Warning of the dangers of putting meetings before mission, James Jones, Anglican Bishop of Liverpool, said that churches should put the brakes on holding too many meetings.

Jones was speaking to The Church of England Newspaper (CEN) as he took up the chairmanship of the church’s Board of Mission.

The bishop’s views were later echoed in remarks of Captain Philip Johanson, chief secretary of the Church Army, a leading Anglican society with an evangelical emphasis. Johanson told the society’s annual conference that the Church of England and the Church Army had become “bogged down in bureaucracy.”

In his interview with CEN, Jones complained that every time a difficult issue arose, someone suggested setting up a consultation. “Nobody ever audits the amount of time and paper, or person hours, that will be spent on this. We have really got to exercise some leadership and say: ‘Do we really need as many meetings? Do we really need as much consultation’?”

The bishop suggested that people be given more time with their friends and families so they could “share the lover of life, who is Jesus, with the world.”

He said, “One of the problems in our mission is that we berate and beat over the head the people who have been Christians a long, long time—and of course they have got no friends left who are not Christians … Over 80 percent of people who become Christians do so not through a strategy but through a personal relationship.”

It was “slightly strange,” Jones said, for the church to have a board of mission because “the church is mission.” It was like a political party saying: “We’ve got an officer for politics.”

Jones, 52, is an outspoken clergyman who is widely seen as a candidate to be the next Archbishop of Canterbury. He became Bishop of Liverpool in 1998, succeeding David Sheppard, who often spoke out on social matters jointly with his Roman Catholic counterpart in Liverpool, the late Archbishop Derek Worlock.

When Jones’s mission appointment was announced last February, he said, “I am optimistic about the future of the Mission of God. There’s a spiritual instinct in all of us. We need to have our eyes open to where God is at work in the world. Jesus Christ is the same today as he was yesterday. Christianity was born in a world as richly pluralistic as it is today.”

In his opening remarks to the Church Army annual conference, Johanson said: “The church and Church Army have in some respects become so bogged down in bureaucracy. We have become institutionalized … How far removed we are from the early church recorded in the Acts of the Apostles!”

He called for an approach that he described as “Travel light—working in the kingdom.”

A spokesman for the Church Army said Johanson’s remarks had been well received. “We need to travel light, both as individuals and as a society,” the spokesman said. “We have been downsizing [in organization] because we want to put our money into evangelism.”

Copyright © 2001 ENI.

Related Elsewhere

The Church of England Newspaper is available online, but Jones’s article is no longer on its site.

The Church Army site also covered Johanson’s remarks.

The Church of England’s Board of Mission site, evangelism,uk.net, has extensive resources both for seekers and evangelists.

Leadership Journal and Your Church, two Christianity Today sister publications aimed at church leaders, have examined how to make meetings more effective.

Recent Christianity Today articles on the Church of England include:

Church of England Objects to Vatican Ban on Sharing Communion | The two most senior bishops of the Church of England have branded Vatican communion bans as “hurtful and unhelpful.” (March 23, 2001)

In England Many More Church Spires Will Be Home to Mobile Phone Antennae | One quarter of Church of England parishes want to host towers, while some leaders wonder about risks. (March 16, 2001)

Church Attacks Increasing in the U.K. | Insurance figures show attacks on church workers and property are growing. (Jan. 29, 2001)

Church of England’s Bioethics Leader Says Human Cloning Is Okay | Briefing paper likens procedure to a heart transplant or fertility treatments. (Dec. 8, 2000)

More than 7,000 people have brought lawsuits against the federal government, the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC) and several other Canadian churches, alleging they were physically or sexually abused by school staff.

The Anglican Church administered 26 government residential schools for indigenous children in various parts of Canada from 1820 until 1969.

Ignoring recommendations from church and other groups, Canada’s Department of Justice is seeking to resolve these lawsuits in court. Indigenous, religious and legal groups have urged the government to find a way to settle these claims outside the courts.

