c. 2006 Religion News Service

Bankrupt Diocese Offers Settlement in Sex Abuse Suit

(RNS) The Roman Catholic diocese of Spokane, Wash., has offered a $47.5 million settlement package that includes several unprecedented nonmonetary concessions to victims’ demands.

The diocese will institute new policies on behalf of sex abuse victims, including referring to plaintiffs as “victims” rather than “alleged victims.”

Spokane Bishop William Skylstad, who also serves as president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, will personally identify accused clergy, lobby for the abolition of statutes of limitations on sex crimes, and write letters to the victims and their families.

Skylstad also agreed to add two victims to the diocesan board that reviews charges of sex abuse against clergy. Victims will also be able to return to the parishes where the abuse originated, and write about their experiences in the diocesan newspaper.

The agreements were part of a $47.5 million settlement with 58 plaintiffs involving 11 priests that was announced Wednesday (Feb. 1).

Spokane is one of three U.S. dioceses to file for bankruptcy following sexual abuse scandals. The settlement must be approved by the federal bankruptcy court and by the plaintiffs within 120 days.

Victims’ advocates hope other dioceses will follow Spokane’s example. But David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), said the policy changes are often driven by victims, not bishops.

“This is part of a growing pattern. Victims (and) lay Catholics are seeing more clearly that the bishops’ so-called reforms are largely meaningless, so more victims are using their own civil lawsuits to force genuine reform. In that sense this (settlement) is part of a larger pattern,” Clohessy said.

_ Anne Pessala

Megachurches: More Diverse, Not Always Huge Buildings, Study Finds

(RNS) When you think of megachurches, do you think of them as congregations that are homogeneous gatherings in huge complexes?

Scholars who have just completed a study of congregations with weekly attendance of 2,000 or more say you may need to think again.

Thirty-six percent of 406 churches surveyed said that minorities make up 20 percent or more of their congregation. And a higher percentage _ 56 percent _ said they are making efforts to become multiethnic.

“I find that just amazing, given that we always talk about Sunday being the most segregated hour of the week,” said Scott Thumma, professor of the sociology of religion at Hartford Seminary in Connecticut. “There’s a good bit of diversity going on here.”

Thumma was the principal investigator for the study, which was done in conjunction with the Leadership Network, a Dallas-based nonprofit that aims to foster innovation among Christian leaders.

Researchers found that the number of megachurches totals more than 1,200. Thumma said his database of megachurches included 600 five years ago and 850 in early 2005.

“They’re not so much an anomaly as they were a decade or two ago,” said Thumma.

Investigators found that few megachurches have colossal sanctuaries. Just 5 percent have sanctuaries that seat 3,000 or more. More than half _ 53 percent _ have four or more services over the course of a weekend.

The findings were based on surveys completed by 382 churches with weekly attendance of 2,000 or more, and 24 with attendance of 1,800 or more, supplemented by research to learn the latest totals of megachurches.

Researchers reviewing the total number of megachurches found that the states with the most megachurches are California (178), Texas (157), Florida (85) and Georgia (73).

The largest portion of megachurches _ 34 percent _ were nondenominational, followed by Southern Baptist (16 percent), unspecified Baptist (10 percent), Assemblies of God (6 percent) and United Methodist (5 percent).

_ Adelle M. Banks

U.S. Muslims Divided Over Controversial Cartoons of Muhammad

(RNS) Controversial cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad in European newspapers have sparked debate among U.S. Muslims, with some condemning the caricatures but others asserting that the cartoons are protected by free speech, no matter how offensive.

The Washington-based Council on American Islamic Relations urged imams in North America to devote their sermons on Friday, the day Muslims hold weekly congregational prayers, to the significance of Prophet Muhammad to Muslims.

“People have the right to bigoted views, but those that are attacked have the right to speak up and defend what they believe in,” said Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for CAIR, encouraging nonviolent opposition to the cartoons.

A conservative Danish newspaper, Jyllands Posten, first published the 12 cartoons _ some depicting the Islamic prophet as a terrorist _ last September. They were met with minor protests. A small evangelical newspaper in Norway republished the cartoons Jan. 10.

But after newspapers in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland reprinted the cartoons Wednesday (Feb. 1), Muslims protested in Egypt, Pakistan, Indonesia and other Muslim countries because depictions of the prophet are considered blasphemous.

The Indianapolis-based Islamic Society of North America said in a statement it would send a delegation to Denmark to meet with government officials and religious leaders.

Newspapers have the right to run offensive cartoons, said Pamela Taylor, co-chairperson of the Progressive Muslim Union, but they used “extraordinarily poor judgment” in choosing to do so.

“To me, the issue of blasphemy is irrelevant, but the issue of racism is very relevant,” Taylor said. “They have to ask: Is it right to publish cartoons that foster the worst kind of hatred?”

Although Muslim protests against the cartoons is warranted, Taylor said, Muslims should also condemn their co-religionists who have protested violently. “Islam stands for free speech. The Quran says there is no compulsion in religion,” she said. “Violence and threatening people only proves the cartoonists’ point.”

_ Omar Sacirbey

Religious Leaders Urge Honest Talk on New Orleans Recovery

NEW ORLEANS (RNS) The city’s major religious leaders urged the city’s political leadership and citizens on Thursday (Feb. 2) to accept that much of the city is permanently gone.

The religious leaders also encouraged their members to come to the planning table willing to rebuild a better New Orleans, lest the city’s halting recovery stall completely.

The summons, which seemed to contain equal doses of tough love and compassion, came from an extraordinary assembly of religious leaders speaking with a single voice not heard in New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina.

Assembled on the steps of the ruined Franklin Avenue Baptist Church, the group included major Catholic, Orthodox, evangelical, Jewish and Muslim leaders who spanned a racial and social spectrum.

Catholic Archbishop Alfred Hughes, who initiated the private talks that summoned the group, read part of a prepared statement aimed at both citizens and the city’s political leaders.

“The New Orleans we knew and loved before Katrina will never return!” it began. “We are now called to build a new New Orleans on the ruins of the old. Distrust or suspicion must not prevent us from participating at the planning table.”

The clergy welcomed all New Orleanians able to return to the city. That was a clear reference to a belief among some African-Americans that some of New Orleans’ white power brokers want to redesign a city that excludes many of its former black residents.

They urged citizens to accept the basic rebuilding framework proposed by the Bring New Orleans Back Commission, even if only as a starting point for debate. They pledged to open their churches as centers where people could learn about the plan. And they said they would help people in other cities return to New Orleans to participate in sessions to get information and help plan their neighborhoods’ future.

“We’re asking the leadership to be straightforward and honest, … not mislead people into thinking that some aspirations of people are possible to be realized,” Hughes said later.

Bishop J.D. Wiley of Life Center Cathedral particularly challenged political leaders to kick-start the city’s stalled recovery, and do more than merely invite exiled African-Americans to return.

“Talk about coming back to New Orleans in its present situation is absurd,” Wiley said. “Do something to prove you want people to come back.”

_ Bruce Nolan

Quote of the Day: U2 Singer Bono

(RNS) “I believe being a worship leader is the highest of all art forms, to worship and call people into the presence of God.”

_ U2 frontman Bono, discussing Christian and secular music with a small group of reporters after the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday (Feb. 2).

KRE/PH END RNS