News Briefs
Episcopal News Service. July 10, 2002 [2002-174-1]
Anglican Communion plans Congress to promote concern for global issues
(ACNS) In order to provide a clear Anglican voice at the UN World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, representatives of the Anglican Communion plan to convene in South Africa in the week prior to the summit, August 18-22, to consider the communion's stance and to produce a statement to be presented to the summit by the Communion's UN Observer.
With 70 million members in 165 countries--including rich and poor scattered in all regions of the globe--Anglican participants will come to share their experiences of earth stewardship and to organize themselves effectively across the Anglican Communion.
The 1998 Lambeth Conference resolved to address environmental concerns. The congress in South Africa will review work undertaken so far, and look forward to the Lambeth Conference of 2008.
The congress will consider economic and human justice, health, energy, water, food, biodiversity, habitats and urbanization. In addition, time will be spent reviewing a variety of projects now underway throughout the communion, launching its world-wide environmental network and looking at local environmental initiatives in the area around Hartebeespoort where the event will be held.
Confirmation cards bring perks to teenagers at German church
(ENI) With a marketing technique more common to airlines or retailers trying to build client loyalty, a church in northern Germany has issued confirmation cards entitling the parish's younger members to discounts in local shops.
The Rev. Josef Kalkusch, a Lutheran pastor in Sachsenhagen, near Hanover, has created a plastic card identifying teenagers enrolled in his church's confirmation class.
As with loyalty cards that qualify their holders to join a club, benefit from a sales promotion or accumulate bonus points towards a free flight, the Sachsenhagen confirmands can use their confirmation cards to get reductions on certain purchases.
Each card has a photograph of the holder, which helps the teenagers feel special and identify with their confirmation group, Kalkusch told ENI.
"One of our tasks in preparing these kids for confirmation is standing by them during one of their most difficult times of life," he said. "They are going through puberty trying to find their place in life and society."
Kalkusch convinced 25 business owners in Sachsenhagen--including a hairdresser, a cinema, a drugstore and a department store--to join the confirmation card program. Every month, one of the stores offers a discount to the confirmation class.
In a town with a population of only 2,000, Meier does not expect to gain new clients from the campaign yet he thinks it's positive that the program encourages the young consumers to shop in Sachsenhagen.
In return for their privileges, the confirmands have certain responsibilities. At the end of the year, shortly before confirmation, they are expected to volunteer for two weeks in a community institution, such as the senior citizens' home or the hospital, or to perform some other social service.
Lutheran leader in New York suspended for interfaith participation
(ENS) The highest-ranking leader of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod in New York has been suspended for participating in an interfaith service at Yankee Stadium for the families of those killed in the September 11 terrorist attacks.
The Rev. David Benke, president of the New York-based Atlantic District, was also ordered to apologize for mixing Christian and non-Christian views in violation of the denomination's constitution.
Benke has appealed the ruling, according to Alan Pollack, a lawyer for the board of directors of the district, which claims 42,000 members in the New York metropolitan area.
"To participate with pagans in an interfaith service and, additionally, to give the impression that there might be more than one God, is an extremely serious offense," wrote the Rev. Wallace Schulz, the Missouri Synod official who suspended Benke. If he does not apologize or appeal he will automatically be removed from the Missouri Synod's clergy.
The denomination's president, the Rev. Gerald Kieschnick said in a July 9 letter that the church "is experiencing a period of emotional anxiety and doctrinal disharmony, heightened by the filing of formal charges" against Benke. He announced that he was calling for a review of the decision, requesting that it be "altered or reversed," arguing that Benke was not violating the church's constitution.
Israel takes first step to restrict immigration of Christians
(Scotsman) Israel has sparked a heated debate in the Jewish world by taking the first step to restrict immigration, following claims that many of those now moving to the region are Christians.
A committee of the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, is supporting a bill that would end the so-called grandfather clause in the Law of Return that enables non-Jews to immigrate. The bill is being sponsored by the ultra-orthodox Jewish political groups in the wake of claims that hundreds of soldiers in the Israeli army have sworn allegiance to the state on the New Testament. Most of them are thought to come from the former Soviet Union.
"The Law of Return is one of the most important laws for defining the character of the State of Israel as the state of the Jews," said Sallai Meridor who heads an agency that encourages more Jews to move to Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said that his goal is to bring one million more Jews to Israel.
Yet government figures show that slightly less than half of those who entered Israel in 2000 identified themselves as Jews, compared with 96 percent in 1990. Some officials are estimating that by 2010 only 4 percent of new immigrants will consider themselves Jews.
The debate also includes issues such as the loyalty of immigrant soldiers to Israel. Meridor pointed out that many of the immigrants whose loyalty was being questioned had in fact come from lands where for years the authorities had forced hem to suppress their religious identity, particularly when it was Jewish. "Children of Jewish men were considered Jews there and when they came to Israel they suddenly found themselves defined as non-Jews."