In a letter delivered to Prime Minister Chretien on May 2, the Anglican House of Bishops expressed the bishops’ “dismay” at the ponderous process of resolving the claims. “Those who were abused still wait for justice and the litigation is rapidly draining [our] resources,” the letter states. “We assure you of our ongoing commitment to our ministry of healing among the indigenous peoples of Canada. We will continue this work as long as we are able, but it is now in jeopardy.”

Archbishop David Crawley of the Diocese of Kootenay in British Columbia, one of the primary drafters of the statement said, “Between our national church and the eight dioceses in litigation, we have spent about $5 million [US$3.25 million] on litigation. More than 99 percent has gone to the legal process, and less than one percent has gone to actual payments to a plaintiff.

“We expect by the end of this year that assets will be gone, and then in effect the national corporate structure of our church will be bankrupt. We have been in conversations with the federal government since last fall, and they appear to be stalled.”

In some lawsuits the ACC’s general synod—the church’s national governing body—and eight of its 30 dioceses are named directly. But increasingly, Archbishop Crawley said, the Canadian government was forcing the church to be a co-defendant in lawsuits originally brought against the government.

Lawsuits in which the general synod is being sued as a third party account for only 40 percent of the cases involving the church. Yet these cases have predominated in the courts and have generated the major portion of legal fees.

Archbishop Crawley said: “I believe that the government doesn’t know what its policy is. Various departments of government are working at odds with one another. The government has been slow to recognize the magnitude of the problem. There are tens of thousands of potential complainants.

“If you add in the so-called cultural and linguistic abuses—the deprivation of language and culture as distinct from physical or sexual abuses—if class actions in that area get certified, then the government will be facing literally billions of dollars in costs.”

The lawsuits were threatening the survival of certain dioceses, the archbishop said. For example, the Diocese of Cariboo in British Columbia, one of the first to face the charges, “are no longer defending themselves in court,” he said. “They have no assets left. The synod of the diocese passed a resolution last fall that unless there is some kind of agreement reached, the diocese will wind up its affairs as a corporate body this October.”

The United Church of Canada (UCC) and the Roman Catholic Church—both also involved in the Indian Residential School program—were not facing the same financial stress as the ACC, according to Archbishop Crawley. The UCC had only two cases pending, he added. The Roman Catholic cases were different as residential schools were run by religious orders. In one of those cases, “the Oblates [religious of the order] in the province of Manitoba have declared bankruptcy and turned all of their assets over to government,” the archbishop said.

The ACC’s newspaper, Anglican Journal, reported recently that several Anglican dioceses were on the brink of insolvency. Last year the general synod incorporated the church’s international relief agency—the Primate’s Fund—as a separate entity to protect the fund’s assets should the church face huge lawsuit settlements or bankruptcy.

In the May 2001 issue, Anglican Journal, editor Vianney Carriere wrote: “General synod … today stands on the brink of bankruptcy protection at best, dissolution at worst, in part as a result of federal government action in the courts and inaction everywhere else.

“If the government fails to find the means to resolve lawsuits around residential schools in a way that allows the churches to go on with this and other ministries, the victims of that failure will be the people of Canada, those who never use the churches no less than those who do.”

In a statement to members of the church, the bishops gave their assurance that regardless of the outcome of the lawsuits, the life of the church would continue.

“Finally, we commit ourselves, whatever the outcome, to nurture and lead the Anglican family through these difficult times, always seeking the will of Christ and the well-being of Christ’s Church.”

About 200 of the Anglican Church’s congregations are made up primarily of indigenous people. Since 1991 the church has funded extensive community-based healing efforts. Ironically these operations, funded by the general synod, are also threatened by the looming financial crisis.

Archbishop Michael Peers, Primate of the ACC, has requested Anglicans to contact their representatives in the federal parliament to express their concern. He said in a statement released by the church, “Justice is not now being served, and we cannot see how continuing this pattern will ever serve the purposes of justice.”

Copyright © 2001 ENI.

Related Elsewhere

The Anglican Church of Canada has an extensive area of its site devoted to the residential schools controversy.

