c. 2007 Religion News Service
Texas Court Strikes Down State Rules on Seminaries
(RNS) A Texas court has struck down a state requirement that religious higher education institutions must meet specific standards before they can call themselves a “seminary” or use certain terminology to describe their degrees.
The Texas Supreme Court ruled Aug. 31 in favor of HEB Ministries, which runs Tyndale Theological Seminary in Fort Worth. The state had fined the school $173,000 because it had not been authorized by a state educational board to grant degrees.
“The state may not deny a religious program of study clearly denominated as such the use of all words capable of describing educational achievement,” wrote Justice Nathan L. Hecht in a unanimous opinion by the court.
The case also affects two religious institutions that train Hispanic and African-American pastors, San Antonio-based Hispanic Bible Institute and Dallas-based Southern Bible Institute, which joined the case as additional plaintiffs.
In an effort to ban so-called “diploma mills,” the state had enacted a law that restricts the terminology a school can use about educational attainment unless a school has received a certificate of authority from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.
“We think it beyond serious dispute that the statue clearly and excessively entangles the government in matters of religious instruction,” Hecht wrote. “The board’s standards, and those of recognized accrediting agencies, cannot be applied without a thorough, detailed, and repeated examination of an institution’s operations and curriculum.”
Kelly Shackelford, chief counsel of the Liberty Legal Institute, a Texas organization that argued the case for HEB Ministries, hailed the decision.
“This decision is a huge victory for all seminaries not only in Texas but nationwide,” he said. “The state has no authority or competence to control the training of pastors and ministers.”
_ Adelle M. Banks
Legion of Christ Sues to Retrieve Internal Documents
(RNS) The Legion of Christ, a controversial Roman Catholic religious order, is suing a former member to regain documents and to stop him from spreading “malicious disinformation” about the order.
John Paul Lennon, of Alexandria, Va., a former priest and member of the Legion of Christ for 23 years, has been ordered by Alexandria Circuit Court to turn over documents, computer disks and other property related to the order by Sept. 14.
Lennon, 63, is distributing stolen property by posting letters and documents belonging to the order on Web sites, according to the legion’s court filing.
The order is also suing Regain Inc., owner of http://www.regainnetwork.org, a Web site that frequently criticizes Legion of Christ. It also asked the court to force the site to disclose the identities of individuals writing on the site. Lennon is the president of Regain Inc.
Lennon, who left the order more than 20 years ago, said in a video on the Web site, “We have the greatest desire to comply with the law and to have the Legion take itself elsewhere and leave us in peace.” He also said the documents in question are “obscure” and of doubtful interest to the public.
The Legion has been dogged by widespread allegations of cultish activity and sexual abuse by its founder, the Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado. Last year, Pope Benedict XVI banned Maciel, 87, from public ministry.
The order counts some 750 priests and 2,500 seminarians worldwide, as well as 70,000 members of Regnum Christi, an affiliated lay movement.
_ Daniel Burke
Eisen Installed as Head of Jewish Theological Seminary
NEW YORK (RNS) The new chancellor of the flagship seminary of Conservative Judaism on Wednesday (Sept. 5) called for change at a time when the movement is at a crossroads.
“I utterly reject talk of decline when it comes to the state of the movement and its prospects,” Arnold Eisen said during his installation ceremony at the Jewish Theological Seminary.
Conservative Judaism occupies the middle ground between the more traditional Orthodox and the more liberal Reform movement. Once the largest Jewish movement, it now faces an aging membership and shrinking numbers. There have also been internal disagreements between those who advocate strict adherence to Jewish law and those who support more liberal interpretation.
“We do not see full participation in the society and culture surrounding us and total immersion in our tradition as irreconcilable, but rather as mutually reinforcing,” Eisen said in his speech.
Eisen is the seventh chancellor in the school’s 121-year history, and is expected to use his position to take a major role in the movement. He called for expanded interfaith dialogue, including greater cooperation with Christian institutions and more dialogue with Muslims.
In addition, he announced a pilot program in nine synagogues around the country to encourage grass-roots conversations that he hoped would bring the movement closer and encourage personal and communal observance. He also expects to promote a sense of connection to Israel among American Jews.
