1 October 2008

Presbyterians Week Headlines

[1] Archbishop of Canterbury at Lourdes Embraces Mariolatry and Veneration of Saints
[2] Two Ministers Draft Theological Declaration Confronting PCUSA for Deviation from Orthodox Christianity
[3] Pastor’s Press Conference Highlights Virginia Government Order Not to Pray in Jesus’ Name
[4] World Alliance of Reformed Churches and Reformed Ecumenical Council Meet to Discuss Merger 6-10 October
[5] Laotian Village to Expel 55 Christians Refusing to Renounce Faith
[6] Dromara (Northern Ireland) Reformed Presbyterian Church Pastor Installed
[7] Mattoon Presbyterian Church USA Celebrates 130^th Anniversary
[8] Eastern Classis, Calvin Synod Meeting 25 October 2008 in New York City
[9] Pulpit Freedom Sunday Tests First Amendment Against Internal Revenue Service Regulations
[10] UCC Renewal Leader Called Upon WCC and Episcopal Church to Cancel Dinner for Iranian Dictator


[1] Archbishop of Canterbury at Lourdes Embraces Mariolatry and Veneration of Saints

After a recent visit to Lourdes, the first ever for an Anglican leader, Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams asserted that the 18 visions of the Virgin Mary allegedly experienced by Bernadette Soubirous in 1858 were true, and by implication identified his personal acceptance of the Roman Catholic doctrine of the Immaculate Conception that is explicitly linked to the apparitions.

While there, Dr. Williams preached at a mass about Bernadette’s visions without qualifications.

“Only bit by bit does Bernadette find the words to let the world know; only bit by bit, we might say, does she discover how to listen to the Lady and echo what she has to tell us.”

Dr. Williams also praised the lives of the Roman Catholic saints, the veneration of saints being another distinctive of Roman Catholic theology.

Afterward, the Protestant Truth Society, a group of Anglicans and nonconformists committed to upholding the ideals of the Protestant Reformation, condemned the archbishop’s visit to Lourdes, their director the Rev. Jeremy Brooks saying, “Lourdes represents everything about Roman Catholicism that the Protestant Reformation ejected, including apparitions, mariolatry and the veneration of saints.”

“The archbishop's simple presence there is a wholesale compromise, and his sermon which included a reference to Mary as "the Mother of God" is a complete denial of Protestant orthodoxy.”

Rev. Brooks added: “At a time when our country is crying out for clear Biblical leadership, it is nothing short of tragic that our supposedly Protestant archbishop is behaving as little more than a papal puppet.”

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[2] Two Ministers Draft Theological Declaration Confronting PCUSA for Deviation from Orthodox Christianity

The Rev. Albert Rhodes Stuart of Highland Presbyterian Church in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania, and Patrick McElroy of Park United Presbyterian Church in Zelienople, Pennsylvania have drafted for presentation to the Beaver-Butler Presbytery a theological declaration to the PCUSA to confront the denomination for its "deviation from orthodox Christian faith."

The deviations the ministers cite include the 2008 General Assembly’s approval of a $2 million legal defense fund to be used for property cases in civil courts, the failure to allow debate on an authoritative interpretation concerning the denomination's ordination standards; the adoption of an authoritative interpretation of the PCUSA constitution that would allow gay and lesbian candidates for ordination to conscientiously object to the current constitution’s fidelity and chastity standard; the approval of a resolution encouraging Presbyterians to converse with, celebrate holidays with, and worship together with Jews and Muslims; and the approval of an overture that commended a study of the Trinity for PCUSA congregations that suggested additional designations to the Trinity other than "Father, Son and the Holy Spirit," including, "Compassionate Mother, Beloved Child and Life-giving Womb," "Rock, Cornerstone and Temple," and "Sun, Light and Burning Ray."

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[3] Pastor’s Press Conference Highlights Virginia Government Order Not to Pray in Jesus’ Name

86 Virginia pastors will gather on 1 October 2008 in Richmond Virginia to present a letter with all of their signatures to Governor Tim Kaine asking him to rescind his administration’s ban on public prayer in Jesus’ name that forced six State Police Chaplains to resign.

Depending on Gov. Kaine’s response to this letter, the Pastors are contemplating bringing a state-wide prayer-rally to honor the chaplains on 1 November at 10am at the Capitol Square Bell Tower in Richmond, just three days prior to election day.

Speakers at the 1 October press conference include Former Navy Chaplain Gordon James Klingenschmitt who was court-martialed and removed from the US Navy for praying in Jesus’ name while in uniform at a White House rally.

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[4] World Alliance of Reformed Churches and Reformed Ecumenical Council Meet to Discuss Merger 6-10 October

The World Alliance of Reformed Churches and the Reformed Ecumenical Council will meet together 6-10 October 2008 in Utrecht, The Netherlands to plan the merger of the two organizations into the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC).

The WCRC will represent 80 million Reformed Christians worldwide.

