c. 2003 Religion News Service
Vatican Envoy to Burundi Shot and Killed
(RNS) The Vatican ambassador to Burundi was shot and killed Monday (Dec. 29) by guerrilla rebels while riding in a car about 30 miles south of the capital city of Bujumbura, according to wire reports.
Monsignor Michael Courtney, 58, died in surgery after being shot in the head, shoulder and a limb, according to the Associated Press. A priest traveling with him was slightly injured, while two others escaped harm.
Burundi Army officials blamed the attack on Hutu fighters from the National Liberation Forces, who have refused to sign a peace pact with the government in the nation’s decade-old civil war, the Reuters news agency reported.
Courtney, a native of Ireland, was shot near Minago when his car came under fire from a nearby hillside. The Misna news agency described the circumstances of the attack as “still not completely clear.”
The Vatican refrained from comment on the assassination until Courtney’s family could be notified. Catholics make up about 65 percent of the East-Central African nation’s population of 6.5 million.
Courtney joined the Vatican’s diplomatic corps in 1976 and served in posts in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Senegal, India, Yugoslavia, Cuba and Egypt. Before being named to Burundi in 2000, he spent five years as a special envoy in Strasbourg, France, monitoring the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights, according to the Associated Press.
Pope Urges Charitable Response As Relief Agencies Seek to Help Iran
(RNS) Pope John Paul II has urged generous international aid to “our Iranian brothers and sisters” and a range of religious relief organizations have begun efforts to respond to an earthquake that claimed more than 25,000 lives.
Speaking from his study window before leading the midday Angelus prayer on Sunday (Dec. 28), the Roman Catholic pontiff asked pilgrims to pray for the victims of the earthquake that on Friday (Dec. 26) devastated the ancient city of Bam in Kerman Province.
“I invite the international organizations and especially Catholic charities to come forward to meet with generosity our Iranian brothers and sisters hit by such a serious catastrophe,” the pope said. “May the solidarity of the entire world, particularly felt in the Christmas climate, render their situation less dramatic.”
More than 25,000 people have died since the earthquake shook southeast Iran, the Associated Press reported.
A staffer for World Vision, an evangelical Christian humanitarian organization, arrived in Iran on Saturday and the agency plans to deliver $220,000 worth of relief materials during the last week of December.
Lutheran World Relief and Church World Service plan to work through the Middle East Council of Churches, a longtime partner, to respond to the disaster. Church World Service has an emergency grant of $30,000 to purchase and distribute materials for emergency shelter. Lutheran World Relief has sent staff to the disaster zone and received requests for medical supplies, tents and bedding.
Christian Reformed World Relief Committee will work with the Iranian Council of Churches to identify needs and distribute food.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations has offered condolences and prayers and has announced that the Islamic Circle of North America is seeking donations to provide emergency relief to the affected region.
_ Peggy Polk and Adelle M. Banks
Anglican Prelate in Ireland Says Gay Debate Calls Church’s Bluff
LONDON (RNS) The controversy within Anglicanism over homosexuality has called the church’s bluff about its claim to be with those on the edge and among the marginalized of society, says Church of Ireland Bishop Paul Colton of Cork.
Preaching at Christmas in St. Fin Barre’s cathedral in Cork, the bishop said: “We have claimed to be on the side of those who were oppressed by society and consigned to its margins. But how are we faring?
“This edge place is where most homosexuals were forced to live prior to decriminalization and the arrival of equality legislation, but where, in spite of immense changes in society, many still find themselves _ especially those within the church.”
The church, he said, has been complicit in the resulting injustice and immense human suffering.
“Part of our responsibility centers on our acquiescence in the misuse of Scripture, caused by our inertia on the one hand, and by our fear on the other of giving intelligent people of faith the tools for handling God’s word rationally.
“The sincerity of our profession to favor those on the edge, and our inclusive charter, is being put to the test now, and so far we are not faring very well: Much of the debate has centered on protecting the structures of the institution rather than on people, understanding their situations and showing them Christ-like compassion.”
Colton said that since the “first cathartic decision” to admit uncircumcised Gentiles to the nascent Christian community, the Christian story had been one of prejudice being overcome step by step, including slaves, single mothers, children born outside marriage, people in interchurch marriages, divorcees, women and racism.
“Think in your own lifetime of how, arising from our sense of the love of Christ, our attitudes have changed in the church to many of these people and issues,” he reminded the congregation.
