c. 2003 Religion News Service
Religious Leaders Join in Observing World AIDS Day
(RNS) Religious leaders marked World AIDS Day on Monday (Dec. 1), offering prayers and urging enhanced work among the faithful to address the global pandemic.
On the eve of the day in which attention is particularly focused on the disease, Pope John Paul II told pilgrims gathered at St. Peter’s Square in Rome that it “unfortunately is still strongly on the rise, especially in the poorest countries.”
“While I pray for those who have been hit by this scourge, I encourage everyone in the church to carry out toward these our brothers and sisters an inestimable service of welcome, care and spiritual accompaniment,” the pontiff said.
His comments were followed by a message issued Monday by the Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Care that called “fidelity, chastity and abstinence” the best methods for preventing the spread of AIDS.
Religious leaders of a variety of faiths prayed and demonstrated outside the U.S. Treasury Department headquarters Monday, remembering those who have died from the disease and seeking further action from the Bush administration. The event, co-sponsored by the United Methodist Church’s social policy office, the Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism and Jubilee USA Network, included a request that President Bush include at least $5.4 billion to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in his 2005 budget.
Lutheran World Relief joined in the call for the additional AIDS funding and asked its supporters to call the White House on Monday to encourage that spending without reducing aid for other health and development programs.
The Rev. John L. McCullough, executive director of Church World Service, issued a statement calling for prayer and action among religious people for the AIDS crisis.
“We pray also that each of us will realize that AIDS affects us all,” said McCullough, whose agency is the relief arm of the National Council of Churches. “We must own this together as a common challenge. We remember those who have lost their lives to AIDS, and we embrace the hope of an awakened spirit to respond to this pandemic with even greater urgency in the year ahead.”
Just days before the annual observance, the eighth General Assembly of the All Africa Conference of Churches adopted a 10-point “covenant” for addressing HIV/AIDS; it encourages making anti-retroviral medicines available to all in need of them and “zero tolerance” for discrimination against HIV-positive people.
In a related move, the HIV/AIDS Caucus at the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility has filed resolutions with anti-retroviral drug producers to widen access to the medicine in developing nations.
“Our colleagues in many developing countries are confronted with the ravages of AIDS every day,” said the Rev. Seamus Finn, leader of the caucus, in a statement. “We believe the developers of these life-saving medicines have an obligation to make their products more accessible to the people who need them.”
_ Adelle M. Banks and Peggy Polk
Top Episcopal Bishop Resigns From Catholic-Anglican Dialogue
(RNS) The presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, under fire for his support of an openly gay bishop, has resigned as co-chairman of long-standing talks with the Roman Catholic Church.
Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold said he would step down from the 33-year-old Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission because the consecration of openly gay Bishop V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire has caused “strain” between the two churches.
“I do so not without regret, but in the interest of not jeopardizing the present and future life and work of the Commission of which I was privileged to be a member,” Griswold wrote on Wednesday (Nov. 26) to the leader of the Anglican Communion, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams.
The Episcopal Church is the U.S. branch of the 77 million-member Anglican Communion. Griswold has co-chaired the dialogue since 1998. His Catholic counterpart is Archbishop Alexander Brunette of Seattle.
Last month, Brunette said Robinson’s election and consecration had “put us in a very bad situation” and said “they need to resolve the issue so that we can be back in full communion with the whole Anglican Church. They’ve kind of put themselves separate from the Anglican Church.”
In reply, Williams told Griswold he was “very sorry that this has seemed the best course.” Williams will appoint a new Anglican co-chairman after meeting with the Anglican Consultative Council.
Some Catholic leaders have isolated Griswold for his support of Robinson. Roman Catholic Bishop Victor Galeone of St. Augustine, Fla., rescinded an invitation for Florida Episcopalians to rent a large Catholic church for the installation of their new bishop if Griswold attended. Griswold later backed down and sent another bishop as his representative.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Former Baptist Leader Released From Prison, Says He’s `Repented’
(RNS) The Rev. Henry J. Lyons left prison and re-entered the pulpit Sunday (Nov. 30), voicing repentance after serving time for grand theft and racketeering related to the National Baptist Convention, USA.
“I have suffered God’s rod of correction,” Lyons, 61, told worshippers at the First Baptist Institutional Church in Lakeland, Fla. “I stand here today to tell you I truly, truly repented of my sins.”
Lyons was freed Sunday after serving almost five years in prison, the Associated Press reported. He was convicted after an investigation showed he used his role as president of the denomination to steal an estimated $4 million to buy jewelry and luxury homes and support mistresses.
The charges came after his then-wife, Deborah, set fire to a $700,000 waterfront home he co-owned with another woman, Bernice Edwards, in 1997. Lyons and his wife divorced earlier this year. In May, Edwards died in prison of natural causes.
Lyons will be on probation for the next three years on federal charges of tax evasion and bank fraud. He also owes $2.5 million in restitution and planned to meet Monday with federal authorities to determine payback terms.
