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31 October 2000
New Delhi (ENI). Concerned over continuing attacks on Christians and over the government's failure to take swift action to halt them, the heads of major churches in the Indian state of Orissa, where some of the worst attacks have occurred, have set up a group of young Christians "to peacefully confront attacks on the Christian community". Church leaders in Orissa, in the east of India, stressed in interviews with ENI that the new Christian youth organisation, Rashtriya Surakshya Vahini (RSV - National Safety Vehicle), will not be a vigilante group and will not resort to violence. [829 words, ENI-00-0405]
30 October 2000
Kaduna and Geneva (ENI)--The general secretary of the World Council of Churches, Dr Konrad Raiser, has strongly criticised Nigerian authorities for failing to act decisively enough to deal with inter-religious conflicts. Dr Raiser was speaking at a press conference on 17 October in the city of Kaduna, in northern Nigeria, during a visit to the West African nation. Several hundred people have died in clashes between Christians and Muslims since the Kaduna state government decided early this year to introduce Sharia (Islamic law). Similar violence has occurred in other regions where state governments want to introduce Sharia. [722 words, ENI-00-0402]
Arrests over church bomb blasts fail to satisfy India's Christian leaders
New Delhi (ENI). Following police action against 31 members of a Muslim sect in connection with a dozen bomb blasts in churches in three states in southern India between May and July, church leaders here have urged the government to show the "same zeal" in investigating attacks on Christians by Hindu extremists. Attacks against church buildings and against Christians in India have been on the rise since 1998. Most of the attacks are believed to be the work of Hindu fundamentalists, some of whom have links to the pro-Hindu party that leads India's federal coalition government. Many Christians fear that the criminal charges against the Muslim group will be used to divert attention from the Hindu groups alleged to be the source of most of the anti-Christian violence. [935 words, ENI-00-0403]
Latin Patriarch tells Israeli soldiers to stop attacking Christian village
Jerusalem (ENI). The Latin Patriarch in the Holy Land has called on Israel to stop its troops firing at an Arab Christian village and to surrender all occupied land to the Palestinians. Archbishop Michel Sabbah, the highest-ranking Catholic official in Jerusalem, made the appeal during a tour of Beit Jalla, near Bethlehem on the West Bank. Beit Jalla has been subject to Israeli tank fire since Palestinian gunmen began using the village as a base to fire at Gilo, a neighbouring Jewish suburb of Jerusalem. Gilo is built on land annexed by Israel following the 1967 Middle East war. [640 words, ENI-00-0404]
26 October 2000
Hong Kong (ENI). Many Protestant and Roman Catholic organisations in Hong Kong have urged the authorities here to amend the Public Order Ordinance (POO), a controversial regulation which critics claim violates freedom of expression. Christians are also likely to engage in civil disobedience in coming months in a campaign to have the law overturned. Since 1997, when Hong Kong became a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China, freedom of expression has become a highly sensitive issue. [778 words, ENI-00-0400]
Ecumenism is flourishing despite Dominus Iesus, says German bishop
Rome (ENI). The controversial Vatican document, Dominus Iesus, has strengthened the ecumenical commitment of many German Catholics, according to Maria Jepsen, the Lutheran bishop of Hamburg in the North Elbian Evangelical Lutheran Church, who said that many Roman Catholics and Protestants in her country took communion together. Bishop Jepsen, who became the world's first woman Lutheran bishop in 1992, was speaking in Rome last weekend, during a visit to Rome's Lutheran community. She is believed to be the first female bishop to speak publicly in Rome. [1032 words, ENI-00-0401]
25 October 2000
Moscow (ENI). A church on wheels rolled out of a Moscow railway station last week for its first mission in the vast expanses of northern Russia. Six priests on the train will conduct baptisms, weddings and regular church services, travelling to towns where church buildings and public religious life disappeared under Soviet rule. The church on rails follows the successful launch in 1998 of a church on a barge, also serving isolated towns and villages, in a region 2000 kilometres south of Moscow. [811 words, ENI-00-0398]
Ex-prime minister, women's leader and college heads win Lutheran awards
