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National Catholic Reporter, May 7, 1999 by Matt Kantz

Singer Sinead O'Connor ordained in France

Pop singer Sinead O'Connor, who once tore up a picture of Pope John Paul II on NBC's "Saturday Night Live," was ordained a priest by dissident Irish Bishop Michael Cox April 22 in a ceremony in a hotel room in Lourdes, France.

The Dublin-born singer, whose name was changed to Mother Bernadette Mary, became the first woman priest of the breakaway Latin Tridentine church, which was founded by Cox and Fr. Pat Buckley.

Buckley and Cox are at odds about the ordination after O'Connor donated the equivalent of $205,000 to Cox immediately following the ceremony. O'Connor stated that the money was "an act of charity" to set up a healing center for Cox's ministry to travelers (Gypsies) as well as to fund a hernia operation for the bishop.

Buckley, who was ordained a bishop by Cox last year, described the donation as "disturbing" and said there was a question as to whether simony -- the act of purchasing a sacrament -- had taken place.

According to the Irish Mirror, the ceremony consisted of a mix of religious symbolism, prayer and reggae song and dance.

O'Connor says her record companies, Atlantic Records in New York and East West Records in London, are "1 million percent" behind her and will allow her to use the name Mother Bernadette. O'Connor said anyone who wishes to receive any sacraments from her may do so by writing to Atlantic Records -- and to be sure to mark the envelope with a cross.

Sweden to separate church and state

The Church of Sweden, the largest Lutheran church in the world with more than 7.5 million members, will be separated from the state on Jan. 1, 2000.

According to Sweden's archbishop, K.G. Hammar, this may mark the first time that a church-state relationship will be dissolved in friendship. A proposal to separate church and state in Sweden has come up for discussion many times during this century, the archbishop said.

"Now we are pressed to do it," Hammar said. "The church-state bonds have been slowly dissolving. What we left behind is a kind of church-system that was part of Reformation history in which kings became heads of churches and took all the power. Much of the former hostility directed towards the Swedish church no longer exists."

For a long period, every person in Sweden has been accepted as a member of the Church of Sweden. At present, the archbishop reported, 85 percent of the Swedish people belong to the state church.

"I hope and believe that the Church of Sweden will remain a church that is open and active among people everywhere and which keeps its doors open for the visitor," Hammar said.

--Willmar Thorkelson

WCC delegation says West must aid North Korea economy

A World Council of Churches delegation that visited North Korea in a first-of-its-kind official visit says Western nations must help stabilize the communist country's economy before the isolated nation will be able to engage in serious peace negotiations.

"As long as its economic problems continue, North Korea believes it is impossible to engage in any political talks as an equal partner," Konrad Raiser, the council's general secretary, told a news conference in Seoul, South Korea, April 22 at the end of the delegation's three-day trip.

Raiser said he saw signs that North Korea was beginning to open up to the rest of the world.

"North Korea's closed-door policy is ... an expression of weakness and embarrassment of not being able to stand up as an equal partner," he said.

For the past four years, North Korea has been suffering the ravages of a famine caused by drought and floods that have rendered it dependent on foreign aid -- much of it from church groups -- to feed its people. Raiser brought some $8.5 million in pledges for food aid from the council's 330 member churches.

Sainthood for John XXIII clears major hurdle

The cause of sainthood for Pope John XXIII has cleared a major hurdle with certification by a panel of physicians that his intercession miraculously cured a dying nun, the Vatican has announced.

Fr. Luca de Rosa, a Franciscan priest who is postulator, or advocate, of John XXIII's cause, said the medical consultants to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints voted unanimously that the nun's recovery was "inexplicable at the scientific level."

"This is an important step even though there is still a long road to travel," de Rosa said. He said it is still too early to say whether John XXIII will be beatified, the next to the last step before sainthood, during next year's Jubilee celebrations.

The priest said a board of theologians has determined that Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, who was pope from 1958 to 1963, possessed the "heroic virtues" required of a saint. He said he expects the congregation to decide this summer whether to accept finding and recommend that Pope Paul II declare him worthy of veneration. John XXIII is best remembered as the pope who convened the Second Vatican Council.

Vietnam guarantees religious freedom but ...

The Vietnamese government has issued a new decree that guarantees religious freedom but warns that anyone who uses religion to harm the state will be punished.