GAY MARRIAGE-OHIO
Board: Ohio judges can’t choose marriage type they perform
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) β An Ohio judicial board has ruled that judges who perform weddings can’t refuse same-sex couples based on personal, moral or religious beliefs.
The board also says judges who stop performing all marriages to avoid marrying same-sex couples may be considered biased and could therefore be disqualified from any case where sexual orientation is an issue.
The Ohio Supreme Court’s Board of Professional Conduct issued the ruling Monday after a Toledo judge who refused to perform a same-sex wedding asked the board to clarify his duties. Municipal Judge C. Allen McConnell said he didn’t marry a same-sex couple because of his religious beliefs after the U.S. Supreme Court made gay marriage legal in all 50 states in June.
McConnell said Monday he would abide by the board’s opinion and would marry a same-sex couple if requested.
Sound:
226-v-33-(Steve Coleman, AP religion editor)–An Ohio judicial board has ruled that judges who perform weddings cannot turn away same-sex couples based on personal, moral or religious beliefs. AP Religion Editor Steve Coleman reports. (10 Aug 2015)
< FERGUSON Police shooting, protests put Ferguson back on edge FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) β About 50 civil rights and religious protesters have been arrested after blocking the entrance to a St. Louis federal courthouse while calling for a more aggressive federal response to what they call racist law enforcement practices. Monday’s arrests of scholar Ornel West, local clergy and a few dozen others were part of what was billed as a national day of civil disobedience. They came a day after the one-year observance of the Ferguson police shooting death of Michael Brown, and a police shooting there Sunday night that wounded another black 18-year-old, who police say fired on officers during nighttime protests. Monday’s arrests came after a roughly mile-long march from a St. Louis church to the federal courthouse. That’s where marchers demanded federal action to stop policing that they say targets minorities. The protesters then scaled a waist-high barricade, staging a sit-in before advancing past police to the entrances. Sound: 225-w-35-(Tim Maguire, AP correspondent, with raw sound and Tony Washington, Ferguson resident)–Some 50 protesters are arrested for blocking an entrance to the federal courthouse in St. Louis. ((cut opens with sound)) (10 Aug 2015) < 218-a-16-(Rev. Starsky Wilson, pastor St. John’s Church, co-chair, Ferguson Commission, in AP interview)-“Ferguson Police Department”-Pastor Starsky Wilson, who is co-chair of the Ferguson Commission, says he and other religous leaders and activists are taking part in “Moral Monday,” a day of civil disobedience. (10 Aug 2015) < 219-a-16-(Rev. Starsky Wilson, pastor St. John’s Church, co-chair, Ferguson Commission, in AP interview)-“Ferguson Police Department”-Pastor Starsky Wilson, who is co-chair of the Ferguson Commission, says the U.S. Department of Justice needs to take a more assertive role in helping bring about reforms in Ferguson and other area police departments. Updated: 08/10/2015-05:29:20 PM ET (10 Aug 2015) < 220-q-13-(Rev. Starsky Wilson, pastor St. John’s Church, co-chair, Ferguson Commission, in AP interview)-“police as well”-Pastor Starsky Wilson, who is co-chair of the Ferguson Commission, was asked for his reaction to the unrest Sunday that included the shooting by police of a suspect who allegedly opened fire on officers in Ferguson. (10 Aug 2015) < 199-r-22-(Sounds of protesters, chanting ‘The whole world’s watching’ outside the federal courthouse in St. Louis)–Sounds of protesters chanting ‘The whole world’s watching’ outside the federal courthouse in St. Louis. (10 Aug 2015) < 200-r-22-(Sound of protesters, chanting outside the courthouse in St. Louis)–Sound of protesters chanting outside the courthouse in St. Louis. ((Note language in the chant: ‘Indict, convict, send those killer cops to jail; the whole damn system is guilty as hell.’)) (10 Aug 2015) < 201-r-13-(Sound of protesters, chanting ‘We don’t get no justice, you don’t get no peace’ outside the federal courthouse in St. Louis)–Sound of protesters chanting ‘We don’t get no justice, you don’t get no peace’ outside the federal courthouse in St. Louis. (10 Aug 2015) < CHARLESTON SHOOTING-HALEY Haley worships at Emanuel AME, site of Charleston shootings CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) β South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has again worshipped with the congregation of Emanuel AME Church in Charleston where nine parishioners were killed during a Bible study in June. The Post and Courier of Charleston reports that the governor attended Sunday services with her husband and their two children. It was a low-key visit and the governor did not address the congregation. But Bishop Richard Franklin Norris welcomed the Haley family and told the congregation he appreciated the visit and said he had never seen a governor so quickly and gracefully provide leadership. The Haley family left the church immediately after the two-hour service. The governor had earlier attended the funerals for all nine of the Emanuel victims. IMMIGRANT SURGE Rio Grande Valley charity gets tent for immigrant surge MCALLEN, Texas (AP) β A Catholic charity that operates an immigrant relief center in McAllen, Texas, says they’ve had city workers put up a tent because the number of people using the center for overnight stays has risen so sharply in the last month. Sister Norma Pimentel, executive director of the Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley, tells The Monitor of McAllen that the 762 migrants at the center in July topped last year’s peak by 29 percent. She says