ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, January 20, 1996 TAG: 9601220017
SECTION: RELIGION PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
Episcopal business meeting
Episcopal lay and clergy delegates representing about 50 congregations in the Diocese of Southwestern Virginia will gather Friday through Jan. 28 in Blacksburg for their annual business meeting.
The Annual Council this year will include a farewell service for Bishop Heath Light who will retire in the fall after more than 17 years as spiritual and administrative leader. The service will be Friday night at 8 at Blacksburg Presbyterian Church. Business sessions will be held in the Donaldson Brown Continuing Education center of Virginia Tech.
Keynote speaker will be Bennett J. Sims, retired bishop of Atlanta, who now is a consultant in church management. A new bishop for Southwestern Virginia is scheduled to be elected June 22 at St. John's Episcopal Church in Roanoke.
Resolutions at this year's council include one that offers support to church leaders who avoid condemnation of homosexuals. Light was criticized several months ago for his membership in a gay-rights organization. His refusal to leave the organization drew criticism from some members of the diocese, including leaders in the Evangelical Episcopal Church of the Holy Spirit of Roanoke.
Delegates also will hear a progress report on a $3 million capital-funds drive expected to be launched later this year. One of its goals is the expansion of the diocesan headquarters and resource center in Old Southwest Roanoke, a proposal that currently is opposed by two historic preservation groups.
Promise Keepers
A national Promise Keepers conference for clergy is expected to draw more than 35,000 ministers of many denominations to Atlanta from Feb. 13-15.
The goal of the meeting is to encourage men to become part of small Christian study groups in their communities in an effort to break down walls that separate races and denominational groups. Promise Keepers, organized in Colorado five years ago, has since spread throughout the nation. Several Western Virginia communities have sponsored rallies with goals similar to the national group.
Call the office of Mark DeMoss, (770) 813-3000, for more information.
United Methodist conference
When United Methodists meet for their quadrennial General Conference from April 16-26 in Denver, Colo., clergy and lay delegates will vote on proposals relating to professional church workers, joining the ecumenical Consultation on Church Union, eliminating some structures in the local church, relocating the Board of Global Ministries office from New York to Reston, Va., revising membership rules and the ministerial appointment process, and taking or reaffirming stands on a variety of social-justice issues.
Western Virginia United Methodists are part of either the Virginia or the Holston conferences with headquarters respectively in Richmond, Va., and Johnson City, Tenn.
Shrinking priesthood
MILWAUKEE - The Milwaukee Archdiocese's loss of Roman Catholic priests in 1995 reached its greatest number of the decade, dramatizing Archbishop Rembert Weakland's prediction five years ago of a shrinking priesthood.
With 43 priests leaving the active clergy and with only three newcomers ordained, the archdiocese roll of 559 dropped 7 percent last year. Only about one-half the remaining priests were engaged in parish ministry.
Since 1990, the 10-county archdiocese has lost 142 priests from active ministry because of retirement, death and personal leaves, while ordaining 30, the Archdiocesan Office of Clergy Personnel said.
``It is a watershed for us,'' Weakland said, referring to the church in general.
A study for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops by Richard Schoenherr, professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin, said 13,200 American priests left since 1966, mainly to marry.
By the end of the decade, there might be as few as 17,000 diocesan priests serving a U.S. Catholic population of 75 million, up from the present 60 million, Schoenherr said.
Religious discrimination suit
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - A maintenance worker who said his religious faith cost him a promotion lost his discrimination case in federal court.
Jurors deliberated less than two hours recently before returning a decision in favor of Larry Mobley's employer, Regency Square Mall.
Mobley had sought lost wages and damages totaling $230,000 from the mall's owner, R.S. Properties Inc.
In his lawsuit, Mobley claimed he was not promoted to assistant maintenance supervisor in 1993 because he regularly attends church on Sundays.
One piece of evidence in the three-day trial was a supervisor's memo explaining why Mobley and three others were passed over for promotion. The memo said Mobley lacked initiative and ``has been a devout Christian and attends church often.''
John MacLennan, an attorney representing the mall, said the memo was misinterpreted to imply that Mobley wasn't selected because of his religious devotion. The supervisor meant that Mobley's church schedule would conflict with his job duties, he said.
Mobley remains employed at the mall.
Truth and revelation
PROVO, Utah - All truth is spiritual, said new Brigham Young University President Merrill Bateman, ``and thus the so-called secular truths may be discovered by revelation as well as by reason.''
``It is imperative that we not mimic the research and teaching choices of our colleagues at other universities without first using the measuring rod of the Gospel,'' Bateman said.
``A personal commitment to Gospel standards by faculty members will increase, not decrease academic freedom. If applied, the gospel framework will keep us from gathering like flies hovering over the dead carcasses of secular error,'' he said.
Bateman spoke to more than 10,000 students, faculty and staff at a recent devotional in the Marriott Center. It was his first address since becoming president of the Mormon Church-owned school Jan. 1.
Bateman urged students to abide by the Honor Code they sign upon admission to BYU. Students promise to abide by the tenets of the church, including abstinence from alcohol, coffee, foul language, dishonesty, premarital sex and immodest or sloppy dress.
Referring to the Honor Code's dress and grooming standards, Bateman said, ``A few may be uncomfortable and may not want to abide by them. For those few, please have the intellectual courage and integrity to live the standards or depart peacefully and try another institution.''
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