Clergy

The setting was dramatic, the steps were tentative, the partners barely knew each other, and a major figure was uninvited. But the message for racially divided and violence-plagued Grays Ferry from black Protestant pastors and white Catholic priests was clear: "With the help of almighty God, may this good work bring peace and healing to all of us," declared the Rev. Steven Avinger, pastor of Greater St. Matthew Baptist Church, 1208 S....

Christians across the region and the world observed Holy Thursday yesterday with services marking Jesus' last supper and, in some traditions, his creation of the priesthood. Among the many marking Holy, or Maundy, Thursday locally were about 60 priests and deacons of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania. They joined with Assisting Bishop Allen L. Bartlett at a "chrism Eucharist" to reaffirm their ordination vows and witness his consecration of the holy oils they will use throughout the liturgical year.

In an extraordinary challenge to the American hierarchy, conservative Anglican archbishops disturbed by the Episcopal Church USA's liberal views on sexuality will conduct their own confirmation service here Sunday. Archbishop Maurice Sinclair of South America, along with several African and Australian archbishops or their delegates, plan to march into the chancel of Rosemont's Church of the Good Shepherd for a 6 p.m. evensong service, where they will confirm more than 70 youths and adults.

Comparing Earth to Noah's ark - and warning that short-sighted politicians are threatening to "sell planks out of its hull" - a group of local clergy and scientists yesterday called on Congress to preserve the federal Endangered Species Act. "Christianity reveals that the destiny of our spirits is inseparably intertwined with the destiny of the creation," the Rev. Rock Schuler, rector of Holy Trinity Church in Lansdale, said during a news conference...

Antiwar preachers must continue to speak out even as American bombs fall on Baghdad, a conference of like-minded Protestant clergy agreed this week. Called a workshop on "Prophetic Biblical Preaching," the daylong session was a kind of theological pep rally for pastors convinced they must denounce a U.S. invasion of Iraq on moral grounds. "This is a crisis of theology. You need to speak it that way," the Rev. Robert Robinson advised the 30 Protestant ministers gathered Tuesday at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Germantown.

Parents and clergy in the Council Rock School District in Bucks County are urging the district to remove a 12th-grade human sexuality book that they say is pornographic. The book, Changing Bodies, Changing Lives, has been part of the health curriculum for more than 10 years. It is now used in a class taken by more than 300 high school seniors, who have received the written consent of their parents, school officials say. In recent weeks, about 30 parents and members of the clergy have asked the school board and the administration to ban the book because of passages in it that they say undermine parental authority and depict sexual relations in explicit and vulgar language.

Serving God is not a 9-to-5 job, say the 26 graduates of the Chaplains Assisting Police program. "There will be those times when you'll get those calls at 1 or 2 in the morning," said Leo Selb, Woodbury Heights' chief of police and president of the Gloucester County Chiefs Association. "You'll now have to share that burden with us. " He told the 15 clergy and 11 lay people who graduated from the program Tuesday that they will assist police with crises throughout the county.

As her husband's rages rise and his shouts turn to slaps and blows, where can a woman turn for help? Some flee to parents. Some call police. But many victims of domestic violence turn first to their pastor or rabbi. Some find comfort there - but not all. "Sometimes they explain to the rabbi or the pastor that they're being beaten, and he replies, 'What did you do to make him so angry?' or 'He only does this once a month. Go home and work it out. Be a good mate,' " says Rabbi Claire Green.

There are 68,000 of them, many living in the shadows in Philadelphia, dodging police, trying to avoid arrest. To reduce the staggering number of people wanted on outstanding arrest warrants, Mayor Nutter and other city officials yesterday announced an effort to enlist more than 200 clergy to encourage fugitives to turn themselves in to police. "What we're seeking to do is change how we deal with crime and criminals in the city," Nutter said of the "Peaceful Surrender" initiative.

Catholic and Protestant clergy working, praying, chatting and laughing together. It was a picture seldom seen, or even imagined, before the great social and theological changes wrought in the 1960s by the Second Vatican Council. The picture has become familiar since then. Recently, however, the focus of the ecumenical movement has changed, and in some ways, not for the better. That was the consensus of four members of the Exton-Lionville Ministerium, a collaboration of eight Chester County churches, at a meeting this week to discuss an event tonight - a concert for young people - that they hope will help bring back the ecumenical spirit that existed 30 years ago, about the time the ministerium was formed.