Church News Briefs
Diocesan Press Service. September 2, 1970 [90-10]
Anglican Archbishop Oliver Green-Wilkinson of Central Africa has died as a result of injuries received in a highway accident while returning from a long tour of Zambia's eastern province. Archbishop Green-Wilkinson was elected in 1962 to head the Province of Central Africa. For the past few months he had also served as Bishop of Zambia, which separated itself from the present Rhodesia because of the political situation.
Israeli archeologists have uncovered remains of the "broad wall" mentioned in the Old Testament Book of Nehemiah (3:8 and 12:38). The biblical reference occurs in connection with a description of the restoration of Jerusalem fortifications after the return of the Jews from Babylonian exile. Professor Nahman Avigad of the Hebrew University said that an 80-foot stretch of wall approximately 23 feet thick had been found on bedrock 300 yards west of the Temple Mount.
Betty Friedan, founder of the National Organization of Women, has predicted a new theological question for the 1970's. Speaking at a "women's liberation" rally in New York, she said: "The great debate of the '60's was, 'Is God dead?' I think that the great debate of the '70's will be, 'Is God He?"'
Grants totaling more than $1.6 million were awarded by the Ford Foundation to 11 church related colleges and universities, seven of them predominantly black schools. Among the black schools was St. Augustine's College in Raleigh, N.C., which is affiliated with the Episcopal Church. St. Augustine's received $117,500 to improve its financial operations.
Dr. Ralph W. Sockman, "dean of the American Protestant pulpit," died at his home in New York City. The minister emeritus of Christ Church, United Methodist, was 80 years old. Dr. Sockman was one of the last of a group of New York Protestant ministers who swayed world opinion with their radio sermons earlier in the 20th Century.
The Episcopal Diocese of Rochester has announced that it has received official notice that it is the recipient of a several million dollar gift from the Margaret Woodbury Strong trust. A diocesan spokesman stated that it was his belief that some months would elapse before definite funding procedures were established and that it would probably be January 1, 1971, before applications for funding would be received and processed. It is believed that this gift of Mrs. Homer Strong, who was a member of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Rochester, is one of the largest ever received by an Episcopal Diocese or parish in the United States. The value of the gift is between eight and ten million dollars.
Arthur S. Flemming has been named chairman of the 28-member National Advisory Committee of "distinguished older Americans" for the 1971 White House Conference on Aging which was called by the President to meet in Washington in November, 1971.
More than 20 years after the Communist take-over, the majority of Hungarians still prefer religious ceremonies on the occasion of baptisms, marriages and burials. The Communist party has waged a steady campaign to substitute secular ceremonies for the religious rites that normally mark the major events in a person's life.
Fernando Chavez, son of farm labor leader Cesar Chavez, was indicted in Fresno, Calif., by a federal grand jury for refusing Selective Service induction. Young Chavez said he was refusing induction on the grounds that he was opposed to violence in any form.
The Rev.' David W. Clark, an Episcopal missionary to American Indians for 50 years, died in Denver, Colo., on July 22 at the age of 81. He was a founder of the National Fellowship of Indian Workers of the National Council of Churches and of the Rural Workers Fellowship of the Episcopal Church.
The Rev. Clive O. Abdulah, 43, of Jamaica is the new Anglican Bishop of Trinidad. He succeeds Bishop William Hughes who has retired. The U.S. and Canadian-trained priest is the first native of Trinidad to be named an Anglican bishop.
Writing in the Vatican City daily, L'Osservatore Romano, Father Gino Concetti said that all attempts to consecrate homosexual "weddings" are "simply moral aberrations that cannot be approved by human conscience, much less Christian conscience. "
The American Jewish Congress has released data -- obtained from the New York Police Department -- revealing 633 incidents of burglary, 356 of vandalism and 50 of arson against religious institutions in the city during 1969. The report revealed three times as many burglaries of churches as of synagogues -- but nearly twice as many acts of vandalism against synagogues as against churches.
Trustees of Emory University, a United Methodist school, have banned demonstrations or other activities intended to disrupt "normal" academic pursuits on the ground that the university is an educational institution rather than a "vehicle for political or social action."
The National Association of Catholic Chaplains (NACC) has condemned abortion as an "unspeakable crime. " At the same time, it has pledged itself to help persons avail themselves of "alternative solutions" to the problem of the unwanted child "in a manner consistent with the Christian perception of man's dignity."
Large-scale increases in Roman Catholic Church membership in Africa and Asia have been reported by the Vatican. During the period 1949-1967, according to Vatican Radio, membership in Africa rose by approximately 280 per cent -- from 11 million to about 30 million.
New York state's hospitals are so busy performing abortions for residents it is almost impossible for women in neighboring Vermont to get an appointment, according to Dr. Irving Meeker, a professor of medicine at the University of Vermont College of Medicine.
Anglican Bishop Ian Shevill, 53, of North Queensland, Australia, has been named the new executive secretary of the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, one of the world's oldest missionary organizations. Bishop Shevill succeeds Bishop Eric J. Trapp, who has become Bishop of Bermuda.
For the first time since the Protestant Reformation, a Roman Catholic Mass was celebrated in Coventry Cathedral. The service, conducted by the Roman Catholic rural dean of Coventry, Canon Arthur P. Diamond, in the Cathedral's Chapel of Unity, was attended by Anglican Bishop Cuthbert Bardsley of Coventry and several Anglican and Free Church clergymen.