Papuan Christians fear onslaught from militants
(Barnabas Fund) Christians in the Indonesian province of Papua (Irian Jaya) are fearful that a violent campaign could be unleashed against them later this year as Laskar Jihad Islamic militants continue to flood into the province with the apparent collusion of government authorities.
A recent report from Australia's Uniting Church details the concerns of local Christians, who make up over 70 percent of the province's population. A number of Laskar Jihad military training camps are now situated in the province and military instruction is taking place quite openly in the compounds of some mosques every afternoon. In the area of Fak Fak, over 175 boats carrying Laskar Jihad personnel and equipment are reported along the coast since April.
Meanwhile several Christians have reported the discovery of stockpiles of weapons which they fear could be used against them later this year. A number of Pakistani and Afghan mujahideen are thought to have come to join in the jihad against local Christians. Laskar Jihad's magazine, which contains articles attacking Christians, Jews and the US, is now being sold openly in markets in Papua, and T-shirts, DVDs and books on Osama bin Laden are also on sale.
Laskar Jihad is reportedly forming links with local authorities, police and army units, and with the pro-Jakarta militia Satgas Merah Putih which opposes Papuan calls for independence from Indonesia. Laskar Jihad is also believed to be insinuating itself with the local Muslim population, although the majority of Papuan Muslims still reject the Jihad's presence as a dangerous destabilizing factor in an already extremely tense region. Local Christians believe the failure of police and army units to stop Laskar Jihad from expanding its military campaign into Papua implies complicity in the Jihad's activities. Four Laskar Jihad members carrying homemade guns were recently seized by Christians and handed over to the authorities. No action was taken against them. Others who have reported Laskar Jihad activities to the authorities say that they have been harassed, threatened with arrest themselves, and even received intimidating phone calls late at night.
Melanesian West Papua was annexed by Indonesia in 1963, and since then the majority-Christian Papuan people have struggled for their independence from repressive Indonesian rule. The arrival of the Laskar Jihad, which since May 2000 has been responsible for murdering or forcibly converting and circumcising thousands of Christians in a genocidal holy war in Indonesia's Moluccas and Sulawesi regions, has prompted fears that the group could be used as a militia by the military to repress the local Melanesian Christian population. During its occupation of East Timor Indonesia gained international notoriety for allowing pro-Indonesian militias to brutally terrorize the local Timorese population with impunity. Now Papua's Christians fear that Laskar Jihad will be given a free hand to do the same there.
Russian Orthodox Church provides evidence of Roman Catholic 'proselytizing'
(ENI) The Orthodox Church has presented what it describes as evidence supporting its long-standing charge of Roman Catholic proselytizing in Russia.
The Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church last week sent letters to the Vatican setting out its definition of proselytizing and listing cases of what it viewed as Roman Catholic poaching of its flock. "The Catholic Church has asked us to provide concrete cases of their proselytizing, and we are doing it," said Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, deputy chairman of the church's external relations department, at a press conference on July 5. The letters were a response to recent Roman Catholic claims that attempts were being made to curb Roman Catholic church activities in Russia.
Observers suggested that the letters could be intended as a prelude to a new round of very frank talks to deal with a crisis between the two churches. Already strained relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Vatican plunged to a new low last February after Pope John Paul II created four full-scale dioceses in Russia united in an "ecclesiastical province" headed by an archbishop in Moscow. While the Vatican presented the changes as an internal administrative matter and a way of normalizing its life in Russia, the Russian Orthodox hierarchy perceived them to be a challenge to Orthodoxy, maintaining that they violated the spirit of ecumenical dialogue. Since then, the Russian government has expelled several Roman Catholic clergymen from Russia without explanation--a development the Orthodox Church claims not to have initiated, but which has further complicated relations between the churches.
At the press conference, Orthodox officials said their list of incidents of Roman Catholic proselytizing was based on Roman Catholic news stories and reports from Russian Orthodox dioceses. The list includes cases of Roman Catholic charity work with non-Roman Catholic Russian children. Their document also says that Roman Catholic priests and monks prevent people baptized in the Orthodox Church from having contact with Orthodox priests. The Moscow Patriarchate claimed that the true goal of Roman Catholics in organizing shelters for homeless children was "to make little Roman Catholics."
The involvement in Russia of Roman Catholic monastic orders--most of which were founded as missionary organizations or contain the word "mission" in their names--is considered in the Orthodox document as evidence of proselytizing. So is what the Orthodox describe as a Roman Catholic policy of searching for "local vocations," Russian nationals to join the priesthood, and the enrollment of students from traditionally Orthodox families in Roman Catholic seminaries.
Leaders of the Roman Catholic Church in Russia reject the Moscow Patriarchate's interpretation of the concept of "canonical territory." The church says it is carrying out its mission among non-believers rather than Orthodox Christians. But the Moscow Patriarchate argues that Russians who have been forcefully torn from their Orthodox roots by decades of militant atheism could not accurately be described as non-believers. The patriarchate also says that the Vatican should refer Russians baptized in the Orthodox Church, many of whom are not practicing Orthodox, to Orthodox churches, rather than "evangelizing" them.