c. 2004 Religion News Service
Former Bishops’ President Named to Lead Archdiocese of Atlanta
(RNS) The Illinois bishop who guided the U.S. Catholic Church through a bruising clergy sexual abuse scandal received a major promotion from Pope John Paul II on Thursday (Dec. 9) when he was named the archbishop of Atlanta.
Bishop Wilton Gregory of Belleville, Ill., was tapped to lead the Archdiocese of Atlanta, succeeding Archbishop John Donoghue, 76, who was required to submit his resignation last year when he turned 75.
“Thank you is not sufficient to express my gratitude for your acceptance and countless acts of kindness,” Gregory said in a letter to his flock in southern Illinois, where he has served since 1993. “I have attempted to serve you with all of my heart and I ask your forgiveness for the mistakes I made during my time in your midst.”
Gregory, 57, was the first African-American to hold the presidency of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. He ended his three-year term in November, just days before he was notified of his transfer to Atlanta.
Gregory’s new post will put him in the former home of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
Gregory’s status as the first black bishop to hold the top post was quickly overshadowed by the growing sex scandal.
“One of the graces of the moment was that all of a sudden I was being judged, as Dr. King liked to say, by the content of my character and not the color of my skin,” Gregory told Religion News Service last month. “What a great day.”
Gregory received high praise for his handling of the national abuse crisis and was widely expected to receive a promotion for his efforts. Many church observers say Gregory could one day become the first black American cardinal.
The Archdiocese of Atlanta is roughly twice as large as the Belleville diocese. As archbishop of Atlanta, Gregory will also oversee four dioceses in Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina.
The sprawling archdiocese, which covers 69 North Georgia counties, has nearly doubled in size in the last decade. Gregory will be formally installed as archbishop Jan. 17.
In another promotion, the pope named Monsignor Michael Bransfield, rector of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, as the next bishop of Wheeling-Charleston, W.Va.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Pope John Paul II Has Proclaimed a Record 1,828 Saints and Blesseds
ROME (RNS) Pope John Paul II has proclaimed a record 1,828 saints and blesseds, more than all his predecessors over the last 400 years put together, a Vatican official has reported.
Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Causes of Saints, said Saturday (Dec. 4) that in the 26 years of his reign, John Paul has created 1,345 blesseds and 483 saints. Beatification, or being declared blessed and worthy of veneration, is one step below sainthood.
“This figure exceeds by far all the blesseds and saints proclaimed by his predecessors,” the cardinal said. He referred to the period following 1582 when Pope Gregory XIII reformed the process leading to sainthood and centered it at the Vatican.
Martins, who oversees the creation of saints, spoke at a conference on a new edition of the “Martirologium Romanum,” a book containing some 7,000 names of martyrs, confessors of the faith and priests, who are remembered in the liturgical calendar.
Defending the pope against what critics have called his “inflation of saints,” the cardinal quoted John Paul as saying, “It is the fault of the Holy Spirit.”
_ Peggy Polk
Official Says Faith-Based Initiative _ and Suits _ to Continue
WASHINGTON (RNS) The director of the White House office dealing with faith-based initiatives said President Bush remains committed to supporting government funding of religious social service programs even as the administration fends off lawsuits against its efforts.
“The president will continue to look at what … executive actions he can take to further the faith-based initiative to make sure that equal treatment takes place not only in Washington but at the state and local level,” Jim Towey, director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, said in an address to the annual conference of the Roundtable on Religion and Social Welfare Policy on Thursday (Dec. 9).
But as administration officials make plans to continue to work with Congress on the issue, Towey predicted opposition to their efforts would not end.
“I think that’s because there’s a continued cry from the secular extremists who view any presence of religion or faith in the public square as anathema to them,” he said.
Towey said the administration is faced with a “handful” of lawsuits but believes it is on “solid constitutional ground.”
He noted that a significant part of a suit against his office by the Freedom From Religion Foundation was dismissed in November. The Wisconsin-based foundation had argued that the initiative’s actions unconstitutionally favored religious organizations.
In a report released at the roundtable, law professors Ira Lupu and Robert Tuttle of George Washington University said that case “now has been reduced to a small thorn in the initiative’s side rather than the large threat it initially appeared to be.”
Towey said the Justice Department has appealed a July district court ruling that an AmeriCorps program permitting teachers to lead religious lessons at sectarian schools is unconstitutional.
Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Texas, who has criticized aspects of the president’s initiative, told conference attendees that he was disturbed by Towey’s “secular extremist” language, drawing some applause.
“This issue is too important for either side or any side to fall back into the temptation of name-calling,” he said.
Edwards predicted that the battles on Capitol Hill will go only so far, in part because of concerns about provisions that would permit government-funded faith-based groups to discriminate in their hiring of staff.
“I think we will not have the votes to kill the president’s initiatives in the House but I think even in the new Senate there could be enough votes to stop it,” Edwards said.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Poll: Most Americans Believe in Virgin Birth of Jesus
(RNS) A majority of Americans _ and a larger percentage of Christians _ believe Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary and did not have a human father, a new Newsweek poll shows.
