Geneva (ENI). Twenty-five years after its launch, a church-sponsored international development bank is a "growing organisation", according to the president of its board of directors, Zanele Mbeki, South Africa's first lady. The Ecumenical Development Cooperative Society (EDCS) was set up by the World Council of Churches in 1975 to provide churches and church-related organisations with an ethical investment instrument directed at the interests of the poor. Churches world-wide were urged to invest in EDCS to promote development projects, even if they gained lower financial returns than through mainstream investments. Oikocredit, the society's its name since 1999, today has 465 organisations - churches and church-related organisations - as members and more than 18 000 local church communities and individuals around the world who invest in Oikocredit via supporters' associations. [809 words, ENI-00-0458]

Nicaraguan pastor-politician leaves Sandinistas and sets up new party

Managua (ENI). A Pentecostal pastor who became a leader of Nicaragua's revolutionary Sandinista movement has declared that he is fed up with the organisation's leaders and will form a new party to compete in next year's national elections. Miguel Angel Casco resigned from the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) last March, although he still remains a member of Nicaragua's National Assembly, to which he was elected as a representative of the FSLN. [661 words, ENI-00-0459]

These are the last scheduled news highlights for 2000. The service will resume in early January. The staff of ENI wish all our readers a very happy Christmas.

14 December 2000

London (ENI). A leading British newspaper is planning a legal challenge to the rule that a British monarch cannot be a Roman Catholic, or marry a Catholic. The newspaper, the London-based Guardian, which is often associated with left-wing causes, argues that this infringes fundamental human rights. [805 words, ENI-00-0454]

Scandinavians debate cutting ties between state and church

Copenhagen (ENI). Many people within Lutheran churches in Scandinavia are seeking ways to cut all formal ties linking the state with the church. But, ironically, many of the citizens of these countries, in which Lutheran churches are the biggest denominations, are happy for church-state links to be retained. [927 words, ENI-00-0455]

Church of Pakistan ordains women deacons, despite court challenge

New Delhi (ENI). The Church of Pakistan has made history by ordaining its first two women deacons, despite civil court action by another church which believes that the Bible bans women from the clergy. The civil court action to try to block the ordinations was initiated by a retired army major, Timotheus Nasir, who is moderator-secretary of the United Presbyterian Church of Pakistan (UPCP), a breakaway church in the Presbyterian tradition. [1123 words, ENI-00-0456]

Thousands of Indian Christians attend funeral of ecumenical leader

New Delhi (ENI). The National Council of Churches of India (NCCI) has announced that the driver of the van in which Bishop Vinod Peter was killed on 6 December in the Indian state of Rajasthan has in fact survived the accident. Initial reports had stated that the driver died, along with Bishop Peter, president of the NCCI, and Bishop Jerald Andrews, after their van hit a tree near the roadside. Both bishops belonged to the Church of North India. [141 words, ENI-00-0457]

13 December 2000

New York (ENI). Two leading faith-based gay rights organisations in the United States are about to take their protests to the Vatican which they claim is engaged in a "holy war" against sexual minorities. Dignity/USA, a group of Roman Catholics, and Soulforce, an interfaith organisation which has spearheaded a series of peaceful, non-violent protests at church meetings this year, plan to post their demands for equality on the doors of the Vatican during demonstrations on 5 and 6 January. [541 words, ENI-00-0452]

World's Protestants need a stronger voice, says German church leader

Bielefeld (ENI). The world's main Protestant churches should consider forming a global alliance to strengthen the voice of world-wide Protestantism, according to Manfred Kock, the leader of Germany's 27 million Protestants. Kock, who is president of the council of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), Germany's main Protestant body, was speaking to ENI after the annual meeting last month of the EKD's synod. Ecumenism was one of the main issues on the agenda. [1299 words, ENI-00-0453]

12 December 2000

Warsaw (ENI). The head of the Roman Catholic Church in Poland has suspended plans to build a US$45-million basilica in thanksgiving for the collapse of communism. A spokesman for Cardinal Jozef Glemp said that construction and maintenance costs had been judged "inappropriate for a place of worship". But he added that the project could still go ahead after modifications. [763 words, ENI-00-0450]

