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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 13, 2000)
September 13, 2000 Page B6 Portland (Cljv ÿlorthuxb ©baerucr Religion Obituaries In Loving Memory O f Christopher Guinn Jr. Sunrise August 7,1937 Sunset September 1, 2000 Roberta Vann: an icon in the community by J o s R amos Roberta Vann, an honored fellow resident ofPortland celebrated her 97,h birthday among family and friends last week on Sunday, September 3. Bom in 1926 in Minter City, Mississippi, she had picked cotton'on a plantation at 5 years old and attended school around the cotton picking season. At 26 years old, Roberta graduated from Clark College in Georgia and later went on to become a teacher. She met her future husband, Cleotus Moore, Sr. when he was still a student in embalming school. They married on April 1, 1949 and later took up residence in Portland a few years later where Cleotus started his mortuary business, now called Vann & Vann Funeral Directors locatedat5211N. Williams. Roberta helped to run the company as well as working part-time as a teacher at Boise-Elliott Elementary. Over the years, Roberta endured many challenges for being a woman o f color where she was not allowed to vote, own a house and other discriminatory practices that have been outlawed. During her birthday celebration, Calvin Allmon, Roberta’s former 4'h grade student from Boise Elliott showed his appreciation for her influence in his life by playing the piano. Another one o f her students was Kevin Fuller, a graduate from Harvard with a Masters degree. Roberta has had a personal commitment to helping youths. Her message to them has been to not take their opportunities for granted because it has been through the sacrifice o f others that has created the freedoms and opportunities they have today. Priest told to drop civil suit ( O N T R IB I T T D S T O R Y In an unprecedented move, the Vatican is forcing aCanadianCatholic priest to drop his libel suit against anothercleric by illicitly threatening him with the rare and extraordinary punishment o f excommunication. Father Nicholas Grüner, who heads the Fort Erie-based Fatima Center, has offered to withdraw his libel action against M onsignor Alan McCormack, now based in Cardinal Ratzinger’s Congregation in Rome, provided the unwarranted threat o f excom m unication is w ithdraw n together with certain guarantees. Coralie Graham, a Director o f the apostolate headed by Father Grüner was incredulous: “I am speechless at th is ab u se of a u th o rity . Excommunication is for heretics and abortionists. This is a clear cut abuse ofChurch authority in order to engage in a coverup. But what is a person to do when politicians so close to the Pope are the ones pulling the puppet strings?” Father Gruner’s civil suit seeks a retraction o f public statements made in 1990 by Msgr. McCormack, then an official o f the Archdiocese o f Toronto, challenging F ather Grüner's sta tu s as a C a th o lic p rie st. Excommunication, which formally severs all connections between an individual and the Catholic Church, is apunishment normally applied only to persons guilty o f grave moral or theological offenses, such as the persisten t p reaching o f heresy. Since th is p e n a lty e ffe c tiv e ly terminates a priest’s career, it is very rarely used. Hundreds o f priests convicted in civil courts o f serious sexual and financial crimes in recent decades have been spared this punishm ent, as have prom inent theologians, such as Hans Kung, w hose p u b lish e d v iew s are notoriously contrary to Catholic teaching. Father G rüner has never been o ffic ia lly accused o f any such offenses. In fact. Father Grüner has never been canonically accused o f any offense whatsoever against the Catholic Faith, Catholic morals, or Canon Law. The excommunication threat was made in a letter (dated June 5, 2000, and d elivered by two messengers to Fort Erie on June 21) from Dario Cardinal Hoyos, who heads the Vatican’s Congregation for the Clergy in Rome. Catholic moral theology and Canon Law allows Father Grüner to sue in civil court for libel ifotheravenuesofdefendinghis good name are exhausted. In any case. Canon Law does not p ro v id e fo r the p e n a lty o f excommunication for such a civil suit. Nevertheless, according to a Vatican official, the letter bluntly warned Father Grüner that failure to withdraw his libel suit “ w o u ld provoke additional canonical procedures against him, up to and including the penalty o f excommunication.” Since FatherGruner was attacked in print a d ecad e ago by M o n sig n o r McCormack, FatherGruner has made several unsuccessful attem pts to reach an out-of-court settlement. The T o ro n to A r c h d io c e s e ’s only response was an attempt to have the suit dismissed, claiming that the Church’s internal court was a more appropriate forum for resolving the matter. In view o f the excommunication th reat, F ather G rü n er has now requested a m eeting and direct negotiations with Vatican officials, including Hoyos.At the same time. F a th e r G rü n e r re q u e ste d an adjournment o f the libel trial in order to accom m odate the req uested meetings at the Vatican, which may tak e m any w eeks to a rra n g e . Earlier this year, JusticeGloria Epstein o f the Ontario Superior Court ruled that the case “can and should be resolved in this court,” since the Church’s internal dispute resolution process does not provide for the awarding o f damages, and lacks a m echanism for enfo rcin g such awards. Father G ru n e r’s organization publishes a quarterly magazine, “The Fatima Crusader", with over one million readers in Canada and the United States. It promotes traditional Catholic teachings and devotions, and has attracted strong opposition from Fatima skeptics in the Vatican bureaucracy. N o tably, the sam e C ardinal Ratzinger, (whose Vatican office employs McCormack), mentioned Father Gruner by name in his press conference o f June 26 regarding the Third Secret, and suggested that FatherGruner was in a state ofanxiety. “ It m ust be b e c a u se C ard in al Ratzinger knew o f Cardinal Hoyos’ threat o f excommunication. I am not now suffering, nor was I suffering on June 26, from any state o f anxiety. The excommunication threat has no basis in Church law and my mind is at peace. Idon’tknowwhatelse Cardinal Ratzinger could be referring to. His choice o f the word ‘anxiety’ is surely no coincidence,” said FatherGruner. Since both European and North American press have sought the benefit o f Father Gruner’s and the “Fatima Center’s” extensive research on the Third Secret, it may be that there is more to this excommunication threat than meets the eye. It appears that this is an attempt to silence the “Fatima Center” from revealing to the world all it knows about the Third Secret independent o f the Vatican and in particular, the news that clearly contradicts the Vatican “spin” on the Third Secret. The suit is currently scheduled for trial August 28, 2000 in Toronto, Canada. C h risto p h e r G uinn, Jr., d ied September 1,2000 at the age o f 63. A celebration o f life will be held on Thursday, September 7,2000,3 pm - 7pm, at the Isaac and Peggy Brooks Building 3620 N. Williams Ave., Portland. Mr. Guinn was bom August 7,1937 in Curtis, Arkansas. He served in the United States Air Force for almost four years. In 1957 he moved to Portland OR. His survivors include his daughter Michelle Guinn and son Christopher G uinn, III; sisters Vivian Lock, Samuella Dedmond, Bobbie Black, Betty Sherman, Audrey Hampton, Beverly Meek, and Lenetta Guinn; brothers Rayford, Tommy, and Carl Guinn and Rickie Hendrix. He had five grandchildren and a host o f nieces and nephews. Private interment will be at Willamette National Cemetery. Arrangements are by Little Chapel o f the Chimes on Killingsworth Avenue. 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