c. 2006 Religion News Service

Italian Churches Abuzz Over Cruise-Holmes Wedding

ROME (RNS) The much anticipated Italian wedding between actors Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes might not be legally valid as local and church officials say they will not recognize the marriage, Italian media reported Thursday (Nov. 9).

Monsignor Nicola Fiorentini, the parish priest at the Santa Maria Novella Church in Bracciano, the town north of Rome where the wedding is due to take place, told the Italian daily La Stampa that a Catholic wedding ceremony could not happen because Cruise is divorced and thus ineligible for any religious ceremony.

“Even if the actor was not divorced, the wedding does not have authorization of the parish priest where the wedding will take place,” Fiorentini said.

Holmes was raised Catholic and Cruise is one of the best-known members of the Church of Scientology, founded by L. Ron Hubbard.

The couple has not confirmed the location of the wedding, but Italian media have speculated that the Catholic rite will take place at the chapel inside the Odescalchi Castle in Bracciano on Nov. 17. A Scientology ritual would follow the next day.

Cruise’s membership in Scientology also puts him at odds with the Catholic Church. The Vatican has not made an official statement on the wedding ceremony, but recent media reports cite unnamed Vatican officials who condemn it.

Doubts have also emerged as to whether even a valid civil ceremony could take place in Bracciano. Mayor Patrizia Riccione told La Stampa she has not received an official request to recognize the wedding.

_ Kristine Crane

Black Ministers Visit Jerusalem, Supporting Churches and Peace

(RNS) Representatives of the nation’s black denominations have returned from a trip to Jerusalem determined to draw attention to the need for peace and to support the dwindling Christian population in the region.

“We went there to say to the Christian churches and to anybody who would listen that we did not want the people to believe that Christians from the historical African-American churches in the United States were deserting them,” said Bishop E. Earl McCloud Jr., the ecumenical and urban affairs officer for the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

McCloud discussed the Oct. 27-Nov. 3 trip during the General Assembly of the National Council of Churches and Church World Service on Thursday (Nov. 9) in Orlando, Fla. Church World Service officials hosted the trip, which occurred at the invitation of the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in Jerusalem.

McCloud said participants took part in worship services, including one commemorating the Protestant Reformation. They met with patriarchs and other church representatives as well as with Israeli and Palestinian officials, including Shmuel ben Shmuel, an interreligious affairs official of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“We used that opportunity to tell him that we thought violence on either side by anybody in the entire region was not consistent with the will of God,” McCloud said.

They also expressed their support for side-by-side governments for Israelis and Palestinians, and their desire to see Israel recognize Patriarch Theophilus III as the primate of the Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem. The World Council of Churches made a similar call for recognition of the patriarch in October.

Other leaders of historically black churches who joined McCloud included representatives of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church; Christian Methodist Episcopal Church; National Baptist Convention of America, National Baptist Convention, USA; National Missionary Baptist Convention of America; and Progressive National Baptist Convention.

_ Adelle M. Banks

NCC Calls for `Immediate’ U.S. Withdrawal from Iraq

(RNS) The National Council of Churches called for an “immediate phased withdrawal” of U.S. forces from Iraq and condemned human reproductive cloning at its annual meeting in Florida that ended Thursday (Nov. 9).

The NCC comprises 35 Orthodox, mainline Protestant and historically black denominations, representing about 45 million U.S. Christians. The Orlando assembly included 248 voting delegates.

The Iraq war resolution, overwhelmingly approved by delegates, says “our view of this war in Iraq is informed by our belief that war is contrary to the will of God,” according to the NCC.

“We call upon the U.S. government to recognize that the continued presence of occupying forces has not provided meaningful security for Iraqi citizens and only exacerbates escalating violence,” the NCC resolution said.

The NCC also unanimously passed two resolutions on biotechnology. The first calls for a global ban on human reproductive cloning. The second calls for more oversight of governments and private laboratories developing biological weapons, and the creation of an advisory board for bio-defense in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The general assembly could not come to an agreement about embryonic stem cell research, however.

“As a result of a lack of clear consensus, the National Council of Churches neither endorses nor condemns experimentation on human embryos, and takes no position on the use of human embryonic stem cells for research purposes,” the NCC policy states.

_ Daniel Burke

Judge Postpones Trial Because Lawyer Refuses to Remove Veil

LONDON (RNS) A Muslim lawyer has triggered a judicial wrangle in Britain by defying a judge’s request that she remove her full-face veil in court because he could not understand what she was saying.

When Shabnam Mughal twice refused to take off her niqab _ a full-face veil with just an opening for the eyes _ Judge George Glossop adjourned an immigration tribunal hearing a case in Stoke-on-Trent on Tuesday (Nov. 7).

Glossop said he had asked the lawyer to “kindly remove your veil to assist with communication. It will allow me to see your face, and I cannot hear you as well as I would like.” But she declined to do so, and she repeated her objection later in the day at his second request.

The judge adjourned the hearing until Monday and said he will seek advice from High Court Judge Henry Hodge and other senior jurists. The case involves an appeal by a Sikh businessman against a government decision to deny a visitor’s visa to a family member.

Frances Gibb, a legal expert for the Times newspaper in London, said what the judges decide in this case could determine how courts in Britain should deal with the issue of face-concealing veils, which has stirred controversy elsewhere in the country in recent weeks.

The Asylum and Immigration Tribunal (AIT) service, of which Hodge is president, said in a statement that “we haven’t come across this before, (so) no precedent has been set.”

Javid Hussain, practice manager at the Law Partnership in Coventry, which employs Mughal, told journalists she had worn her veil while appearing before tribunals in different parts of the country for at least the past two years.

The furor over Muslim veils, particularly the niqab, erupted in Britain in October when Jack Straw, the leader of the House of Commons, asked Muslim women to remove them when visiting his office so that “you can see _ almost literally see _ what the other person means, and not just hear what they say.”

A week later, Muslim teaching assistant Aishah Azmi was suspended for wearing a veil in class at a Church of England school in Dewsbury. A tribunal rejected her claim of discrimination against the school.

_ Al Webb

Quote of the Day: Focus on the Family Vice President H.B. London

(RNS) “It cannot be just a matter of friendship. It will have to become almost a confrontational relationship. You’ve got to confess your sins and you’ve got to have a group of people around you who will not let you whitewash the issue.”

_ H.B. London, vice president for church and clergy at Focus on the Family, speaking about the process of spiritual “restoration” for the Rev. Ted Haggard, who will work with overseers after admitting to some allegations related to a drug and sex scandal. London, who is not involved in the process, was quoted by the Associated Press.

KRE/PH END RNS