Local Bishop Denounces Apparitions as Fraudulent

Rome (CNS) — The Yugoslavian bishop whose diocese includes the site of the alleged Marian apparitions at Medjugorje has denounced the apparitions as a fraud that will bring "disgrace and scandal upon the Church" in a pamphlet intended for international distribution.

Bishop Pavao Zanic of Mostar Duvno said he was going on the offensive to counter what he called "disproportionate propaganda" and misinformation spread by supporters of the alleged visions. Bishop Zanic spoke in an interview in Rome April 19 after meeting with Vatican doctrinal officials and presenting them with copies of his 16-page tract, titled "The Truth About Medjugorje." He sent a copy of the booklet to Pope John Paul II at the beginning of April, he said.

"After this publication is read, no one—and especially no Church official—will be able to sustain that these events are supernatural," Bishop Zanic said in the interview.

The Church has not given a ruling on the authenticity of the apparitions, which began in 1981 and are said to continue today. A Yugoslavian Church commission is investigating the events, and meanwhile the country's bishops have asked that no official pilgrimages be made to the site. However, Medjugorje continues to draw many pilgrims from around the world.

Bishop Zanic is a longtime critic of the purported events at Medjugorje and of the Franciscans who run the parish there.

The bishop states in his booklet that after six local children first reported that Mary appeared to them and spoke with them, he and other Church officials caught them in lies or contradictions on several occasions.

He describes episodes to back up his accusation that the seers have been manipulated by Medjugorje Franciscans in "their battle against the bishop."

The bishop says "disobedience prevails" among the Franciscans in the region, so much so that in 1989 the Franciscan headquarters in Rome threatened to close down the Yugoslavian province. A Franciscan official in Rome confirmed that such a letter had been sent to the province.

Bishop Zanic dismisses claimed healings at Medjugorje, saying not one has been verified by competent experts. He also cites examples of "promises that have ended tragically."

He says the leaders of the Medjugorje movement have "fabricated miracles regarding the sun," resulting in eye damage to many pilgrims, and fabricated messages said to be from Mary.

In explaining what he calls the "fanaticism" among Medjugorje followers, the bishop cites the example of U.S. cult leader Jim Jones, who led most of his community in committing mass suicide in Guyana in 1978.

"What gave them the strength to commit suicide? Fanaticism! Yet when the Christian faithful hear of apparitions and miracles, they easily accept these events as facts without being at all critical of the events. They are then caught up in their blindness and fanaticism," he states.

Bishop Zanic says his warnings about the authenticity of the visions have been ignored by other Catholic leaders—many of whom see great spiritual fruits at Medjugorje.

He is critical of some bishops who, he says, have shown "lack of collegiality" by supporting the apparitions without seeking him out or studying all the evidence.

Atheist Candidate for Governor Challenges S.C. Election Law By Erin Kelly

Raleigh, N.C. (RNS) — Herb Silverman doesn't really want to be governor; he just wants to change the rule that says he's not qualified for the job. As a third party candidate for governor of South Carolina, the self-proclaimed atheist is running without the blessing of the Palmetto State constitution, which declares atheists ineligible for the governor's office. "No person shall be eligible for the office of governor who denies the existence of the Supreme Being," reads Article IV, Section 2 of the state constitution. But the 47-year old mathematics professor from the College of Charleston says he doesn't have to believe in God to be a good governor. "Atheists are not inherently inferior or immoral," he says.

Dr. Silverman has $70 in campaign funds and the backing of the United Citizens party, a liberal multiracial group, to propel his candidacy against incumbent Republican Governor Carroll A. Campbell Jr. and whichever Democrat takes the upcoming primary. He doesn't expect to win.

Dixie isn't the only place with anti-atheist clauses in state constitutions. Besides South Carolina and Arkansas, Pennsylvania still declares non-believers unfit for some public offices unless they acknowledge "a future state of rewards and punishments."

The math professor stopped believing in God as a 15 year-old Jewish teenager growing up in Philadelphia, but thinks he's as worthy of the public's trust as any theist. "I don't feel that one is less moral because he's an atheist," he said, adding he still follows those basic ethical guidelines.

And Dr. Silverman hopes state officials do challenge his credentials. Then the matter would go to court, where he thinks it would be ruled unconstitutional. There are legal precedents for his thinking. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a 1961 Maryland case that a law requiring state officials to declare their belief in God was unconstitutional. And Article VI of the U.S. Constitution states that "no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States."

