c. 2005 Religion News Service

Conservatives Outraged Over Ruling on Elementary School Sex Survey

(RNS) A conservative legal group plans to fight a California appeals court ruling that says parents had no power to prevent an elementary school from conducting a sex survey of their children.

The Liberty Counsel, based in Orlando, Fla., will represent parents who objected to a survey that officials in the Palmdale, Calif., school district said was designed to measure “children’s exposure to early trauma.” It included questions about sexual topics such as “thinking about sex” and “touching my private parts too much.”

Writing for a three-judge panel in a Nov. 2 decision, Judge Stephen Reinhardt of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said: “… There is no fundamental right of parents to be the exclusive provider of information regarding sexual matters to their children.”

Mathew D. Staver, president and general counsel of Liberty Counsel, said Monday (Nov. 7) that he plans to ask the full court to set aside the decision.

“The parents feel like their children were mentally raped when they were subjected to embarrassing and inappropriate sexually explicit materials,” he said. “Americans will be stunned to learn that parental rights stop at the threshold of the school door.”

The ruling has been a major topic of conversation for conservative Christian leaders across the country.

Connie Mackey, vice president of government affairs for the Washington-based Family Research Council, said Reinhardt is “notoriously out of the mainstream.” R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., called it “one of the most outrageous infringements upon parental rights ever made by an American court.” The Rev. Jerry Falwell said the ruling “effectively authorizes schools to conduct social engineering on our children.”

Other groups that have been critical of “activist judges” in general, and the 9th Circuit court in particular, said the ruling exemplifies their concerns.

“This is judicial tyranny at its worst and gives public schools free reign to teach children whatever they want about sexuality _ even if it violates the religious beliefs of parents,” said Andrea Lafferty, executive director of the Washington-based Traditional Values Coalition.

Said Carrie Gordon Earll of Colorado-based Focus on the Family Action: “Anyone who wonders why pro-family organizations like ours have been so concerned about activist courts only has to look at this case.”

_ Adelle M. Banks

Editors: The word “exclusive” in the 3rd graph below was italicized in its original text. Mathew in the 4th graph is cq.

Jesuit Priests Accused of Sex Abuse in Alaskan Eskimo Villages

PORTLAND, Ore. (RNS) In the last few years, as many as 100 people have filed sex-abuse lawsuits accusing more than a dozen priests and volunteers of the Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus, according to plaintiffs’ attorneys.

The Northwest Jesuits are separate from the Catholic Archdiocese of Portland and report to superiors outside the Vatican in Rome. The province covers five states _ Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Alaska _ but the bulk of the alleged abuse occurred in remote Alaskan Eskimo villages that during the long winters are almost completely cut off from the rest of the world.

“There’s no one to tell, no one to turn to, no one to talk to,” said Elsie Boudreau, an Anchorage woman who was sexually abused by a Jesuit priest when she was a girl. Boudreau settled her case for $1 million in April.

The Rev. John D. Whitney, the Portland-based provincial superior, admitted that the Rev. James Poole had committed sexual abuse and apologized to Boudreau.

“We apologize to the victim of this misconduct, and to all who have suffered a loss of hope and trust,” Whitney said in April. “We ask forgiveness as we strive to ensure that such actions do not happen again.”

The Northwest Jesuits have paid about $7.5 million to settle lawsuits, far less than the $53 million spent by the Portland Archdiocese before it sought bankruptcy protection in 2004.

Bankruptcy was supposed to allow the archdiocese to get a handle on priest-abuse litigation, but 18 months later little has been resolved. More than 200 sex-abuse claims are pending. And a judge has yet to decide the most explosive issue in the case: The archdiocese’s claim that church law prohibits it from selling parish churches to pay off sex-abuse claims.

The Northwest Jesuits take the same position about such prominent Jesuit organizations as Gonzaga and Seattle universities, and Portland’s Jesuit High School. But no legal proceeding has forced the issue.

Although dozens of lawsuits are pending against the Jesuits and a trial is scheduled to begin in February, Whitney said he has given no serious thought to following the Portland Archdiocese into bankruptcy.

