegram from Pope John Paul II that said the pontiff was “deeply saddened” at Carter’s death. He praised Carter for his “many years of selfless service both as archbishop of the church in Toronto and as a member of the College of Cardinals.”
The cardinal’s red biretta and a crucifix were placed on a simple white muslin cloth that covered the casket.
Carter, ordained in 1937, was named auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of London in 1961 and became bishop of London in 1964. In 1978, he was installed as archbishop of Toronto and elevated to cardinal in 1979. His older brother, Alexander, was archbishop of Sault Ste. Marie and two of his sisters became nuns.
Even though he suffered a disabling stroke in 1981 and was in poor health, Carter maintained a busy workload that included planning of the pope’s visit to Canada for World Youth Day last summer.
He moved effortlessly in the corridors of power, rubbing elbows with politicians and captains of industry, but never lost his common touch. He helped establish a well-known street youth shelter in Toronto, Covenant House, and helped modernize the church in the years after the reforms instituted by the Second Vatican Council.
However, Carter proceeded cautiously on Vatican II, said Ambrozic.
“Precisely because of his insight, because of his collaboration and sympathy, he knew very well the church had not re-invented herself. … If anything, she had become more true to herself,” Ambrozic said.
“He knew very well that Vatican II had not asked the church to act like a grandmother in a miniskirt.”
_ Ron Csillag
Irish Bishop Apologizes to Victim, Offers Settlement
LONDON (RNS) A man who was sexually abused by a now-dead priest has received an apology and a financial settlement of almost $325,000 from church officials.
Bishop Eamonn Walsh, the administrator of the Diocese of Ferns, apologized to Colm O’Gorman, 36, who was abused by the late Rev. Sean Fortune between 1981 and 1983.
Walsh admitted negligence and agreed to pay O’Gorman compensation and costs. Walsh’s predecessor, Brendan Comiskey, resigned last year because of his handling of abuse cases.
In his apology the bishop “acknowledges and sincerely regrets the distress, trauma and hurt” caused to O’Gorman, and further acknowledged the failure of the then-bishop (Donal Herlihy) “to recognize and act on the threaMDULt posed by the late Father Fortune to Colm O’Gorman.”
“Bishop Walsh wishes to apologize unreservedly to Colm O’Gorman for these failures and for the harm which he suffered in consequence,” the apology concluded.
Other Irish victims of sexual abuse by clerics welcomed the diocese’s admission of negligence as “historic” and “a hopeful turning point.”
_ Robert Nowell
Quote of the Day: Episcopal Bishop George Packard
(RNS) “I think that when the nation goes to war, the Episcopal Church is called to go to compassion. When the Episcopal Church goes to war, we don’t gird up with weaponry. We gird up with even more of the things our Lord has taught us.”
_ Bishop George Packard, who oversees all Episcopal military chaplains, talking to Episcopal News Service about the church’s response to war.