For continuing coverage of this issue, see the Anglican Journal, the ACC’s monthly newspaper (its October 1999 issue provides especially good background information on the abuse allegations and their implications for the church.)

The University of Saskatchewan’s Native Law Center has a massive bibliography of articles and resources about the suits.

United Press International has additional coverage of the alleged sexual abuse and suits involving the 130 publicly funded institutions.

The Diocese of Toronto urged its members to write to Members of Parliament over the federal government’s handling of the residential schools issue.

More articles and resources on the residential schools cases are available from Yahoo’s full coverage areas on First Nations and religion.

Recent Christianity Today articles about the lawsuits include:

Canadian Politician Works With Churches to Resolve Abuse Crisis | Deputy Prime Minister meets with church leaders to resolve court cases (June 6, 2001)

Canada’s Anglican Church Considers Possibility of Financial Ruin | Court costs, settlements surrounding abuse allegations could mean bankruptcy (Jan. 31, 2001)

Legal Costs Shut Down Canadian Diocese | Abuse claims cause the Anglican Diocese of Cariboo to disband (Oct. 19, 2000)

Lawsuits Force Anglicans to Cut Staff and Programs | Abuse allegations cause the Anglican Church of Canada to scale back church support and overseas ministries. (Aug. 25, 2000)

The meeting on May 17 came soon after the Anglican bishops wrote to Prime Minister Jean Chretien urging him to intervene in stalled negotiations over compensation for former students who claim they were abused by school staff.

The federal cabinet chose Deputy Prime Minister Gray to negotiate with the four denominations named in litigation and was commissioned to bring the schools crisis to a satisfactory conclusion.

More than 7,000 people have brought lawsuits against the federal government and four churches—the ACC, the Presbyterian Church of Canada, the United Church of Canada and a number of Roman Catholic orders. Alleging that they suffered physical or sexual abuse while attending residential schools, claimants are seeking damages estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars. The residential school system operated from 1820 to 1969.

Archdeacon Jim Boyles, general secretary of the Anglican general synod, the ACC’s national governing body, who attended the meeting with Gray, said, “Our immediate concern was that the discussions between the church and the government were too slow and that the general synod and several dioceses were facing financial crises.

“The national body of the church is at risk financially, and we have been telling the government for the past year that we will run out of liquid assets by the end of this year unless there is some way to find an agreement with the government so that we can get on with healing and reconciliation work.”

Archdeacon Boyles said: “The largest number of claimants are those naming the various Roman Catholic organizations who had approximately 60 schools; the general synod had about 24; the United Church about 12; the Presbyterians, two.

“The court cases are distributed roughly in proportion to the number of schools each church had. For schools run by the Anglicans, there are about 1,000 claimants, apart from class action suits. Of those, about 600 are cases in which the government has been named directly and about 400 where the government has involved the church through third-party action.”

The deputy prime minister said the government recognized that the churches “play a valuable, far-reaching role in Canadian civil society.” The government had “no desire to see the churches driven into bankruptcy” as a result of the residential schools litigation.

Archdeacon Boyles said Anglican leaders planned to bring representatives of the other denominations together with Gray in the coming weeks.

Asked what alternatives to litigation were being pursued, he said, “The government has proposed 12 pilot projects in ADR, or Alternative Dispute Resolution. Those have been very slow in getting off the ground and are not—from the point of view of the churches—working well, are not satisfactory.”

ADR is an indigenous conflict resolution process that validates people’s personal stories and assesses their claims.

“We have expressed our concern many times that a resolution needs to be found within a broad framework of social policy,” Archdeacon Boyles said.

He said the Anglican Church was committed to “ongoing and increasing healing and reconciliation work which is part of our mission. We want to reach a resolution with the government so that that work can continue and grow.”

Speaking to the media after the meeting, Terence Finlay, Anglican Archbishop of Toronto, said, “We felt our meeting with Minister Gray was a positive step, demonstrating goodwill on both sides.” However, the archbishop added, the church was awaiting details of the government’s proposed approach.