Seventy-nine percent of Americans and 87 percent of Christians said that was their belief. Fifteen percent of Americans and 8 percent of Christians said they did not share that belief.
Results of the poll on beliefs about Jesus are included in a Dec. 13 Newsweek cover story on “The Birth of Jesus.”
Researchers with Princeton Survey Research Associates found that 93 percent of Americans think Jesus Christ actually lived and 82 percent think he was God or the son of God. Fifty-two percent of respondents said they believe Jesus will return to Earth in the next millennium, and 15 percent said they believe he will return in their lifetime.
In several cases, a majority of those surveyed felt Jesus had influenced the world in dramatic ways. Asked if there would be more or less kindness if there had never been a Jesus or a Christian faith, 61 percent of respondents said there would be less, 7 percent said there would be more and 23 percent said there would be about the same amount. Asked the same question about tolerance, 58 percent said there would be less, 9 percent said more and 21 percent said about the same. And asked about whether there would be more or less war, 47 percent said more, 16 percent said less and 26 percent said about the same amount.
Pollsters also found that 55 percent of Americans believe the Bible is literally accurate while 38 percent said they did not believe that, while 7 percent said they didn’t know.
“The clash between literalism and a more historical view of faith is also playing out in theaters and bookstores,” writes Jon Meacham, the magazine’s managing editor, in the cover story. He referred to interest in the movie “The Passion of the Christ” and Dan Brown’s religious thriller “The Da Vinci Code.”
The telephone poll of 1,009 adults was conducted Dec. 2-3 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Abducted Care Director in Iraq Praised as a `Martyr’
LONDON (RNS) Margaret Hassan, Care International’s director of operations in Iraq, is being called a “martyr” for living a faith-filled life and dying for her convictions.
In a Saturday (Dec. 11) Mass for her in Westminster Cathedral, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor said Hassan’s life and death pointed to God. She was abducted in October and subsequently killed.
“I use the word advisedly,” the cardinal said. “The word `martyr’ means `witness.’ Margaret witnessed, in both her life and her death, to the act of loving. Because Margaret’s love was of the kind that is obviously nourished by the faith that was so important to her, her life, her death and her way of loving have reminded people of her Master, of whom it was said: `Greater love than this hath no one than that a man lay down his life for his friends.’
“That is why I do not hesitate to describe Margaret as a martyr here, in a Christian place.”
Earlier, the cardinal remarked that it seemed to him and to very many others that Hassan lived out the Beatitudes.
“She was a peacemaker in a time of seemingly endless wars,” he said. “She hungered and thirsted for justice for the Iraqi people. She was persecuted _ brutally slain _ because she was working in the cause of right.”
The Mass was attended by Hassan’s family and friends, with the notable exception of her husband, Tahseen Hassan, who was said to be ill. In a brief statement, her family said they had been “overwhelmed” by the messages of sympathy from all over the world.
“All of the family in Baghdad, Ireland and here in London have been touched by the kindness that has been shown to us,” the family said.
_ Robert Nowell
No Coins to Drop in That Red Bucket? Just Say `Charge It’
(RNS) Being penniless is no longer an excuse for bypassing Salvation Army kettles in Arizona, where the holidays’ famous bell ringers have started taking plastic.
At six locations in the greater Phoenix area, holiday shoppers have the option of swiping their credit and debit cards through wireless charge machines. Givers walk away with not only a good feeling, but also a receipt for their taxes.
“Many people will come by a kettle and say, `I wish I could give. I just don’t have any cash,”’ said Sandi Gabel, director of development for the Southwest Division of the Salvation Army. “It really doesn’t take much longer. You just have to swipe the card, and that’s it.”
Across the country, the Salvation Army faces a fund-raising challenge this year as fewer national retailers are permitting the charitable organization to seek donations on corporate-owned property. In Arizona, the charity was bracing this season for a 20 percent drop in revenue from kettles that raised about $1 million last year.
Organizers said they hope the pilot project of accepting credit and debit cards will make up for some of the lost revenue.
To date, credit cards at kettle stations elsewhere in the nation have tended to attract more curiosity than anything else. Residents of Akron, Ohio, and Pittsburgh have had an opportunity to charge their kettle donations, but few have chosen to go that route. The reason: cold temperatures.
“We found in the cold people really didn’t want to pull out their cards and wait for the transaction,” said Fran Brace, director of development for the Western Pennsylvania Division of the Salvation Army. “In Arizona, it might be a lot easier because of the warm weather.”
Other obstacles also proved a hindrance in Pennsylvania, such as the need to train volunteer bell ringers to process credit transactions with perfect accuracy. But in Arizona, organizers are convinced new technologies make that part easy, and expenses beyond the $200-per-machine rental cost are thought to be nominal.
Whether credit cards will ever become a national standard at kettle stations is yet to be seen, although Arizona is considering expanding the program after this year.
