Southern Baptists appoint national strategist on homosexuality

SAN ANTONIO (AP)- The Southern Baptist Convention has created a new job of national strategist on gender issues, who will work with gays and lesbians who believe they can overcome their homosexuality.

Bob Stith, who served as pastor of Carroll Baptist Church in Southlake, Texas, for 37 years, started the new job June 1.

On June 13, at the SBC annual meeting in San Antonio, Stith said he hopes to bring men and women ``to wholeness in Jesus Christ.'' He hopes the ministry will help gays and lesbians ``come to a place where this temptation doesn't dominate their life.''

Stith and SBC officials are still working out the specifics of the job.

With more than 16 million members, the Southern Baptist Convention is the largest Protestant denomination in the country. Several evangelical groups, including Exodus International and Focus on the Family, run programs teaching that homosexuality is a sin that can be overcome.

Gay rights groups and many medical professionals say faith-based programs advocating ``reparative therapy'' for gays and lesbians are dangerous to patients.

Nun quits teaching after diocese seeks confirmation that she's a good Catholic

SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) - A Roman Catholic nun quit her teaching job rather than comply with what she called an ``insulting'' demand for a letter declaring her a Catholic in good standing.

The Diocese of Scranton is laying off about 100 teachers as it closes several elementary and high schools in Luzerne and Lackawanna counties due in part to declining enrollment.

The diocese is basing its retention decisions on teacher qualifications, seniority and proof of good standing in the church in the form of the letters from pastors.

Sister Regina Werntz, who has taught the past nine years at Bishop Hoban High School, said that ``most of the 10 sisters at Bishop Hoban ... viewed this as personally demeaning and also insulting to our religious congregations.''

Dan Gallagher, a diocesan spokesman, said nuns were guaranteed teaching positions after the consolidation if they applied. ``There were many other sisters who apparently had no problem with the letter and submitted it without any problems,'' Gallagher said.

Jewish author honored for book on friendship with pope

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Roman Catholic leaders gathered for ceremonies to honor a Jewish author's friendship with the late Pope John Paul II and her ability to touch others' lives.

Lena Allen-Shore of Philadelphia, an adjunct professor at Gratz College, began a close acquaintance with the pope when he responded to a letter she wrote in 1979, weeks after his election as the first Polish pope.

They met several times, and she wrote ``Building Bridges,'' about their childhoods outside Krakow, Poland, and their different paths, which did not cross until old age.

The June 13 gathering at the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington, D.C., marked the release of the third edition of ``Building Bridges.''

The new edition of ``Building Bridges'' includes a note John Paul wrote when the first edition was published, saying, ``Thank you for seeing deep into my thoughts and understanding the intentions guiding my actions.''