c. 2007 Religion News Service

Twin Cities Bishop Bans Communion at Gay Catholic Meeting

(RNS) Top Catholic officials have prohibited the celebration of Mass and the attendance of a senior bishop at a Catholic gay right groups’ national symposium in St. Paul, Minn., this weekend (March 16-18).

Archbishop Harry Flynn of St. Paul and Minneapolis told New Ways Ministry he was “concerned about some of the topics listed, and also about some of your featured speakers who are known to have publicly contested Church teaching,” according to the gay rights organization.

New Ways, founded in 1977 and based in Maryland, is a “gay-positive” organization dedicated to “advocacy and justice for gay and lesbian Catholics.” Two of its founders, Sister Jeannine Gramick and the Rev. Robert Nugent, have been censured by the Vatican.

“Denying Eucharist to people who have committed their lives to the Church causes greater scandal to the Church than does a public discussion of homosexuality,” said New Ways Executive Director Francis DeBernardo.

Under church rules, a bishop has the power to regulate the celebration of Holy Communion _ the keystone of the Catholic Mass _ in his diocese. Flynn’s comments were sent in a Feb. 23 letter, sections of which New Ways sent to the media.

The archdiocese said in a statement that “our position on the pastoral care of homosexual persons is completely in accord with that of the Vatican and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.”

Retired Bishop Leroy Matthiesen, 85, of Amarillo, Texas, said he was told by “higher church authorities” not to attend the conference. The bishop said the letter did not come from Flynn but that it was marked confidential, so he wouldn’t divulge the sender.

“It was urging me not to participate because it said they do not approve of New Ways Ministry,” Matthiesen said in an interview. The retired bishop attended and celebrated Mass at the gay right groups’ last symposium in 2002.

DeBernardo said New Ways celebrated Communion at its last five symposia in various U.S. locations. At its most recent symposium in 2002, Archbishop Thomas Kelly of Louisville, Ky., told them the Vatican urged him not to permit Mass at the conference but he didn’t explicitly ban it, according to DeBernardo.

The more than 500 people registered for the symposium will have “as close to a Catholic Mass as you can have without a priest,” DeBernardo said.

“It’s like they took away the keys, but they haven’t taken away the car and we’re going to push that car as far as we can,” DeBernardo said.

_ Daniel Burke

Priest Latest Victim of British `Knife Culture’

LONDON (RNS) A popular Church of England vicar has been stabbed to death on the grounds of his church in a village in Wales, an apparent victim of the so-called “knife culture” that has swept Britain in recent months.

Police said the Rev. Paul Bennett sustained several knife wounds in the attack Wednesday (March 14) outside the 18th century St. Fagan’s Church in the south Wales village of Trecynon, near Aberdare. He died as his wife, Georgina, desperately tried to stop his bleeding.

Police on Thursday questioned a 23-year-old local man, identified as Geraint Evans, who was described as “a bit of a loner,” on suspicion of murder and suggested the attacker could have been trying rob the vicar of money to buy drugs. He was later charged with murder.

Law enforcement authorities said the stabbing appeared to be the latest in a series of knife slayings that have erupted across the country. Police believe several of the killings were rooted in the illicit drugs trade that has become big business in Britain.

Most of the drug trafficking is concentrated in major cities, but in recent months police have found evidence it is spreading into smaller towns and even villages.

The Evening Standard newspaper in London quoted residents as saying there had been increasing problems with drugs in the Trecynon area, particularly cocaine and heroin.

Police said Evans lived in a small block of apartments near St. Fagan’s Church and that they were examining the premises for forensic evidence. They also said they had recovered a knife at the scene of the slaying.

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said the death of the 59-year-old vicar and grandfather “has come as an appalling shock” and described it as “a terrible tragedy.”

_ Al Webb

Feds End Probe of Controversial Church Application

ROCKAWAY TOWNSHIP, N.J. (RNS) The U.S. Department of Justice has ended its investigation of Rockaway Township’s handling of Christ Church’s controversial expansion plans, and will be “taking no further action,” according to a letter from the agency’s civil rights division.

The Department of Justice notified Rockaway Township in September 2005 that it was looking into the town’s handling of the megachurch’s site plan application, which has since been approved. Town attorney Ed Buzak said he received the letter informing him the investigation was complete.

Christ Church spent more than three years before the township planning board prior to getting approval last October to build a complex on a former industrial site that would include a sanctuary for more than 2,500 people, an elementary school and other amenities. Last month, the board passed the resolution affirming that vote.

The project has been controversial, with many in town concerned about the project’s size, traffic, environmental impact and the fact that the church would not have to pay property taxes. Early in the process, hundreds of residents turned out to planning board meetings, most speaking out against the application.

In April 2005, the church filed a federal religious discrimination lawsuit arguing that township officials “improperly thwarted” the church’s plans to build a campus. The suit cited the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, a federal law that prohibits towns from making land use decisions that infringe on religious freedoms.

A federal judge dismissed that lawsuit on Feb. 8 after the board confirmed its approval of the church’s project. The church has 60 days from the date of dismissal to reinstate the suit, according to the judge’s order.

Officials said they were happy to hear of the probe’s end.

“We had no worry at all that we had done anything improper,” said Mayor Louis Sceusi. “I’m just happy to say they confirmed what we knew all along.”

_ Paula Saha

Quote of the Day: Hobart, Ind., Police Detective Jeff White

(RNS) “I’ve heard about God giving out eternal life, but this is the first time I’ve heard of him giving out cash.”

_ Hobart, Ind., police Detective Jeff White, commenting after Kevin Russell was charged with fraud for unsuccessfully trying at a local bank to cash a $50,000 check signed “King Savior, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Servant.” White was quoted by The Associated Press.

KRE END RNS