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T he P ori land O bserver • A ugust 28, 1996
rA O t 0 3
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Mexican if over tnent ‘B ehind 'Death?
‘febuddina A.
President Reagan once said, “We
declared war on poverty and pover
ty won.” It is widely accepted that
America’s experiment with social
engineering has been a failure. In
almost all o f the country’s major
cities, crime is at crises levels, teen
pregnancy levels are epidemic and
homicide rates are dangerously high.
It is not an overstatement to de
scribe our inner cities as being in a
state o f social disintegration. By
almost every quality o f life mea
sure, the condition o f those receiv
ing help from government programs
show an increase in the misery o f
those supposedly helped by gov
ernment programs.
However, more and more Chris
tians are discovering the simple truth
that people empowered by God are
the most effective solution for the
spiritual and economic development
o f the poor. In the words o f FCS
Urban Ministries in Atlanta, G eor
gia and Christian Community De
velopment A ssociation (CCD A )
board member Bob Lupton, “We
are finally willing to admit that we
cannot program poverty away. We
must dust off forgotten truth and trans
late into the hightech age a technolo
gy that has the power to bring G od’s
shalom to the city.
“The CCDA is an association o f
Christian churches, ministries, fami
lies, and individuals. Through CCDA,
committed people o f God are no
longer working in the trenches among
America’s poor, thinking they are
the only ones.
Members encourage each other
and learn from one another.
They engage in a range o f commu
nity development activities such as
community development training,
evangelism, housing, job creation and
youth counseling.
By working together consulting
one another, members o f the CCDA
strive to strengthen existing Chris
tian community development orga
nizations and provide encouragement
to new Christian community devel
opment efforts.
CCDA hopes to inspire all those
individuals helping develop commu
nities in a Christian way and to help
to mobilize the body o f Christ at
large. CCDA works together with
ministries to mobilize spiritual and
physical resources in and for com
munities through the Church
Christian community development
is a biblical approach based on three
key principles:
♦ When we live among people u e
ministeriö, we become one with them
It is no longer ju st a matter ofm erely
helping, but rather we become a part
o f the community working together
to solve its problems
♦ Reconciliation with our neigh
bor is the result o f loving G od (I
John 4:19-21). Our love fo r Christ
should break down every racial, so
cial, or economic barrier
♦ When the body o f Christ is visi
bly present am ong the poor, and
when we are loving our neighbor the
way we love ourselves, the result is
redistribution—sharing our lives and
skills and resources in a way that
enables people to become all that
G od intended them to be.
The Christian Community Devel
opment Association was born out o f
a 1989 gathering o f Christian lead
ers spearheaded by Dr. John Perkins
in Chicago, Illinois.
The gathering was o f individu
als bonded by a significant commit
ment toexpressing the loveofChrist
in America’s poor communities, not
just in words, but by good deeds.
From this gathering, the CCDA
was formed and in a few short years,
CCDA has grown from 37 found
ing members to over 3,000 individ
uals and 400 churches and minis
tries in 35 states and more than 100
cities.
Dr Perkins, the Chairman o f
CCDA, recently wrote in his Urban
Family m agazine, “ As A frican
American Christians, we must be
able to stand unwavering for ju s
tice—whether political or individu-
a l-an d at the same time passionate
ly insist on personal responsibili
ty.”
I hrough CCDA, Dr. Perkins is
giving many others the chance to
live responsibly and teach others to
do the same.
A Roman Catholic church news
paper alleged Tuesday that the "high
est circles o f power" in Mexico were
behind the 1994 murder o f ruling
party presidential candidate Luis
Donaldo Colosio.
The bimonthly newspaper Nuevo
Criterio, a publication o f the Archdi
ocese o f Mexico, said in an unusual
ly outspoken editorial that the Colosio
slaying was clearly a plot and not the
work o f a lone gunman.
“The resources used to carry ou,
the crime, but especially the way it
was handled afterward, make it clear
that
the mastermind was in the
highest circles o f power," it said.
It added, without directly accus
ing M ex ico 's form er president:
“There is much evidence o f the vio
lent and vengeful way in which ex
president (Carlos) Salinas de Gortari
resolved his difficulties with other
people.”
In a statement issued late Tues
day, the Archdiocese pointed out that
the publication was not official, and
did not represent the views o f the
Archbishop or the Catholic church as
an institution. It said the editorial
was intended to offer readers “ele-
Clinton, Qore help rebuiid church
Preaching against racial intoler
ance, President Bill Clinton and Vice
President AI Gore last week pound
ed nails to help rebui Id a black church
destroyed by fire in a hardscrabble
town in west Tennessee.
Clinton and Gore, joined by their
wives Hillary and Tipper, came here
to celebrate the spirit o f togetherness
shown by the congregations o f a black
church and a white one who joined
forces to rebuild their burned houses
o f worship.
“Y ou’re not ju st rebuilding your
churches here. Y o u ’re show ing
America w hat’s right with America
and in doing that you’re leading us to
a bright and better future," Clinton
told the two congregations outside
the Salem Missionary Baptist Church
construction site under a punishing
sun that parched surrounding fields
o f com, cotton and soybeans.