Protests against the use of vernacular languages in Greek Orthodox services took place in two New York City parishes on Sunday, August 9. A shouting match disrupted worship at St. Demerits church in Queens, and some 25 persons walked out of the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Manhattan.
An estimated 700 English churches may be declared surplus in the next 10 years and offered for sale, according to a report by the Church Commissioners. More than 30 old English parish churches have already been declared redundant.
Tens of thousands of Israeli Jews flocked to the Walling Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem to mark the 1,900th anniversary of the destruction of the Temple, the most revered shrine of the Jewish people. The Western (or Walling) Wall was the only part of the so-called Second Temple left standing after the structure was razed by the Roman general, Titus, in the course of crushing the Jewish revolt in 70 A.D.
The refusal by the government of South Africa to grant an extension of a temporary residence visa has forced the Rev. C. Richard Cadigan, an American Episcopal Church missionary, to leave South Africa where he has served in an Anglican parish at Westville, Natal, for the past three years. He will join the faculty of the Wooster School, Danbury, Conn., in the fall.
Dr. Eric Hatchlings, a British evangelist, has attributed his country's increasing suicide rate to witchcraft and other occult practices. Dr. Hatchlings claimed to have converted only one witch to Christianity, though he said many "demon possessed" people came to his crusades.
Bishop Duncan MacInnes of the Episcopal Church of Scotland died in Inverness, Scotland in August at the age of 73. He headed the United Diocese of Moray, Ross and Cattiness. Consecrated in 1953, he was a World War II chaplain captured by the Germans in 1940. He spent five years as a war prisoner. The Episcopal Church in Scotland is part of the Anglican Communion but is separate from the Church of England.
Sir Herbert Andrew, a 70-year-old knight who retired recently from a government post, will become a curate for an Anglican parish in the moors of Yorkshire county in northern England. A Church of England spokesman said Sir Herbert will be treated as a "special case" and will net be required to undergo the two to three-year course of theological training which ordinands normally take.
Bloy House Theological School, an Episcopal institution in Pasadena, Calif., for men making a delayed decision to enter the clergy, will relocate here and become affiliated with the School of Theology at Claremont College. The move is seen as a part of the trend toward "theological clusters." The present Claremont seminary has cooperative arrangements with the Claremont Graduate School and Roman Catholic, Jewish and other Protestant schools in the area. Bloy House, formed in 1958 as an extension of the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, Berkeley, holds class only on week-ends so students can continue their occupations while studying.
United Methodists in India have reversed their decision to enter the projected Church of North India, which is expected to merge most of the Protestant denominations in the area. Delegates to a special conference in Delhi voted 106 to 48 against merger. The reasons for the negative vote were not entirely clear in the official report issued after the meeting closed, but it was generally felt that the Methodists were pressured by women workers who were concerned about their status in the new church and by the four bishops who would have to take a substantial salary cut in the new church.
The silent majority in the Church today was described as "comfortable" and 'lazy" at the annual meeting of the Supreme Council of the Knights of Columbus at Houston, Tex. Auxiliary Bishop Patrick F. Flores of San Antonio declared that true Christians should be "actively and wholeheartedly dedicated to the theology of love and service. "
The Church of England has announced a massive $45 million building program for the new towns emerging throughout England as the population increases. Some 240 new churches, 155 buildings for use either as churches or halls, 265 church halls and 200 houses for clergy will be provided under the proposed building project.
Dr. Fredrick Brown Harris, chaplain of the U. S. Senate for 24 years, died at the age of 87. He retired from the Senate last year after serving as chaplain longer than any man in history. Dr. Harris was assigned to Foundry (United) Methodist Church, Washington, in 1924 and he remained there until his retirement from the pastorate in 1955.
Reduction of the regional provinces of the Episcopal Church in the U.S.A. from nine to six and heading each by an archbishop has been proposed by the Rhode Island Churchman as a means of decentralizing the denomination's activities. The Churchman called for the sale of the national headquarters at 815 Second Ave., in New York City and greater autonomy for the provinces. The Churchman editorial said that "most of the work of the national headquarters and of the Executive Council can be better and more effectively done on a provincial basis."
The Rev. John V. Albright, pastor of the United Methodist church in Redding, Calif., and a pacifist, is the newest member of the local draft board. Mr. Albright, who has five children including a son who will be 18 in October, said he would not support young men as conscientious objectors to military service unless the C. O. claimants genuinely qualify.
Stephen Honaman, the son of an Episcopal missionary in Japan and the grandson of the retired Suffragan Bishop of Harrisburg, died as the result of an accident at Upi, Cotabate, Philippine Islands. Stephen, 15, was the son of Mr. and Mrs. William F. Honaman of Tokyo, Japan, and the grandson of retired Bishop Earl M. Honaman and Mrs. Honaman of the Diocese of Harrisburg.
St. Thomas Episcopal Church, where President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his family worshipped, in Washington, D. C., was completely destroyed by fire. Officials said arson was suspected.
An 1,800-member national organization of Catholic nuns has called for the "ordination of any qualified woman who so desires" to the Catholic priesthood, stressing the need for "more workers" in the sacred ministry. The National Coalition of American Nuns asserted that "there is no theological, sociological or biological reason for denying ordination to women."