Conservative US priest denies trying to split Episcopal Church

New York, 12 December (ENI)-David Moyer, an American priest who spearheaded a display of defiance against the hierarchy of his church - the Episcopal (Anglican) Church - has said the action was not intended to prompt a schism within the US denomination. On 26 November, several conservative bishops from abroad took part in a confirmation service organised at David Moyer's parish church in a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The very presence of the bishops at the service was a challenge to the hierarchy of the Episcopal Church, since the bishops had been initially invited by Moyer without the permission of the local bishop, Charles Bennison of Pennsylvania, and officiated in a service outside of their dioceses - a violation of church law. [986 words, ENI-00-0451]

11 December 2000

Sydney (ENI). The National Council of Churches in Australia (NCCA), which groups the nation's mainstream churches - Roman Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox - has condemned as "a scandal" recent events concerning a detention centre in remote South Australia used to house illegal immigrants. The council has combined with Amnesty International and other welfare and human rights groups to call for a judicial inquiry into the way Australia deals with refugees and asylum-seekers. In an open letter to the federal minister for immigration, Philip Ruddock, the NCCA and 11 other groups urged the federal government to improve urgently methods of dealing with children in detention. [1143 words, ENI-00-0448]

Churches put pressure on four countries to sign greenhouse gas treaty

Toronto (ENI). An extraordinary meeting in Ottawa on 6 and 7 December has failed to resolve the international impasse in negotiations for an agreement limiting greenhouse gas emissions. It now appears there will be no resolution before the end of the year, despite pressure from churches. David Hallman, energy and environment programme officer for the United Church of Canada, and environment coordinator of the World Council of Churches' climate change programme, told ENI: "The churches see climate change as a prime example of the imbalance between human society and God's creation. It is particularly a concern from an ethical perspective because it is being caused largely by emissions from the industrialised countries - the rich nations - but the consequences will be suffered disproportionately by the poorer developing nations and by future generations. We view it as an issue with significant ethical dimensions." [1265 words, ENI-00-0449]

8 December 2000

Manila (ENI). The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Manila, Cardinal Jaime Sin, led a prayer rally by a broad coalition of Christians and activists in the Philippines capital yesterday, 7 December, to urge President Joseph "Erap" Estrada to resign immediately. On the first day of impeachment hearings against the president, thousands of protesters, many of them Catholics, crowded into Manila's Roxas Boulevard to attend an open-air service described as a "protest Eucharist" and "prayer of the people". Most of those present represented Catholic parish councils and schools, as well as universities, business clubs, workers and women's groups. [826 words, ENI-00-0444]

S. Africa's men of peace unite to fight Aids with prayer and compassion

Johannesburg (ENI). At a rare appearance together on Wednesday, 6 December, South Africa's three Nobel peace prizewinners - Nelson Mandela, F.W De Klerk and Archbishop Desmond Tutu - launched a ''prayer for HIV/Aids'' and called for an end to the silence and stigmatisation surrounding the disease. The prayer service at St Mary's Anglican Cathedral in Johannesburg represented the strongest commitment yet by prominent personalities to address Aids in South Africa, where 4.2 million people (10 per cent of the population) are estimated to be infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). [537 words, ENI-00-0445]

Churches hope to reunite India's legacy of the Apostle Thomas

Kottayam (ENI). In the 16th century when the Portuguese arrived on India's south-western coast, they were astounded to find a thriving Christian church, tracing its roots back to the Apostle Thomas, who is believed to have brought Christianity to India in the year 52. Today, there are seven million "St Thomas Christians" in the southern Indian state of Kerala. However, although in their faith they share common origins and heritage, the Christians are divided into several denominations. [1223 words, ENI-00-0446]