Before the black Salem Missionry
Baptist Church and the white New
Shiloh United Methodist Church in
nearby Humboldt burned, the con
gregations had never met. But in the
wake o f the Methodist church de
struction in 1994 and the Baptist one
in 1995 they came together and are
helping each other build new church
es on the same land where the old
ones stood.
“It seems like everything has come
together in the right way,” Gore said.
The white church fire apparently
was accidental, but the black one is
being investigated as arson. The FBI
and other federal and state agencies
have been investigating a series o f
fires that have destroyed more than
70 churches since January 1995,
mainly in the South and most attend
ed by blacks.
In Fruitland, Clinton said Bosnia,
N o rth ern Ire la n d , R w anda and
Burundi have all suffered bloodshed
and heartache from ethnic differenc
es and he was determined not to let
Online with Jesus
A new software program that of
fers shy cybersinners the chance to
confess to their own computers drew
a rebuke Friday from Germ any’s Ro
man Catholic Church, which was
clearly not amused by the novel disc.
“This does not conform to the
Catholic understanding o f confes
sion,” a spokeswoman for the G er
man Conference o f Bishops said.
“You cannot have sins forgiven by
the push o f a button.”
The “Confession by Computer"
disc, marketed by the Cologne-based
Lazarus Society, lets users select their
shortcomings from a list o f 200 fail
ings that can be custom ized for espe-
cially original sinners.
“As soon as the sin is selected on
the basis o f the T en Commandments,
the computer searches out an appro
priate penance,” the disc’s promo
tional literature says.
It displays on screen or reads out
audibly the words to the prayers “Our
Father” and “Hail Mary,” then sug
gests how to get in touch with priests,
ministers or a pastor on the Internet.
The “Online with Jesus” disc,
dreamed up by a D uesseldorf pro
grammer and developed with the help
o f theologians, also offers more than
50 prayers, the text o f the rosary, the
order o f the Catholic mass and a
Protestant church service.
“The sermon, written spec ial ly for
this disc, can be read or listened to,”
it added.
Lazarus, which describes itself as
an ecumenical humanitarian organi
zation, is selling the discs for $52 —
part o f which will go to charity.
America go down that “dark alley”
o f despair. “ I think it is a test o f the
character o f our people,” he said.
It was a birthday appearance for
Clinton, who turned 50, and for Mrs.
Gore, who turned 48. Clinton had
celebrated his birthday with a star-
studded show in New York Sunday
night.
“You have given us a great gift
today ... You have shown us that we
have more than we think and that we
can give more than we think,” he told
the worshippers.
After their speeches, Clinton and
Gore, clad in blue jeans and sport
shirts, stepped inside the newly con
structed walls o f the church, put on
heavy work gloves and helped put up
some sheetrock. They tacked it in
place with nails, then Clinton strug
gled with a power drill to put screws
into the wall.
Mrs Clinton, Mrs Gore and their
daughters busied themselves inside
as well.
The setting allowed the Demo
cratic incumbent to show some youth
ful vigour, pounding nails in 90-de-
gree (32-degree C) heat, in contras,
to Republican presidential nominee
Bob D ole’s 73rd birthday celebra
tion at an ice cream social in Kansas
in July.
The Rev. Dan Donaldson o f the
Salem Missionary church told the
crowd he realised there was possibly
a political element in Clinton's visit
but he said the president was also a
human being and a man o f compas
sion.
ments to reflect upon.”
Salinas has denied any involve
ment in the killing.
Authorities last year said he was
not being investigated in relation to
the crime but might be called to tes
tify.
Salinas left Mexico in disgrace
last year following the arrest o f his
brother on murder charges and lives
in Ireland.
The newspaper alleged the March
23, 1994, slaying o f Colosio— Sali
nas’ hand-picked successor, who had
been widely expected to win August
1994 presidential elections was the
work o f “someone who had more
than enough reasons to get rid o f an
uncomfortable and independent can
didate.”
The Roman Catholic church in
Mexico is not generally known for
such pronouncements on public af
fairs.
Many Mexicans said they believe
Salinas was involved in the Colosio
slaying, the most serious political
assassination in Mexico in half a
century, because Colosio was not
obeying instructions from the man
who gave him the candidacy.
Mt Olivet
Baptist Church
8501 N. Chautauqua Blvd.
at Willis Blvd.
Worship Services 8:00am & 11:00am,
Church School 9:30 to 10:30am,
Bible Study, Wednesdays, 10:30am & 7:00pm
Radio Ministry each Sunday, 8:00am on K.BMS
A Teaching Church With A Reaching Ministry
Dr. Janies E. Martin, Senior Pastor
(503) 240-PRAV
Interfaith Qrandparents
With the surge in intermarriage in recent years, a new generation o f
grandparents is learning how to strike a balance between passing on the
traditions that are important to them and respecting the wishes o f their
children and children-in-law ofdifferent faiths. It is increasingly common
for grandparents to find that their grandchildren are being raised in a
different faith, or in a combination o f two faiths. When this occurs,
grandparents are often left searching for sensitive and meaningful ways
to connect with their grandchildren.
According to the Jewish Outreach Institute, there are over 800,000
children under the age o f 18 living in interfaith households. Yet there are
only a handful o f balanced, respectful resources written to strengthen the
ties between these children and their extended families.
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Father: Andre M. Petett
Mother: Stacey Pettett
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