The delegation was led by the Anglican Primate, Archbishop Michael Peers, and included, in addition to Archdeacon Boyles and Archbishop Finlay, Donald Phillips, Bishop of Rupert’s Land (Winnipeg, Manitoba), and Esther Wesley, coordinator of the Anglican Church Indigenous Healing Fund.

Copyright © 2001 ENI.

Related Elsewhere

For continuing coverage of this issue, see the Anglican Journal, the ACC’s monthly newspaper (its October 1999 issue provides especially good background information on the abuse allegations and their implications for the church.)

See also the ACC News page and the Anglican News Service.

The University of Saskatchewan’s Native Law Center has a massive bibliography of articles and resources about the suits.

United Press International has additional coverage of the alleged sexual abuse and suits involving the 130 publicly funded institutions.

The Diocese of Toronto urged its members to write to Members of Parliament over the federal government’s handling of the residential schools issue.

More articles and resources on the residential schools cases are available from Yahoo’s full coverage areas on First Nations and religion.

Recent Christianity Today articles about the lawsuits include:

As Canadian Synod Faces Bankruptcy, Bishops Plead with Government | Anglican bishops appeal to Prime Minister for intervention (June 6, 2001)

Canada’s Anglican Church Considers Possibility of Financial Ruin | Court costs, settlements surrounding abuse allegations could mean bankruptcy (Jan. 31, 2001)

Legal Costs Shut Down Canadian Diocese | Abuse claims cause the Anglican Diocese of Cariboo to disband (Oct. 19, 2000)

Lawsuits Force Anglicans to Cut Staff and Programs | Abuse allegations cause the Anglican Church of Canada to scale back church support and overseas ministries. (Aug. 25, 2000)

Plunging us into a half-historical, half-fantasy Paris in 1899, Luhrmann establishes a fairy-tale tone right off the bat. We’re introduced to a talented but penniless poet named Christian (Ewan McGregor), a celebrity showgirl named Satine (Nicole Kidman), the greedy and melodramatic manager of the Moulin Rouge nightclub, and a wicked lustful investor known as “The Duke.” Christian’s talent for song is discovered by the artist Toulouse-Lautrec (John Leguizamo), who urges him to compose lyrics for a new play that will star Satine and promote the Bohemian subculture creed of “freedom, beauty, truth and love.” Christian accepts, and is sent before Satine to have his lyrics approved. It’s love at first sight … at least for Christian. He has a nasty rival for Satine’s heart—the Duke. Will Satine choose the way of true love, and respond to Christian’s poetic overtures? Or will she choose the road to fame and fortune, selling herself to the loathsome Duke, who will then finance the play?

Most critics are bewildered and impressed by Moulin Rouge‘s adrenaline-rush spectacle. Some like the exaggerated style, which is one part melodrama and two parts Loony Toons. Others complain about a lack of cake under the frosting. Michael Wilmington in the Chicago Tribune calls it “a rare picture that gets you intoxicated on the possibilities of movies.” In the same town, the Sun-Times‘ Roger Ebert gave it three and a half stars, but also remarked, “It’s like being trapped on an elevator with the circus.” The U.S. Catholic Conference enthuses: “Luhrmann’s wildly creative blend of diverse music and visual styles is a madly paced triumph of artifice over substance in its gushy valentine to romantic love.” Michael Elliott at Movie Parables writes that Luhrmann’s “greatest accomplishment was not the technical prowess he demonstrated, but rather the way he extracted total commitment from his cast. As bizarre or extreme as the characters may have been, the actors threw themselves into their roles with utter conviction. This is the finest work I’ve yet seen from Ewan McGregor, and his singing voice is perfect for musical theater … strong, clear, and highly emotive.”

In other religious media, the bawdy humor and sexual nature of many scenes became a point of contention. Movieguide recognizes the “colorful and comedic cast of characters” and its “amazingly beautiful and elaborate set designs”, but protests: “The movie’s romantic worldview promotes erotic frenzy in the name of love.” “True to the reputation of the nightclub,” writes Preview‘s uncredited critic, “the patrons and performers partake of heavy drinking, drugs, and prostitution. The Can-Can dance is all about showing the women’s underwear, or lack of it, and other revealing costumes invite male stares while the female performers invite the men for later assignations.” This earns the film their rating of “quite objectionable.”