But it took a while for the law of the land to get where it is. In 1776, officeholders had to be Protestants. By 1835, that was changed to "Christians", to give the rising Catholic population its chance to govern. Finally in 1886, "all that was required was belief in Almighty God," Dr. Silverman said. Now Dr. Silverman wants South Carolina to stretch its definition of a worthy candidate to include atheists.

Abortion Protesters Win Latest Round in Five-Year Battle

(RNS) — Abortion protesters in Waukesha, Wis., won the latest round in a five-year legal battle when a trial court dismissed charges against seven demonstrators based on a local anti-picketing ordinance. In an April 20 decision, Waukesha County Circuit Judge Mark S. Gempeler said the local law did not apply to the demonstrations in question because it forbids picketing that takes place "solely in front of a particular residence." The seven defendants had marched twice up and down the street and once around the block where Benjamin Victoria, a physician who performs abortions, lives.

Toronto Jewish Shopkeeper Charged with Violating Sunday Law

(RNS) — A Jewish shopkeeper in Toronto has been charged with violating Ontario's Retail Business Holidays Act for keeping his store open on Sundays and on Good Friday. The provincial law says a business may open on Sunday if it is always closed on any other day of the week for religious reasons. Martin Herzog, the shopkeeper accused of violating the law, keeps his Tunes record shop open seven days a week.

Reference To God in Boy Scout Oath Challenged in Lawsuit

(RNS) — The Boy Scouts' requirement that members take an oath "to do my duty to God and my country" is being challenged in federal court in Chicago by an agnostic and an atheist. The lawsuit by agnostic Elliott Welsh of Hindsdale, Ill., and Robert L. Sherman of Buffalo Grove, Ill., national spokesman for American Atheists Inc., charges that the Scouts' religious requirement violates the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The Scouts say their units function like private clubs, which are excluded from the provision of the act that bans religious discrimination in public accommodations.

Abortion Protesters Released in Vermont after Giving Names

(RNS) — Authorities in Waterbury, VT released 95 anti-abortion protesters May 9, after 11 weeks in jail, when they finally agreed to give their names. At the time they were arrested for unlawfully blocking the entrances to a Planned Parenthood clinic and a women's health center in Burlington in February, the demonstrators identified themselves only as "Baby Jane Doe" or "Baby John Doe." Edward Sutton, a deputy state's attorney for Chittenden County, said the demonstrators, only eight of whom were from Vermont, agreed to give their names and be fingerprinted and signed a waiver of right to trial.

Court Upholds use of Anti-Klan Law against Operation Rescue

(RNS) — The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the use of an 1871 law directed at the Ku Klux Klan to impose fines against abortion posters who violate the rights of women seeking abortions. In its May 21 decision rejecting an appeal from Operation Rescue, the high court let stand a September 1989 ruling from a federal appeals court in New York that upheld more than $69,000 in fines levied against the organization and its founder, Randall Terry.

A week earlier, the Supreme Court rejected a bid from Operation Rescue to lift an injunction barring protesters from holding demonstrations within 50 feet of any abortion clinic in Atlanta.

The case on which the court ruled May 21 was based on a lawsuit filed in 1988 by the National Organization for Women, Planned Parenthood, the National Abortion Rights Action League and various abortion clinics in the New York City area. They based their case on the federal Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, which banned conspiracies that violate the rights of a "class of persons."

In upholding Judge Ward's order last September, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that "there is no constitutional privilege to assault or harass an individual or to invade another's personal space."

Paper Says Laity, Rome Notwithstanding, will Solve Priest Shortage

(RNS) — Is the Eucharist, the fundamental act of worship and symbolic heart of Roman Catholic identity, in danger of becoming extinct? Yes, says the editor of the National Catholic Reporter, a lay Catholic weekly which ran a recent special report on the priest shortage and a three-part series on the "liturgical crisis" it has brought about.

At the same time, the paper's editors believe that lay Catholics already have begun to take the problem into their own hands and will "find ways to break bread" even if there are no priests present.

"Priest shortage may signal an end of Eucharist at center of parish," ran the April 13 headline of the special report by Jim Castelli that detailed the growing priest shortage facing the United States, a problem already well known in other parts of the world.

The growing shortage is a crisis that means "liturgical starvation" for an expanding U.S. Catholic population, writes sacramental theologian Bernard J. Cooke in the first installment of "The Eucharist: A threatened species." The series concluded in the May 25 issue.

