Show It fakeZtibunt t TC9I- TED - IITIM ILVICJILAJDULIVI Religion Desk: 237-204- SATURDAY September 5 1992 5 A9 : ' f''' '' ' " - :: ' fr'v 410" r v " r ''01''' e- '4: t - :'' :': 1 ''' 0i 4!: ': ''' ':: ':' : - ii ::: : ) y1' '' r:'' 44 ? li 7''''7 :: 4 :':':': '' ‘ " - ' ' '27' ' f:'' 41t '11' l''1:1 ' ' -' o'''' i 1 ' 'to :"' —:::'7 ' :' I ''' t f The ::": ': — -- ' i f '' w : '' - "‘ ::'::::' ':::: :7 ::' - '' 4!!1 " : : : Ay''' ' ' At I2 :: ':::: T: 2 - 4 ' t 4 ''' '''''''' V'W:: ' : '4 Iti ':'lYf 7' 1- 1 ::: -:' ::y-- '—:: '' Al Hartmann The Salt Lake Tribune Bishop Steven Plummer and wife Catherine stand in front of the Episcopal Church mission in Bluff San Juan County As regional vicar of Utah portion of the Navajo Reservation Bishop Plummer conducts services at 1 of 3 churches on Sunday Travelhig Bishop Tends to Needs of Navajo Flock Episcopalian Continues Legacy of Mis sion Begun by Priest in 1940 By Donna Lou Morgan THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE BLUFF — The Rt Rev Steven Plummer's Episcopal Church mission in this San Juan County town is named for St Christopher the patron saint of travelers That is appropriate because the bishop travels tirelessly Bishop Plummer and his wife Catherine weekly traverse the Utah Navajo Strip which runs from Montezuma Creek to Monument Valley and back to Bluff getting acquainted with the congregation of more than 150 visiting the sick and offering assistance As regional vicar of the Utah Navajo Strip (the Utah area of the Navajo Reservation) Bishop Plummer seemingly must be everywhere at once Every Sunday he conducts T services at one of three churches: St Christopher's Mission in Bluff — the Strip headquarters in extreme southeastern Utah St Mary's of the Moonlight in Monument Valley or St John's the Baptized in Montezuma Creek When the bishop can't be there lay pastor Mary Charles takes over at St Mary's and lay pastor Sharon Norton at St John's In Bluff retired priest Richard Tyree helps out His wife Linda is the ministry development coordinator "These Navajo women perform a valiant service" said Bishop Plummer "We need more Navajo leaders Our goal is involvement Our first challenge is attendance" Fewer than half of the Anglo and American Indian members of the congregation actually attend the bilingual services the bishop said Bishop Plummer and his wife hope to teach the blessings that come from church attendance and getting involved Success in the Utah Navajo Strip comes slowly but it is gratifying said Bishop Plummer "We deal with good people who are eager to hear our word Seeking them out is our challenge" Bishop Plummer was born and reared in Fort Defiance Ariz His wife hails from the Navajo Reservation at Bluff They met while Bishop Plummer was in his first year of the seminary They married in 1977 They lived at Montezuma Creek until 1983 when he became the only clergy of the Utah Navajo Strip and assumed residence at St Christopher's Mission The Plummers have four children: Brian 20 Byron 19 Junior 14: and Cathlena 11 In Bluff the bishop and Catherine Plummer are continuing the missionary work of Father Harold Baxter Leib ler In the summer of 1940 a -aged man dressed in the robes of an Episcopal priest rode alone on horseback along the shear sandstone cliffs that parallel the San Juan River in southeastern Utah He was looking for a place to establish a mission and implement an idea that had possessed him since boyhood By western standards Father Leibler was a greenhorn Born in Brooklyn NY and educated in New York City he left behind a secure position in Old GreenConn wich where he had served as a parish priest for 25 years He made his first trip to the far West in 1938 ostensibly to middle- accompany delegates to a church convention He spent most of his time touring the old Spanish missions of California New Mexico and Arizona as well as the Navajo Indian Reservation looking for a place where people had not come in contact with Christian teachings A priest in Farmington NM suggested the Utah strip of the Navajo Reservation Two years later Father Leib ler resigned his post in Connecticut returned to New Mexico and started his lonely ride on horseback across the Four Corners region He negotiated the inhospitable desert without incident and arrived at San Juan County's Mexican Hat on July 24 1940 At Mexican Hat Father Leib ler held his first Mass became ill after drinking alkaline water and acquired a Navajo name — "Priest with sore gut" The name did not stick Father Leib ler arrived at the site of his future mission a week later still recuperating from his illness It was a place called Hyrum's Field near Bluff where fresh water dripped from a slit in the otherwise impregnable and barren sandstone wall His first Mass was celebrated on St Christopher's feast day The mission assumed the name The idea that a mission could survive under such circumstance was as incredible as the man who conceived it But it did Starting with $1000 in donated funds six volunteers and a hired American Indian a temporary mission house was built in Bluff from the red sandstone of the southeastern Utah desert Father Leib ler wore his hair long in the traditional style of the Navajo to whom he was known as "one who drags his II v" A 1 I I t t gi :ttt i i ' A t I ''' 1 t: I ' r ' 1 I 4 1 : i t 41 ' I i I - 4 4 Father Harold Baxter Leib ler started Episcopal mission garments with the long hair" or more simply the "Priest with the Long Hair" During the first few months at the mission the Navajos came to view Father Leib ler as a man with strong medicine He needed an idea to explain the