Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 27, 1993 TAG: 9302270051
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
BRIEFS
Facing cancer issues"Critical Issues Facing Cancer Patients and Caregivers" will be the theme of William Fintel and Gerry McDermott on Monday at 10 a.m. at Second Presbyterian Church in Roanoke. Fintel, an oncologist, and McDermott, a Roanoke College religion professor, have collaborated on a book of that theme just published, titled "Living With Cancer."
The Roanoke Valley Ministers Conference at which the pair will speak is an organization of religion professionals of several faiths. The talk, starting at 10:30 a.m., is open to guests.
Episcopal workshop
Marion Hatchett, a national leader in Episcopal liturgical reform, will lead a workshop March 6 from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at St. John's Episcopal Church in Wytheville. As a member of the Standing Liturgical Commission of the Episcopal Church, Hanchett headed the text committee that prepared The Hymnal 1982. He has been professor of church music and liturgics at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn., for the past 23 years.
To reserve lunch or for more information, call 228-2565 by Monday .
`Civil religion'
MANHATTAN, Kan. - Religion may be the only social glue sticky enough to hold together a nation as diverse as the United States, Kansas State University history professor Bob Linder says.
But that function has to be accomplished in a roundabout way, he says, considering both the broad attachment to religion in this country and also Americans' stress on the separation of church and state.
He says the solution has been the practice of what's called "civil religion" - to talk about God, values and national mission in general, but "never to do so in precise Christian terms."
He says that although you'd never guess it from the impression given by the media of pervasive "pluralism," 87 percent of Americans claim adherence to specific Christian denominations, according to a recent broad national survey.
Vatican action urged
MT. RANIER, Md. - Catholics Speak Out, a national coalition of liberal Catholics, has launched a campaign urging the Vatican to withdraw its nuncio - or ambassador - and diplomatic recognition from Haiti.
Noting the recognition was accorded only after a military coup had ousted democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the coalition's co-coordinator, the Rev. William Callahan, said:
"The Vatican has committed a scandal of international proportions by becoming the only government in the world to recognize the bloody coup d`etat regime in Haiti."
Southern Baptists decline
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Baptisms by Southern Baptists declined in 1992 for the first time in five years, but increases were registered in the number of churches, Sunday school enrollment and denominational membership.
Membership reached 15,365,486, up 127,203.
The number of churches rose to 38,458, up 237, and Sunday school enrollment reached 8.26 million, up 1 percent. Baptisms declined to 367,847, compared to 396,668 the year before.
Presbyterian changes
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A proposal readied for the governing assembly in June of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) would make sweeping changes in the way it develops positions on social policies.
As drafted by a task force, a new rule would provide for much more input by the membership-at-large,both at the beginning and concluding stages of policy formation by the 3.8 million-member denomination.
The task force was set up in 1988 in response to numerous petitions expressing concern about unrest in the church over some social policy statements and insisting there should be more input from the ranks.
Changes would provide that regional and local units be notified of pending social-policy inquiries, be offered a chance to make suggestions at the start and then provide feedback on final drafts before assembly action.