c. 2008 Religion News ServiceChurch says priest was wrong in Obama/Communion flap (RNS) A South Carolina Catholic priest was wrong to warn parishioners who voted for President-elect Barack Obama to confess their sin before receiving Communion, according to the head of the priest’s diocese.Monsignor Martin T. Laughlin, administrator of the Diocese of Charleston, said in a statement late Friday (Nov. 14) that “if a person has formed his or her conscience well, he or she should not be denied Communion, nor be told to go to confession before receiving Communion.”Last week, the Rev. Jay Scott Newman of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Greenville, said that by receiving Communion, Obama supporters “drink and eat their own condemnation,” because the president-elect supports abortion rights. Newman later said he would not deny the sacrament to anyone “based on political opinions or choices.”Newman’s statements “do not adequately reflect the Catholic Church’s teachings. Any comments or statements to the contrary are repudiated,” Laughlin said. He added that Newman pulled the church’s moral teachings “into the partisan political arena” and “diverted the focus from the church’s clear position against abortion.”Laughlin cites the Catholic Church’s catechism, which states that “man has the right to act in conscience and in freedom so as personally to make moral decisions.”“Christ gives us the freedom to explore our own consciences and to make our decisions while adhering to the law of God and the teachings of the faith,” Laughlin said. “We should all come together to support the president-elect and all elected officials with a view to influencing policy in favor of the protection of the unborn child.”Laughlin was appointed the interim administrator of the statewide Charleston diocese when Bishop Robert J. Baker was transferred to Birmingham, Ala., last year._ Daniel BurkeAnnual list of top Jews mines from election, kosher food newsNEW YORK (RNS) Famous _ and infamous _ American Jews associated with the election season and the ongoing problems in the kosher meat industry dominated The Forward newspaper’s list of 50 influential Jews this year.The Forward, the largest national Jewish weekly in America, published its “Forward 50” on Nov. 15, grouping its entries into categories of politics, community, food, religion, money, and culture and media.Topping the list were: ethical kosher activist Rabbi Morris Allen; J Street political lobby founder Jeremy Ben-Ami; President-elect Barack Obama’s new chief-of-staff, Rahm Emanuel; his national campaign finance officer, Penny Pritzker; and comedian Sarah Silverman, the face of “The Great Schlep” elderly voter mobilization effort in Florida.The Forward staff spent nearly two months compiling names, with several slots waiting until the last minute due to the election, said editor Jane Eisner, who joined the newspaper earlier this year. This was also the first time readers were invited to submit suggestions, which yielded hundreds of responses, she added.Some entries, including Emanuel, late-night comedian Jon Stewart and Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., have made the list before. Others debuted this year due to new achievements, ranging from Olympic swimmer Dara Torres to “Praying With Lior” filmmaker Ilana Trachtman.In addition to celebrating positive contributions, the Forward 50 includes several people who have made negative headlines, including Aaron Rubashkin, the kosher meat mogul charged with employing illegal, underage workers at his family’s Agriprocessors plant in Iowa.“This is a list of people who have had an impact, not necessarily in a way that we would have liked,” Eisner said. “People take this very seriously.”In a rare move, the list tacked on a Christian as an honorary 51st entry this year: the Rev. Paul Ouderkirk, a Catholic priest who has led efforts to raise money to help the workers displaced by the May immigration raid at Agriprocessors.The complete list can be viewed at http://www.forward.com._ Nicole NerouliasFort Worth is fourth diocese to leave Episcopal Church(RNS) The Diocese of Fort Worth, Texas, became the fourth to secede from the Episcopal Church Saturday (Nov. 15), when delegates voted to align with a more conservative branch of the Anglican Communion.Nearly 80 percent of clergy and lay delegates from the North Texas diocese voted to join the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone, which is based in Argentina. Since last December, the dioceses of San Joaquin, Calif., Pittsburgh, and Quincy, Ill., have also left the Episcopal Church to join the Southern Cone.The Episcopal Church, which has about 2 million members, is the U.S. branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion.“This diocese stands for orthodox Christianity,” said Fort Worth Bishop Jack Iker on Saturday, “and we are increasingly at odds with the revisionist practices and teachings of the official leadership of the Episcopal Church. The Episcopal Church we once knew no longer exists.”Fort Worth and Quincy are the only two of the Episcopal Church’s 110 dioceses that do not allow women to be ordained. Fort Worth also disagreed with the national church on the blessing of same-sex unions, and the 2003 consecration of an openly gay man as bishop of New Hampshire.Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said in a statement that her church “grieves the departure of a number of persons from the Diocese of Fort Worth” and that the “door is open” should they want to return.She also said that the national church will work with local loyalists to rebuild the diocese.“The gospel work to which Jesus calls us demands the best efforts of faithful people from many theological and social perspectives,” Jefferts Schori said, “and the Episcopal Church will continue to welcome that diversity.”Five of the Fort Worth diocese’s 56 congregations and an estimated 4,000 of its 19,000 members will remain with the church, according to Iker and other officials. A legal battle over ownership of church property is expected._ Daniel BurkeEEOC settles religious bias complaint against online school(RNS) Non-Mormon employees who claimed discrimination by the University of Phoenix have reached a settlement of almost $2 million, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced.A total of 52 individuals will share a total settlement of $1,875,000 that will be paid by the university, the nation’s largest private university.Witnesses testified that managers in the university’s Online Enrollment Department discriminated against non-Mormon employees by favoring Mormon employees in promotions, disciplinary matters and distribution of tuition waivers.“We are pleased that the University of Phoenix is going to stop condoning such favoritism toward Mormon employees and the resultant discrimination against non-Mormon employees,” said EEOC Phoenix Regional Attorney Mary Jo O’Neill in a Nov. 10 announcement.The university, which was sued along with its parent corporation, Apollo Group Inc., did not admit wrongdoing in the resolution of the suit, but has agreed to provide additional training and oversight to the department that was sued.“University of Phoenix is pleased to have resolved this matter,” the school said in a statement. “We are dedicated to providing a work environment in which our employees are treated fairly and with respect, and are recognized and rewarded based on their accomplishments.”According to the Arizona Republic newspaper, former Apollo Group CEO Todd Nelson is an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He resigned from the school months before the EEOC suit was filed, the newspaper reported.The settlement includes provisions aimed at reducing religious discrimination, including the hiring of a diversity officer to monitor the university’s compliance with the settlement._ Adelle M. BanksQuote of the Day: Thomas Bauer of Munster University“I’m a more orthodox Muslim than he is, and I’m not a Muslim.”_ Thomas Bauer, a professor at Munster University in Munster, Germany, speaking of his colleague Muhammad Sven Kalisch, Germany’s first professor of Islamic theology and a Muslim convert, who has questioned the existence of the Prophet Muhammad. Bauer was quoted by The Wall Street Journal.KRE/CSW END RNS1,300 words