c. 2008 Religion News Service

California clerics ousted for leaving Episcopal Church

(RNS) An Episcopal Church committee voted Friday (Oct. 17) to oust more than 50 California clerics who left the denomination last year to join a more conservative province in the Anglican Communion.

The 16 deacons and 36 priests have six months to recant and return to the Episcopal Church before they are defrocked by Bishop Jerry Lamb of the Fresno-based Diocese of San Joaquin, according to Episcopal News Service.

Charged with “abandoning” the Episcopal Church, the 52 deacons and priests would no longer be allowed to function as Episcopal clergy.

Diocesan spokeswoman Nancy Key said two clergy have decided to rejoin the Episcopal Church since the committee began considering charges against them.

“It is our hope, actually, that everybody will decide to remain part of the Episcopal Church,” Key told ENS.

In late 2007, 42 of 47 parishes in the diocese left the Episcopal Church and joined the Argentina-based Anglican Province of the Southern Cone. Bishop John-David Schofield, who seceded with his diocese, was defrocked by the Episcopal Church last January, though he remains a bishop in the Southern Cone.

The Episcopal Church has since worked to rebuild the San Joaquin Diocese, appointing Lamb to oversee the estimated 1,500 Episcopalians who stayed with the denomination.

Last month, a conservative majority in the Diocese of Pittsburgh also split from the Episcopal Church, the U.S. branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and aligned with the Southern Cone. Two more dioceses _ Fort Worth, Texas, and Quincy, Ill. _ are poised to make similar moves next month.

Conservatives, a minority in the 2.2-million member Episcopal Church, have agonized for decades over the denomination’s liberal drift on sexual morality and biblical interpretation. The consecration of an openly gay man as bishop of New Hampshire in 2003 hastened their withdrawal from the Episcopal Church.

_ Daniel Burke

Vatican-Israeli tensions flare over wartime pontiff

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Catholic-Jewish tensions over Pope Pius XII flared again after a church official suggested on Saturday (Oct. 18) that a Jerusalem museum exhibit about the World War II-era pontiff was an impediment to Israeli-Vatican relations.

The statement prompted a response from Israeli President Shimon Peres, and was followed by an Israeli Web site displaying an image of Pope Benedict XVI covered by a swastika.

Critics allege that Pius, who reigned from 1939 to 1958, failed to do or say all he could to stop the Nazis’ persecution and genocide of the Jews. The late pope’s defenders counter that he heroically condemned anti-Semitism throughout Hitler’s reign, and both directly and indirectly saved thousands of Jewish lives during the Holocaust.

This latest episode in the long-running controversy began when the Rev. Peter Gumpel told the Italian news agency ANSA that Benedict would not visit Israel unless the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum removed a plaque suggesting that Pius had been indifferent to the survival of the Jews.

Gumpel is the official advocate for Pius in the process that will determine if the wartime pontiff becomes a saint. In May 2007, a Vatican body voted unanimously to declare Pius “venerable,” a prerequisite to sainthood, but Benedict has yet to sign the decree.

On Saturday, Gumpel said Benedict’s delay stemmed from concerns about the reactions of Jewish groups.

The Rev. Federico Lombardi, head of the Vatican press office, said afterwards in a statement that the Yad Vashem display was not the “determining factor” in Benedict’s decision about whether to make his first visit to Israel as pope.

Peres said on Monday (Oct. 20) that a papal “visit to Israel should not be tied to controversy over Pius XII.” Peres reiterated a standing invitation offered to Benedict when the two met at the Vatican in September 2007.

Also on Monday, an Israeli Web site supportive of the country’s governing Kadima party briefly displayed a photograph of Benedict superimposed with a Nazi swastika, but removed the image shortly after it was publicly condemned by the party’s leader, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.

_ Francis X. Rocca

Archbishop formally closes seven New Orleans churches

NEW ORLEANS (RNS) The Archdiocese of New Orleans has formally closed seven historic Catholic parishes as a painful downsizing of the regional church in the wake of Hurricane Katrina nears completion.

Archbishop Alfred Hughes signed the relevant decrees; formal notifications were to be distributed in letters hand-delivered to affected rectories on Friday (Oct. 17) afternoon, archdiocesan spokeswoman Sarah Comiskey said.

Comiskey said Hughes has closed these parishes:

_ In Uptown New Orleans, 121-year-old Our Lady of Good Counsel, 152-year-old St. Henry and 159-year-old St. Stephen were closed, re-emerging as a new parish, called Good Shepherd, worshipping at St. Stephen church.

_ In Central City, 141-year-old St. Francis de Sales parish and nearby 92-year-old Holy Ghost parish were closed, re-emerging as a new parish called St. Katharine Drexel, named after the founder of Xavier University. That community will worship at Holy Ghost church.

_ In the Seventh Ward, 92-year-old Corpus Christi and 60-year-old Epiphany of Our Lord were closed, re-emerging as a new parish called Corpus Christi/Epiphany. That community will worship at Corpus Christi church.

Comiskey said the old parishes will celebrate their last Masses Oct. 26, the day they officially dissolve.

That came as a jolt to at least one community. Barbara Fortier, a leader in the fight to keep open Good Counsel, said its pastor, the Rev. Patrick Collum, told parishioners last week their last Mass would be Oct. 30.

“We’re disappointed that archbishop again has not honored his word,” she said.

Alden Hagardorn, a parishioner involved in the fight to keep open St. Henry, said lay leaders there will meet Saturday and formulate a response to Hughes, “but we are far from ready to close the doors of this church.”

_ Bruce Nolan

Quote of the Day: Former Secretary of State Colin Powell

(RNS) “But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer’s no.”

_ Former Secretary of State Colin Powell, speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday (Oct. 19) about untrue rumors that Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama is a Muslim. Powell, who endorsed Obama during the appearance, said he is “troubled” by Republicans who have permitted the rumors about Obama’s faith to spread.

KRE/LF END RNS