But Focus on the Family‘s Lindy Beam defends these onscreen shenanigans. “What else can be expected from a show set in a cabaret/brothel? No attempt is made to soften the showgirls’ job description; they make their living by getting men in bed. The clothing is scant, the dancing is seductive, and everyone is a commodity. Which is what makes Christian unique. When he and Satine first meet, he’s not even thinking about sex.” She argues that the film emphasizes the difference between sex and true love. She writes, “the film’s definition of real love hits the bullseye. [Christian] is willing to commit to her forever. If Satine can be pulled from her old lifestyle, Christian’s is definitely the kind of love that is powerful enough to do it.” She does, however, protest the film’s teenage marketing target as too young an audience for such sexy stuff.

Holly McClure at The Dove Foundation was apparently too bewildered to see any meaning at all. She describes Moulin Rouge as being like “voyeuristically watching a director film and edit on a drug trip. It’s that weird and that annoying. What were the people who put this together thinking? This movie is going to bomb once the word gets out. Most men will hate it and women will be turned off by the lack of romance or character chemistry.”

I, for one, don’t fulfill McClure’s prophecy. I’m not a guy known for liking musicals, but I laughed and cheered when I saw the film over the weekend. The high-spirited imagination, the surprising appearances of familiar songs (by Elton John, Madonna, David Bowie, U2, and Sting, to name a few), and the fearless romanticism swept me away. I’d agree with Elliott’s claims, and say this film marks career highs for McGregor, Kidman, Broadbent, and Luhrmann himself. I got right back in line to take my wife and our friends! All of us, both guys and dolls, loved it. And for the record, at both screenings I saw women of all ages laughing, crying, and carried away on the movie’s melodramatic tide.

Like the “silly love songs” it celebrates, Moulin Rouge is about idealism rather than realism. If it were any more down-to-earth, its enchanted balloon would burst; any heavier, it would come crashing down. Its unique magic lies in its ability to have fun and laugh at itself, thus avoiding sentimentality. You can sense Luhrmann winking at the audience even as he stuns us with fanciful sights and crescendos of sound unlike anything we’ve ever seen or heard in a movie theatre before. “Yeah, it’s pop music,” he seems to say, “but admit it … it speaks to you.”

In my review at Looking Closer, I suggest that there’s a deeper truth speaking to us in the story, whether the filmmakers know it or not. It’s interesting that in the Moulin Rouge nightclub’s labyrinth of the botched and the debauched, it is “Christian” love that perseveres and passes through fire. Christian redeems the unfaithful beloved. What a marvelous picture of how a follower of Christ should live and love—in but not of the world. And what a beautiful metaphor of God’s relentless love, pursuing us in spite of our fickle hearts and our unfaithfulness. We all yearn to be loved the way Christian loves Satine, and thus the songs speak to us. But can we ourselves love so wholeheartedly?

* * *

Another week, another comedy starring a Saturday Night Live star. This week, it’s The Animal. Rob Schneider plays a man saved by emergency surgery, in which his body is filled with replacement animal parts. Soon, he finds a whole new world of behaviors and habits taking over his existence as his internal animal organs fight for control. No animals may have been harmed in the filmmaking, but The Animal is taking a beating from critics.

The U.S. Catholic Conference says, “The silly premise produces a few humorous moments and sight gags, but the muddled ending is forced.” Preview says, “Young audiences may find humor in the comical antics of Marvin acting out socially unacceptable animal habits … but older audiences will be bored by the sophomoric bathroom humor. Although Marvin risks his life to save his nemesis, The Animal needs to be housebroken.” At Dove, Holly McClure declares that “the amount of crude humor ruins the lighter moments in the movie.”

