Episcopal Press and News
News Briefs
Episcopal News Service. August 30, 2001 [2001-236]
Trache sues ECUSA over Atlanta bishop decision
(ENS) The Rev. Robert Trache, former rector of St. James', Richmond, Virginia, has filed suit in Federal court against the Episcopal Church, Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold, and the Rev. Clay Matthews, executive director of the Office of Pastoral Development for the House of Bishops, charging undue interference with the Diocese of Atlanta's decision to terminate his contract to serve as bishop of Atlanta.
Trache was elected bishop in 1999, but eight days prior to his scheduled consecration, the event was cancelled. Diocesan officials cited a "lack of disclosure in personal and family matters" as the basis of their decision.
Trache maintains that the diocese had no authority to terminate his employment and that Griswold and Matthews encouraged the diocese to do so. He is asking a total of $10 million dollars in compensation for the "severe emotional, social and economic distress" he has experienced as a result of their actions and for its affect on continuing his professional career.
Griswold is "aware of the suit and has instructed counsel to defend him and Bishop Matthews," said Barbara Braver, assistant to the presiding bishop for communication. "The allegations are unfounded."
Survey: Religion, values affect investing
(AP) Faith and personal values help guide the financial decisions of more than a third of American investors, according to a new survey commissioned by a Mennonite company but conducted by an independent research firm.
Yet the survey, released August 29, also found that only 7 percent of investors who knew about mutual funds run by religious groups put their money in them.
"It is a challenge to those of us that are responsible for faith-based investment opportunities to do a better job of communicating the availability and opportunity for aligning faith and values'' with investing, said John Liechty, president of MMA Praxis Mutual Funds, the Mennonite company that commissioned the survey.
In the poll, 36 percent of investors said they always or sometimes considered spiritual and ethical issues when deciding where to put their money. Another 20 percent said they would like to incorporate religious or ethical concerns in their financial planning. However, only 18 percent of the investors knew about religiously affiliated mutual funds.
The number of mutual funds that cater to religious investors has grown in the last decade. But there are still just 43 such funds, compared with more than 15,573 open-end mutual funds in the US, according to Lipper Inc., a New York-based investment research company. Religious funds account for less than 5 percent of total mutual-fund assets.
Like so-called socially responsible funds, religious funds screen companies for practices that investors might find offensive. For years, such funds have battled the perception that they are weak performers compared to peers with no such restrictions. But a 1999 study by Morningstar Inc., a Chicago-based fund tracker, found socially responsible funds performed comparatively well.
Recent high-profile fraud cases also could be keeping customers away. In the past three years, securities regulators in 27 states have taken actions against companies and individuals that used spiritual beliefs to gain the trust of more than 90,000 investors.
The survey of 1,141 investors by Opinion Research Corp. International of Princeton, New Jersey, was conducted June 21-25 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. MMA Praxis, based in Goshen, Indiana, has about $300 million in four mutual funds.
Mugabe refuses to meet with WCC head
(ENI) Violence will never lead to peace and justice in Zimbabwe, said Konrad Raiser, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), who led a six-member delegation to southern Africa beginning August 26. Requests made by the Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC) for a meeting between Raiser and Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe were ignored by government officials.
Raiser's visit coincided with the publication by the ZCC of a pastoral letter condemning the violence that has gripped the southern African nation. In a sermon delivered at Trinity Methodist Church in central Harare on August 27, Raiser gave his backing to the pastoral letter, saying that it represented "the voice of truth."
In the letter, the ZCC--Zimbabwe's largest Christian organization--criticized the government for instigating violent actions against its perceived opponents, restricting civic organizations from carrying out voter education programs and allowing war veterans to take the law into their own hands. At least 30 people have been killed in political violence and racially motivated attacks since February last year.
Raiser, whose last visit to Zimbabwe was in 1998 for the WCC assembly in Harare, said that the situation in the country had become "more and more critical" since then.
After his sermon, Raiser told journalists that while he had not been able to meet President Mugabe, the WCC had expressed its concern about the situation through Zimbabwe's representative to the United Nations, based in Switzerland. He said that if the government refused to talk with the churches, the WCC would not be able to help Zimbabwe. "We will not be of assistance as long as the government refuses to be in dialogue and listen to the churches, which represent a large constituency," he said. Asked if the government had refused to engage in dialogue, Raiser said that there had been no response to any request for meaningful dialogue.