The immediate crisis is that there are not enough ordained, male, celibate priests to celebrate the sacrament of the eucharist, consecrating the bread Catholics receive at Mass, but the roots of the problem lie elsewhere claims Mr. Cooke.

The drop in the number of priests has been so dramatic it has "led some to argue that involved here must be some kind of providential design working to reconfigure the way the church carries out its ministries," the May 25 editorial in the National Catholic Reporter claims.

Sheriff's Anti-Abortion Advocacy Stirs Controversy in Texas

(RNS) — A south Texas sheriff has stirred controversy by his anti-abortion advocacy and his statement that he will not arrest abortion protesters because "it would be aiding and abetting murder."

Sheriff James Hickey, an active Catholic layman, is the chief law enforcement officer in Nueces County, Texas, with 260 deputies under his command. Although his policies have not yet been put to the test, he has stirred some controversy by his supportive presence at abortion protests in Corpus Christi conducted by a group called Body of Christ Rescue.

Weakland Disciplines Students for Printing Offensive Articles

MILWAUKEE (RNS) — Roman Catholic Archbishop Rembert Weakland, bucking the trend toward increasing confrontation in fighting legalized abortion, has issued a statement that criticizes many in the pro-life movement as narrow and lacking compassion and urges the church to spend more time listening to the concerns of women about the root causes of abortion.

The 21-page statement is the archbishop's response to a series of six "listening sessions" held with women around the Milwaukee Archdiocese earlier this year. The sessions were the fulfillment of a promise he made in November when the U.S. bishops agreed to make the abortion issue a top priority. At the time, Archbishop Weakland, long a spokesmen for women's concern, promised to go back to his archdiocese and consult women on the matter.

The statement might be viewed as combative in its own way, since its tone is strikingly different from the string of sanctions recently placed by bishops on politicians and others who take a pro-choice stance in the political arena. The statement not only takes issue with pro-life tactics but also advocates that the church "allow to our politicians as much latitude as reason permits."

In a number of places, the statement mentions the consistent life ethic, a concept that would place abortion amid a whole range of human life issues -including poverty, hunger, education and abuse of children and women - some of which have a direct bearing on women's decisions to have abortions.

While not veering from the church's ban on abortion in almost all circumstances, the archbishop pointed out that the teaching "does not have the full support of many Catholics, especially of many women, because it seems to be too simplistic an answer to a complicated and emotional question." he says many women feel the teaching does not resolve other problems that arise when abortion is considered in "a pluralistic society, especially where there is not political and societal consensus on the issue, neither in its moral dimension nor in its legal embodiment."

Silenced Theologian Explains "Creation Spirituality" in Ad 

New York (RNS) — The Rev. Matthew Fox, the Dominican priest who is being silenced by the Vatican for a year, explained his "Creation Spirituality" teachings in a full page ad published in the New York Times Dec. 13, two days before the silencing was to take effect.

Under the headline, "My Final Statement Before Being Silenced by the Vatican," Father Fox wrote, "Creation spirituality did not being with me. It is the old tradition in the Bible. All the prophets were creation-centered, including Jesus."

Stressing the feminist nature of Creation Spirituality, the theologian wrote that "it believes compassion, justice and celebration are the goals of spirituality. It emphasizes creativity over obedience. It believes humans are essentially divine. Its psychology is one of trust," wrote the priest who was ordered silenced by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, headed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.

Father Fox declared that "we must unleash the wisdom of all religions—Western and Eastern, as well as Native American and Goddess traditions—to reveal the Cosmic Christ. This cannot happen until Western religion recovers its mystical heritage."

"At no time did the Vatican speak or correspond directly with me," Father Fox said. He concluded that the discipline handed down by the Vatican was based on four main points of his theology:

"In fact, I do not deny these 'charges'. The question remaining is this: why are these positions so threatening to Cardinal Ratzinger that he would overrule the Dominican Order and deprive me of my freedom to speak or teach? Clearly, the case against me is more political than it is ideological."

The priest said his silencing, and similar actions taken by the Vatican against liberation theologians in Latin America and leaders of the Church in the Netherlands, reflect "a new fundamentalist zeal at large in the Catholic Church." He warned that "like recent fundamentalist movements in other religions, such as Islam and Judaism, it now threatens to take control."

