c. 2005 Religion News Service

Statue of Opus Dei Founder Added to St. Peter’s Basilica

VATICAN CITY (RNS) A marble statue of St. Josemaria Escriva, the founder of the conservative Opus Dei movement, was added to the exterior of St. Peter’s Basilica on Wednesday (Sept. 14), receiving a blessing from Pope Benedict XVI.

The 20-foot statue stands in a niche located on the basilica’s rear wall, an area the late pope John Paul II dedicated to honoring the saints he canonized. Escriva stands to the left of a statue depicting Marcellin Champagnat, a French priest and founder of the Marist Brothers, canonized by John Paul in 1999.

“Let everyone who contemplates (the statue) be encouraged to faithfully complete daily work in the spirit of Christ,” said Benedict, who attended the sculpture’s unveiling.

Escriva, a Spanish priest, founded Opus Dei, or “God’s Work,” in 1928 as a lay movement that aimed to sanctify professional labor and other daily routines.

In subsequent decades, Opus Dei developed close ties to the Vatican, and in 1982 Pope John Paul designated Opus Dei a personal prelature, which guarantees the organization autonomy from diocesan authorities.

Opus Dei’s ties to the Vatican were sensationalized in Dan Brown’s best-selling novel “The Da Vinci Code,” which depicts the group as a conspiratorial force operating in the shadows of church government.

Speaking at the unveiling, the prelate of Opus Dei, Bishop Javier Echevarria, said the statue expressed “the tight union with the Church and the pope, to which the Prelature of Opus Dei feels specifically called.”

The sculpture depicts a bespectacled Escriva, flanked by angels and gesturing with open hands. The papal coat of arms of John Paul and Benedict are carved in relief at the statue’s base.

Escriva, who died in 1975, was canonized by John Paul in October 2002, making his cause for sainthood the shortest in church history. Escriva joins the ranks of more than 150 saints depicted on the Basilica, including those atop the marble colonnade that hugs St. Peter’s Square.

_ Stacy Meichtry

Flight 93 Families Say Memorial Design Does Not Mimic Islamic Crescent

(RNS) The president of the Families of Flight 93 on Wednesday (Sept. 14) labeled as “absurd” a Republican congressman’s claim that a proposed memorial in Pennsylvania is a “tribute to hijackers” because it incorporates a crescent shape that he said is associated with Islam _ and therefore terrorism.

Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., told the National Park Service that the memorial to the hijacked flight that crashed on Sept. 11, 2001, should be redesigned. Families of the victims called his comments “an unfortunate distraction.”

“A very small, violent militant contingent does not own a copyright on the words `crescent’ or `red crescent,”’ said D. Hamilton Peterson, whose father and stepmother were passengers on the flight that crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pa. “New Orleans is known as the `Crescent City.’ That doesn’t suggest it is demonically oriented.”

In his letter to Fran Mainella, director of the National Park Service, Tancredo wrote that the prominent use of the crescent shape in the memorial design “has raised questions in some circles about whether the design, if constructed, will in fact make the memorial a tribute to the hijackers rather than the victims.”

Tancredo drew fire from Muslim groups last July when he told a radio talk show that if Muslim extremists launched a nuclear attack on the United States, the best response would be to “take out” Islamic holy sites such as Mecca.

Conservative bloggers and other Internet users were quick to criticize the proposed design after it was unveiled Sept. 7, with some arguing that al-Qaida would use the memorial to say their cause was victorious.

The proposed memorial, designed by Paul Murdoch Architects, includes a mile-long arc of red maples _ termed a “crescent of embrace” _ that enclose the “sacred ground” of the crash site, where 92 percent of the remains of the crew and passengers rest.

The ends of the crescent _ meant to symbolize a circle broken by the flight path of Flight 93 _ do not taper as those of a traditional Islamic crescent do. The Islamic crescent is a familiar symbol for Islam but has no religious meaning.

Family members of those who died managed the process of selecting the memorial design, according to Joanne Hanley, superintendent of the Flight 93 National Memorial.

Hanley said that the name “crescent of embrace” will be changed, as recommended by a jury in the design process, and that further changes could be made if necessary.

