A Tale of Two Religions

ASSOCIATED PRESS, April 6—The conflict in Kosovo has provoked a contrast in reactions by two of Cleveland's faith communities.

“Muslims in this city urged fellow Americans to support NATO's bombings in Yugoslavia while the Cleveland Diocese prayed for peace,’reported A.P.'s M.R. Kropko.

The Cleveland Kosovo Task Force, a coalition of 12 mosques and several other organizations, announced that it is “calling on Americans of all faiths and all backgrounds who stand for justice to support us in this effort.”

Meanwhile, special services at St. John's Cathedral were dedicated to prayers for peace in the region. “Father Theodore Marszal, administrative assistant to Cleveland Bishop Anthony Pilla, said the turnout at the church was slightly more than usual,” reported Kropko. Father Marszal added that the services were not intended as any political statement concerning the NATO attacks.

Detroit's Catholic Roots

THE DETROIT NEWS, April 2—“At the close of the millennium, a renewed interest in spirituality has dawned in Metro Detroit and elsewhere,” opined religion writer George Bullard. He points to growing membership in churches and synagogues, and a renewed sense of purpose and mission within religious communities.

“Always a city of faith,” according to Bullard, Detroit's deepest roots are Catholic. “In 1701, founder Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac brought with him two Catholic priests, a Jesuit and a Franciscan, and named the city's first streets after saints, including St. Anne and St. Joseph. From there, the local Catholic community grew.”

However, by the 1880s Detroit “was a seat of anti-Catholicism, organized as the American Protective Association. One move aimed at Catholics was a proposed state law to ban private grammar schools. Catholics eventually rallied and defeated the measure.”

“And now,” Bullard concluded, “people are looking to the church to reclaim a more important place in their lives.”

Cross Is a Late Christian Symbol

THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, April 10—According to Father Jerome Murphy-O'Connor and other New Testament scholars, the cross was almost never used by early Christians, reported Peggy Fletcher Stack. Today, of course, the cross is the most widely used and easiest to under-sant of Christian symbols.

Stack reported that numerous archaeological finds have been made of early Christian symbols such as the fish, the anchor and various forms of christograms — the first letters of Jesus Christ in Greek superimposed on one another — but the cross does not appear until the fifth century.

The reason is understandable. “The cross at the time was being used for crucifixion and torture,” said Father Murphy-O'Connor. “To wear it around one's neck would be like wearing a miniature electric chair.”