NATION - news about the Catholic Church and its clergy from around the US

National Catholic Reporter, July 30, 1999 by Matt Kantz

Union, mushroom grower reach agreement

The head of the United Farm Workers union said the Florida religious community contributed to the signing of the union's first contract in 27 years with a Florida grower.

The contract was signed July 20 between the UFW and Quincy Farms, which markets mushrooms under the Prime brand and grows upward of 30 million pounds of mushrooms each year outside Tallahassee, Fla.

Speaking with reporters during a July 20 conference call, Arturo Rodriguez said the religious community in Florida was "very supporting of the workers and in a number of efforts to bring about change at Quincy Farms."

Rodriguez added that Florida religious. leaders were "very open to talking to management and finding ways to resolving this. We're very satisfied with how things worked out."

Quincy Farms chairman and CEO Dennis Zensen said other mushroom growers are going to "see how this works" before deciding whether to follow the same route. If-it does work, he added, "they might think about doing this same kind of thing down the road."

He said the contract costs should be absorbed by increased productivity.

Rodriguez said the Quincy Farms example should prove to other growers -- especially in the UFW's central California stronghold -- that it is possible to settle on the kind of contract that "benefits the workers and their families and also benefits the company."

Priest told to step allowing girls

Bishop Paul Loverde, the new head of the Arlington, Va., diocese, has ordered a priest in the Washington suburb of Falls Church, Va., to stop allowing girls to serve at Mass.

Loverde Said Fr. Horace "Tuck" Grinnell, pastor of St. Anthony of Padua Church, failed to get permission first, a move the bishop regarded as priestly disobedience.

Grinnell said he would comply with the order but publicly expressed his dissent from the bishop's ruling, The Washington Post reported July 16.

"Why is it normal that men and women should serve together as lectors, eucharistic ministers and choir members, yet not serve together as altar servers?" the priest asked in the church's weekly bulletin. "Both male and female altar servers are the norm in the rest of the United States and most of the world (including Rome)."

A spokesman for the bishop said the issue was not altar girls but obedience.

The ban on altar girls in the Arlington diocese was put in place by the late Bishop John Keating. Loverde replaced Keating in March.

Pope John Paul II ruled in 1994 that girls can be altar servers, but he left the decision to each diocese. Keating barred the practice because he viewed serving at Mass as a way to encourage boys to become priests.

Denver priests warned against gay gathering

Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput has warned priests in his archdiocese against supporting or encouraging their parishioners to attend a national meeting of Dignity/USA, the organization of gays and lesbians within the Catholic church.

Dignity, Chaput said in a letter to priests, "has goals which clearly depart from church teaching."

"I therefore believe that, as pastors, we cannot in good conscience support Dignity or encourage our people to become involved with its activities," he said.

Instead, Chaput urged priests to be involved with the Denver chapter of Courage, a national Catholic organization that encourages gays to be celibate.

Dignity has scheduled its national meeting in Denver Aug. 5-8. Among the expected speakers is Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of Detroit who has become a leader in support of gay fights and has spoken around the country about his experience of having a gay brother.

Leaders of the group said they were unfazed by the archbishop's letter. "I'm not surprised," said Charles Cox, executive director of the New York-based organization. "Given the current environment in the Catholic church, it's not safe for anyone to welcome a gay organization."

Religious liberty bill passes House

The Religious Liberty Protection Act passed by a 3-1 margin in the House of Representatives July 15, with the support of a large coalition of religious leaders.

The bill, which was introduced by Rep. Charles Canady, R-Fla., aims to reinstate religious protections that were included in the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993. That act was struck down in 1997 by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that in adopting it Congress overstepped its authority regarding states' rights.

Canady said the measure, which has not yet been acted on in the Senate, allows Americans to practice their faith "without interference from the heavy hand of government."

He said the measure does not change the protections the Supreme Court has ruled are required by the First Amendment, but rather gives additional ones.

The measure requires state and local governments to show a compelling reason -- such as health or safety -- and act in the least restrictive manner to legally infringe upon religious practices or beliefs. For example, land use regulations would have to treat religious institutions and assemblies on "equal terms" with nonreligious institutions or assemblies.