A few prominent mainstream critics stepped away from the groaning majority to defend it, suggesting that perhaps the detractors only saw what previous SNL-star flicks had prepared them to see. Reel.com‘s Tor Thorson writes, “What’s the difference between The Animal and every other lowbrow comedy this year? The Animal is funny.” Entertainment Weekly‘s Owen Gleiberman praises Schneider’s performance, claiming, “If anyone else had played this role, the joke might have worn out in five minutes. Schneider … seems as shocked by his inner animal as we are. The resulting movie may be ramshackle in the extreme … but it’s a good natured comedy.” Likewise, Susan Wloszczyna sticks up for the little guy in USA Today: “Instead of mean-spirited stupidity or a gush of gross-outs, Schneider … adopts a pussycat persona that engenders goodwill. This may be giving [him] too much credit, but the lad has found a way to temporarily halt the de-evolution of the silly comedy. The Animal may stoop to bathroom gags, but it stays out of the gutter.”

One even finds a glimmer of meaning in it all. Steven Holden at The New York Times calls it “the giddy antidote to The Island of Dr. Moreau. Half-concealed inside the farce is a timely fable about human behavior. A scene of a mob on a man-beast hunt suggests that humans at their worst are far more fearsome than any beast. In its goofy way, the movie addresses the moral contradictions of a world in which you have a growing animal-rights movement on one side and a mania for professional wrestling on the other. At several moments The Animal seems aimed toward an all-stops-pulled gross-out sight gag, but then it pulls back. Its relative modesty lends Mr. Schneider’s deft, ingenuous performance an unexpected glow of innocence.”

Note: Though the quotes above are real, beware of any you find attached to the movie’s promotional campaign. Newsweek‘s John Horn reports that David Manning, whose praise of The Animal appears in advertisements for the movie, does not, in fact, exist. He’s an invention of Sony Pictures to help market the film. Horn implies that moviegoers need to carefully seek out the sources of information on films before they buy a ticket.

* * *

In What’s the Worst that Could Happen?, Danny Devito and Martin Lawrence play Max and Kevin, two small-time thieves in big-time trouble. Sometimes the title says it all.

“Sluggish and dull-witted, director Sam Weisman’s flimsy narrative is mostly a snore with a few cheap laughs,” posts The U.S. Catholic Conference. Movie Parables‘ Michael Elliott says, “This comedy is stale and flat, its interesting premise wasted by the all-too-obvious and formulaic treatment of the filmmakers. It is a silly little story and none of the actors give anything close to a notable performance.” Phil Boatwright at The Dove Foundation claims, “Nothing the two male leads and the supporting players do on screen could possibly be misconstrued as acting. The director has a muddy visual sense, reducing characters to caricatures and giving the asinine plot a rhythm-less pace.”

Two critics had ethical gripes with the film. Preview predicts, “The film should make a quick trip to video.” Their critic frowns at “condoned adultery, premarital sex, occultic fortune telling, and an abundance of foul language. Unfortunately, the story implies neither Max nor Kevin suffer remorse or consequences for their actions.” Focus on the Family‘s Bob Smithouser agrees: “This comedy has some funny moments, but they get lost in a sea of ignobleness. The movie tries to pass off antiheroes as people we should root for, making excuses for poor character by painting the antagonists as being just a little bit worse. It’s moral relativism in action.”

Still Cooking

The New York Times‘ John W. Dower believes that Pearl Harbor sets itself up as “a paean to patriotic ardor and an imagined American innocence.” This, he claims, is greatly misleading. “Take, for example, the Doolittle air raid that provides the setting for the film’s climax. This was a truly bold and heroic mission that … also culminated in the death of five crewmen in crash landings outside Japan and the capture of another eight … three were executed … and a fourth died in prison. Pearl Harbor makes no reference at all to these criminal executions.” He points out discrepancies in the film’s focus on Japanese attacks and American endeavors. “When Pearl Harbor is bombed … the camera follows the explosives to their human victims—and then dwells there, interminably, amid the carnage. Although the Doolittle raid killed about 50 civilians, including some schoolchildren, we never see this or hear of it.” He also protests its failure to inform audiences of how the U.S. laid waste to more than 60 Japanese cities, along with the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. “The death toll from the atomic bombs alone was nearly 100 times that at Pearl Harbor,” he reminds us. The implication is clear. Director Michael Bay is contributing to a disturbing trend: Americans are being entertained and inspired by half-truths that encourage prejudice and give us credit we do not deserve.