“To put the kind of street labor out there that you need to process credit cards … I’m not sure it will have sustainability,” said Major George Hood, national spokesperson for the Salvation Army. “But if it works (in Arizona), other units will try to replicate it.”
_ G. Jeffrey MacDonald
Biology Curriculum Evolves Into `Intelligent Design’ Court Fight
(RNS) Civil liberties groups and 11 parents filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday (Dec. 14) aimed at blocking a Pennsylvania school board’s decision to teach “intelligent design” in a ninth-grade biology course.
The Dover School Board voted 6-3 in October to require teachers to present intelligent-design theory as an alternative to evolution, which must be taught under state academic standards.
Two of the dissenting board members, Carol Brown and her husband, Jeff Brown, resigned in protest after the vote. Board member Angie Yingling, who originally voted for the policy, announced during a Dec. 6 board meeting that she intended to resign after she was unable to get the board to reconsider its decision.
Intelligent-design theory holds that the universe is so complex that it must have been created by an unspecified higher power. Its champions say it provides an alternative argument to evolution, the generally accepted scientific principle that the Earth’s species have diversified through time under the influence of natural selection.
Critics say the introduction of the intelligent-design theory moves classroom discussion from science to theology.
“Teaching students about religion’s role in world history and culture is proper, but disguising a particular religious belief as science is not,” said American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania Legal Director Witold Walczak. “Intelligent design is a Trojan horse for bringing religious creationism back into public school science classes.”
The federal lawsuit was filed on behalf of parents by lawyers from the ACLU and Americans United for Separation of Church and State. They contend the school board’s decision violates their religious liberties “by promoting religious beliefs to their children under the guise of science education.”
“I have no problem teaching creationism, but not as a science,” said one of the parents, Joel Leib. “I learned my creation in Sunday school, and I learned my evolution in high school.”
In recent weeks, Dover administrators have stressed they will not let their classrooms become a forum to “promote or inhibit” views about religion.
“The Dover Area School District wants to support and not discriminate against students and parents that do have competing beliefs, especially in the area of the origin-of-life debate,” the district said in a statement last month.
_ Charles Thompson and Mary Warner
American Baptist Officials Say Gay Debate `Threatens to Break Us Apart’
(RNS) Regional leaders of the American Baptist Churches USA have issued a pastoral letter declaring that denominational debate on homosexuality “threatens to break us apart.”
In their statement, released Dec. 2, regional executive ministers outlined steps they would take to deal with the differences, including refraining from approving “practicing homosexuals” for regional and national positions of the church.
“The controversy over homosexuality has consumed our agenda, our discussion time and our energy; yet the controversy still threatens to break us apart as American Baptists,” they wrote.
The executives said they took the action regarding gay and lesbian members “to preserve unity within our American Baptist fellowship and to promote faithfulness to the gospel of Jesus Christ.” They added that they would “continue listening to those who hold differing viewpoints.”
Other steps they pledged to take include refraining from conducting marriage ceremonies for same-sex couples and “participating in public demonstrations advocating on either side” of the debate over homosexuality.
The regional leaders noted that the “prevailing view” of American Baptists is that “the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching,” but they acknowledged that some individuals and congregations hold different points of view.
The statement was agreed upon at a Nov. 20 meeting.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Wax Nativity Scene Starring British Soccer Star Closed
LONDON (RNS) A Nativity tableau with wax figures of British soccer star David Beckham as Joseph and his celebrity wife, Victoria (Posh Spice of the Spice Girls), as the Virgin Mary has been closed after the figures were damaged by a visitor to Madame Tussauds museum Sunday.
Repairing the figures would take at least six weeks, and the tableau will not be reopened.
The Nativity scene also featured President Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and the Duke of Edinburgh as the three wise men. It aroused strong criticism from Christians, with The Times of London quoting a Vatican spokesman as saying that the display was “if not blasphemous, then certainly in very poor taste.”
The choice of which modern figures should represent the figures in the Nativity scene came from voting by 300 visitors to Madame Tussauds in October.
Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, archbishop of Westminster, called the display disrespectful.
“To have a very special part of Christianity depicted in this way and its most precious symbol, which is the coming of God into the world in Jesus Christ, seems to me to be not just disrespectful to Christians _ it is also disrespectful to the heritage of Britain and also does damage to the culture of this country,” he said.
In a television interview Sunday after the figures had been damaged, he said he was glad to see something he thought was distasteful had gone, but “I wouldn’t like to think that I’ve incited people to bash waxworks.”
_ Robert Nowell
Quote of the Week: Michael Gerson, President Bush’s Chief Speechwriter
(RNS) “I think the reality here is that scrubbing public discourse of religious ideas would remove one of the main sources of social justice in our history. Without an appeal to justice rooted in faith, there would be no abolition movement or civil rights movement or pro-life movement.”
_ Michael Gerson, President Bush’s chief speechwriter, defending the president’s religious rhetoric in a meeting with reporters in Key West, Fla. He was quoted by The Washington Post.
