Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, January 14, 1995 TAG: 9501160027
SECTION: RELIGION PAGE: B-9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: FROM STAFF REPORTS & WIRE REPORTS:wq!
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The Rev. Joseph S. Gaston of York, S.C., will become minister of Bedford Presbyterian Church on Feb. 12. He will succeed the Rev. Dr. Richard Boyce who resigned 18 months ago to take a North Carolina church. In the interim the Rev. Francis B. Avery has served the congregation. Avery, a second-career pastor, said he is retiring effective Feb. 5.
Gaston is a 1981 graduate of Clemson University with a degree in agronomy and worked in agriculture for several years. In 1991 he graduated from Union Theological Seminary in Richmond. He and his wife, Karen, a teacher, have two children, Erin, 11, and Caleb, 8.
Boycott urged
COLUMBUS, Ind. - Columbus schoolchildren and their parents are being asked to boycott school on the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday and attend an alternative community celebration of the civil rights leader.
School officials say students who do so will be passing up a chance to hear from prominent national black figures being brought in Jan. 16 to talk as part of an in-school celebration of King.
However, the Rev. Charles Sims, pastor of Calvary Pentecostal Church, believes the in-school celebration falls short of treating the day as a holiday.
``The education community should be more sensitive than anyone else to understanding the tremendous amount of symbolism that is involved in recognizing the accomplishments of Dr. Martin Luther King,'' Sims said.
The day is a national holiday, and government agencies in Columbus and at the state level are treating Jan. 16 as a holiday as well, Sims noted.
``Here we are saying we don't feel it's necessary to do this; we don't see the merit. That's what is so disappointing,'' he said.
Sims, the Rev. Carl Russell of Second Baptist Church and the Columbus NAACP office are leading the call for the boycott.
The alternative celebration at Sims' church Jan. 16 will feature discussions about King's life and beliefs, a protest march to a downtown education building and a community unity meeting that night.
Cardinal on-line
NEW YORK - Cardinal John O'Connor has had his own television show. He writes a weekly column for the archdiocesan paper. And now, he's spreading his message in a new realm - cyberspace.
In what was billed as a first of its kind event for a Catholic cardinal, O'Connor answered questions for about 45 minutes recently on an on-line computer information service, Prodigy. Responding to subscribers' queries, he touched on subjects from AIDS to the pope to abortion.
``I feel as though I am on `Star Trek,''' the 74-year-old head of the New York Roman Catholic Archdiocese said at one point.
But he predicted on-line services like Prodigy will have a broad impact and that ``it's certainly a way to reach people who never come to church.''
A man who identified himself as a homosexual with AIDS, and a devout Catholic, said he felt persecuted by the church.
O'Connor said he regretted if the man felt persecuted but added, ``I believe the church teaches what Christ taught. If I tried to change that teaching, I would be lacking integrity.'' He told the man to call him.
When asked about the recent killings at two Massachusetts abortion clinics, O'Connor called the violence ``sheer madness'' that ``discredits the right-to-life movement.''
Egyptians honored
NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. - Westminster College has awarded honorary doctoral degrees to two Egyptian religious leaders for encouraging understanding among Christians and Muslims in their homeland.
The Grand Mufti of Egypt, Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi, and the Rev. Samuel Habib received the awards at a campus convocation last week in New Wilmington, about 65 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.
The Grand Mufti is Egypt's highest authority on Islamic law. Two years ago, he was the first Islamic clergyman to address the congregation of an Egyptian church.
Not afraid of Gingrich
GREENVILLE, S.C. - The descendants of slaves freed by Abraham Lincoln will fight to keep the Republican Party from killing social programs important to blacks, the president of a black Baptist group says.
``And I'm here to tell Brother Gingrich and the Republican Party and any other ultraconservative, white or black, that we not only tasted freedom but we know how power operates,'' said the Rev. Henry J. Lyons, head of the 8 million-member National Baptist Convention USA Inc.
He made the reference to new U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a Georgia Republican, in a talk last week at the Baptist Educational and Missionary Convention of South Carolina.
After the speech, Lyons said he would write to Gingrich and President Clinton.
``He is still the president, and I intend to let him know that the National Baptist Convention stands strongly behind him, but then we are going to hold the Republican Party accountable,'' Lyons said.
Lyons said he was worried that Republicans would take millions of people off welfare, while spending billions of dollars on defense projects.
by CNB