Side Dishes

Going Back for Seconds

Several have responded in detail, and I’ll share their words here from time to time. Clive Camm quickly responded, recommending the Three Colors trilogy— Blue, White, and Red—by Krzystof Kieslowski. “They highlight important themes,” he writes. For example, “Freedom is not found in escape or hiding. Life is richest in community. And, watching Red in particular, there is no such thing as coincidence. I’m left with the sense that life is orchestrated; how we react is our choice.”

Three Colors are among my favorite films of all time, and I heartily second Camm’s endorsement. Kieslowski’s films are energetic spiritual explorations. He follows his characters through strange traumas and watches what they learn. In Blue, Julie (Juliette Binoche) tries to run from her life after her husband and daughter are killed in a car accident; she finds, however, that starting over is difficult to do, and sometimes the only way to freedom is through responsibility. White tells the story of a Polish barber who leaves France and returns home after his wife leaves him. Along the way, a despondent stranger persuades him to carry out a rather shocking task that leads him to re-evaluate the value of life. And Red, as Camm says, tackles dilemmas of freewill and God’s control of the world. It also explores the consequences of becoming jaded to the world’s evil, and the benefits of living with a spirit of hope. The trilogy is best watched in this order, for the benefit of Red‘s conclusion, which ties all three together.

Next week:Swordfish, Evolution, and more recommendations from Film Forum readers.

Jeffrey Overstreet is on the board of Promontory Artists Association, a non-profit organization based in Seattle, which provides community, resources, and encouragement for Christian artists.

Copyright © 2001 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Related Elsewhere

All three staff—novice master Father Raphael Paliakara, 46, Father Andreas Kindo, 31, and Brother Shinu Joseph Valliparambil, 23—were shot dead, apparently by militants with automatic weapons on May 15.

The missionaries were of the Salesian novice house at Ngarian hills 20 miles from Imphal, capital of the state of Manipur. It and surrounding states have a complex ethnic mix and dozens of militant groups fighting for rights for their peoples.

“We are all extremely distressed,” said Father Thomas Mulayinkal, Salesian superior of the province of Dimapur, which includes the novice house.

Mulayinkal said more than 5,000 people, including 200 priests and three bishops, attended the funeral at the Salesian seminary in Dimapur.

He said the militants “forced their way into the [novice house] putting an AK-47 rifle at the temple of the driver guarding the house, asking him to take them to the superior.” Paliakara gave them 30,000 rupees (US$640) which he had in the house, but “they were not satisfied” and shot him. The assistant priest and the brother who rushed in on hearing the shots were also killed.

“Maybe they [the militants] are targeting and punishing us for refusing to heed to their extortion demands,” said Mulayinkal.

Father Dominic Lumon, vicar general of the Catholic archdiocese of Imphal, said that in February eight Catholic schools in Imphal Valley decided “not to concede to the extortion demands” of militant groups who had recently demanded the schools pay 500,000 rupees (US$10,700) each.

“After a few days, our schools had to be closed for a month with militant groups refusing to allow us to function without meeting their demand,” said Lumon. “It seems they are taking revenge on the church for defying them. They have attacked a house of prayer to show their resentment.”

He said that almost everybody, including government officials, was “forced to make regular contributions” to ethnic militant groups.

He pointed out that Father Shajan Jacob, vice principal of a diocesan school in the region, was shot dead last December, and another diocesan priest survived a similar militant attack in February.

Local Christian schools had been looted by armed militants because of the church’s reluctance to pay money demanded by militants.

“While Christians are being blamed by some [Hindu groups] for supporting insurgency in the north-east, the tragedy is that it is at the hands of the insurgents that Christian workers are being brutally murdered,” the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) said in a statement following this week’s murders.

