Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 20, 1993 TAG: 9302200279
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS Bishop: End
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
BRIEFS
Bishop: End ban on gaysThe spiritual leader of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Bishop Herbert W. Chilstrom, has written President Bill Clinton that he supports a proposal to allow persons to serve in the military regardless of their sexual orientation.
"Your position is in many respects similar to that which this church and many other denominations hold regarding ordained persons," Chilstrom wrote the president. "We do not ban gay and lesbian persons from becoming pastors in our church. We do, however, have a clear set of standards and expectations for all who are ordained. We judge them by their behavior rather than on the basis of sexual orientation."
A news release from the national office of the denomination said the document that sets forth Lutheran expectations states that persons who are homosexual "are expected to abstain from homosexual sexual relationships."
Chilstrom also wrote to Gen. Colin Powell, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He has opposed Clinton's plan to lift the ban on gay and lesbian persons in the armed forces.
Religion, race workshops
A conference-wide Convocation on Religion and Race sponsored by Virginia United Methodists is scheduled April 24 at First United Methodist Church in Salem.
It will begin at 10 a.m. and continue through lunch to 2:30 p.m. Workshops for any seeking greater understanding among races and ethnic groups in the church will include "Facility Sharing," "Racism" and "Powhatan Indians: Yesterday and Today."
The VMI Black Cadet Chorus will provide music. Closing worship will be led by the Rev. Estras E. Rodriguez-Dias, associate secretary of the General Commission on Religion and Race. For more information and to register call 463-5635 or 463-3437. The only charge is for lunch.
New Catholic ministry
Roman Catholic Bishop Walter F. Sullivan has announced that he will appoint the sixth pastoral coordinator in the Diocese of Richmond to serve St. Vincent's de Paul Church in Newport News. The nun or lay person has not been named, but the bishop said he or she will carry on the administrative and pastoral functions of the parish while an ordained man serving nearby will be available to conduct Mass and perform all other functions reserved for priests.
This sixth pastoral coordinator will be the first to serve an old, inner city parish. The others include women with special training who are leaders of congregations in Rocky Mount, Fincastle and Smith Mountain Lake.
Sullivan said he has chosen to permit laity and nuns to serve parishes rather than to close churches as is being done in some other parts of the nation. The growth of Catholicism in Virginia, he said, gives him no choice but to utilize the new form of ministry.
Holy month for Muslims
NEW YORK - Islam's holy month of Ramadan, a period for the world's Muslims of daytime fasting, alms-giving and special prayers, starts Monday. It is called the "month of blessing."
Based on Islam's lunar religious calendar, the period marks the time when founder Mohammed is said to have began receiving the divine revelations recorded in Muslim's scripture, the Koran.
Fasting by abstaining from food or sex from daybreak to sundown during Ramadan is considered disciplinary training to strengthen will-power of believers to fight off temptations to wrong throughout the year.
In the month, most Muslims offer their yearly "zakah," an obligatory "due" for the poor.
Parishes to close
NEWARK, N.J. - After nearly two years of study and evaluation, the Newark Roman Catholic Archdiocese has accepted a plan for closing two parishes and a parish school in East Orange, N.J., and concentrating resources in three remaining parishes.
Coping with illnesses
DURHAM, N.C. - A study at Duke University Medical Center finds that older hospitalized men who use religion to cope with their illnesses are less likely to become depressed than those who don't use religious coping means.
In the American Journal of Psychiatry, assistant professor of psychiatry Harold G. Koenig says 20 percent of 850 veterans admitted to Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center said they used religious concepts to cope with their illnesses. The higher the patient's religious coping scores, the less likely the patients were to show symptoms of depression.