Priest Shortage: A Problem for Sociologists or the Lord?

Washington (RNS) — A number of bishops and religious orders, in hope of stemming the tide of declining vocations, have begun to advertise for priests through the mass media. Some have even used billboards to attract the attention of potential recruits.

"Billboards are okay with me," said Dean Hoge of Catholic University, a noted sociologist who has done extensive studies on the drop in the number of priests. But billboards "have such low yield that you have to ask if they're worthwhile."

Dr. Hoge said his and other studies have shown that interest in the priesthood arises from interpersonal relations, usually encouragement by a priest, friend or family member. But even this won't solve the problem, the sociologist argues.

According to Dr. Hoge, the priest shortage is a product of broader social processes that are beyond the Church's control. "The priest shortage should not be seen as coming out of the blue. If s a by-product of assimilation, of affluence and opportunities. Ifs something that's happening in all modern nations. It doesn't happen in the developing world," he said.

Some critics, however, reject the social science approach to the problem. "This is not a sociological problem. It's a spiritual problem," said the Rev. Kenneth Baker, editor of The Homiletic and Pastoral Review, a conservative Catholic journal published in New York. He blamed the problem of fewer priests and nuns partly on Liberal religious orders that have become "secularized", that have loosened traditional standards and that emphasize social action rather than spiritual welfare. The few orders that have held to traditional ways are growing, Father Baker argues.

The priest also faults Dr. Hoge and other sociologists for claiming to know the future situation of Catholic leadership. " I leave that in God's hands, not in the hands of the sociologists," he said. "'The Lord will take care of His Church in His own time."

Lutheran and Catholic Officials Sign Covenant in Chicago

Chicago (RNS) — Two Roman Catholic and Lutheran bishops here have announced agreement on a regional covenant intended to promote greater cooperation between their denominations and help bridge divisions in the wider society.

Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, Catholic Archbishop of Chicago, and Bishop Sherman Hicks, head of the Chicago Metro Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, said Dec. 19 that they intend to put their signatures to a formal covenant agreement next May.

The agreement, similar to one signed two years ago between the Catholic Archdiocese and the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago, will "call upon each of the congregations and parishes in our archdiocese and synod to begin a time of deeper relations with each other," the announcement said.

Cardinal Bernardin said a focus on increased church cooperation is very timely since Chicago recently had been plagued by divisiveness.

Lutheran-Roman Catholic married couples will get special attention in the covenant, the leaders said. With such formal ties between the denominational jurisdictions, the Cardinal said intermarried couples should find help in handling religious differences. Bishop Hicks said the churches can also learn from the experiences of intermarried couples.

The 14-point agreement calls for Chicago Lutherans and Catholics to pray for unity, share resources, staff and buildings where possible and develop more inter-church contacts at the congregational level.

Formal signing of the Catholic-Lutheran covenant was put off until mid-year 1989 so parishes in both jurisdictions can have time to prepare for a celebration of the event.

Albanian Bishop is Freed; Jesuit Priest Dies in Labor Camp

(RNS) — Albanian Bishop Nikoll Troshani, believed to be the only surviving Catholic bishop in the country, has been freed from captivity after 14 years, according to a report from Keston College, the British-based society for the study of religion under Communism.

In reporting on the release of the 73-year-old prelate, Keston also said it had received word of the death in a labor camp of the Rev. Peter Meshkalla, an 87-year-old Jesuit who had spent more than 25 years in Albanian prisons.

In 1967, Albania proclaimed itself "the world's first officially atheist state." It has outlawed all forms of religion and imprisoned any clergy who refused to renounce their faith.

Bishop Troshani was one of three Catholic prelates who were arrested in 1974 for holding religious services. The others, Bishops Antonin Fishta and Ernest Coba, were reported to have died in labor camps several years ago.

Father Meshkalla, the Jesuit priest, was imprisoned form 1946 to 1971 for speaking out against anti-religious measures of Albania's then-new Communist government. He continued his priestly ministry upon his release despite the fact that it had been declared illegal, and he was rearrested in 1973. At the time he was sentenced to life imprisonment but was released under an amnesty 10 years later.

On Christmas Day 1985, Father Meshkalla was arrested for the third time for celebrating Mass. He was sent to a camp for elderly prisoners at Ballsh, and it is there that he reportedly died last July.

