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Show Re igion The Salt LakeTribune SATURDAY, May 4, 1996 ENTERTAINMENT Page C-4,5 SECTION C COMICS /TV Page C-6,7 D.C. Rally Puts Modern ‘Evils’ On Public Trial WORLD VIEW Compiled by Peggy Stack WAS SHAKESPEARE CATHOLIC? British scholars are discussing the possibility that William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was a ‘church-papist,” one who outwardly conformed to the established Protestant Church of Eng- land while secretly harboring Roman Catholic beliefs. Shakespeare wroteat the height of the Elizabethan era, named after Queen Elizabeth BY ADELLEM.BAN CAMPBELL RELIGION WASHINGTON — Thousands of evangelical Christians, gathering at the U.S. Capitol Tuesdayfor I, when Anglican Protestantism was becomingthe established church while Catholics were arally dubbed “Washingtonfor Jesus,” declared the United States “guilty” of a variety of“sins,” ranging persecuted. from abortion to AIDSto racism. speare Yearbook by Margarita Stecker, a professorat St. Hilda’s college of great heritage, but living today in the shadow of the shameofthe seven giants,” said the Rev. Jerry Falwell, kicking off a mock trial that went on for much of the day. “We cometoday . to declare this na- was a daringly subversive attack on tion guilty of violating God’s law andto call this nation to repentanceto forsake her sins and to ac- An article in the annual Shake- “Weface the 21st century a great nation with a Oxford University, argued that Shakespeare’s play, “Love's Labor's Lost,” Queen Elizabeth's persecution of Roman Catholics. Mostrecently, in the April 27 edition of The Tablet,the influential Eng- knowledge Christ Jesus as Lord.” Falwell, speaking at 7:15 a.m. under rainy skies, declaredthat the founding fathers intended America Cambridge University professor Eamon Duffy, a specialist on the English Reformationof the 16th and 17th cen- to be a Christian nation and that ‘America must come back to the faith of her fathers.” He: said schools have become“religion-free zones,” one example of what he called persecution of the church, turies, weighs the evidence for Shake- one of seven “evil giants” that were spoken, prayed lish Roman Catholic weekly magazine, speare’s Catholicism. His judgmentis equivocal: “Whether or not Shakespeare can be claimed as a Catholic writer, he was certainly not a Protestant one,” Duffy wrote. Duffy says there is strong evidence of Shakespeare secretly being Catholic or at least having Catholic sympathies. He notes that Shakespeare's hometown, Stratford-on-Avon, and its school, were “riddled with popery.” More important, Shakespeare’s mother, Mary Arden, was a member of one of the most prominent Catholic families in the region. Thereis also some evidence that his father had Catholic sympathies. “There is much in the plays to support [the] view”that Shakespeare was a Catholic, according to Duffy. ‘Several of them, especially ‘Hamlet,’ show an extensive familiarity with Catholic teachings, such as purgatory, and no hint of disapproval “Indeed, Shakespeare's treatment of Catholic themes is consistently sympathetic,” Duffy concludes: “Friars, nuns and the religious life get a remarkably good press from him; can clergy, by contrast, a bad one.” li- — Religion News Service a RICE BUYS CHAPEL Novelist Anne Rice, author of the “Vampire Chronicles’ series, pur: chased Our Motherof Perpetual Help Chapel in New Orleans from the Redemptorist order, which staff St. Alphousus Parish. Sheplans to use the chapel to meditate and write and to provide lodging for relatives. Parishioners have objected to the sale. Rice, who often attended Mass at the chapel as a child, accused parishionersofelitism for not attending the parish’s main church,St. Mary's Assumption, a 19th century landmark near 2 public housing complex. She also accused them ofletting the chapel deteriorate. She said she may have to spend more than $1 million to completely renovate the church. — National Catholic Reporter Oo CLOAK GOES ON DISPLAY For only the third time this century, a cloak some believe is the robe worn by Jesus on his way to the crucifixion and sung about duringtherally. The other issues were homosexuality, abortion, racism, addictions, occultism, and HIV/AIDS A warehouse display board in Salt Lake City tallies worldwide humanitarian efforts by The Churchof Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints: Sin Africa’s Malawi, the church works with the International Committee of the Red Cross to hand outrelief; Win the American state of Georgia, the churchis partnered with Save the Children; Andthelist goes on with more than a dozen projects in povertystricken nations. Earlier this year the church boosted its efforts by creating Latter-day Saint Charities to distribute surplus clothing, books, medical equipment andother assistance to needy