Catholics, Muslims come up with blueprint
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The Midwest Dialogue of Catholics and Muslims, an initiative of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Islamic Society of North America, was staged at the Islamic Center of America, a Shiite mosque.
Several dozen participants weighed tough questions _ including ideas for guidelines governing attempts to convert Muslims to Catholicism and Catholics to Islam _ and approved a mission statement to guide future dialogue.
``Our common belief in the one God of mercy and love calls us into relationship with one another,’’ the statement reads. ``Therefore we see our dialogue as a spiritual journey. Common ethical concerns compel us to take responsibility for our relationship within U.S. society.’’
Bishop Francis Reiss, an auxiliary bishop of Detroit, said the goal is not theological compromise but spiritual growth.
Sayyid Syeed, secretary general of the Islamic Society of North America, said: ``Catholics are 60 million in the U.S. We are hardly eight to 10 million, and we are still exploring ways of establishing our community and gaining the recognition and respect that we deserve as American Muslims. And so, we truly appreciate this big brother relationship.’’
http://www.usccb.org/
http://www.isna.com/
Episcopal presiding bishop: church needs to refocus
BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) _ The presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church of the United States says church members unhappy with the ordination of a gay bishop in New Hampshire should worry about more pressing world problems.
``Obviously a handful of our church leaders are still upset and would like to see the church never ordain and never baptize a gay or lesbian person,’’ Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said at the convention of Vermont’s Episcopal diocese. ``We need to refocus on more life-and-death issues like starvation, education, medical care.’’
Jefferts Schori was referring to the 2003 election in New Hampshire of Gene Robinson as that state’s Episcopal bishop. Her talk came shortly after the Pittsburgh Episcopal diocese voted to take the first step toward splitting off from the national church.
Pittsburgh joined dioceses in San Joaquin, Calif., and Quincy, Ill., in granting preliminary approval to separating from the national church. The dioceses contend the national church has wrongly abandoned scriptural authority, which traditionally has been viewed as condemning gay sex.
http://www.ecusa.org/
Mount Rushmore officials sued over free speech, religion
PIERRE, S.D. (AP) _ America’s ``shrine of democracy’’ is the setting for another fight over religion and public land.
A Christian law group is accusing Mount Rushmore officials of trampling the free speech and religious rights of a Minnesota man who alleges he cannot get a permit to distribute religious materials at the national monument.
The Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund has filed a lawsuit in federal court in Washington, D.C., against monument officials.
on behalf of Michael Boardley of Coon Rapids, Minn.
The suit says Boardley distributed ``gospel tracts’’ at the monument on Aug. 9 without incident but was told the next day he needed a permit.
Gerard Baker, Mount Rushmore superintendent, said Boardley has never applied for a permit.
``We have never denied a permit,’’ Baker said. ``All he has to do is get a hold of us, and we’ll give him a permit. We issue 70-plus permits a year, and I’m not sure what’s going on.’’
Boardley would like to return to the monument to distribute gospel tracts, but he has been unable to get a permit, the ADF says in the lawsuit. Refusing to give him a permit is a violation of his constitutional rights of free speech, freedom of religion and due process, the complaint alleges.
Boardley has not applied for a permit because Mount Rushmore officials would not give him an application, both when he was at the monument and later when he called and asked for one, Kevin Theriot, ADF senior counsel, said Monday.
In the lawsuit, which also names the U.S. Interior Department and National Park Service, ADF asks the court to strike down Mount Rushmore’s rules on literature distribution and the defined area where that is allowed.
http://www.nps.gov/moru/
Archdiocese objects to book talk by lesbian Catholic, father
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) _ A book discussion at a Roman Catholic parish that was to be led by a lesbian Catholic and her father was canceled after objections from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
Carol Curoe of Minneapolis and Robert Curoe of Bernard, Iowa, were to speak at St. Francis Cabrini Catholic Church about their book, ``Are There Closets in Heaven? A Catholic Father and Lesbian Daughter Share Their Story.’’
But after conservative bloggers were critical and contacted the archdiocese, spokesman Dennis McGrath contacted St. Francis Cabrini and St. Joan of Arc, the church where Carol Curoe, her partner and their children worship.
The talk went on at a different location: Spirit of the Lakes United Church of Christ in Minneapolis.
McGrath said he advised St. Francis Cabrini that ``it wasn’t a good idea’’ and that Archbishop Harry Flynn would not approve of a lesbian who is ``in an actual full sexual relationship’’ speaking at a church.
He added: ``We welcome gays and lesbians in the church, and there are many, I’m sure, who go to many of our parishes. But they have to follow the rules ... they cannot be sexually active.’’
Michael Bayly, executive director of the Catholic Pastoral Committee on Sexual Minorities, an independent group seeking greater church acceptance for gays and lesbians, called the archdiocese’s actions disappointing.
``This understanding of church as an exclusive country club with a set of rules that everyone’s got to follow _ I don’t think that’s reflective of the type of community that Jesus was all about,’’ he said.
http://www.archspm.org/
California university establishes professorship in Mormon studies
CLAREMONT, Calif. (AP) - A prominent Mormon historian and author has been hired to fill a new professorship in Mormon studies at Claremont Graduate University, the second such academic program at a secular school nationwide.
Richard Lyman Bushman, professor emeritus of early American history at Columbia University, is a devout Mormon who wrote a sprawling 2005 biography of the faith’s prophet, ``Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling.’’
Bushman’s post is to begin next fall and last at least three years. The new professorship shows that ``Mormons believe that their religion is worthy of study at the highest academic level and, secondly, that it can bear up under that kind of scrutiny,’’ Bushman said.
The university has raised about $1 million, mainly in donations from Mormons, to establish the Howard W. Hunter visiting professorship in Mormon studies, named after the late president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who was a lawyer in California. The goal is $2.5 million for a permanently endowed chair and another $2.5 million for scholarships, conferences and library books.
Claremont had hoped to be the first secular institution to offer a formal Mormon-studies program but was upstaged by Utah State University, which started classes on the topic this fall.
http://www.cgu.edu/
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