New York (ENI). A former prime minister of Norway, the general secretary of the World YWCA in Geneva, two retired Lutheran college presidents in the United States and the president of a prominent Lutheran theological seminary are the winners of the Luther Institute's 2000 Wittenberg Awards. The annual awards were inaugurated in 1991 to recognise Lutheran laity and clergy for outstanding service to church and society. [576 words, ENI-00-0399]
24 October 2000
New Delhi (ENI). Attacks on churches and Christians in India are a reaction against the Christian "commitment to challenge the unequal caste system in India", according to a Christian activist who has won an international human rights award. "I would not say that Christians are being attacked [by Hindu fundamentalists] because they are Christians," said Martin Macwan who has been chosen by the Robert F. Kennedy Foundation in the United States as the winner of the 2000 Human Rights award. "With their social work, Christians are challenging the hegemony of upper castes. They [members of the upper castes] cannot tolerate this." [1075 words, ENI-00-0396]
CEC to hold 2003 assembly in Trondheim, Norway
Geneva (ENI). The Conference of European Churches (CEC), which groups Europe's mainstream Protestant, Anglican and Orthodox churches, is to hold its next general assembly in Trondheim, Norway, in 2003. Delegates representing CEC's 127 member churches will gather in Trondheim from 3 to 9 September 2003. The Church of Norway, the Lutheran state church to which most Norwegians belong, which has invited CEC to hold its assembly in Trondheim, is marking 2003 as the 850th anniversary of the establishment of the archdiocese of Nidaros - the ancient name for Trondheim - by Nicholas Breakspear, the English cardinal who later became Pope Hadrian IV. [323 words, ENI-00-0397]
23 October 2000
Warsaw (ENI). A Roman Catholic journal has published the first ever survey of former priests in Poland, showing that most of them left the priesthood after becoming demoralised by the affluent lifestyle available to Catholic priests here. The journal's editor said that the findings of the survey indicated a "crisis waiting to happen" for Catholicism. The findings were a "wake-up call" for church leaders, he added. [764 words, ENI-00-0393]
'Don't forget East Timor,' church leader says
Geneva (ENI). A year after the departure of Indonesian troops from East Timor, the country is still devastated by the violence inflicted by the troops and militia groups that opposed the territory's independence, according to Francisco de Vasconcelos, the newly elected, 35-year-old moderator of the Protestant Church of East Timor. Christians in the region were grateful, De Vasconcelos told ENI, for the support by churches around the world for moves to have a referendum in East Timor over the question of sovereignty. The East Timorese voted for independence and their Indonesian rulers and the militia groups which opposed independence were eventually forced out, leaving a trail of destruction behind them. But if the international community, churches included, thought that the story was over and that they could now forget about East Timor, they were wrong, he insisted. [736 words, ENI-00-0394]
British church again embarrassed by a priest's crimes
London (ENI). A Roman Catholic archbishop has rejected calls for his resignation after being caught up in the second child-abuse controversy to hit the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales this year. [564 words, ENI-00-0395]
20 October 2000
London (ENI). A leading animal rights theologian, Andrew Linzey, has spoken out against moves to include symbolic sacrifice of animals in Christian worship, describing it as "subversive of the Gospel". Some Christians in Africa have suggested that traditional local non-Christian rituals such as sacrificing sheep and cows should be included in services to give an authentic indigenous dimension to worship. Earlier this year, a Roman Catholic archbishop in South Africa suggested that blood libations to honour ancestors should be incorporated into the Mass. [731 words, ENI-00-0391]
Church leader accuses Israel of 'ethnic cleansing' of Palestinians
Geneva (ENI). A Palestinian church leader has accused Israel of practising "ethnic cleansing" against Palestinians, and has called for solidarity from Christians and churches around the world. Archimandrite Theodosios Hanna, of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, told a public briefing yesterday at the Geneva headquarters of the World Council of Churches that Palestinian Christians "are suffering because they are Palestinians and they want to stay in their homeland in Palestine". [728 words, ENI-00-0392]
19 October 2000
Lusaka (ENI). Zambia's churches are in shock after the murder of Sister Florianna Trelli, a Roman Catholic nun who worked among Zambia's poor for almost 30 years. Zambia's main church organisations have publicly condemned the killing, saying that security for missions in the country's border areas adjoining the war-ravaged Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Angola is extremely poor. [477 words, ENI-00-0390]
