c. 2008 Religion News Service

Hagan drops lawsuit over Dole’s `godless’ ad

WASHINGTON (RNS) Senator-elect Kay Hagan, the North Carolina Democrat who ousted Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole, has withdrawn a defamation suit over a Dole ad that linked Hagan with a `godless’ group.

Hagan filed the suit Oct. 30, saying Dole inaccurately accused her of having ties to an atheist political action committee. Hagan filed a motion to dismiss the suit on Thursday (Nov. 14).

“It’s clear that the people of North Carolina have rejected personal attacks aimed at dividing people of this state instead of bringing them together to solve the problems at hand,” said Colleen Flanagan, communications director for Hagan’s campaign.

“This lawsuit would just continue the focus on a very personal and negative attack against Kay, instead of focusing on the people of North Carolina.”

In the suit, Hagan charged that Dole and her campaign maligned her reputation with an ad that “falsely implies that (Hagan) shares the views of an entity that calls itself the Godless Americans PAC.”

The two campaigns created dueling ads in which Dole defended her initial attack against Hagan, and Hagan denying the alleged connections with the atheist group.

Hagan stated in the suit that she attended a September fundraiser at the Boston home of Woody Kaplan but never took contributions from the Godless Americans PAC.

Ellen Johnson, executive director of Enlighten the Vote, the new name of the PAC, responded to the controversy by saying Kaplan, a former advisory board member, was involved in the fundraiser independently of the PAC.

A spokesperson for the Dole campaign could not be reached immediately for comment.

_ Adelle M. Banks

Priest faces excommunication for role in woman’s ordination

NEW ORLEANS (RNS) A missionary priest from Lutcher, La., appears to be on the brink of excommunication from the Catholic church for participating in a ceremony that purportedly ordained a woman to the priesthood.

The Rev. Roy Bourgeois, a member of the Maryknoll order, said the Vatican recently gave him 30 days to formally recant his position in favor of women’s ordination, or face excommunication.

In a response posted on the Web site of the National Catholic Reporter, an independent newspaper, Bourgeois told the Vatican he could not in conscience do so. He said he believes a call to the priesthood comes from God and it is inappropriate for the church to interfere with it.

“Sexism, like racism, is a sin. And no matter how hard or how long we may try to justify discrimination, in the end, it is always immoral,” he wrote.

The Catholic Church holds that Christ defined the priesthood as an all-male corps modeled on himself, and it is powerless to change that. On Tuesday ((Nov. 11), Bourgeois said he was sad but determined.

“I don’t feel I’ve done anything wrong in conscience. I feel this is where God is leading me,” said Bourgeois, 69.

In fact, he said in light of the approaching sacrifice, “I feel I’ve become a better priest, a more faithful priest.”

In recent months, Catholic activists called Roman Catholic Womenpriests have sponsored a series of public ordinations of women in Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Boston _ and, on Aug. 9, in Lexington, Ky.

There, a group of worshippers pronounced ordination rites for Janice Sevre-Duszynska, a 58-year-old grandmother.

Bourgeois, who may have been the first active Catholic priest to attend such a service, preached the homily, saying in part: “Now I have been a Catholic priest for 36 years and I must say, more than ever before, I am convinced that women should be ordained in the Catholic church,” according to an account of the event by the National Catholic Reporter.

The church holds that such ordinations are invalid, the women are not priests and that they are unable to perform sacramental rites. It also holds that the women automatically excommunicated themselves by their actions.

_ Bruce Nolan

Lutheran publisher announces cutbacks

(RNS) Augsburg Fortress, the publishing arm of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, is cutting back operations, closing its nine U.S. bookstores, laying off more than 50 employees and declining to publish new books in its consumer-oriented line.

The plan was approved at a board of trustees meeting Oct. 24-25 in Minneapolis, according to the ELCA. The publisher will now concentrate on congregational resources and academic texts, according to Sheryl Burmaster, Augsburg’s director of customer care.

“Augsburg Fortress is undergoing important strategic changes to focus our ministry and business _ and some are very painful on a personal level as we say good-bye to wonderful colleagues,” said Beth A. Lewis, the publisher’s president and chief executive officer.

The publisher will no longer set up “mini-stores” at the 65 ELCA regional synod assemblies, and cease to employ sales representatives in the field. In all, 55 employees will lose their jobs, including 13 at the home office in Minneapolis.

“It’s mostly about not trying to do everything for every Lutheran and being more focused,” said Burmaster, adding that the publisher will add more Web-based products to its line next year.

Augsburg Fortress also cut 24 jobs and trimmed its product line in 2005, citing declining revenues. The publisher will retain 242 full- and part-time employees, according to the ELCA.

After a board meeting in last spring, Lewis said, “we questioned whether we should be in all markets or whether denominational publishing is viable.”

_ Daniel Burke

Quote of the Day: President George W. Bush

(RNS) “We believe God calls us to live in peace _ and to oppose all those who would use his name to justify violence and murder.”

_ President George W. Bush, addressing a United Nations interfaith conference in New York on Thursday (Nov. 13).

KRE/DEA END RNS