Spirituality
Bishops still face years of work to end abuse
After their climactic decision to oust clerical sex abusers from the daily life of the church, America’s Roman Catholic bishops, above, returned home from their recent Dallas meeting with years of work still ahead if they are to abate the molestation crisis.
They must now expel abusers from parishes and other workplaces, and attend to the difficult task of tying down the many loose ends in their new reform policy, including deciding how to respond to bishops’ own misdeeds in handling abuse claims and calming evolving parishioner protest.
A potentially important step was overshadowed at the meeting: a motion to “review the role of bishops themselves” and assure “oversight” of bishops “in the context of the present crisis.” The bishops approved that vague proposal and handed the assignment to a committee of seven bishops led by William Skylstad of Spokane, Wash., vice president of the U.S. hierarchy. His panel will report to the bishops’ next meeting Nov. 11-14.
Scholar tells Presbyterians to heal internal divisions
A Bible scholar addressing the annual meeting of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in Columbus, Ohio, urged church liberals and conservatives to stop fighting with each other and focus on evangelism instead.
Walter Brueggemann said Presbyterians should use their resources to teach the Christian principles of forgiveness and charity in a society he said devalues both, according to Presbyterian News Service.
Among the top issues that have divided liberals and conservatives is whether to ordain gays. Earlier this year, conservatives killed a proposal that would have permitted noncelibate homosexuals to serve as ministers.
The Presbyterians were scheduled to end their meeting today.
Methodist church to close after financial struggle
A once-thriving United Methodist congregation in Brandywine, Md., has decided to close at the end of this month after a seven-year controversy over its finances.
Leaders of Gibbons-Resurrection United Methodist Church decided to surrender their property after realizing it could pay only about two-thirds of the $4.5 million it owed bondholders.
The church’s woes date back to 1995 when the congregation began selling bonds for a multimillion-dollar building project. It was soon mired in financial problems that were blamed in part on mismanagement by the first construction manager. The Rev. C. Anthony Muse, who was pastor at the time, then accused the denomination’s leaders of failing to fully back the project. Methodist leaders denied the accusation, saying they had given him more than $1 million. But Muse left in November 1999, taking most of his congregation with him.
Jews for Jesus spreading message in Portland area
Jewish leaders in the Portland, Ore., area have been trying to counter the message of the San Francisco missionary group Jews for Jesus, which urges Jews to accept Christ as savior. Jews for Jesus has spent months recruiting volunteers from evangelical Christian churches across western Oregon.
The Oregon Board of Rabbis said the group’s claims that one can be Jewish and believe in Christ’s divinity “are fraudulent and thereby do a grave disservice.”
Susan Perlman, a Jews for Jesus co-founder, said members don’t push their views on unwilling listeners.