News Briefs
Episcopal News Service. April 30, 2002 [2002-109]
$30 billion contributed to Protestant churches in 2000
(Chronicle of Philanthropy) American church members contributed nearly $30 billion to 65 Protestant denominations in 2000, according to a new report by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.
The 2002 edition of the Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches examines membership and financial data from Christian denominations in both countries. Most of the churches provided data for fiscal 2000.
The $30 billion collected that year represents a $2.5 billion increase, a gain of 9 percent from 1999 when a similar group of 62 denominations reported gifts. The latest report says that the difference in the number of churches reporting financial data accounts for some of the increase, but it gives most credit for the rise to the strength of the U.S. economy in 2000.
Each American church member gave an average of $599 in 2000, up from $549 in 1999. Of the 2000 total, each person gave an average of $110, up from $85, to help the needy, whether in the region where the church is located, around the country, or abroad.
The yearbook also identifies trends in church membership. The report says that more than 152 million Americans were members of 176 Christian denominations in 2000, up slightly from 1999 but still below the peak of more than 159 million in 1996.
The Rev. Eileen W. Lindner, the yearbook's editor, says in the book's preface that data collected by other groups show an increase in church attendance since September 11. While the rise may be transitory, she says, "it will be some time before the full impact of these tragic events upon religious faith and practice can be measured."
Copies of the 2002 yearbook are available for $55 each, including shipping, from the NCC, 475 Riverside Drive, New York, N.Y. 10115; (212) 870-2031; fax (212) 870-2817; yearbook@ncccusa.org. For more information, see the council's Web site at http://www.ncccusa.org.
Canadian church pressures oil company on climate change
(ENI) A Canadian ecumenical campaign is targeting one of Canada's biggest oil companies which is opposed to a major United Nations agreement on climate change.
Representatives of the campaign, including Lois Wilson, a former president of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and former moderator of the United Church of Canada (UCC), took part in the shareholders' meeting of Imperial Oil, one of Canada's biggest integrated petroleum companies. Imperial Oil opposes the Kyoto Protocol, a UN agreement under which Canada would have to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 6 per cent below 1990 levels.
The ecumenical campaign spearheaded by Kairos, a social justice coalition formed by Canada's main churches, is calling on the Canadian government to ratify and implement the agreement. The Kyoto Protocol was agreed at Kyoto, Japan, in December 1997. To come into force it requires ratification by at least 55 signatory states. Many key signatory states, including Canada, the United States and Japan, have still to ratify the agreement.
An Imperial Oil spokesman said the Kyoto Protocol was "an unworkable and inappropriate public policy response to an important and complex issue, which if implemented would do little to reduce greenhouse gases yet do substantial economic harm to both developed and developing countries."
Barring of Roman Catholic clerics from Russia feared part of 'campaign'
(ENI) In one of the latest events in a series described by the Roman Catholic Church in Russia as an "organized campaign" against it, a Roman Catholic bishop was turned back at Moscow's international airport as he was trying to return from Poland to his diocese in eastern Siberia.
On April 19, border guards cancelled without explanation Roman Catholic bishop Jerzy Mazur's visa for Russia. Mazur, a Polish citizen, heads the Roman Catholic diocese based in Irkutsk, one of four Roman Catholic structures in Russia elevated by the Vatican in February to fully fledged dioceses, an action strongly criticized by Russia's dominant Orthodox Church.
A fortnight before Mazur was barred from entering Russia, the authorities cancelled the visa of Stefano Caprio, a Roman Catholic priest from the town of Ivanovo, as he left Moscow for his native Milan. Caprio had served in Russia for 12 years.
The Russian Foreign Ministry initially failed to give any reason for the cancellation of the two clerics' visas. Authorities pointed out that Russian law allows the state to deny visas without explanation. Unnamed officials, however, were quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying the priests were expelled for "activities incompatible with their status," a euphemism usually reserved for diplomats expelled for espionage.
"What has been happening in the last couple of months shows that an organized campaign has been unleashed against the Catholic Church in Russia," Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, the leader of Russia's Roman Catholics, said in a statement on April 20.
The Russian Orthodox Church--which has vocally protested against the recent boost in the status of the Roman Catholic Church in Russia--said it had nothing to do with the decision to cancel the visas. The Rev. Igor Kowalewsky, general secretary of the Conference of Catholic Bishops in Russia, told ENI the expulsions were "an unfortunate misunderstanding," adding that "it complicates the situation of the Roman Catholic Church in Russia, but we hope for an improvement." The bishops' conference had formally requested an explanation from the Russian government about the expulsions, he said.
The Roman Catholic Church in Russia claims about 600,000 adherents out of a total population of 144 million. Two-thirds of Russians identify themselves as Orthodox.
Criticism leads Canadian Jewish Congress to pull out of interfaith group
(ENI) Canada's most prominent Jewish organization has withdrawn its participation of 30 years from an interfaith consultation following the appearance of a website message critical of Israeli policy written by a church dialogue partner.
The Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) announced on April 10 that it was pulling out of the inter-religious Canadian Christian Jewish Consultation (CCJC). A message on the Anglican Church of Canada's website was "the straw that broke the camel's back," said Manuel Prutschi, the CJC's national director of community relations, who accused the Anglican Church and the United Church of Canada of being "one-sided."
In the message, Archbishop Michael Peers, head of the Anglican Church of Canada, wrote: "The current violence in Palestine has deep roots, but Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory in defiance of United Nations resolutions is at its heart... When Israel withdraws from its illegal occupation of Palestine, when Palestinians are free to return in peace to their homeland, when civilians are no longer the targets of terror, either for suicide bombers or government tanks, then healing will begin."
In announcing the Jewish Congress's decision to suspend relations with the church bodies, Keith Landy, CJC national president, described the Anglican statement as "blaming the plight of the Palestinian people and the current crisis solely on Israel's so-called 'illegal occupation' of the disputed territories. There is nothing in this message that holds the corrupt and despotic Palestinian Authority accountable for the misery of its own people."
Jewish Congress officials also charged the churches with being silent in the face of recent attacks on Jewish property in Canada, including an arson attack on a synagogue in Saskatoon and the desecration of synagogues in Ottawa and Montreal.
Peers expressed regret about the Jewish Congress's decision to withdraw from the interfaith consultation. He said the message that appeared on the church's website was rooted in policies and resolutions of the church's synod and in statements by governing bodies of the world-wide Anglican communion. It reflected the church's attempt "to stand with the church leaders in Jerusalem in particular," Peers said. "That's the principle that we have used in places like South Africa and other places around the world. That kind of solidarity is important."
Members of the CCJC planned to meet within the next few months to discuss the implications of the CJC withdrawal. In addition to the Canadian Jewish Congress, and the Anglican and United churches, the CCJC includes the Presbyterian and Lutheran churches and Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Missionary societies call on churches to meet challenge of AIDS
(ENI) The world's churches have "barely begun" to respond to the theological challenges of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, a meeting called by three mission organizations in association with the World Council of Churches (WCC) was told.
"We need to treat HIV/AIDS as a world-wide disease that brings grief, pain and death not exclusively to Africa or the 'South,' Healing needs to come to us all. The church itself has HIV/AIDS," the consultation report declared. It added that churches have the power "to contribute to changing the prevalent attitudes of separation, exclusion, shame and stigma."
The consultation on mission was held April 14-19 in London and was attended by more than 50 delegates and guests linked with the British-based Council for World Mission (CWM); United Evangelical Mission (UEM), headquartered in Germany; and Cevaa-Community of Churches in Mission, based in France, together with the Commission on World Mission and Evangelism of the WCC, in Geneva.
The consultation report acknowledged that the concept of God's role in physical healing had led to a crisis for many Christians. The idea was at odds with Western rationalist thinking. The report pointed out that, like Pentecostals, non-Western societies had never lost the dimension of God's involvement in healing. These approaches should be studied with appreciation, but "there is no compulsory correlation between faith and healing, sickness and sin, or prayer and healing," it added. "Wholeness means the restoration of relationships, but not necessarily a curing of all illness."
The organizations themselves were encouraged to be "more prophetic in confronting the injustices of European governmental policies on immigration and speak out on the double standards of 'open borders' in a global world economy."
The borders in the North often remained closed, the report said, as seen in the restrictive procedures for visa applications.
Clergy well-being a priority in Canada
(Anglican Journal) The enormous changes in Canadian society over the past several decades have put clergy under more physical and mental stress than ever and the church is seeking ways to improve and support clergy and staff well-being, according to a consultant working for the Anglican Church in Canada.
Women have moved into the working world and into the ranks of the ordained, so two-career couples among clergy are becoming more common, leaving clergy families to deal with childcare and time-management issues.
The same trend among parishioners means that the rector's hours aren't nine to five since many parish meetings must be held in the evening when people are off work. "In addition to finances, pastoral care and liturgy and some social work there is now screening of volunteers, consideration of legal issues and shifting demographics," said Eileen Scully, ministry and worship consultant with General Synod's faith, worship and ministry committee.
"Every profession has its stresses. Ordained ministry comes with particular stresses and there is increased stress on clergy from a variety of angles," she noted.
Last summer, General Synod identified clergy well-being as a top priority. Bishop Fred Hiltz, of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, is leading a Council of General Synod (COGS) task force that is looking at ways to improve and support clergy and staff well-being.
General Synod's pension committee has told COGS several times that it is concerned about the number of long-term disability claims received in recent years. At the November 2001 COGS meeting, a report from the pension committee said that the number of claims in force as of September 30, 2001 is 59 and of that number 37 per cent "are of a psychological nature." (There are approximately 2,100 active members and 1,900 retired people covered by the pension plan.)
"Previous studies have shown that the first five years of ordained ministry are a critical time and that new clergy need mentoring and support," said Scully.
The committee also discussed the existing system. "We need to do some diagnosis of the state of health of the church and all who minister," Scully said. "What do we expect as a system of those who minister? Do we put too much stress on the clergy? Too much stress on the bishop?"