and disaster- stricken people throughout the world. The new agency means the LDS Church is now a routine memberof the worldwide fraternity of religious and secular ef- material survive between patches of different cloth added over the centuries. The entire garmentsuffered from a 19th century atiemptto preserveit by dipping it in a rubbersolution. For the Trier diocese, however, which expects as many as 1 million pil grims to see the cloak, the authenticit is not the most important issue. “It brings home the human side of Christ, and the fact thatit is seamless symbolizes the unity of the church,” said Christoph Rosenzweig, the exhibit's press officer. —-National Catholic Reporter a LUTHERANS CLOSER? The 5.2 million members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) are studying propos- ais regarding closer relations with the Roman Catholic Church, Episcopal Church and three Reformed churches — Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Reformed Church in America and United Church of Christ. In 1997 the ELCA Churchwide assembly will coi.sider whether to allow full communion with these churchesand whether to declare, along with the Roman Catholic churches, that the 16th century condemnations they lev- eled against each other on the doctrine of justification no longer apply — ELCA News easternmostpart of the Mall, the grassy area stretch, ing to the Lincoln Memorial, withstood rain and wind as they shouted “guilty” during the mocktrial; Leaders, however, said church members needto rey pent for not being bold enoughin confronting what they consider the nation’sills. blew into a shofar, a ram's horn traditionally used in Jewish New Year services to remindlisteners of God's presence. Outside observers of the event were particularly forts such as Catholic Relief Services, CARE and_ the International Committee of the Red Cross. skeptical about Falwell’s presence. “We wanted the capability of delivering services ourselves,” said Bishop Keith B. McMullin, “T wantthe well-meaning youth ofthis rally, who came to Washingtonto support Jesusandnotto subscribe to sometelevangelist’s narrow political agenda,to realize that Falweil’s . . . views do not for people of faith in the mainstream Christian com; munity,” said Albert Pennybacker, president of the Interfaith Alliance, a Washington-based organiza- secondcounselorin the Presiding Bishopric. “In some places where we wantto go, you have to go in as a Non-Governmental Organization [often called an NGO] that is recognized as such by agencies like the United Nations. . . Latter-day Saint Charities is ours.” For example, the church registered Latter-day Saint Charities as an NGO in Cambodia so it could help people maimed by land mines and boobytraps,legacies of years of internecine war. Humanitarian service has been part of the LDS Churchsinceits early days. Joseph Smith, the church’s founder, said Latter-day Saints should serve those of other faiths, too. But it was pot until 1985 that humanitarian service took off in tion that includes representatives of Catholic, mainline Protestant and Jewish groups whoseaim is to counterthe religious right. Between the mock cases were performances by choirs and Christian artists, such as Point of Grace, Tim Kelly/The Salt Leke Tribune Boardlists global needs. Mormons movedbyvivid television footage of starving peoplein which just won a Dove Award for Groupof the Year, Those in the crowd, covered with brightly colored ponchosor green garbage bags, swayed, danced and sang along with the music. Others walked around the Ethiopia contributed nearly $i1 million in two churchwidefasts to combat hunger. Since then, the church has increased its humanitarian service. It created a humanitarian-services departmentand calls volunteers to serve humanitarian service-missions throughout the world. Capitol, arms raised, praying for the nation. Speakers called on churches to embrace peopleof all races, and somein the audience saidthey alreg had reachedout. * Carmel Wilkin, 62, an Antiguan woman,and David Henn, 48, a white man, were attending the rally together with members of their Assemblies of God church in Glen Burnie, Md.