“Paul Murdoch does not want this design to mar or blemish the memorial, nor dishonor the families or loved ones, even in an unintentional way,” Hanley said. “He is looking at what architectural refinements might dispel any perception of iconography.”

Edward Linenthal, a member of the Flight 93 Advisory Commission and a historian of American battlefields and memorials, called Tancredo’s comments “disgraceful.”

Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Washington-based Council on American Islamic Relations, was similarly dismissive. “We believe this is a made-up controversy, something that’s been trumped up by extremist and anti-Muslim Internet bloggers. The design has nothing to do with Islam,” he said.

_ Andrea Useem

Judge Allows Challenge to `Intelligent Design’ in Pa. School District

(RNS) A federal judge on Tuesday (Sept. 13) refused to block a suit by Pennsylvania parents who are challenging the presentation of “intelligent design” in public school science classrooms.

The ruling by Judge John E. Jones III clears the way for a trial, scheduled to begin Sept. 26 in U.S. District Court in Harrisburg, on the issue of whether biology teachers in the Dover Area School District should present intelligent design as an alternative to evolution.

Lawyers and national organizations representing 11 parents in the district filed suit to bar references to “intelligent design” after the board voted last year to require teachers to mention the theory in class, and to refer students to a book in the library on the subject.

Supporters of intelligent design believe that the universe and living things are best explained by the existence of a guiding force.

Opponents say intelligent design is based on religious beliefs, has no scientific foundation and, like creationism, does not belong in public school science classes.

Jones said the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1971 that a government-sponsored message violates the First Amendment if that message does not have a secular purpose, its primary effect advances or inhibits religion, or it excessively entangles government and religion.

In rejecting a school board request to dismiss the challenge to intelligent design, Jones said “genuine issues” exist regarding “whether the challenged policy has a secular purpose and whether the policy’s principal or primary effect advance (the school board’s) arguments to the contrary.”

_ Bill Sulon

Oswald Hoffmann, Longtime Speaker of `The Lutheran Hour,’ Dead at 91

(RNS) The Rev. Oswald C.J. Hoffmann, the voice of “The Lutheran Hour” radio program for more than three decades, died Sept. 8 after a brief illness.

The religious broadcasting pioneer and minister of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod was 91, Lutheran Hour Ministries said in an announcement.

Ordained in 1939, Hoffmann was the speaker for the program from 1955 to 1988.

“Dr. Hoffmann was an incredible blessing to Lutheran Hour Ministries and to the millions of listeners who tuned in to `The Lutheran Hour’ during his tenure as speaker of the program,” said Greg Lewis, executive director of St. Louis-based Lutheran Hour Ministries, which is an auxiliary of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.

During his career of almost 70 years, Hoffmann was a pastor, film production adviser, consultant to foreign dignitaries and U.S. presidents, and author of eight books. He recently retired from his duties as honorary speaker of the program, his denomination said in its announcement of his death.

David Strand, a spokesman for the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, said the program that carried Hoffmann’s voice has been popular far beyond his St. Louis-based denomination.

“That program didn’t just cross lines of Lutheranism,” Strand said in an interview. “It entered into all realms of Christianity.”

In his last public appearance, Hoffmann spoke in July to the international convention of the International Lutheran Laymen’s League in Topeka, Kan., at an event marking the 75th anniversary of “The Lutheran Hour.”

“I didn’t do anything special,” he said. “I just told the good news. I’m still willing to do that. I look back with great thanksgiving _ for myself and for all of the other people who benefited from the good news of the gospel.”

_ Adelle M. Banks

Quote of the Day: Supreme Court Nominee John Roberts

(RNS) “My faith and religious beliefs do not play a role in judging. I look to the law books. I don’t look to the Bible.”

_ Judge John Roberts, President Bush’s nominee to be the next chief justice of the United States, answering senators’ questions about his Catholic faith.

KRE/PH END RNS

Editors: Check the RNS photo Web site at https://religionnews.com for photos to accompany the first (photos of statue) and second digest items (photos of memorial). Search by slug.