The first major task for the faculty, he said, was a curriculum review in the rabbinical and cantorial schools.
_ Ansley Roan
Priest Could Lose His Job After Losing His Temper
LONDON (RNS) A senior Church of England vicar faces the prospect of losing his job over accusations that he is a “bully and a liar” and that he spat at a woman parishioner who had complained about changes he planned for the church, including installing toilets.
A church tribunal in London is hearing charges against the Rev. Thomas Ambrose, vicar of the 13th-century St. Mary and St. Michael Church in Trumpington, near the English university town of Cambridge.
Justin Gau, testifying for the parish’s Parochial Church Council, described Ambrose as “intelligent and learned,” but he added that “he is also a bully and a liar. He would lose his temper if he did not get his own way.”
“Churchwarden after churchwarden resigned (and) volunteers left” since Ambrose took over as vicar of the parish of 200 homes eight years ago, “and his answer was always to attack,” Gau said.
The vicar’s feud with his traditionalist parishioners reached new heights about four years ago, when he decided to install toilets on the premises and to remove pews to create a coffee area in the church. Worshippers complained to the bishop of Ely.
One, former churchwarden Marilyn Orson, told the tribunal that Ambrose reacted by storming to her house, where he “called me a liar and spat at me as he left.”
Earlier this year, according to news reports, the vicar told his critics that “this is not doing the Church of England any good, to see behavior like this.”
Gau told the tribunal that Ambrose “always saw conspiracies where there were none, he told bold lies and ordered people to leave the parish if they didn’t agree with him.” He dismissed the cleric as “a square peg in a round hole.”
According to one published estimated, the case could cost the Diocese of Ely about $1 million for the hearing, any appeals and the vicar’s legal fees.
_ Al Webb
San Diego Settles Abuse Cases for $198 Million
(RNS) The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego has agreed to pay $198 million to 144 alleged victims of sexual abuse by clergy or other church employees, the second-largest such settlement since the abuse crisis exploded five years ago.
The settlement follows four years of negotiations and a threat from a U.S. bankruptcy judge to dismiss the diocese’s Chapter 11 claim if a settlement was not reached by Tuesday (Sept. 11).
In announcing the settlement Friday, San Diego Bishop Robert Brom said the diocese would now ask to be released from bankruptcy court.
In the wake of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles’ record-setting $660 million settlement in July, the San Diego agreement brings to more than $2 billion the total amount the U.S. Catholic church has paid in sexual abuse-related matters since 1950.
San Diego will pay about $107 million of the settlement, including $30 million for religious orders, some of which the diocese hopes to recover, Brom said in a statement. The insurance carrier Catholic Mutual will pay $76 million; the Diocese of San Bernardino, which split from San Diego in 1978, will pay about $15 million.
“Some have accused the diocese of engaging in delay tactics in order to avoid our responsibility to victims,” Brom said. “We have done our best … to bring this matter to conclusion with justice for all involved, but many forces beyond our control have complicated the process.”
Joelle Casteix of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said, “No settlement will ever magically restore hundreds of stolen childhoods, betrayed psyches, shattered self-esteem, and damaged relationships. But a settlement can be an important first step in healing, exposure, accountability and prevention.”
_ Daniel Burke
Chinese Bishop Ordained With Beijing’s, Vatican’s Approval
VATICAN CITY (RNS) In an event that could signal improved relations between China’s state-run Catholic church and the country’s “underground” church loyal to Rome, a new Chinese bishop was ordained on Saturday (Sept. 8) with the approval of both China’s communist government and the Holy See.
Paolo Xiao Zejiang, 40, became coadjutor bishop of the southern diocese of Guizhou, placing him in line to succeed the diocese’s incumbent bishop, 88-year-old Anicetus Wang Chongyi.
Although Xiao was chosen by the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, which is controlled by Beijing, his ordination was approved by the Vatican several weeks in advance.
According to the Vatican’s AsiaNews agency, substantial numbers of clergy and lay people from China’s underground church were among the 3,000 people who attended Xiao’s ordination.
