Religion News in Brief

By The Associated Press | Clanton Advertiser

Published Friday, February 27, 2009

NEW YORK (AP) — Membership in the nation's two largest Christian church bodies, the Roman Catholic Church and Southern Baptist Convention, declined slightly in 2007, according to the latest edition of the Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches.

The Catholic church remains the largest body of believers in the U.S., with 67 million members, the yearbook said. But from 2006 to 2007 the church shed 398,000 members in the U.S. — a 0.59 percent drop. Southern Baptists reported 16.2 million members for a decline of 0.24 percent, or a loss of nearly 40,000 members.

Although the declines are relatively small, both churches historically have reported growth. The yearbook is published by the National Council of Churches, an ecumenical group based in New York.

Among the 25 largest churches in the U.S., four are growing, the yearbook found: the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or the Mormon church (up 1.6 percent), the Assemblies of God (up nearly 1 percent), Jehovah's Witnesses (up 2 percent), and the Church of God of Cleveland, Tenn. (up 2 percent).

Mainline Protestant denominations lost members, but were not alone in suffering declines. Those churches in the yearbook experiencing the highest rate of membership loss include predominantly white, mainline denominations the United Church of Christ (down 6 percent), the Presbyterian Church (USA) (down nearly 3 percent) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (down more than 1 percent).

A more conservative Lutheran denomination, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, reported a decline of nearly 1.5 percent. The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church suffered a 3 percent drop.

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http://www.ncccusa.org

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Conservative Lutheran church leader criticizes gay clergy proposal

ST. LOUIS (AP) — The president of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod expressed "great disappointment and deep sadness" over a proposal that would allow gays and lesbians in committed relationships to serve as clergy in the larger and more liberal Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Gerald B. Kieschnick, in a letter to his 2.5 million-member denomination, said the change "would constitute a radical departure from the 2,000-year-long teaching of the Christian tradition that homosexual activity, whether inside or outside of a committed relationship, is contrary to Holy Scripture."

In 2001, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod adopted a resolution saying it does not consider the Chicago-based Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to be "an orthodox Lutheran church body" but recognizes that many members of the larger denomination "remain faithful" to the Christian Gospel.

Last week, a task force of the 4.7 million-member Evangelical Lutheran Church in America issued a series of recommendations that could lead to lifting a ban on non-celibate gay clergy.

The task force acknowledged a lack of consensus on the issue and proposed that congregations and synods, or regional church bodies, be given "structured flexibility" to decide whether to hire people in "lifelong, monogamous, same-gender committed relationships" as clergy.

The recommendations, which may be revised in the coming months, will be considered at the denomination's biannual convention in Minneapolis this August.

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http://www.lcms.org

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Washington archbishop takes to YouTube to reach lapsed Catholics

WASHINGTON (AP) — To mark the beginning of Lent, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington is launching a $75,000 marketing blitz using YouTube, a blog and advertising to reach lapsed Catholics.

"We wanted people to be able to ask questions," said Susan Gibbs, spokeswoman for the 580,000-member archdiocese. "Sometimes they're not ready to walk in a church door ... or they might be embarrassed to ask a question, or they might be worried that they won't be welcome."

The campaign's slogan is "Longing for something? Maybe it's God?" Only about one-quarter of archdiocese's Catholics attend weekly Mass, Gibbs said, and the goal is to improve those figures.

For the past two years, the Washington archdiocese has used Lent to encourage Catholics to go to confession more regularly.

This year's campaign will include conventional advertising such as signs in subway cars and buses, radio and newspaper ads and a billboard, Gibbs said.

Taking to the Internet is a new approach. A clip of Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl has been posted on YouTube, the video sharing site, inviting Catholics who have "drifted away" to "think about coming back ..." The archdiocese also is launching an interactive blog staffed by several priests and laypeople.

Lent is a 40-day period of penance and fasting that begins this week with Ash Wednesday and culminates with Easter, the Christian celebration of Jesus' resurrection from the dead.

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http://www.adw.org/home.asp

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Dispute over concerts by Love and Music church settled out of court

PITTSBURGH (AP) — An out-of-court settlement has been reached in a legal dispute between county officials and a man who described his "jam band" concerts on his 147-acre spread as church services.

William Pritts, head of the Church of Universal Love and Music, argued that the concerts were part of religious expression, so he didn't need a permit. Fayette County officials labeled the church a sham Pritts created because his 2001 application for a zoning exemption was rejected.

Pritts sued the county in 2006. The man's lawyer, Gregory Koerner, said terms of the settlement are confidential. But he described the accord as "mutually satisfactory" and said Pritts will be able to continue his venture. County lawyer Marie Milie Jones confirmed that an agreement had been reached.

The dispute began in 2001 when Pritts filed for a zoning exception to hold concerts on an agricultural tract. Pritts didn't claim to head a church when he first sought the exception and a permit to build a stage, though he said some local churches might use the facility for fundraisers, county officials said.

Residents raised concerns including traffic, safety, noise, and alcohol consumption. Pritts' attorneys say his "non-denominational Christian church" had about 200 members and dates to 1985, but acknowledged it wasn't formally incorporated under state law until 2002.

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News of St. Louis archbishop to be spread by text-message

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Barack Obama the presidential candidate used it to reveal his vice presidential choice. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis will use the same technology to share news of its next archbishop.

The archdiocese said that it believes that no other diocese in the country has used text-messaging to communicate such an announcement.

St. Louis, a traditional Catholic stronghold, has been without an archbishop since June 27, when Archbishop Raymond Burke was named as the first American to lead the Vatican supreme court.

After a new archbishop for St. Louis is announced in Rome — typically 5 a.m. St. Louis time — the archdiocese will send a text message about the new appointee to anyone who has registered on its Web site.

There is no word on when the announcement will come.

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http://www.archstl.org

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