the recent surge began in late June. Pimentel says she requested the 25-by-35-foot tent last month to hold an additional 35 people and keep men separate from women and children. Border Patrol spokesman Omar Zamor says the agency is now apprehending 250 to 300 more illegal immigrants monthly than it did in recent months. PIG WRESTLING REPLACED Wisconsin church replaces pig wrestling at annual event STEPHENSVILLE, Wis. (AP) β A Catholic church in northeastern Wisconsin has replaced its long-standing tradition of pig wrestling at an annual event following protests last year by an animal-rights group. Post-Crescent Media reports that Sunday’s 45th annual St. Patrick Catholic Parish Roundup in Stephensville had a life-sized foosball tournament rather than pig wrestling. Players held onto plastic pipes attached to livestock gates, using everything but their hands to advance a pig-shaped ball. The animal-rights group Global Conservation protested pig wrestling at last year’s event. The group claimed pigs were “punched in the face, kicked, body-slammed, jumped on, yelled at and thrown into a bucket.” Event chairman Glenn Van Handel says organizers didn’t feel they were doing anything wrong, but that they moved away from pig wrestling because of the controversy. MARIJUANA IN BIBLE Holy smokes! Police: Woman hid marijuana cigarettes in Bible UNION, S.C. (AP) β Authorities say a woman has been arrested after she tried to smuggle marijuana into a South Carolina jail inside a Bible. An arrest report obtained by multiple media outlets said 24-year-old Monkia Ryans hid three marijuana cigarettes inside the Bible and dropped the book off at the Union County jail Friday afternoon. Deputies say the jail supervisor didn’t think the Bible felt right and had it X-rayed. Authorities say the cigarettes and a piece of paper with Ryans’ name on it were found inside the binding of the Bible. Authorities say Ryans was arrested on Sunday in the jail parking lot during visiting hours. She is charged with furnishing prisoners with alcohol or drugs. It wasn’t known if she had a lawyer. VATICAN-POPE-CREATION Pope sets day aside to pray for the care of the environment VATICAN CITY (AP) β Pope Francis has taken a cue from Orthodox Christians and designated Sept. 1 as a day for Catholics to pray for the care of the environment. The Vatican said Monday that Francis, taking up a suggestion from Orthodox leaders, has instituted for Catholics a “world day of prayer for the care of Creation” to be marked every Sept. 1. Writing to Vatican cardinals about his decision, Francis quoted from his encyclical this year about the need for Christians and all people to protect the environment. Francis told the cardinals the day will offer “individual believers and communities” an opportunity to reaffirm commitments to being “stewards of creation.” The pope said Catholics’ marking the prayer day on the same date as the Orthodox highlights the “growing communion” between the churches. POLITICS AND POPE FRANCIS Pope and Congress: Francis is certain to challenge lawmakers WASHINGTON (AP) β A political pope is sure to seize his opportunity when he addresses a political body. So both Democrats and Republicans are looking forward to Pope Francis’ remarks to Congress next month β and bracing for them, too. The pope thrills Democrats with his teachings on climate change, social justice and immigration. At the same time, his message on life and the church’s traditional opposition to abortion comforts Republicans. There’s little doubt Francis will highlight those themes in his message to lawmakers of the richest nation on earth. A top adviser to Francis visited Washington in April and said the pope will speak “frankly but friendly” in his U.S. trip. The pope comes to the Capitol on Sept. 24, where he will be the first pontiff to ever address a joint meeting of Congress. He will also appear on the Capitol’s West Front balcony to greet the public. CHURCH ABUSE Imprisoned ex-priest sentenced in another child assault case SALEM, Mass. (AP) β A retired Roman Catholic priest imprisoned for child rape has been sentenced to 8 to 10 years behind bars for assaulting another boy at a Massachusetts summer camp in the 1980s. The Essex District Attorney’s Office says 74-year-old Richard McCormick pleaded guilty Monday in Salem Superior Court to a reduced charge of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14. He had been charged with child rape. The new sentence began Monday, and he isn’t getting any credit for time already served. McCormick is serving another 8- to 10-year prison sentence imposed last November for repeatedly raping a boy at the now-defunct Salesian Brothers’ Sacred Heart camp in Ipswich in 1981 and 1982. Monday’s sentence was for assaulting a 7-year-old boy at the same camp in 1982 and 1983. INDIA-TEMPLE STAMPEDE Stampede at Indian temple leaves 10 dead, dozens hurt PATNA, India (AP) β Police in eastern India say a stampede at a Hindu temple during a religious festival has left 10 pilgrims dead and dozens more injured. Police say thousands of people tried to force their way into the temple when its gates opened at daybreak in Deoghar, a town in Jharkhand state. State Home Commissioner N.N. Pande told reporters that tens of thousands of people were participating in a monthlong festival at the temple of Shiva, the destroyer, one of the main deities of Hinduism. Deadly stampedes are fairly common during Indian religious festivals, where large crowds gather in small areas with few safety or crowd control measures. Last month, 27 people died when tens of thousands of pilgrims taking part in a Hindu religious bathing festival triggered a massive stampede on a riverbank in southern India. In October 2013, a stampede in central India killed more than 110 people, mostly women and children.