18 October 2000
Rome and London (ENI). For stressed travellers and airport staff chapels provide a sanctuary
Geneva (ENI). Airport departure lounges usually present scenes of stressed businessmen making last-minute calls home or to the office, families eagerly awaiting their flight call, and bored or anxious travellers killing time. But among the tumult there is, at least in many international airports, a place of calm. More than 150 international airports, from Australia to Zambia, have chapels providing a sanctuary for airport staff and passengers, whatever their denomination or faith. The chapels are a place for prayer and fellowship and provide an opportunity to talk to a member of the International Association of Civil Aviation Chaplains (IACAC). [570 words, ENI-00-0389]
17 October 2000
London (ENI). An Anglican priest in southern England would like naturists "to be given a fair trial" by Christians and churches. According to a booklet she has written, Christian naturists often face hostility and ostracism from their fellow believers. She said that many Christians cling to outdated ideas about nakedness and sin, dating back to the account of Adam and Eve covering up in shame after the fall. [555 words, ENI-00-0386]
Reconciliation walk to Rome delayed for 'technical reasons'
Rome (ENI). An ecumenical "Reconciliation Walk" - which was to take a large group of young Protestant, Orthodox and Roman Catholic pilgrims from Assisi to Rome at the start of this month - has been postponed until next year at the earliest. However, the organiser has denied reports circulating within European churches that the event had to be cancelled because of anger in non-Catholic churches over a recent Vatican document. [358 words, ENI-00-0387]
16 October 2000
Quesnel (ENI). Faced with the prospect of bankruptcy due to legal costs, the Anglican diocese of Cariboo, in western Canada, voted on 14 October to disband within 12 months. Representatives of the diocese's 17 parishes, located along the Fraser and Thompson Rivers in north central British Columbia, met in Quesnel from 13 to 15 October to take the unprecedented decision in the face of a string of lawsuits related to abuse more than 30 years ago at St George's School, in Lytton, 150 kilometres north-east of Vancouver. [1474 words, ENI-00-0384]
A rare question for a church: what to do with 300 million pounds?
London (ENI). A leading banker has urged the Church of Scotland to make use of 300 million pounds sterling (US$420m) in investment funds which he says is "slopping around" in central funds. The call was made by church elder Ewan Brown, who is chairman of the court of Heriot-Watt University (Edinburgh) and chairman in Scotland of Lloyds TSB, Britain's biggest bank. [534 words, ENI-00-0385]
13 October 2000
Jerusalem (ENI). A Christian-run hospital at the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem has found itself at the centre of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Not only is this institution treating the wounded from the recent clashes, but the building has itself come under attack. On a normal day, many tourists to the Holy Land climb the tower at the Augusta Victoria Hospital for a bird's-eye view of Jerusalem's walled Old City. The hospital's beautiful stone buildings and courtyard are often a welcome relief from the city's hustle and bustle. But life at the hospital, administered by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), has not been normal in recent days. [792 words, ENI-00-0383]
12 October 2000
Jerusalem (ENI). Church leaders in the Holy Land have condemned "provocative actions" by Israeli politicians and the "excessive" use of force by the military to put down the current Palestinian uprising. The leading Catholic prelate here said the recent violence drew attention to Palestinian claims for a sovereign state, claims which, he said, should be granted. Representatives of various Christian churches agreed in interviews with ENI yesterday 11 October that the clashes which have claimed nearly 100 lives were sparked by the visit of the Israeli politician, Ariel Sharon, to a site in Jerusalem's walled Old City, holy to both Muslims and Jews. [1137 words, ENI-00-0382]
11 October 2000
New York (ENI). The Presbyterian Church (USA) (PCUSA), one of the most prominent Protestant denominations in the United States, has approved security guidelines for its missionaries in places of extreme danger. The guidelines, introduced in September during the church's General Assembly Council, are the first for the 2.5-million member denomination. They have been introduced at a time when non-governmental organisations (NGOs), such as churches and international relief agencies, are stepping up security to protect their overseas staff from the growing risk of violence. [710 words, ENI-00-0380]