crucifixion and decided to use a sand painting It did not occur to him that the Navajos usually associate this symbol with rain making That same day a heavy downpour drenched the area and flooded part of the mission One of his converts awed by the storm later told Father Leib ler: "Father that was some rain you made yesterday" Through the years Father Leib ler traveled more than 25000 miles annually in Utah and Arizona bringing the word of God to the isolated hinterland of the Navajo Reservation He died in Bluff in 1983 at the age of 98 Most 'Muslims Live in Harmony According to Islamic Teachings Editor's Note: Next week Ulah's Muslim community will observe the birthday of the prophet Muhammad By the time Muhammad died in 632 Islam already was embraced throughout the Arabian Peninsula In the following article Mohammed A Basha describes the beliefs of Islam which he says may be one of the world's most misunderstood faiths By Mohammed A Basha SL Muslims to Commemorate Prophet's Birth Salt Lake City's Islamic community will commemorate the birth of the prophet Muhammad ibn 'Abdallah at 6 pm on Sept 12 at Murray Park 5177 S State St The celebration will include a dinner for the area's pot-luc- k 1000 Muslims followed by the election of new board members to the Islamic Society The celebration is known as Maw lid and was first observed in the 12th century in an-Na- Morocco SPECIAL TO THE TRIBUNE With nearly 1 billion followers Islam influences the thinking and values of more than 20 of the world's population However due to the attention it receives in the headlines Islam is probably one of the most misunderstood faiths The majority of Muslims — : around the world live in harmony according to the true teachings of Islam as revealed to prophet Muhammad in the Holy Qur'an or Koran Muhammad was born in the year AD 570 and received his first revelation from God (Allah) through angel Gabriel in the year AD 610 Even before his summons to prophethood he was known for his honesty dignity and trustworthiness Prophet Muhammad exposed I himself to death many times and his opponents sought to tempt him with wealth sovereignty and all things desired by men but he resisted them all He remained the best of all men in nobility ethical virtue and dedication to the cause of Allah Prophet Muhammad died in the year 632 after devoting 22 years of his life to Islam It is important to emphasize that the term "Islam" is not derived from the name of any particular person race or locality A Muslim considers the term "Mohammedanism" used by some writers in reference to Islam offensive and in violation of the spirit of Islamic teaching Muslims neither worship prophet Muhammad nor consider him the founder of Islam or the author of the Koran Rather he is regarded as the messenger of the Word of God The term "Islam" is in fact mentioned more than once in the Koran itself The word "Islam" is derived from the Arabic root "salam" which means "peace" and "submission" Putting both meanings together Islam is "the attainment of peace through the willing and voluntary submission to the will of God" The willing submission manifests itself in the actual life and deeds of the individual through the love of God in following the teachings that have been given by him In that sense Islam has a clearly attributive title which Roberts NEWS SERVICE US Roman Catholic Utah Women Aim bish- ops' pastoral letter on women planned and rewritten several times over a period of nine years has been thoroughly tamed in its latest form In its first draft released four years ago the letter was viewed by many as a daring venture by others as an intolerable departure from tradition That draft was distinguished by its call for a church-widdiscussion of women's ordination and its inclusion of direct quotes from women on their concerns But the first version has been rewritten in the intervening years to tone down areas that clearly disturbed conservative church authorities in Rome In its most recent version a fourth draft the letter has been virtually scrubbed of material that was at odds with traditional church teaching on women While the discussion of women's ordination was taken out of the second draft and quotes from women were eliminated in the third draft the fourth version removes a phrase calling sexism a sin and expands a section detailing the church's rationale for excluding women from the priesthood A copy of the latest draft as yet unreleased by the United States Catholic Conference was obtained Tuesday by Religious News Service The bishops will likely consider the document for approval during their national meeting in November Even before the release of the latest version Bishop Matthew Clark of Rochester NY a member of the drafting committee complained that the document had been compromised by pressure from Vatican officials Clark said American bishops had succumbed to Vatican policy at the expense of serious reflection in their work on the pastoral Speaking in May during a weekend forum in his diocese Clark said American church leaders had been "overwhelmed" during the Rome visit by Vatican officials who pressured them to reflect the pope's thinking on women's issues Clark was unavailable for comment on the latest draft The distance the bishops have traveled from the first to fourth draft is evident in the reactions from two women's groups Ruth Fitzpatrick head of the liberal Women's Ordination Conference thought the first version of the letter did not go far enough in advocating women in ordained ministry but gave the bishops credit for raising the issues She said in the past that the