The presence of underground church leaders at a state-sanctioned ordination is possibly unprecedented, and in any case an “important step in reconciliation between the two branches of the Chinese Church,” according to AsiaNews.
Chinese Catholics have been divided for half a century between an underground church loyal to Rome _ many of whose leaders have been imprisoned for long periods by the government _ and an “official” church which now claims 5 million members. The total number of Catholics in China today is estimated at 12-15 million.
In an open letter to Chinese Catholics in June, Pope Benedict XVI reiterated the Vatican’s longstanding demand that the Chinese church be free of state control, and emphatically described government-approved bishops as “illegitimate” unless their appointments are confirmed by Rome.
_ Francis X. Rocca
Update: Judge Says Jesus Icon May Stay in La. Courthouse
SLIDELL, La. (RNS) A portrait of Jesus may remain on a courthouse wall with portraits of 15 other historical figures and a copy of the U.S. Constitution, a federal judge ruled Friday (Sept. 7).
U.S. District Court Judge Ivan L.R. Lemelle in New Orleans said he likely would have granted a request by the Louisiana ACLU to remove the portrait as a violation of the First Amendment and the separation of church and state.
But Lemelle said he chose to allow the display after court officials expanded it to include non-religious figures. Lemelle said he believes court officials had corrected their initial mistake.
The expanded display now includes Confucius, Hammurabi, Charlemagne, Octavian, John Marshall and others in common with the friezes at the U.S. Supreme Court. The high court’s friezes, however, do not include Jesus.
Mike Johnson, senior legal counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal group that represented the court, said the judge who purchased and first mounted the Jesus portrait, as well as current City Court Judge Jim Lamz, did not know the man in the portrait was Jesus.
Both sides hailed the ruling as a victory, though the circumstances surrounding the lawsuit had changed since its inception.
“We consider this an absolute victory,” said Marjorie Esman, the Louisiana ACLU’s executive director. “We got what we wanted. We wanted a religious display taken down.”
Johnson said the decision shows that the ACLU cannot bully local officials into determining how they acknowledge the law and its heritage.
“We’re clearly pleased with the outcome today,” he said, noting that the issue could have been resolved outside the courtroom had the ACLU given Lamz more time to consider the issue. “Jesus doesn’t have to be censored from the public square.”
_ Christine Harvey
Controversial Author Madeleine L’Engle Dies at 88
NEW YORK (RNS) Madeleine L’Engle, a best-selling author of children’s works that merged the worlds of fantasy, science fiction and spirituality, and in the process raised the ire of some religious conservatives, has died at the age of 88.
L’Engle’s death on Sept. 6 death in Litchfield, Conn., was announced by her long-time publisher, Farrar, Straus & Giroux. She was perhaps best known as the author of “A Wrinkle of Time,” a children’s fantasy that has sold some 8 million copies. It has also been the subject of repeated attempts to ban it from public libraries and schools.
While many saw the book as having a deep spiritual message _ that the power of love is stronger than the power of hate _ critics cast the book as “un-Christian” for its depiction of witches and mysterious spiritual elements, making L’Engle one of the most banned writers in the United States, according to some surveys.
In a 2000 interview with journalist Bob Abernethy of Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly, L’Engle said: “You have got to be very careful of banning. What you ban is not going to hurt anybody, usually. But the act of banning is.”
L’Engle, a long-time resident of New York City, eschewed the descriptor of “Christian writer,” telling Abernethy: “I am a writer. That’s it. No adjectives. The first thing is writing. Christianity is secondary.”
L’Engle said she believed religion and science informed each other, with religion being “less accepting than science.”
“Science knows things move and change, and religion doesn’t want that,” she said. “So, I am more comfortable with science. At the same time, I am not throwing God out the window.”
L’Engle was a prominent lay Episcopalian who had a strong association with the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Manhattan, where she served for many years as the cathedral’s librarian and writer-in-residence.
_ Chris Herlinger
Kirkpatrick to Step Down as Top Presbyterian Leader
(RNS) The Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, the highest elected official in the Presbyterian Church (USA), has announced that he will step down as stated clerk when his term ends next June.