Raiser said the government of Zimbabwe had directly and indirectly asked the WCC to intercede in the conflict between the southern African nation and Britain. Zimbabwe accuses Britain of reneging on a pledge to fund land reform as part of the 1979 Lancaster House agreement that brought independence to Zimbabwe. The impasse has led to strained relations between Zimbabwe and Britain and is one of the reasons cited by President Mugabe's government for the expropriation of white-owned farms.
Most clergy expect split in PC(USA), survey finds
(PNS) It is at least "somewhat likely" that a large group will split from the Presbyterian Church (USA) within the next 50 years, a majority of pastors and specialized clergy speculated in a recent Presbyterian survey.
A large majority of pastors (73 percent) and specialized clergy (67 percent) said they believe it is "very likely" or "somewhat likely" that by 2050 "a large group will have split off" from the PC(USA) "to form a new denomination." Elders were about evenly divided on the possibility of a split, but more church members said they think a split is "unlikely."
More than half of members (60 percent) and elders (56 percent) said they believe it is "not very likely" or "not likely at all" that the PC(USA) will have merged out of existence by 2050. Pastors' views are more evenly divided between "likely" and "unlikely." Only among specialized clergy was a merger deemed likely by a majority (53 percent).
The findings were part of the February 2001 survey, Presbyterians in the 21st Century, conducted by the PC(USA)'s Research Services office. The survey included responses from 595 members, 615 elders and 940 ordained ministers.
While most panelists said they want less conflict in the PC(USA), large majorities (71 percent of members and 92 percent of specialized clergy) reported a willingness "to tolerate different viewpoints in the church even if it spills over into conflict sometimes." When pastors were asked whether "conflict at the presbytery or General Assembly" has affected their congregations, they were evenly split.
More than half of specialized clergy and 80 percent of elders said they "strongly agree" or "agree" that the church "is in trouble" if members are no longer willing to fight for their beliefs. Nine of every 10 panelists (91 percent of elders, 93 percent of pastors) said they are optimistic about the future of the Christian church worldwide. About one-fourth of members, elders and pastors, and one-seventh of specialized clergy, said it is "essential" to them personally that the PC(USA) continue to be a separate denomination. Most others termed it "important."
Nearly half of elders (47 percent) and pastors (45 percent), asked what broad trend or pattern will have the most impact on how Presbyterian churches will look in 2050, selected an increase in the number of people in "non-traditional families."
Mobs terrorize non-Orthodox Christians in Georgia
(ENS) Georgian authorities are indulging and abetting mob violence against non-Orthodox Christian worshippers, Human Rights Watch said August 29.
In a 14-page memorandum, the group urged the Bush administration to challenge the Georgian government's failure to address the violence, and called for the US Commission on International Religious Freedom to visit Georgia and investigate. In early September, the administration is due to release its annual report on global religious freedom.
More than 40 attacks have taken place this year and more than 80 violent incidents have been reported since 1999. The memorandum, based on interviews with victims, documents 10 of the attacks that have taken place in 2001. The assailants, civilian militants sometimes led by Orthodox priests, have targeted Jehovah's Witnesses, Pentecostalists, Baptists, and followers of other Christian faiths non-native to Georgia, attempting to intimidate them.
"People should be entitled to worship without fear," said Elizabeth Andersen, executive director of the Europe and Central Asia division of Human Rights Watch. "For two years now these groups have had carte blanche for violence. It's time for the Georgian authorities to start investigating, arresting, charging, and detaining them."
Human Rights Watch said that leading Georgian institutions bear heavy responsibility for creating the atmosphere of hostility and intolerance towards non-Orthodox Christian faiths in which these violent attacks have flourished. Law enforcement agencies' failure to prosecute the perpetrators of such attacks has given a green light for further violence and hostility. The Georgian Orthodox Church has failed to condemn the violence explicitly. Since 1998 it has lobbied for laws to gain special status and to have restrictions placed on other faiths. In February the Supreme Court ruled to deregister the Jehovah's Witnesses as a legal entity in Georgia, which prompted a new surge of violent attacks.
"The rule of law is giving way to mob law on this in Georgia," said Andersen. "The Georgian authorities and their international partners need to put a stop to it."