c. 2005 Religion News Service

Ailing Pope’s Participation in Holy Week Still in Question

VATICAN CITY (RNS) For the first time in his more than 26 years as Roman Catholic pontiff, an ailing John Paul II will not lead Holy Week celebrations, and whether he will participate at all is still in question.

On Thursday (March 17), three days before Holy Week opens with a Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square, the Vatican confirmed only that John Paul will give the world’s 1 billion Catholics his Easter blessing on March 27.

Six cardinals will stand in for John Paul at Holy Week and Easter celebrations. But the Vatican left open the possibility that if he felt strong enough and the weather remained mild, the pope might preside over a torch-lit Way of the Cross procession around Rome’s ancient Colosseum on Good Friday.

The dramatic Via Crucis recalls the final events in the life of Jesus, from his trial to his crucifixion and entombment. The procession stops at 14 “stations” for the reading of a meditation, written this year by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the German prelate who heads the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

In recent years, John Paul, unable to walk at the head of the procession carrying a large cross, has watched from the nearby Palatine Hill and spoken at its conclusion.

The 84-year-old John Paul, hospitalized twice in February with severe breathing problems caused by influenza, returned to the Vatican on Sunday (March 13). A breathing tube that surgeons inserted in his throat Feb. 24 to bypass his swollen larynx remained in place, limiting his ability to speak.

The pope suffers from Parkinson’s disease, a degenerative neurological condition that has left him confined to a wheelchair and made speaking difficult even before the surgery on his windpipe.

The Vatican announced that Easter celebrations will open with a Holy Saturday vigil in St. Peter’s Basilica. Ratzinger will preside over the Mass proclaiming Christ’s resurrection.

Cardinal Angelo Sodano, secretary of state, will lead the Easter morning Mass. Tens of thousands of Romans, tourists and pilgrims traditionally throng the square for the Mass and papal blessing, which is televised worldwide.

_ Peggy Polk

Catholic Bishops Join Vatican in Denouncing Jesuit Theologian

(RNS) Key leaders of the U.S. Catholic hierarchy have denounced the work of a Jesuit theologian who was banned by the Vatican from teaching until he comes into “full conformity” with the church’s doctrine.

The Doctrine Committee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on Monday (March 14) welcomed a gag order placed on the Rev. Roger Haight by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith last month.

The order, officially called a “notification,” forbids Haight from teaching Catholic theology “until his positions have been corrected so as to be in fully conformity with the doctrine of the church.”

Haight was suspended in 2000 from teaching at Weston School of Theology in Cambridge, Mass., after the release of his 1999 book, “Jesus: Symbol of God.” Vatican officials say Haight’s book questions the divinity of Jesus Christ, the nature of the Trinity and Jesus’ resurrection.

In their recent statement, the U.S. bishops said they had an obligation to safeguard church teaching.

“It is essential that we, as the authentic teachers and guardians of the apostolic faith, ensure that the faithful throughout the country … not become confused by ambiguous or erroneous theological speculation,” the doctrine committee said.

“Authentic doctrine … must be the explicit and unambiguous foundation not only for catechetical instruction but also for theological teaching and inquiry.”

The seven-member committee is headed by Archbishop William Levada of San Francisco. Haight has said he does not disagree with church teaching but was simply raising new theological questions and arguments.

Haight is currently an adjunct professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York.

His suspension was recently condemned by the Catholic Theological Society of America, where Haight once served as president.

The Vatican action “gravely threatens the very process of serious, systematic, internal criticism which (the Vatican) and the bishops have long been encouraging among theologians,” the society’s board of directors said.

_ Kevin Eckstrom

In Letter, Episcopal Bishops Express Commitment to Anglican Communion

(RNS) In a pastoral letter, the bishops of the Episcopal Church say they hope their decision to suspend the election of all new bishops until mid-2006 shows their commitment to remain a part of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

“We pray that this covenant statement will be seen by brother and sister Anglicans as responding to some of their concerns,” the bishops said Wednesday (March 16) in the letter. “We pray that our overwhelming support for the covenant may be a sign to them of our unwavering commitment to life in communion.”

On Tuesday (March 15), the bishops agreed to freeze the election process for all new bishops, and refrain from authorizing or blessing same-sex unions, until the church’s General Convention meets in June 2006.

The bishops were responding to pressure from other Anglican churches not to repeat their approval of an openly gay bishop in New Hampshire in 2003. The bishops said any long-term policy would have to be crafted by the entire church, not just the hierarchy, in the summer of 2006.

In their Wednesday letter, the bishops also said they faced their “deep divisions with an openness that has not characterized our recent past,” an assessment shared by leaders of the church’s left and right wings.

“The thing I take away is that we recognize that we’re accountable but we’re talking openly about whether these differences are in fact irreconcilable,” Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh, a leading conservative, said in an interview.

Duncan said he remains skeptical that the U.S. church will conform itself to be in accord with the global church, and expects the June 2006 meeting in Columbus, Ohio, to be a “cataclysmic encounter.”

The church’s top leader, Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold, said the agreement reached by U.S. bishops should answer the concerns of Anglican leaders he heard during a high-level summit in Northern Ireland last month.

“I hope and pray that my brother primates will see this as a positive contribution to the life we share across the communion, and I trust it will allow us to refocus some of our energies on the things that so many of them said were more important,” Griswold said in an interview.

_ Kevin Eckstrom

Seminar Commemorates Anniversary of Catholic Document Affirming Jews

WASHINGTON (RNS) At a seminar commemorating the 40th anniversary of a Catholic document condemning anti-Semitism, a Vatican spokesman affirmed Catholic-Jewish unity and laid out a three-point plan to increase it.

“We need one another and the world needs us,” said Cardinal Walter Kasper, the Vatican’s head of ecumenical affairs.

Kasper made the comment to begin three days of Catholic-Jewish theological dialogue at Catholic University of America. The event ended Tuesday (March 15).

Kasper said “Nostra Aetate” _ the 1965 church document condemning anti-Semitism and all forms of racial and religious discrimination _ is “one of the most hotly debated documents of the Second Vatican Council.”

Kasper said the declaration allowed the Catholic Church to rediscover its Jewish roots.

The German-born Kasper said Christians and Jews must undertake three tasks to further relations: fight ignorance through education, respect theological differences and cooperate in international efforts.

Rabbi Eugene Borowitz, a Jewish philosopher, professor and author, also spoke at the conference’s opening session. He said one of the differences between himself and Kasper was he has no official position in his religion, “expect that of rabbi.”

Borowitz, who has participated in Jewish-Catholic relations for 40 years, said he has learned to appreciate the willingness of contemporary Catholics to listen respectfully to their Jewish partners in discussion.

Borowitz addressed concerns put forth by some elements of the Jewish community about engaging in discussions with Christians, saying Jews have a responsibility to share their beliefs.

Jews must “seek out the children of the covenant with Noah,” Borowitz said, emphasizing the shared history of Christianity and Judaism.

Other presenters during three days of dialogue included Rabbi Irving Greenberg, president of the New York-based Jewish Life Network; Ruth Langer, theology professor at Boston College; and Archbishop William Cardinal Keeler of Baltimore.

_ Celeste Kennel-Shank

Quote of the Day: `God Speaks’ Advertising Campaign

(RNS) “If you must curse, use your own name!”

_ One of nine new “messages from God” in the “God Speaks” campaign of the Outdoor Advertising Association of America. The ads, which began in 1999, are funded by an anonymous individual and displayed on billboards across the country with the help of the outdoor ad industry.

MO/PH RNS END