First elected by the denomination’s General Assembly in 1996, Kirkpatrick has served three successive four-year terms. Kirkpatrick, 62, said “this has been the best job I ever had” but one that also comes with “stresses and strains.”
Kirkpatrick said he looks forward to devoting more time to his family and his presidency of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches.
“It has been a tremendous privilege to give voice to the witness of our church to the gospel and to justice and peace in the world, to be a leader in the ecumenical movement, to guide the church (even in our contentions) toward unity in diversity … and to pioneer new ways to express old truth,” he said in a statement.
The contentions in the 3 million-member denomination have increased in recent years, as they have in most mainline denominations. Leaders have struggled to manage a controversial debate over homosexual clergy, same-sex blessings and the authority of Scripture. Declining donations and membership also trouble the church.
As stated clerk, Kirkpatrick was responsible for interpreting the denomination’s constitution, promoting unity in the church, conducting annual sessions of the General Assembly and representing the public face of the Presbyterian Church (USA).
A new stated clerk will be elected at the next General Assembly in June 2008.
_ Daniel Burke
IRS Clears Dobson, Focus on the Family
WASHINGTON (RNS) The Internal Revenue Service has cleared Focus on the Family Chairman James Dobson after an investigation into charges that he had violated IRS rules by being involved in prohibited politicking.
Dobson hailed the IRS’ conclusion in a broadcast on his conservative Christian radio program on Monday (Sept. 10) and read from documents he received from the agency.
“Our examination revealed that Dr. Dobson’s reported remarks did not occur in publications of Focus on the Family, did not occur at functions of Focus on the Family, and did not involve Dr. Dobson suggesting that he was speaking as a representative of Focus on the Family,” the IRS said.
The agency spent almost a year auditing Dobson’s ministries after receiving a 99-page request in November 2005 from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which accused him of endorsing Republican candidates and requested the revocation of Focus on the Family’s tax-exempt status.
On his broadcast, Dobson said the Washington watchdog group’s intent was to try to frighten clergy and other nonprofit organizations from addressing moral issues such as marriage, homosexuality and abortion.
“I think the purpose for this was not only to see if they could damage us and maybe shut us up and take us out but to scare every pastor and every nonprofit that’s out there,” Dobson said.
Naomi Seligman Steiner, deputy director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said Dobson’s charge was “ludicrous.”
“We want to make sure that every nonprofit in this country obeys both the spirit and the letter of the law,” she said.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Outspoken Zimbabwe Archbishop Steps Down
VATICAN CITY (RNS) A Roman Catholic archbishop who has been a leading critic of Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe resigned on Tuesday (Sept. 11) amid allegations of a sexual affair with a married woman.
Pius Ncube, archbishop of the Bulawayo diocese in Zimbabwe since 1998, said he was resigning “in order to spare my fellow bishops and the body of the church any further attacks.”
But Ncube said that he had “not been silenced by the crude machinations of a wicked regime” and would “continue to speak out on the issues that sadly become more acute by the day.”
The Vatican issued a one-sentence statement that it had accepted Ncube’s resignation under a provision of church law that allows bishops to step down in case of illness or other “grave” impediments.
Catholic leaders have been among the most outspoken critics of the authoritarian Mugabe, who has held power since 1980, and who is widely accused of corruption and human rights violations.
In April of this year, the country’s bishops issued a pastoral letter calling for a new “democratic leadership chosen in free and fair elections.”
Ncube himself has emerged as a particularly fierce antagonist of the regime, voicing his willingness to “go in front of blazing guns” to bring it down.
In July, two government-controlled newspapers published what they described as photos of Ncube naked in bed with a married woman. The woman’s husband has filed an adultery suit against Ncube, seeking $160,000 in damages.
_ Francis X. Rocca
Quote of the Week: Anglican Bishop Isaac Orama of Nigeria
(RNS) “Homosexuality and lesbianism are inhuman. Those who practice them are insane, satanic and are not fit to live because they are rebels to God’s purpose for man.”
_ Anglican Bishop Issac Orama of Uyo, Nigeria, as quoted by United Press International.
END RNS
