c. 2008 Religion News Service
Supreme Court asked to consider student’s candy cane case
(RNS) The U.S. Supreme Court was asked on Monday (Aug. 11) to consider whether a fifth-grade student’s religious expression on a classroom project can be considered “offensive” and subject to censorship by school officials.
In December 2003, Joel Curry, then 11, made candy cane-style Christmas ornaments with a note that school officials considered “religious literature.” The note attached to the ornaments, titled “The Meaning of the Candy Cane,” referred to Jesus six times and God twice.
Curry, who copied the message from an ornament at a Christian bookstore, is now a rising sophomore at Heritage High School in Saginaw, Mich.
“It’s unfortunate it has to be pushed this far,” said his father, Paul Curry. “When children step out in the world, they have to deal with different faiths and religions. It’s a good way for teachers to educate students as long as no one is proselytizing or pushing it down someone’s throat.”
At the time, the boy made the ornaments as part of a classroom project in which students develop and “sell” products. School officials told the youngster to remove the message, even though he received an A on the assignment.
Attorneys filed a lawsuit against the Saginaw School District and the school’s principal in 2004, arguing that school officials violated the boy’s right to equal protection because students previously had been allowed to sell religious-themed items.
In 2005, a federal judge ruled in favor of the boy, but a three-judge panel for the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals later overturned that decision.
The new suit seeks reimbursement of legal fees and clarification of the district’s policy on religious speech.
“Penalizing Christian students for expressing their beliefs in the classroom is unacceptable under the Constitution,” said Jeff Shafer, the senior legal counsel with the Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund, which petitioned the high court to hear the case.
“The First Amendment exists to protect private speakers, not to enable religious discrimination by government officials. The court of appeals’ unprecedented classification of student religious speech as an `offense’ worthy of censorship should be reversed.”
_ LaNia Coleman
Body of likely British saint OK’d for move
LONDON (RNS) The British government, at the urging of the Vatican, has approved the exhumation and reburial of a 19th century English cardinal who is likely on the road to possible sainthood in the Roman Catholic Church.
The remains of Cardinal John Henry Newman are to be dug up from a rural cemetery and reinterred in a marble sarcophagus at the Oratory Church of the Immaculate Conception, in Birmingham, probably later this year.
The Ministry of Justice confirmed that a license for the shifting of the cardinal’s remains was issued Monday (Aug. 11), the 118th anniversary of his death.
“The decision to exhume Cardinal Newman’s remains was taken in response to the wishes of the Vatican and the Roman Catholic Church (for his canonization),” the ministry said in a statement.
No mention was made of the remains of Newman’s long-time companion _ Ambrose St. John, described as the cardinal’s one great love of his life, and alongside whom Newman was buried at Rednal Hill cemetery, outside Birmingham, after his death in 1890.
The Roman Catholic Church opposes homosexuality, but whether Newman and St. John’s relationship was an actively sexual one has never been clear.
The Ministry of Justice’s approval for the cardinal’s exhumation came only after months of haggling over a Victorian-era law in Britain that forbids the transfer of bodies from graves to church tombs. It made an exception in this case after receiving the Vatican’s request.
London’s Daily Mail newspaper reported that Pope Benedict XVI “has long been an admirer of (Newman’s) `theology of conscience”’ and that his entombment in a sarcophagus “is a victory for the Vatican, which wants Newman moved into a setting where he can better be venerated.”
The Vatican is reportedly close to attributing one miracle to Newman _ a Catholic deacon in Boston recovered from a crippling back ailment after praying to the cardinal _ but another confirmed miracle would be needed for canonization.
Newman also was one of Victorian England’s outstanding figures, and among his writings and poems was his composition “The Dream of Gerontius,” which tells of the journey of man’s soul after his death.
_ Al Webb
Chicago archdiocese agrees to $12.7 million settlement
(RNS) The Archdiocese of Chicago has reached a $12.7 million settlement with 16 survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic priests, Cardinal Francis George announced Tuesday (Aug. 12).
Fourteen of the cases involve abuse by 10 priests between 1962 and 1994, the archdiocese reported. Former priest Daniel J. McCormack, who pleaded guilty in 2007 to abusing five children, is responsible for remaining two.
George has apologized for not removing McCormack, who is now serving a five-year prison sentence, from ministry sooner. One case involving McCormack remains to be settled by the archdiocese.
“My hope is that these settlements will help the survivors and their families begin to heal and move forward,” George said. “I apologize again today to the survivors and their families and to the whole Catholic community.”
The 11 priests whose abuse led to the settlement have resigned, died, been sentenced to prison, or otherwise been removed from ministry, according to the archdiocese.
Since 1950, nearly 11,000 claims of sexual abuse by clergy have been made against the U.S. Catholic Church. The abuse scandal has cost the church more than $2 billion and bankrupted six dioceses.
_ Daniel Burke
Evangelicals, Catholics applaud DNC’s abortion language change
WASHINGTON (RNS) Progressive evangelical and Catholic leaders voiced their support for the Democratic Party’s platform on abortion, citing new provisions that emphasize measures intended to reduce the number of abortions in the U.S. such as women’s health care, adoption services and income support programs.
In a conference call sponsored by his progressive evangelical group Sojourners, the Rev. Jim Wallis called the platform a “historic step forward” in reconciling the party’s support of abortion rights with the concerns of Christians who oppose the practice.
“We’re moving from symbolism to substance here, (offering) practical solutions toward in fact making abortion more rare,” Wallis said Tuesday (Aug. 12).
Wallis was joined by five other evangelical and Catholic voices, including Orlando megachurch pastor Joel Hunter, a registered Republican who has advocated expanding conservatism beyond traditional “values” issues.
A draft of the 51-page platform was approved Saturday in Pittsburgh. It will be voted on at the convention in Denver, Aug. 25-28.
While the platform again affirms a woman’s right to choose, it differs from previous years by offering more tangible support for addressing the issue of abortion. The platform calls for programs to “reduce the number of unintended pregnancies” and stresses the need for income support and adoption programs.
“We worked hard to give language that gives evangelicals and Roman Catholics the sense that they can participate in the Democratic Party without compromising their convictions,” said the Rev. Tony Campolo, who served on the party’s platform committee.
The 2004 platform stated that “Abortion should be safe, legal and rare,” and supported family planning and adoption incentives. It did not, however, provide specific language on how to reduce the number of abortions.
“They’ve broken through the narrow traditional barrier that only focused on a woman’s right to choose on abortion, and now support in writing and in legislation a woman’s right to choose life,” Hunter said.
The Rev. Carlton W. Veazey, president of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Life, said in a statement that “the draft platform shows a growing understanding that reproductive choice and rights include not only abortion but also the right to have the resources to care for children.”
_ Tim Murphy
Quote of the Day: Victoria Osteen, wife of Houston megachurch pastor Joel Osteen
(RNS) “I love people. I’m guilty of that.”
_ Victoria Osteen, wife of Houston megachurch pastor Joel Osteen. She testified Friday (Aug. 8) in a trial in which a flight attendant has accused her of assault over a spill on a first-class seat. Osteen, who co-pastors Lakewood Church with her husband, was quoted by the Associated Press.
KRE/PH END RNS