Manipur is one of seven tiny states in India’s northeast, which are home to a variety of ethnic groups. They nestle between Bangladesh, Butan, China, Nepal and Myanmar. The seven states have a total population of about 40 million.

While Christians account for only 20 percent of Manipur’s 2.3 million people, three of the seven states in the northeast have Christian majorities. This is at the root of Hindu fundamentalist claims that Christian missionaries are assisting dozens of ethnic militant groups in the region.

“This [the triple murder] disproves the charge that Christian missionaries are supporting militant groups here. In fact, we are the first to oppose the extortion demands of the militants,” said Father Lumon.

D. C. Haja Darnei, head of the Presbyterian Church in India, most of whose 900,000 members are in northeastern India, also condemned the murders. Darnei said, “it is time for the churches to come together and plan common strategy to deal with such a vital question. This type of extortion happens in many places.”

Copyright © 2001 ENI.

Related Elsewhere

The national president of All-India Catholic Union condemns the incident saying it should shock every right thinking citizen of the country.

An Indian Express article looks into the long line of priest murders and threats in Manipur before the triple homicide.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India’s web site does not include a statement on the triple murder, but there is a condemnation on the earlier murder of Father Shajan Jacob.

Previous Christianity Today articles on India include:

Churches Adopt Entire Villages in Devastated Gujarat to Help the Homeless | Charities aim to meet basic needs after January’s western India earthquake (June 7, 2001)

Communist-Backed Orthodox Priest Loses Election for Kerala Assembly | Nooranal’s electoral campaign annoyed some Christians with support of Communists (June 7, 2001)

Despite Tensions, Indian Churches Agree to Talks With Hindu Groups | Mainline churches will join talks, but other Christians say “partisan” meeting is dangerous. (Apr. 11, 2001)

Christians Help Overlooked Villages | Many Christian agencies are still doing earthquake relief among India’s poorest victims. (Apr. 5, 2001)

In Southern India, Orthodox Priest Has Communist Support in State Election | Popular priest says he’s independent despite strange bedfellows, but many Christians are wary. (Apr. 4, 2001)

Christians Call for India’s Prime Minister and Government to Resign in Wake of Scandal | Web site releases tapes of party president taking bribes from men posing as arms dealers. (Mar. 22, 2001)

India Relief Abuses Rampant | Radical Hindus hijack supplies in quake intervention. (Mar. 20, 2001)

In Orissa, You Must Ask the Government If You Want to Change Religion | Christian church leaders say they’re trying to ignore the controversial law, but police aren’t doing the same. (Mar. 12, 2001)

New Delhi Conference Condemns ‘Immense Suffering’ in Caste System | National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights plans to appeal to United Nations. (Mar. 9, 2001)

Weblog: Take Up Arms Against Missionaries, Says Hindu Leader | Clouds darkening over India (Mar. 6, 2001)

Churches Angry that Indian Census Ignores 14 Million Christian Dalits | Only Hindu, Sikh, and Buddhist members of “untouchable” caste being counted. (Mar. 2, 2001)

Churches Have Not Worked to End Dowry Practice | India’s women are seen as less valuable than men in a society that supports bride burnings and “suicide.” (Feb. 20, 2001)

India’s Christians Face Continued Threats | We must preach what we believe in spite of Hindu pressure, says Operation Mobilization India leader. (Feb. 15, 2001)

India’s Quake Survivors Need Counseling | Earthquake survivors are desperate for more than material aid, Indian bishop warns. (Feb. 9, 2001)

Quake Rocks Hindu Hotbed | Agencies appeal for funds to aid victims. (Feb. 8, 2001)

Politician Who Saw God’s Hand in Gujarat Quake Forced to Resign | Civil aviation minister had told Christians that quake was God’s judgment against persecution of Christians. (Feb. 5, 2001)

Militant Hindus Assault Christians | Persecution of religious minorities stirs Christian outrage against government inaction. (Jan. 31, 2001)