News Briefs

Retired priest's tale of Christ becomes inspirational best seller

By David Germain

SCHROON, NY (AP)   — In Joseph Girzone's epilogue to the New Testament, Christ peddles his 2,000-year-old carpentry skills for chicken recipes, buses tables to pay his way to the Vatican and quips that he hasn't had kosher in ages.

A retired Roman Catholic priest, Girzone has just published "Joshua and the Children," his second best-selling parable-novel about Christ's second comings —and goings —in today's world.

"I see the terrible, terrible hurt, the anguish people suffer," Girzone said. "People are desperately trying to find an answer, to find a god that makes sense. I want to present them with a god that finally makes sense."

In the first book, Jesus returns to Earth, takes the name Joshua and sets up shop as a carpenter and woodcarver. He lives simply, earning just enough to get by, and captivates people of all faiths with talk of a God who forgives people's weaknesses, who "did not intend to make humans little gods."

Joshua clashes with the establishment. He advises a troubled priest to fight the celibacy requirement for priests, offends religious leaders by attending services at church and synagogue alike and faces a hostile panel of Vatican inquisitors.

Joshua tells Vatican leaders that churches are "ruled by unfeeling and arrogant shepherds who hurt the flock and do irreparable damage to God's people with complete immunity.... To threaten God's displeasure when people do not follow your rules is being a moral bully and does no service to God."

Between healing the sick and restoring sight to the blind, Joshua preaches against drugs and ocean pollution, uses TV evangelism to spread his message and buys gallon jugs of table wine from liquor stores.

There are even ascension and resurrection scenes. In the first book, Joshua escapes a Vatican boarding house where he's been locked away after telling the pope what he's doing wrong. In the second book, Joshua vanishes from his coffin after being gunned down by religious fanatics in Northern Ireland.

"I can't help but feel God wanted something done and is using the book to accomplish it," he said.

Textbook guidelines remove reference to evolution as fact

(RNS)  — In a unanimous vote Nov. 9, the California Board of Education adopted a new set of textbook guidelines that call for respecting the personal beliefs of people who reject the theory of evolution for religious reasons.

The revised guidelines also deleted a reference in an earlier draft that had called evolution a "scientific fact." The removal of that language led some observers to charge that the board had given in to pressure from fundamentalists.

But Bill Honig, the state superintendent of public instruction and a strong supporter of evolution, said, "It is very clear in the document that evolution will be taught and creationism will not."

Bishops, pharmacists outraged at plan to market abortion pill

ROME (RNS)   — The Italian Bishops Conference is mobilizing a movement against the introduction here of RU486, the French-invented abortion pill. The Conference's news service this week issued a renewed condemnation of abortion and infanticide and broadcast the hard line position taken by the country's Catholic pharmacists on the "day-after" pill.

Health Ministry officials here recently began speculation about the possibility of authorizing sales of the RU486 pill, and the issue is proving highly divisive. A statement by Archbishop Dionigi Tettamanzi of Ancona, a well known theologian, said use of the pill is not only morally unacceptable but would run contrary to the sense of the Italian Abortion Law. According to the prelate, introduction of RU486 would further the use of abortion as a means of contraception. Furthermore, he said, it would also lead to "privatization" of abortion in the sense that women would no longer have to go through the state and its counseling services.

The news service also distributed comments by Lino Mottironi, president of the Italian Union of Catholic Pharmacists. Mr. Mottironi said Catholic pharmacists here will refuse to sell the pill on grounds of conscience. He said his association "is hopeful that sale of this poison for homicidal purposes will not be authorized." But if it is, there will be a reaction.

Mr Mottironi cited a document prepared by Austrian pharmacists saying: "Abortifacient products cannot be considered medicines in the real sense of the term because their purpose is to end life rather than to protect it." Domenico Di Virgilio, president of the Italian Association of Catholic Doctors, also opposed the introduction of the new pill.

Pennsylvania House passes stringent anti-abortion measure

(RNS)   — Pennsylvania's House of Representatives has approved what would be the most stringent anti-abortion law in the nation if it is adopted by the full legislature and signed as expected by Gov. Robert P. Casey.

The measure, which passed the Pennsylvania House Oct. 24 by a vote of 143-58, would ban abortions after six months of pregnancy except to save the life of the mother or prevent "irreversible" physical damage to the mother. It would also outlaw "sex-selection" abortions, require a 24-hour period for "informed consent" before an abortion and require a married woman to bring a note to her doctor saying she had informed her husband of her plans to seek an abortion.

Lobbyists on both sides of the issue saw the Pennsylvania measure as having national significance. "It's a tremendous victory for the movement to protect the unborn children in this country," said Bernard F. Shire, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference.

Kate Michelman, executive director of the National Abortion Rights Action League in Washington, said the measure is "a vicious, destructive interference with a woman's medical options and an assault on the constitutional right to abortion."

"Resigned priests" push for reinstatement by Catholic Church

HEMPSTEAD, NY (RNS)   — A convocation of resigned Roman Catholic priests here called for greater pressure on churches to create opportunities for service for them. The group also urged the formation of "base communities" as a way of supporting resigned priests in their campaign to gain recognition from the church.

"We need to stop following rules and start to organize resigned priests" to move into leadership positions in the church, said Joe Dougherty, a resigned priest who was one of the organizers of the gathering held Oct. 21 at Hofstra University here.

Speakers said that the issue of resigned priests, most of whom are married, is going to receive increasing attention because of the long term trends in Catholicism.

Since 1965 there have been at least 18,000 priests in the United States and more than 100,000 worldwide who have resigned, according to conference participants. At the same time, among the 19,500 parishes in the United States, one in 10 has no priest. Conference participants often linked the two trends, saying that former priests should be allowed to resume priestly duties because of the shortage.