Churches and NGOs alarmed by Middle East violence
Geneva (ENI). Numerous international religious institutions and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have issued statements of concern about continuing violence in the Middle East. Many statements from organisations in Geneva - home to many ecumenical bodies and NGOs - and elsewhere are highly critical of Israel's actions, but some also put part of the blame on militant Palestinians. However within political circles, particularly in the United States, there is still much disagreement over the crisis in the Middle East. [1817 words, ENI-00-0381]
10 October 2000
New Delhi (ENI). India's church leaders have firmly rejected a proposal by a prominent Hindu fundamentalist group for Christian churches here to be reorganised in a system similar to that adopted in communist China where official churches are regulated by the government and acknowledge no foreign authorities. One of the main goals of the proposed model is the expulsion of all foreign Christian missionaries, whose presence is a bone of contention between Christian churches and many Hindu leaders. [877 words, ENI-00-0379]
9 October 2000
Geneva (ENI). More than 20 000 church organs will soon be beyond repair unless urgent action is taken, according to Wolfgang Braun, a master organ builder and experienced restorer from Germany. Braun's concerns are shared by 140 academics, organists and organ-builders who attended the first European congress on "The Organ as European Cultural Heritage", held in September in Varazdin, Croatia. The delegates - from15 European countries, both East and West - met to discuss the plight of Europe's organs and to draw up a plan of action to save those suffering from serious neglect. [675 words, ENI-00-0378]
6 October 2000
New Delhi (ENI). A 13-year-old boy has been sentenced to 14 years in custody for his part in the horrific murder of Australian missionary Graham Stewart Staines and his two young sons in the state of Orissa in eastern India in January last year. The boy - the youngest of 17 people charged in connection with the murder of the Baptist missionary and his two sons - was found guilty of murder, unlawful assembly, and other charges. Another 16 people, all adults, will go on trial for murder and related charges in December. [591 words, ENI-00-0375]
For Dutch parish priests, pastoral work comes before liturgy
Amsterdam (ENI). Catholic parish priests in The Netherlands believe that pastoral work with groups and individuals should be the main focus of their ministry, a survey has found. But the church's bishops disagree, putting liturgy and catechism first and second, with no particular order for other aspects of ministry, according to the organisation which carried out the survey. [560 words, ENI-00-0376]
Prayer and solidarity needed for Yugoslavia, says CEC general secretary
Geneva (ENI). As the opposition, led by Vojislav Kostunica, took control of the Yugoslav capital, Belgrade, a senior European church official has called for solidarity with Yugoslavia's churches. Dr Keith Clements, general secretary of the Conference of European Churches, based in Geneva, also called on the international community to prepare to bring to an end the nation's political and economic isolation. [656 words, ENI-00-0377]
5 October 2000
Guatemala City (ENI). United Nations and church officials in Guatemala have complained that because of lingering fear and an ineffective judicial system, those responsible for the mass killings of countless civilians during Guatemala's long civil war are literally getting away with murder. At least 626 massacres took place during the country's 36-year war, according to a report issued last year by a UN-supervised truth commission. Most of the victims were Maya Indians. [854 words, ENI-00-0374]
4 October 2000
Warsaw (ENI). Several Polish Catholic bishops have demanded the resignation of President Aleksander Kwasniewski, after he was shown on television making fun of Pope John Paul. However, the head of state, who faces elections on 8 October which he is widely expected to win, rejected church claims that he had committed an "act of blasphemy". [620 words, ENI-00-0371]
Pope defends Dominus Jesus and rejects accusations of Vatican arrogance
Rome (ENI). Pope John Paul has defended the controversial Vatican document, Dominus Iesus, released last month, claiming that it had been misunderstood. Dominus Iesus, on the Unicity and Salvific Universality of Jesus Christ and the Church, was published on 5 September by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Speaking on 1 October in Rome, Pope John Paul clearly rejected attempts to put a distance between himself and the document. He said in his regular Sunday address at the Vatican that Dominus Iesus had been "approved by me in a special form". [1838 words, ENI-00-0372]
Catholic archbishop says sanctions against Belgrade must end now