“I have no idea how to do it,” Lyons said. “I don’t have any money. The attorneys have all the money. I have an agreement with God _ `You make it available to me, and I have no problem paying it.”’
During the service, about two dozen ministers surrounded Lyons for a ceremony of restoration. An old robe _ symbolizing sins of the past _ was removed from him and a new robe replaced it.
Lyons said he would like to be a pastor again but also considers counseling _ which he did in prison _ to be a possible career option.
He currently is working for a funeral home, which was part of his work release plan with the prison.
Pope Marks Opening of Advent Season With Appeal for Peace in the World
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope John Paul II on Sunday marked the opening of the liturgical season of Advent leading to Christmas with a renewed appeal for peace in the world.
“The world has great need for this peace,” the 83-year-old Roman Catholic pontiff told pilgrims Sunday (Nov. 30) before leading the midday Angelus prayer from his study window overlooking St. Peter’s Square.
“I think in a special way with deep sorrow of the latest episodes of violence in the Middle East and on the African continent,” John Paul said. “I renew my appeal to the leaders of the great religions: Let us join forces in praying for non-violence, pardon and reconciliation.”
Calling Advent an “itinerary of expectation and of hope,” he said preparing for Christmas should “reawaken in us and in the entire world the hope for peace,” which he said “is built by laying down the weapons of rancor, vendetta and every form of egoism.”
On Monday (Dec. 1), the pope sent his condolences to Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar over the “unjustified violence” that killed seven Spanish intelligence agents in Iraq on Saturday (Nov. 29).
In a telegram sent on his behalf by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Vatican secretary of state, the pope expressed sadness over the “execrable terrorist attack” that took the lives of agents “generously carrying out their peace mission.”
John Paul spoke of peace again Monday in a brief address to a delegation from the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Paris. Rabbi Marvin Hier, the center’s founder, presented the pope with its Humanitarian Award for 2003 in recognition of his “lifelong friendship toward the Jewish people.”
“In these difficult times,” the pontiff said, “let us pray that all peoples everywhere will be strengthened by their commitment to mutual understanding, reconciliation and peace.”
_ Peggy Polk
Mass. Catholic Bishops Call Gay Marriage `National Tragedy’
(RNS) The Roman Catholic bishops of Massachusetts said a recent state Supreme Court decision to open marriage to gay couples is a “national tragedy” that “in the long run will seriously harm family life.”
The bishops of Boston, Worcester, Springfield and Fall River urged the state’s 3 million Catholics to lobby for a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as between one man and one woman.
“It is not the intention of the Catholic community to infringe on the civil rights of homosexuals or anyone else,” the bishops said in a joint letter that was ordered to be read in Bay State parishes on Nov. 29 and 30.
“Our opposition to a redefinition of marriage is to safeguard the institution of marriage for future generations.”
The state’s Supreme Judicial Court ruled on Nov. 18 that denying gay couples the right to civil marriage was unconstitutional, and gave the legislature 180 days to craft a solution that opens civil marriage to homosexuals.
The bishops said the “misguided decision has also served to promote divisions in society by villainizing as bigotry the legitimate defense of thousands of years of tradition.”
In a separate development, an 10-year-old independent committee of Catholic and evangelical leaders said allowing gay marriage would “offend holy God.”
The group, Evangelicals and Catholics Together, said, “For too long Christians have ignored the call for holiness and biblical obedience, tolerating easy divorce and marital infidelity.” They called gay marriage a “radical idea … (that) must be resisted by every legal means available.”
The group includes, among others, Roman Catholic Cardinal Avery Dulles of Fordham University; the Rev. Richard John Neuhaus, editor of the Catholic journal First Things; and Chuck Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Supreme Court Says `Under God’ Atheist Can Act as Own Lawyer
WASHINGTON (RNS) The Supreme Court said Monday (Dec. 1) a California atheist who wants the words “under God” removed from the Pledge of Allegiance can serve as his own attorney before the high court next year.
The justices waived a standing rule that lawyers arguing before the court must be members of the Supreme Court Bar. Newdow has not been a lawyer for the three years required to apply to the bar, according to the Associated Press.
Last year the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with Newdow that “under God” violated the separation of church and state. Eight justices _ Justice Antonin Scalia has recused himself _ will hear oral arguments on the case next year.
“It is a tribute to our system of law that any individual with sufficient desire can, by himself, ensure that our government remains true to its constitutional ideals,” Newdow wrote in a filing to the court.
The justices on Tuesday also rejected, without comment, a request from Americans United for Separation of Church and State to participate in the arguments, the Associated Press reported.
Quote of the Day: Rev. Mvume Dandala, general secretary of the All Africa Conference of Churches
(RNS) “As far as we are concerned, this is war. We declare unequivocally that HIV/AIDS is not the will of God for Africa. We will try with all we have to resist it.”
_ Rev. Mvume Dandala, general secretary of the All Africa Conference of Churches, which offered free, voluntary on-site testing for HIV during its assembly in Yaounde, Cameroon, in late November. He was quoted in a conference news release.
DEA END RNS