discussion raised by the letter was "priceless" However she described the most recent draft as irrelevant to women's concerns and as "a last desperate attempt to keep things as they are" during a telephone interview Tuesday At the other end of the spectrum Helen Hull Hitchcock who heads the conservative Women for Faith and Family organization in St Louis calls the most recent draft "more a response to mainstream concerns not restricted merely to the narrow perspective of radical feminism which has predominated in all the other drafts" Her group was highly critical of past drafts The third version which briefly affirmed the church's teaching on e ' r't 40 y t ' By Tom RELIGIOUS '' 0 - 1 '''' ' 4 ---- :'?'''':"''''' 't 4ft Y : '': s' :r:i '14'6' - 's ''' ' Catholic Bishops Soften Tone of Women's Pastoral clearly attributive title which summarizes the whole faith in one word Muslims regard the term "Islam" not as an innovation that came in the 7th century with the advent of Prophet Muhammad but as the basic mission of all the prophets throughout history Allah has selected particular individuals to convey his message to mankind Allah brought his commands and guidance to these prophets through revelation The names of some of the prophets mentioned in the Koran are Noah Abraham Ishmael Isaac Jacob Joseph Moses David Solomon John the Baptist Jesus and the last prophet Muhammad These prophets carried the same basic message: "Believe in God and live righteously- - The Koran refers to all those prophets as Muslims because by definition a Muslim is one who submits to the will of Allah Thus it is an article of faith for a Muslim to recognize all these prophets and not to make distinctions between them (Ch 2: Verse 285) Muslims in their testimony of faith say "I bear witness that 0 See A11 Column 4 To Offer Support Not Controversy By Peter Scarlet THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE Controversial issues like women's ordination may be politically correct in some Roman Catholic circles but they will not be promoted by the women's advisory committee of the Utah diocese "In our diocese we haven't found much interest in issues like women's ordination" says Mary Bowers chairwoman of the Diocesan Commission on Women's Concerns "We are not a Catholic women's liberation group" says Kathleen Grisley a commission member from St Vincent's parish in Holladay The commission which has 11 women and four men on it was created by the Most Rev William K Wei- gand bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake as a resource for his diocese administration Commission member Sister Joan Steadman says its purpose is to advise the bishop and promote awareness of the evolving roles of women in the church and society The committee was appointed in January "We're just getting our feet wet" says Ms Bowers a member of St Francis of Assisi parish in Provo "We're trying to decide what the needs are in the diocese where we need out- reach" The Utah women's commission may not support radical feminism but the issue has stymied efforts by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops to agree on a pastoral letter on the role of women in the church The local advisory commission is more concerned with immediate issues facing women in the church "We will advise the bishop on issues involving women" Ms Bowers says "We'll be a support group for women We'll sponsor support groups visit parishes and conduct workshops We're like a sounding board for the bishop on women in the family and workplace" Some of the issues that concern members include child care domestic violence and the balancing act of super moms ordination backed away from the question by stating that the pastoral was not the proper place for discussion of the issue The fourth draft on the other hand goes into a longer justification for the church teaching opposing ordination of women It is the church's conviction as repeated in pronouncements of Pope John Paul II and a predeces 0 See A-1- 1 Column 1 hnportance of Marriage Spawns Groups Programs married By Peggy Fletcher Stack THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE Are you looking for a "Zion-questin- for LDS Singles g Ezra Taft Benson president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-daSaints in 1988 told single men: "The position of the church has never changed regarding the importance of celestial marriage It is a commandment of God" y slender sister?" If so you must be an RM — that's a Returned Missionary — who is active seeking a LDS sister In February a group of LDS women in Washington produced their first newsletter called: Single Saints the New Alternative for LDS Singles Their purpose is to "unite single adult members of the church by mail" A major part of their service is a listing of "profiles" personal ads meant to attract other active Latter-daSaints Such groups are sprouting up because few churches in America pressure single people to get married like the Mormon Church does This stems from a theology that reserves the highest part of heaven exclusively for the sports-talkin- g y that locks Unfortunately of the church population 35 — the widowed divorced and out of heaven never married Some say they suffer discrimination in this world as well Singles rarely are assigned leadership positions Single males applying for faculty positions at Brigham Young University must have special approval from the board of trustees before being hired Single men over 27 are not allowed to teach seminary in the church educational system If they are married then later divorced they get fired 12 See A-1- 1 Column 1 |