Warsaw (ENI). Representatives of Yugoslavia's Roman Catholic minority have called for an end to sanctions against Belgrade, following opposition claims that Slobodan Milosevic, the country's president, was defeated by Vojislav Kostunica in presidential elections on 24 September. The Catholic officials added that they expected the position of minority denominations to improve under a new government, but cautioned that they would await "quieter times" before tabling demands. Archbishop Franc Perko, the church's head, said that if Kostunica were to emerge as president, his "first priority must be to open Yugoslavia up to world community, which should do something immediately to ease the poverty of its people." [1096 words, ENI-00-0373]
3 October 2000
Rome (ENI). Italy's Jews have indefinitely postponed a scheduled meeting with the Vatican because of recent actions by the Catholic Church which, Jewish leaders claim, have harmed Jewish-Catholic relations. The meeting, scheduled for today, was intended as a day of "dialogue between Jews and Christians" as part of the Catholic Church's Jubilee year of celebrations for the millennium. However, the Vatican announced last week that the dialogue "has been postponed to a date yet to be fixed", following a decision by Jewish leaders in Rome. [484 words, ENI-00-0369]
One of Mother Teresa's nuns admits cruel treatment of children
New Delhi (ENI). The Catholic order of the Missionaries of Charity (MC), founded by Mother Teresa, has been severely embarrassed by allegations that four children in one of its shelters in Calcutta have been subjected to cruelty. A nun has admitted the incident and the order's superior, Mother Nirmala, has apologised. But the issue has received more media attention abroad than it has in India itself. [474 words, ENI-00-0370]
2 October 2000
Geneva (ENI). Alain Blancy, who was born in Berlin of German Jewish parents but went on to become one of France's most prominent Protestant ecumenists, died from cancer on 30 September at the age of 73. He once said that it was his experience of receiving help from Christians in Hitler's Germany that contributed to his "ecumenical calling". [944 words, ENI-00-0366]
Conservative Anglicans defy Episcopal Church by launching US ministry
New York (ENI). Nearly nine months after being consecrated as bishops by Anglican archbishops from Rwanda and south-east Asia, two American clerics have begun missionary efforts to strengthen a traditionalist Anglican network in the United States, despite opposition from the US Episcopal (Anglican) Church. One of the two bishops said that their ministry was aimed at what he called "a crisis of leadership and faith" in the Episcopal Church. "This is a reformation," Charles H. Murphy III told ENI in an interview. "We're in the middle of a realignment. It is history-breaking. It is extraordinary". [1022 words, ENI-00-0367]
Beijing declares its anger as Pope John Paul declares 120 Chinese saints
Rome, 2 October (ENI)-The Vatican yesterday defied the anger of the Beijing government by canonising 120 martyrs from China. Beijing accused the Vatican of honouring "agents of imperialism", while the Vatican insisted on its right to honour those who gave their lives for Christ. On 1 October Pope John Paul II proclaimed as saints 87 Chinese Catholics and 33 Western missionaries, all of whom died in China before the Communists came to power. [769 words, ENI-00-0368]
Orissa's Christians set up youth group to protect themselves
Ecumenical leader calls on Nigeria to deal with religious violence
Hong Kong Christians campaign against controversial law on protests
After the church on a boat, Russians can now worship at a church on rails
For some Indians, even a glass of water poses an ideological challenge
Priests' affluent lifestyle poses danger to Polish Catholicism, survey finds
Plans for Christian animal sacrifice subvert Gospel message, says priest
Zambia's churches in shock after murder of Italian missionary
Queen Elizabeth II and Pope John Paul II exchange letters and presents
Christians find that the naked truth can provoke hostility
Legal costs force Anglican diocese in Canada to vote itself out of existence
Jerusalem's Lutheran hospital caught up in the conflict
Despite violence and hatred, Holy Land's Christians still hope for peace
US church improves security for overseas missionaries and aid workers
Chinese model for India's churches? No thank you, say Indian Christians
20 000 European church organs are in danger, congress warns
Adolescent to serve 14 years for murder of missionary and his sons
UN and church officials complain of lethargy over probe of 626 massacres
Poland president's laughter at papal joke provokes bishops' anger
Annoyed over Blessed Pius IX, Italian Jews 'delay' dialogue with Vatican
Alain Blancy: a life which exemplified ecumenism's challenges
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