“My primary concern really is trying to find ways toward healing,” he said.

_ Ashbel “Tony” Green

New Orleans Archdiocese Reports $40 Million Deficit After Hurricane

(RNS) The Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans faces a year-end deficit of up to $40 million and is seeking private and corporate donations to forestall more layoffs in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

The archdiocese, which once employed 9,000 people, has already shed 2,000 jobs through layoffs or resignations of employees who did not return after Katrina struck Aug. 29, the Rev. William Maestri said on Monday (Nov. 14).

Moreover, Katrina’s property damage will certainly outstrip the church’s insurance coverage, although by how much isn’t clear yet.

“There will be a gap,” Maestri said.

In a presentation on the state of the local Catholic Church, Maestri stressed the fluidity of damage estimates thus far: The $40 million deficit figure will probably prove to be a bit high as the archdiocese ends the year with reduced expenses and a much-reduced footprint in the community.

Some ministries may be able to rehire some workers even as layoffs occur elsewhere in the church, he said.

Nonetheless, Katrina did vast damage to the ministries and properties of the archdiocese, which counts 490,000 Catholics in eight civil parishes around New Orleans, Maestri said. For instance:

_ Slightly more than one-third of the archdiocese’s 151 parishes and missions remain closed. Their collection plates no longer contribute to the archdiocese’s income, Maestri said. Ninety-five parishes or missions are functioning at some level, he said.

_ Thirty of the 60 social service programs run by Catholic Charities, Archdiocese of New Orleans, remain closed.

Archdiocesan officials have determined that they have $1.4 billion in property insurance for nonflood damage. The church has $13 million in flood insurance and an additional $50 million covering 21 sites known to be particularly vulnerable to flooding, he said.

But the archdiocese’s flood damage was widespread. Nearly a third of the church’s 1,244 buildings flooded; nearly 70 percent of its buildings suffered wind damage. Many suffered both, Maestri said. Even so, Maestri said the archdiocese has not yet fully assessed the damage and compared that to insurance coverage, he said.

Because the archdiocesan office employs only two full-time workers, the church is heavily reliant on hiring private contractors to estimate repairs _ a back-logged, time-consuming process that homeowners know well, he said.

Catholics around the country have collected $11 million in Katrina relief for the archdiocese, Maestri said.

In addition, Catholic Charities USA, the national church’s social service arm, has given $25 million, although much of that is earmarked for schools or other specific purposes, he said.

The church also is soliciting grants and gifts from donors. In some cases, it is asking past donors to remove any strings from previous gifts, Maestri said. Church finance officials have not decided whether they will have to seek commercial loans to deal with the deficit, he said.

_ Bruce Nolan

The Forward Fifty Honors Jewish Politicians, Activists, Entertainers

(RNS) Fifty American Jews have been recognized by a national Jewish newspaper in an annual survey of Jewish cultural and political influence in the nation.

The Forward, the largest national Jewish weekly in America, published its annual “Forward 50” list in the Nov. 11 issue, recognizing noted Jewish politicians, writers and activists.

Topping the list is Ruth Messinger, who has brought her organization, American Jewish World Service, into the “major leagues” of international relief work, working with the Bush administration in the wake of the Asian tsunami, but taking a stand against it on the issue of debt relief for African nations.

Also in the “Top 5” are acclaimed director Stephen Spielberg, who has also been involved with documenting remembrances of the Holocaust; Jamie Wolfensohn, former head of the World Bank; and Pennsylvania’s moderate Republican Sen. Arlen Specter, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Rounding out the top 5 list is Matisyahu, the 26-year-old Hasidic reggae singer whose popularity exploded this year with appearances on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” and a rigorous national tour.

The rest of the list is an amalgam of activists, entertainers and other public figures.

_ Holly Lebowitz Rossi

Quote of the Day: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi

(RNS) “God truly blessed the world with the birth of His Holiness and the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama.”

_ Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, introducing the Dalai Lama Sunday (Nov. 13) during the Tibetan spiritual leader’s 10-day visit to Washington.

MO/JL END RNS