Parish Councils Stripped of Power Under New Denver Rules

Denver (RNS) — Roman Catholic parish councils, which once served as church boards, have been stripped of any legislative or administrative power in this archdiocese.

A new set of guidelines, written by a committee of 15 priests and approved by Denver Archbishop J. Francis Stafford, mandates that each parish will have a council but leaves them with the power only to plan pastoral programs, minister to the sick and poor and encourage Mass attendance.

The guidelines, which have prompted strong negative reactions from some laity, specifically state that the councils are not legislative, policy-making, financial or administrative bodies. A council cannot act as "grievance machinery" for personnel and "is not a body of representatives but a representative body," say the guidelines.

Catholic Liberals were outraged at the announcement of the new rules.

"The process by which these guidelines were written is abominable," said Tom Kerwin, a well-known Catholic lawyer and long-time Church activist. He was referring to the fact that no lay people were members of the committee that wrote the guidelines.

The rules calls for "consultative input" from the people on parish issues, a phrase Kay Norton Haughey of Estes Park called "high sounding."

"They want our input but we are to have no impact. The power is in the hands of an elite group of celibate men," said Ms. Haughey.

"Bishops want our money and work," she continued, "and until we stop giving them money, we will have no power."

Critics of the new rules says councils were designed originally to give lay people more voice in the running of parishes and to put an end to what they call the autocratic rule of priests. The critics contend the new guidelines are a giant step backward. Under the new rules, parish priests can decide whether to appoint or allow the people to elect members to the pastoral councils. Members of parish finance councils, which first consult with the pastor on money matters, will be appointed by the priest and cannot meet unless the priest is present.

Curran Again

Washington (RNS) — Fr. Charles Curran, testifying in his breach-of-countract suit against Catholic University, said he was given what amounted to an assurance of full academic freedom in the years before he was barred from teaching theology because of his dissent from Church teachings.

Taking the witness stand for the first time on Dec. 21, the theologian said the University's responses to controversies surrounding him in the 1960s amounted to a guarantee of academic freedom.

During those years, Father Curran was vindicated after attempts to fire him as a professor of moral theology at the Vatican-related university.

"I always felt that the best living proof I had of my academic freedom rights were my experiences at Catholic University," said Father Curran.

The question of whether Fr. Curran had prior assurances of academic freedom has emerged as a key question in the trial underway in the District of Columbia's Superior Court. The case has pitted Fr. Curran's claims to academic freedom against the University's claims to religious freedom.

In 1986, the University removed the priest from his teaching post after the Vatican declared that he was "neither suitable nor eligible" to teach as a Catholic theologian. The Vatican had condemned Fr. Curran's liberal writings on issues of sexual ethics such as artificial contraception and homosexuality.

According to Fr. Curran, the University's action removing him violated his contract as a tenured professor. But in testimony before the court, school officials have said there was never any guarantee of unlimited academic freedom at the Church University.

The case is complicated by the fact that there is no single document constituting Fr. Curran's contract, and so Curran lawyers have built his legal claim to academic freedom on university policies, statements by school officials, and past disputes involving the priest. In one such dispute, the students and faculty at the University went on strike in 1967 to protest a vote by the board of trustees to fire Curran. The strike forced the trustees to reverse its action, in what Fr. Curran described as an affirmation of his right to dissent.

"It's obvious that the strikes changed in many ways the attitudes and understandings" of the University in regard to academic freedom, Fr. Curran testified.

A year later, Fr. Curran was the chief spokesman for more than 600 theologians who issued a statement opposing Pope Paul VI's encyclical against birth control. The signers included twenty-one theologians from Catholic University.

Another proof cited by the 54-year-old priest for his view that "there was academic freedom and I could dissent from Church teaching" was the fact that his Liberal views on sexual ethics were already well known when the University hired him in 1965.

Preceding Fr. Curran on the witness stand, the president of Catholic University said academic freedom is respected by the school but is not considered absolute. For theologians, academic freedom has "ecclesial limits" including the need for "fidelity to and respect for the teaching authority of the Church," the Rev. William Byron testified.

Father Curran was asked by Judge Frederick Weisberg if he believed theologians are "required to give due weight to the Catholic Magisterium." Fr. Curran responded that he believes they are, but that ultimate judgment on a theologian's competence rests with his or her academic peers, not with Church authorities from "outside."

The trial was scheduled to end before Christmas and a ruling on whether Fr. Curran should be reinstated was expected some time afterward.