According to church law, a priest who resigned and is no longer celibate cannot fulfill the functions of a priest such as baptizing, and hearing confessions.

In one workshop, Frank Modica, a resigned priest who now runs a housing settlement in New York, called for a "revolution" in the church. He said that in the New York Archdiocese under Cardinal John O'Connor there is little opportunity for resigned priests.

But he added in an interview, "I'm not so sure I want to return to today's church as a priest.... For instance, I wouldn't want the hierarchy to tell me I couldn't be pro-choice on abortion."

Mr. Modica echoed other speakers and participants when he said resigned priests are "not just concerned with allowing married priests. We have a different vision of the church." The conference's workshop on supporting the ordination of women was another sign of wider concerns among participants.

In the keynote address, Dr. Anthony Padovano, a resigned priest who is professor of religion and American literature a Ramapo College in New Jersey, said that resigned priests "do not want to return to the church of Pope John Paul II" with his "belligerent style," but instead are helping to prepare the way for a "reformed church."

Supporters of Lebanese commander attack Maronite patriarch

(RNS)   — Supporters of Lebanese Gen. Michel Aoun reportedly stormed the residence of Maronite Catholic Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir in the early hours of Nov. 6, dragging him out of bed and trying to force him to kiss a picture of the military commander.

Estimates of the number of participants in the assault on Patriarch Sfeir's house in the Beirut suburb of Bkerke ranged from hundreds to thousands. Reports indicated that the Aoun supporters dragged the patriarch out of bed, tried to force him to kiss a picture of the general, and replaced a picture of Pope John Paul II in the main reception room with one of the commander.

After the protesters set fires in his house, Patriarch Sfeir fled to his summer home in Diman, 30 miles north in Syria-controlled territory. He was greeted on his arrival by President Moawad and reportedly asked God to forgive the attackers.

Catholic leader says political changes lead to revitalized church

WASHINGTON (RNS)   — The political thaw in Eastern Europe allows new opportunities for the Roman Catholic Church, but its revival will be slow after so many years of suppression, the church's leader in Hungary said.

In Hungary, the East Bloc nation which has politically liberalized most in the last two years, a shortage of priests and the loss of a churchgoing habit must be reversed, Cardinal Laszlo Pakai said.

"The changes do not necessarily mean more people go to church than before, but the churches can provide religious instruction, youth work and can organize their services better, "he said.

Hungary, which came under Soviet occupation and a communist government in 1945, is 60 percent Catholic and 20 percent Lutheran and Reformed.

Cardinal Paskai said that the new Hungarian government has tacitly acknowledged the innocence of the late Cardinal Jozef Mindszenty, former primate of Hungary. In a show trial, he was charged with collaboration with the Nazis and given a life sentence in 1949.

During the 1956 Hungarian uprising, Mindszenty was released and took refuge in the U.S. Legation in Budapest when the Soviets crushed the revolt. The anti-communist cardinal refused to leave until the charges against him were dropped.

As part of the Vatican's "Ostpolitik," its post-war policy of protecting the church by negotiating rather than confronting communist regimes, a settlement was reached and Mindszenty left for Rome in 1971.

The Hungarian supreme court has reopened the Mindszenty case for re-examination, Paskai said. "The government would like to put behind itself the events between 1945 and 1958."

He emphasized that the Mindszenty case is not a political rehabilitation, but legal justice done to a religious leader considered by the church to have been a martyr.

Denver residents can talk to "God" by dialing a number

DENVER (RNS)   — People who complain that God doesn't answer their prayers are guaranteed a response if they dial a telephone number here and are willing to pay $1.99 a minute.

Thanks to a service established by 34-year-old John Hansen, callers can talk to "God" and ask questions. The voice responding to messages left on the line sounds like a woman. Mr. Hansen declined to say who it really is, but he insisted that the answers are spontaneous replies.

Mr. Hansen is getting several calls a day on 1-976-HOLY. The first calls included one from a girl who says she is pregnant, another who said she wanted to kill her mother, a man who confessed he is bisexual and his girlfriend wants to set a wedding date and a man who assaulted a friend who spilled tequila on his carpet.

The voice told the girl it will be easier to confess her pregnancy to her parents than to God, told the girl who wants to kill her mother that she is an "insolent pup," told the bisexual man not to worry about his orientation and told the tequila victim he should have called a carpet cleaner.

Mr. Hansen, who describes himself as an entrepreneur, said he started the message line to God to "have some fun and get people to think. It's not meant to insult anyone."

He said he was raised in a Christian fundamentalist home and believes in God, but he doesn't go to worship services.

New World Parliament of Religions planned for Chicago in 1993

CHICAGO (RNS)   — Many Americans were introduced to such Oriental religions as Hinduism and Baha'i at the World Parliament of Religions held here in 1893.

To mark the upcoming centennial of that event, an interfaith group is planning a second gathering. Organizers hope it may have as big an impact as the 1893 meeting, which some scholars consider a watershed in U.S. religious history.

A century ago, Christian leaders and a few Jews did the organizing. This time the event is being sponsored by leaders of U.S. minority faiths, including Buddhists and Muslims.

Although the 1993 parliament has been endorsed by mainline Christian bodies like the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Chicago branch of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), its major organizers have been representatives of the American Islamic College and the Vivekananda Vedanta Society (Hindu), both of Chicago, and the Baha'is in Wilmette, IL.

Formal preparations for the parliament will begin Nov. 4 in Rockefeller Memorial Chapel at the University of Chicago with an interfaith liturgy.

"Deliver us, O Lord, we beseech Thee, from all evils."