News Briefs
Episcopal News Service. July 2, 2002 [2002-170-1]
Russians return church windows taken during war to German church
(ENI)The Russian government has returned 111 medieval stained-glass windows to a German church almost six decades after the Soviet Red Army seized them. The Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) hailed the action as "a good sign for peace and reconciliation" in Europe and a "remarkable sign of the Christian fellowship" between the German church and the Russian Orthodox Church.
The windows, depicting biblical scenes from Creation to Judgement Day, were handed over in St. Petersburg to German culture minister Julian Nida-Ruemelin on June 24. They will be reinstalled in their original location in the Marienkirche in Frankfurt-an-der-Oder on the German-Polish border.
"The Marienkirche stands at the centre of Frankfurt and these incomparable artworks are its outstanding feature," said Bishop Wolfgang Hueber of Berlin-Brandenburg. "In this sense, the very heart has been given back to this city."
The 14th century windows were seized by Soviet troops who occupied the city in 1946, three years after they were dismantled and stored to prevent damage from Allied bombing. German church leaders have been negotiating their return since the early 1990s.
Hueber said that he had discussed the issue privately with Patriarch Alexy II of the Russian Orthodox Church. "This helped the Russian authorities accept that they weren't state property but the possessions of a Christian church," he said. It will take four years to reinstall the windows but Hueber said that he hoped several would be back in place for the Marienkirche's 750th anniversary in 2003 when the city would host the nation's first ecumenical Kirchentag or church festival.
Several million German artworks, manuscripts and archive collections removed by the Soviet Army at the end of the Second World War as compensation for war damage were declared Russian property in 1999.
European churches urged to scrutinize their investments
(ENI) Churches in Western Europe are being urged to examine their investment portfolios to help counter the negative aspects of the globalization of the world's economy. The call came from 80 church leaders at a five-day meeting in the Netherlands in mid-June.
Participants are asking churches to examine how they are managing their financial resouar4ces, such as pension funds, to see if there are ways they can use their financial muscle to promote positive changes in the world economy. The meeting followed regional gatherings of Asian, eastern European and Pacific churches over the past three years that examined the links between Christian faith and the global economy and formulated a number of critical questions for churches in western Europe. They pointed to a perception, for example, that "for Christians in the west and their churches, material values and possessions have taken a far too important place in their lives."
Sam Kobia, a senior staff member at the World Council of Churches, told the gathering that the interests of the world's poorer countries were being overshadowed by the "war on terror" launched in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. He said that worldwide justice should top the political agenda, rather than the security priorities of the developed world.
The gathering was sponsored by the WCC, the Lutheran World Federation, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, and the Conference of European Churches.
Archbishop of Canterbury calls for restraint following decision to bless same-gender couples
(ACNS) Archbishop of Canterbury George L. Carey has called for restraint and a period of reflection in the wake of a decision June 15 by the Diocese of Westminster in the Anglican Church of Canada to approve a rite for blessing same-gender couples. They had approved a similar resolution at several previous synods but Bishop Michael Ingham insisted that a substantial majority approve before he would give his consent.
Writing to the other primates of the Anglican Communion, Carey said that the decision had major implications for the whole of the church and urged that individual dioceses should not "go it alone" in making decisions in such matters.
"Precisely because there are strong views on all sides of this issue, I believe that departure from the main thrust of Anglican moral tradition is sufficiently significant for individual dioceses not to act alone in relation to it," Carey wrote.
Carey has also written to Ingham seeking clarification on five points:
* The precise status of the decision, the consent and ratification needed, and the process which now ensues;
* The extent and limitation of the pastoral oversight delegated to any episcopal visitor scheme to protect those who object to the decision;
* Safeguards for clergy and others dissenting from the move;
* The contribution so far, and possible future role, of the Canadian House of Bishops;
* The extent to which wider factors, including the implications for the Canadian province and the Anglican Communion, were a part of the debate.
Carey called on his fellow primates to resist invitations to intervene in the matter and thereby avoid aggravating an already volatile situation. He also asked for their prayers and support in the dialogue he has initiated with the diocese and the Anglican Church of Canada.