Citing the observation by the Roman Catholic theologian James Allison of the way in which those on the outside had found themselves on the inside through “ruptures of the impossible,” the bishop said: “Today _ nothing new, it seems _ we are challenged by another group in the church to make a similar incursion into what we once deemed impossible.
“For generations the Church of Ireland, the Church of England, and many of our other sister churches in Anglicanism have fully and happily utilized the talents of gay people _ lay and ordained _ while, at the same time, articulating a different official public line.
“Of such people in this congregation, in congregations all over the church and throughout our communities, I believe the time has come _ too little, too late I know for many _ humbly and contritely to ask forgiveness.”
A Cross on a Cap Causes Controversy in Cincinnati
CINCINNATI (RNS) Sometimes there is no better marketing than word of mouth. That has been especially true in this southwest Ohio city in the wake of a controversial call by the National Football League, which fined Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Jon Kitna $5,000 for wearing unauthorized headgear too close to game time during a television interview.
Kitna’s cap was emblazoned with a simple cross _ a symbol of the Pro Bowl quarterback’s devotion to Jesus.
The NFL told the Bengals Kitna was in violation of a rule requiring all merchandise worn by players or other team personnel to be approved and licensed by the football league. The cross cap was not a licensed item.
The news hit hard in the Queen City, and upon learning of the NFL’s decision, owners of The Catholic Shop in a northern suburb decided they would begin selling the caps for $5 a pop. Since Dec. 22, they’ve sold more than 4,000 of the black caps with a white embroidered cross, and they anticipate selling up to 1,000 a day “as long as we can get them in,” said Catholic Shop co-owner Dan Giroux.
Giroux’s wife, Ann, had been a guest on a local radio talk show, originally scheduled to discuss Mel Gibson’s new movie, “The Passion,” when the hat controversy emerged.
“She and the talk-show host got talking about how Jon Kitna was such a great guy, a good quarterback and a really dedicated Christian, and by the end of the show, she announced over the air that we were going to sell the caps with the cross on it,” Giroux said.
Now dubbed “Kitna caps,” the items have attracted buyers from as far away as Chicago, Indianapolis and Wheeling, W.Va., he said.
“The phone’s been ringing off the hook, and we quit taking pre-orders because of all the out-of-town folks who said they weren’t going to leave without a cap,” Giroux said.
Just before Christmas, Giroux said Kitna visited the store to thank the entrepreneurs for their support.
“He just showed up, unannounced, very shyly and reached out to shake my hand,” Giroux said. “Then he just walked away.”
As the quarterback walked away, Giroux decided he wanted to get one of his caps autographed for his wife.
“He signed it: `To Jennifer: God bless your boldness. Galatians 6.9.”
_ Dennis P. O’Connor
Pentecostal Churches in Zimbabwe Mandate HIV Testing for Clergy
(RNS) A small group of Pentecostal churches in Zimbabwe has ordered all of its pastors, marriage officers and couples seeking marriage to be tested for the HIV virus that causes AIDS.
The Pentecostal Assemblies of Zimbabwe, a group of 150 churches in a country where a quarter of the population is infected with AIDS, has already tested most of its clergy and will require couples to be tested starting Jan. 1.
“Although this might sound rather controversial, discriminatory and infringing on individuals’ rights, we felt that the only way we could effectively fight this pandemic was through adoption of more pragmatic and practical measures,” Bishop Trevor Managa said in a news release.
Everyone who is tested will receive certification, but marriage officers who do not have the certification will not be allowed to conduct weddings. Clergy who test positive for the disease would presumably be allowed to continue working.
“Church leaders who daily preach to and counsel church members on various issues, including HIV/AIDS, have to set the pace and lead by example and avoid the notion of `do as I say, and not as I do,”’ Managa said.
Various church leaders in Africa have voiced support for clergy testing, including the Rev. Mvume Dandala, general secretary of the All Africa Conference of Churches, and Anglican Bishop Mwai Abiero of Kenya.
Dandala urged HIV-positive clergy to disclose their status and help remove stigma associated with the disease. “I think it is important for people like that to come out into the open and for us all as a church to learn how to handle one another in a responsible way,” he said in November.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Quote of the Day: Presidential Candidate Howard Dean
(RNS) “Let’s get into a little religion here. Don’t you think Jerry Falwell reminds you a lot more of the Pharisees than he does of the teachings of Jesus? And don’t you think this campaign ought to be about evicting the money changers from the temple?”
_ Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean, speaking to supporters in Iowa. He was quoted by The Boston Globe.
DEA END RNS