Church organisations hope their new alliance will be a prophetic voice

Geneva (ENI). Inspired in part by the Jubilee 2000 campaign against debt and by the International Campaign to Ban Land Mines, a unique alliance to harness the collective energies of the world-wide church to promote justice and peace issues has been launched in Geneva. The Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance, which is holding its founding meeting in Geneva from 7 to 9 December, brings together 45 representatives from a wide range of organisations, including the World Council of Churches, Christian World Communions, regional ecumenical organisations from all parts of the world, and international ecumenical bodies. [533 words, ENI-00-0447]

7 December 2000

London (ENI). The Jubilee 2000 coalition has hailed a decision by Britain to stop using interest repayments on debts owed by the world's 41 poorest countries, as a "fantastic boost" to the movement to rid the developing world of unpayable debt. The British government's announcement is immediately worth US$30 million a year, according to Jubilee 2000. The 41 poorest countries - most of them in Africa - are heading at varying speeds towards the eventual cancellation of their $2.3 billion debt to Britain. [690 words, ENI-00-0440]

Jubilee 2000 will disband as planned, but its work will continue

London (ENI). The Jubilee 2000 coalition, set up to free the world's poor countries of unpayable debt and described by British social commentator Polly Toynbee as "the most brilliantly successful campaign of our times", will wind up in Britain at the end of this jubilee year, but its work is to continue in other forms. [625 words, ENI-00-0441]

Church approves as Putin decides to sing to a favourite Soviet tune

Moscow (ENI). After initial hesitation, the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church has expressed support for President Vladimir Putin's proposal to resurrect the musical setting of the communist Soviet national anthem. President Putin is pushing ahead with the proposal, which is about to be discussed by the Duma in Moscow, despite stiff opposition from liberal politicians and intellectuals. Putin's plan has caused astonishment in Western capitals. [987 words, ENI-00-0442]

Car accident takes lives of two Indian bishops and their driver

New Delhi (ENI). Bishop Vinod Peter, a leading Indian clergyman and president of the National Council of Churches in India (NCCI), died in a road accident in the Indian state of Rajasthan on 6 December, along with a local church leader, Bishop Jerald Andrews. Sixty-one-year-old Bishop Peter, who as moderator of the Church of North India (CNI) was on an official visit to the state, was killed when the driver of the van in which he was travelling with the CNI's Bishop Andrews, of Rajasthan, lost control of the vehicle and hit a tree near the roadside. Both bishops died instantly, while the driver died this morning, officers at Bishop Peter's diocesan office in Nagpur, central India, told ENI. [596 words, ENI-00-0443]

6 December 2000

Copenhagen (ENI). Norway's biggest church, the (Lutheran) Church of Norway, has apologised to the nation's Romanies - once known as gypsies - for its ill treatment of their people in the past. The apology was made on 16 November at the church's general synod after being approved in a unanimous vote by church representatives. It was then accepted by national representatives of the Romany people who attended the synod. [765 words, ENI-00-0438]

Despite Anglican division Australian primate says unity will prevail

Melbourne (ENI). The primate of the Anglican Church of Australia, Archbishop Peter Carnley, believes that Anglicans - despite sometimes bitter disagreements - can put their differences behind them and reach a ''unity of heart and mind''. In an interview with ENI, Dr Carnley, who is a highly respected theologian, pointed out that Anglicanism had a long tradition of tolerance of differing views. [1354 words, ENI-00-0439]

4 December 2000

New York (ENI). An Indiana man hostile to organised Christianity has been sentenced to 42 years in prison for arson attacks at more than two dozen US churches in the mid- and late-1990s. Jay Scott Ballinger, aged 38, had confessed to attacks on more than 25 churches in at least eight states in the southern and midwest United States. A self-described "missionary of Lucifer", Ballinger faces further charges for five church fires in Georgia. [507 words, ENI-00-0437]

1 December 2000

Warsaw (ENI). Archbishop Janis Vanags, the head of Latvia's Evangelical Lutheran Church, has accused the country's politicians of betraying the "hopes and emotions" born in 1991, when Latvia achieved independence from the Soviet Union. However, he denied that he was engaged in a conflict with the country's president, Vaira Vike-Freiberga, despite staging a protest with other church leaders in her presence. [707 words, ENI-00-0436]

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