Lutherans using survey to determine who is attending church
(ELCA) The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is using a national survey of 420 of its congregations to determine trends in worship attendance and how the results can be used to shape ministry. The results are showing not only who attends but indicates many of them have been members for quite a while. It is also indicating, however, that diversity continues to be a challenge.
"The biggest thing we can get from the survey is how we can strengthen our churches and learn more about who is coming to church," said Martin Smith, senior research analyst for the ELCA's Department for Research and Evaluation. He said that the survey, the largest of its kind, began when U.S. Congregations, a research group that works from the offices of the Presbyterian Church (USA), used a $1.3 million grant from the Lilly Endowment, to conduct the massive interfaith survey among 43,463 congregations.
Smith said that the church is still looking at the results, comparing them with other denominations and the national results, but using some caution because of differences in religious practice.
The survey shows that a majority of those who attend ELCA churches are white women. Smith said that one staggering fact that is cause for alarm was that 93 percent of attendees are white or Caucasian. "We need to understand our need to be diverse," he said. "Evangelism is a high priority issue."
While the national results indicated that one in every three worshipers is new to the congregation, 41 percent of those who attend ELCA churches have been members of the congregation for more than 20 years.
Congregations that participated in the survey will receive the results from ELCA churches and the national results. To help churches sort through the material, the churches will also receive a video and a book, "A Field Guide to U.S. Congregations," outlining the national results.
For more information about the survey, go to http://www.uscongregations.org on the Web.
Christians in Malaysia fear imposition of Islamic law
(Barnabas Fund) Moderate Muslims, Christians and other non-Muslim minorities are expressing horror over attempts to impose full Islamic Shari'ah law in Malaysia's Terengganu State.
The opposition PAS party wants to see the country, traditionally one of the modest Muslim nations in the world, transformed into an Islamic nation under the strict Islamic law. The party already controls two of Malaysia's 13 states but its attempt to impose Islamic law has been blocked by the federal government in the past.
The attempt in Terengganu is being vigorously opposed by women's groups and minority groups, as well as Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. Christians are concerned that he has announced that she will step down in favor of his deputy in 16 months, creating a power vacuum that could fuel tension. An organization of Muslim lawyers has taken the matter to court, seeking a ruling that would stipulate that only the federal government, not individual state governments, has the authority to pass criminal laws.
Christians and other non-Muslims fear that under Shari'ah their rights and freedoms would be eroded. The law prescribes harsh penalties. Converts from Islam to another faith, for example, would be put to death. It also counts the evidence of non-Muslims and women as worth only half that of Muslim men in legal courts, in some cases discounting their testimonies altogether.
Christians look at the example of Nigeria, a nation similarly divided between Muslims and non-Muslims, where attempts by states in the north dominated by Muslims to impose Islamic law have led to savage violence that has killed an estimated 2,000 people and left many homeless. Despite repeated promises that the law would be applied to Muslims only, vigilantes are enforcing the law's dress codes on Muslims and Christians alike. Christian churches have been threatened and some closed in the states under Islamic law.
For more information check the Barnabas Fund on the Web at www.barnabasfund.org.
Carey suggests that Roman Catholics may ordain women in the future
(Telegraph) During a two-day visit to visit Pope John Paul II, Archbishop of Canterbury George L. Carey suggested that the Roman Catholic Church may one day follow the path of Anglicans and ordain women to the priesthood. He also said during an interview that the fact that the Church of England ordains women while Rome does not was "an eternally insurmountable" problem.
The Church of England began to ordain women in 1994, despite a warning two years earlier by the pope that the move would represent a grave obstacle to unity. The pope pointed out that Christ had chosen only men as his apostles. "I know there are lots of women in the Roman Catholic Church who would like ordination themselves," Carey said. "So let's see it as a problem, but not as a final break that is going to stop the unity that we want to see."
Carey said that the Church of England's break with more than four centuries of an exclusively male priesthood meant that "sometimes churches have to change and to go with the leading of the Holy Spirit and sometimes this takes hundreds of years." Yet this "doesn't mean to say one church is right and another church is wrong," he added. "We move in different steps, different paces. We have lagged behind the Roman Catholic Church in many directions but maybe on this issue we are leading the way."