NATION

National Catholic Reporter, April 7, 2000 by Theresa Malcolm

Pastor to pay prostitutes to listen to the gospel

Fr. Michael Pfleger, the flamboyant pastor of St. Sabina's Parish on the South Side of Chicago, has suggested a novel missionary strategy: paying prostitutes and drug dealers to listen to the gospel.

"Instead of wasting money going to banquets ... let's take that $20 banquet ticket, let's go out and find the prostitutes and drug dealers," Pfleger said in an interview with the Associated Press, recounting a sermon he delivered March 26. "Let's say, `We're going to buy your time. But for this half hour, we want to sit down and talk about God's love for you.'"

Pfleger has earned prominence by leading crusades against alcohol advertisements that target minorities and against the violent sensationalism of the "Jerry Springer Show."

Pfleger said that parishioners "ran out of the pews and started bringing money and placing it on the altar" in response to his suggestion.

The head of a Chicago organization that helps rehabilitate prostitutes welcomed Pfleger's idea, but called on him to also advocate solutions to long-term problems such as drug addiction, sexual abuse and psychiatric problems.

Catholicism `false church,' Baptist leader says

The president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary called the Roman Catholic church "a false church" that "teaches a false gospel," further igniting a controversy surrounding charges of anti-Catholic bias that have dominated headlines in recent weeks.

Appearing on CNN's "Larry King Live" March 22, R. Albert Mohler Jr. was speaking on Pope John Paul II's pilgrimage to Israel and his recent apologies for the past sins of the Catholic church.

"As an evangelical, I believe that the Roman church is a false church and it teaches a false gospel," Mohler said. "And indeed, I believe that the pope himself holds a false and unbiblical office."

Mohler also criticized the pope's efforts to create a dialogue with Jews and Muslims. "[The pope] has actually embraced all monotheists, both Jews and the followers of Islam, as long as they're sincere within the penumbra of the gospel, within the canopy of the gospel," Mohler said. "And that is just unbiblical, and by the way, not very pleasing to either Jews or to Muslims either."

Fr. William Byron, a Catholic priest and director of the Jesuit community at Georgetown University, also appeared on the show. He said he disagreed with Mohler's comments but did not want to discuss it further. "Yes, I'm offended, but not to the point of wanting to get into an argument about it," Byron said.

New campaign calls for military reductions

"Many of our working poor are struggling in low-paying jobs with no family health care benefits -- this in a nation that chooses to spend only 6 cents on education and 4 cents on health care for every 50 cents it spends on the military," Pax Christi USA president Bishop Walter Sullivan of Richmond, Va., told a news conference March 23.

Sullivan was one of 34 bishops who launched a "Bread Not Stones" campaign March 23, calling for reductions in the U.S. military budget and for redirecting those funds to health care, education and tax relief for the nation's poorest citizens.

"Billions of dollars are being squandered on unnecessary weaponry and unnecessary military programs that even the Pentagon does not want, while millions of people lack access to health care, affordable housing and sufficient food," said Mercy Sr. Anne Curtis of NETWORK, a national Catholic social justice lobby that has joined the campaign.

The campaign, initiated by Pax Christi USA, will be a multi-year effort to raise the Catholic voice on federal budget priorities through activities in parishes and Catholic organizations.

--Dorothy Vidulich

City, museum settle dispute over exhibit

The city of New York and the Brooklyn Museum of Art have reached a settlement in a lengthy dispute over an exhibit featuring a painting of the Virgin Mary that was decorated with dung.

The agreement, which was signed March 27 and approved by U.S. District Judge Nina Gershon, calls for the dropping of dueling lawsuits over the "Sensation" exhibit.

The judge specifically prohibited the city and Mayor Rudolph Giuliani from inflicting "any punishment, retaliation, discrimination or sanction of any kind" on the museum. The settlement also calls for the city to spend $5.8 million over two years to renovate the museum.

Last September, Giuliani froze an annual $7.2 million operating subsidy for the museum. He then sued to evict the museum from its site on city-owned property.

Late last year, the judge declared the sanctions unconstitutional and issued a preliminary order restoring the funding. The mayor appealed her ruling.

Museum officials hailed the decision as a victory for free speech. "Today, Mayor Giuliani has agreed that the preliminary injunction that he ridiculed a few months ago will become permanent," said Floyd Abrams, the museum's lawyer.

The city's corporation counsel Michael Hess said the administration was "very gratified" with the agreement. "We felt at this time that it was time to end the hostilities on both sides," Hess said.