“It is great to see the body of Christ coming together and repenting forthe sins of America,” said Henn, who invited Wilkin to his church. “We as a body of Christ need to’stick Robert Rees, a retired profes- See LDS, Page C-2 a systematic way. In that year, together. It doesn’t matter whatrace or color . .,.” Priest Is Jailed For Base Protest Bell Tower Restored 44 Years After Being BY JAMES HODGE RELIGION NEWSSERVICE COLUMBUS, Ga. -~ In trial that tion and U.S. foreign policy, Louisiana Only a few fragments of the original er,in the tens of thousands. Authorities had not released a crowdestimate by mid-afternoon Tuesday. ‘Theparticipants gathered on the Capitol and the After the guilty proclamations, a man on stage BY PETER SCARLET THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE to issues of free speech,religious convic- Protestant reformer Martin Luther called the cloak ‘‘a great swindle.” event, but the crowds appeared significantly small- In Service, Goods less cloak was brought to Trier in the fourth century, but the authenticity of for Jesus” spokesmanDavid J. Allen estimated“‘several hundred thousand” would attend the entire LDS Aid World will go on display in the Germany city of Trier. Local folklore maintains the seamthe relic has long been challenged. ‘The crowd, a mix ofall ages, followed a rally Monday attended mostly by youngpeople. “Washington Tim Kelly/The Salt Lake Tribune Sorters go through tonsof clothes every day at the LDS Churchsort centerin Salt Lake City. The facility ships clothes to the needyall over the world and stocks used clothing stores in Utah. Struck by Lightning looked beyond the official charge — criminal trespass at a U.S. Army base — y FLETCHER STACK LT LAKE TRIBUNE In 1952, lightning struck the Community Presby- priest Roy Bourgeois was found guilty this week and sentenced to the maximum terian Church in American Fork. The bolt raced down the weather vane, burning the timbers that supported the historic church's bell tower. The wood wassinged butnot destroyed. So the congregation boxed in the deteriorating planks and 6 months in prison in connection with protests at Fort Benning, Ga., homeof the controversial Schoc! of the Americas. It was the third time that Bourgeois, a waited for a hetter time to complete the repairs. Forty-four years later, the tower finally was re- Maryknoll priest, former Navy lieutenant awarded a Purple Heart in Vietnam, and stored to its earlier splendor — with the help of Utah's Centennia! Committee. longtime anti-war activist, had been sentenced for protests at the base. ‘The bell tower restoration is a source of “history and pride,” says the Rev. Sallie Watson, the church’s interim pastor. “It's a good connection with our past,” she says. “It makes us visible in the community, physically andspiritually.” He and nine co-defendants — including a 74-year-old Ursuline nun, two World War II veterans, a mother of eight and a psychologist — were arrested Nov. 16. 1995, on the sixth anniversary of the murders ofsix Jesuit priests, their cook and her daughter by Salvadoran troops. Of 31 officers cited by a U.N. Truth Commis- Community Presbyterian, with about 90 mem- bers and many more attending regularly, is the largest of the few Protestant churches in Mormon- sion for the massacreand its coverup, 22 were graduates of the school. The Truth Commission also cited 10 graduates for overseeing the massacre of 900 unarmed residents of a Salvadoran village. And it identified a now-dead graduate as the head of Salvadoran death squads who ordered Archbishop Oscar Romero's assassination in 1980. ‘The guilty verdict was not a surprise. In a pretrial stipulation, Bourgeois and his co-defendants admitted trespassing as Steve Griffin/The Salt Lake Tribune Parishioner rings the new church bell. BY DAN SEWELL THE ASSOCIATEDPRESS Excerpts from « documentary film be“School of Assassins," was nominated for an Academy Award, were shown during a noon news conference with U.S. Rep. Josepn Kennedy, D-Mass. One man said he took a course in military intelligence at the school and was shown videos of torture techniques. t aa Steve Griffin/Sait Lake Tribune See RESTORATION, Page C-2 The new bell tower. Vandalism, Arson Plague Black Southern Churches part of a protest against the school. ing produced by Robert Richter, whose 1995 documentary onthe training center, dominant American Fork. Debbie Maughan, a member at Community Presbyterian, wason thecity Centennial Committee as KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — At 4 a.m. on Jan. 8, the phone rangat the homeofthe Rev. David Upton. The urgent message fromone of his congregants: “The church is on fire! The pastor anxiously negotiated his way through a hslf-foot of snow, only to find the two-story brick building en- gulfed in flames. For seve) hours, he stood and watched theincreasinglyfutile efforts to saveit. “I thoughtof all the memories — the services, the weddings, the children baptized,” Upton says. “Our child-care cen ‘er was on track to open in a month. Everything was just going up in smoke. Whenthefire settled down to a smoi- der, he saw something that sickened him even more. On a back door had been painted “Die Nigger Die!” ? and “White Is Right.” It was something that seemed ancient,” Upton says. Three monthslater, just before Easter Sunday, as bulldozers piled up the remains of the Inner City Church, 74-yearold Elijah Grake poked around the fringes of the rubble, carrying on a dia- logueas he searched for anything to sal- See VANDALISM, Bage C-8 |