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[5] Laotian Village to Expel 55 Christians Refusing to Renounce Faith

At a 19 September 2008 special community meeting called to resolve the “problem” of eight resident Christian families who have refused to give up their faith in Boukham village in Savannakhet province, Laos, plans were made to expel all 55 Christians living in the village.

Pastor Sompong Supatto, 32, and two eighteen-year-old believers from the village, Boot Chanthaleuxay and Khamvan Chanthaleuxay, are jailed in the nearby Ad-Sapangthong district police detention cell. Police have held the men in handcuffs and wooden foot stocks since their arrest on 3 August, causing numbness and infection in their legs and feet due to lack of blood circulation.

Authorities have said they will release the three if they will renounce their faith.

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[6] Dromara (Northern Ireland) Reformed Presbyterian Church Pastor Installed

The Rev. Geoffrey Allen has been installed as the new minister of Dromara Reformed Presbyterian Church in Dromara, Northern Ireland by the Eastern Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.

The Reformed Presbyterian congregation of Dromara was formed in 1874 when a deputation of the congregation petitioned the Eastern Presbytery and subsequently a Committee of Presbytery met with the 269 people applying for membership.

After initially using a temporary wooden structure seating 600 people, in 1876 the church building and manse were erected under the leadership of the church’s first minister the Rev. Torrens Boyd. Rev. Boyd twice travelled to America to raise money for the buildings.

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[7] Mattoon Presbyterian Church USA Celebrates 130^th Anniversary

The Mattoon Presbyterian Church USA in Greenville, South Carolina celebrated its 130^th birthday 26-28 September 2008 with a memorial service for departed members, a banquet, and an address by Mattoon’s Pastor Brady Radford where he shared his vision for the future of the church.

Mattoon is a black church of 30 members that was organized in 1878 and has been in its present church building since it was constructed the previous year. The church is currently undergoing extensive restoration with the assistance of Greenville’s First Presbyterian Church.

The church ran a school for grades 1-9 until around 1939 when Greenville’s all-black school Sterling opened.

The church is named for its founder the Rev. Stephen A. Mattoon who was president of the college that was the forerunner to Johnson S. Smith University in Charlotte, North Carolina.

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[8] Eastern Classis, Calvin Synod Meeting 25 October 2008 in New York City

The Rt. Rev. Jozsef Vasarhelyi, Dean of Eastern Classis and Auxiliary Bishop announces a meeting of the Eastern Classis on 25 October 2008 at the First Hungarian Reformed Church in New York City.

The meeting begins at 2:30 PM EDT with a presentation by Dr. Pasztori Istvan, Professor of the Kolozsvar Seminary about the Christian symbols on the Hungarian Holy Crown.

The classis meeting starts at 3:30 PM with a worship service to follow at 5:00 PM.

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[9] Pulpit Freedom Sunday Tests First Amendment Against Internal Revenue Service Regulations

Pulpit Freedom Sunday 28 September 2008 saw 31 pastors nationwide test their First Amendment rights by engaging in free speech from the pulpit by preaching about the moral qualifications of candidates seeking political office, contrary to federal tax regulations.

The Alliance Defense Fund who organized Pulpit Freedom Sunday say they are prepared to defend the First Amendment rights of pastors who engaged in free speech from the pulpit Sunday.

An amendment offered by then Texas Senator Lyndon Johnson in 1954 was subsequently enacted that can result in the removal of a church’s tax-exempt status if the pastor engages in what the Internal Revenue Service deems to be prohibited political speech.

Reformed Presbyterian pastor the Rev. Richard Bacon closed his 28 September sermon at Faith Presbyterian Church Reformed of Mesquite, Texas, with the words, "We must vote against the candidacy of Senator Barack Obama. Amen."

(Editor’s Note: The First Amendment to the US Constitution states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”)

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[10] UCC Renewal Leader Called Upon WCC and Episcopal Church to Cancel Dinner for Iranian Dictator

United Church of Christ (UCC) renewal leader David Runnion-Bareford, Executive Director of the confessing movement in the UCC and President of the Association for Church Renewal, on 24 September 2008 called for the World Council of Churches (WCC) and The Episcopal Church to cancel their plans to host Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at a celebrative dinner in New York City on 25 September.

"It is an outrage that Christian leaders would so abjectly sacrifice justice for peace by feting a known murderer, anti-Semite, and international criminal. There is documented evidence that Ahmadinejad is a holocaust denier who has supported the killing of innocent civilians in Israel, killed and tortured political opponents personally, executed children and sponsored legislation about to be finalized this week which will criminalize conversion to Christianity in Iran," Runnion-Bareford said. "Some of our mainline denominations such as the United Church of Christ, The United Methodists and the Presbyterian Church USA are already under indictment for entertaining anti-Semitic resolutions and ideologies promoted by opponents of Israel, this dinner only compromises our interfaith relationships even further," he added.

The dinner at the Grand Hyatt Hotel was the fourth in a series of "high-level bridge-building and reconciliation efforts that have helped to build mutual understanding between our peoples, nations and religious traditions." Last year’s WCC event on 27 September 2007 drew 140 people from across the U.S. including mainline denominational leaders.

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