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RELIGION/C^e Charlotte $ofit
Thursday, June 1, 2006
Chaplains offers support
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LA CEOSSE, Wis.-
Police who say they want to
reach out to victims of vio
lent crime but don’t alwaj^
have the resources are
growing increasingly
reliant on pohce chaplains
to fill that void.
Police chaplains offer
support to tragedy victims
and their families, and the
goal is to do it with reli
gious neutrality, said Police
Chief Ed Kondracki of the
La Crosse Police Depart
ment.
“They’re there to provide
physical and emotional
support to the victims of
trauma, period,” he said.
“And they provide that ser
vice regardless of yOur
faith, or lack of faith.”
Bill Noffke credited an
Onalaska chaplain for
helping his family through
the April 30 disappearance
of his 21-year-old son, Levi,
in a marsh- After two days
of searching, authorities
called in a pohce chaplain
to help tell Noffke’s family
that crews were shifting
their focus fi'om searching
for a hve man to dragging
for a body.
Rev. Tim Duesenberg, a
pastor at Christ the King
Lutheran Church in
Onalaska, responded, sup
porting the family and
relaying information about
recovery efforts.
“When they found our son,
Levi, we formed a circle of
family and friends and the
chaplain, and held hands
and the chaplain said a
prayer for him,” Bill Noffke
said. “It was comforting, a
httle spirit-lifting.”
The La Crosse Police
Department began its
pohce chaplain program in
2001 and expanded it to
include the Onalaska Pohce
Department the following
year.
The chaplains volunteer
their time, and intentional
ly steer away from rehgious
distinctions.
Rev. Mark Clements, head
chaplain for the La Crosse
and Onalaska police
departments, said the pur
pose is to provide people
physical and emotional sup
port during their times of
crisis, irrespective of reh-
gion.
“I’ve had them say, T don’t
beheve in God.’ That’s fine,
because I’m not here to talk
you into Grod, I’m here to
help you,” he said.
Kondracki said pohce deal
with people who are dying
or who are victimized by
crime and abuse, and
there’s a growing demand
for support and outreach.
“(The chaplains) are real
ly helping us meet that
increasing demand at no
additional cost to the tax
payers or to the depart
ment,” he said.
Pohce chaplains respond
to emergency situations
about every third day
across La Crosse Coimty,
Clements said. He said
prospective chaplains must
go through strenuous train
ing to make sure they can
handle the program’s rig
ors.
“It is a huge shock to go
from pulpit ministries to
jump in a pohce car and
ride around from 11 p.m.
vmtil 3 or 4 in the morning
and find out what goes on
in this city, in the dark
alleys and behind closed
doors,” he said.
Ministers fighting child abuse
Continued from page 6B
Roman Cathohc Church in the 1990s, said the
Rev. Kibbie Ruth, of the California-based
Kyros Ministry
Ruth has spent two decades offering training
on child abuse, sexual harassment and domes
tic violence throio^ Kyros to pastors of Luther
an, Episcopal and other denominations nation
wide.
‘T wish I could teU you it’s important because
they’re suddenly valuing children more,” Ruth
said. “But it’s mainly driven by insurance.”
Insurers can face enormous expenses in neg-
hgence lawsuits against churches. Some
Catholic dioceses have been paying settle
ments in the tens of millions of dollars in recent
years—and insurance companies in many
cases are responsible for covering part of that
amoimt.
GuideOne and Church Mutual, the nation’s
two leadh^ church insurers, now publish edu
cational pamphlets on preventdi^ abuse. Epis
copal and Methodist leaders have developed
their own training programs.
But not everyone suppcsrts this approach.
Kimberly Hart, executive director of the
National Child Abuse Defense and Resource
Center, worries mimsters will feel compelled to
notify authorities simply to gain immunity
fiom a lawsuit. Her Ohio-based center hosts an
annual conference training defense lawyers on
combatting false child abuse claims.
‘Teople will make the call, just to give ftiem
the cloak of protection,” Hart said. “What we
see is an ovareaction to report everything and
let somebody else ferret it out.”
In Miginia, accusers can contact authorities
anonymously and are required to have a rea
sonable suspicion, not any specific evidence.
But the Rev. Kendra Grimes-Swager works
to ensure that Virgmia clergy are as close to
being ejqjerts on child abuse as possible. The
United Methodist Family Services trainer
ofiers straightforward advice—such as avoid-
ir^ hugs and teUii^ congregants up fiunt that
anything revealed in a counseling session
could be reported.
Grimes-Swager mixst also quell the fears of
clergy worried about beir^ revealed as tipsters.
The Harrisonburg group chattered anxiously
as the Rev Jim Harris told his own story of
uncovering abuse—one that ended with the
accused father ransacldi^ his office.
“My family felt threatened; if he would tear
apart my office, he would come to the parson
age,” said Harris, a minister at a church in
nearby Augusta County
Perhaps most troubling to clergy is the
specter of violatdi^ the bond with congregants,
who often, share everything fix)m medical con
ditions to marital troribles.
Some resent becoming ersatz social workers,
Ruth said, especially concemirg an issue they
believe “doesn’t happen here.” Others fear con
gregants will clam up.
‘T think it will make people more close
mouthed,” said Hoskins, pastor at a church in
Dayton, outside Harrisonburg. “Then prob
lems won’t get addressed at all.”
On the Net:
United Methodist Church: www2imc.org '
National Child Abuse Defense ami Resource Cen
ter: wwwfalseallegalion£>rg
American religious groups are
troubled over gay rights issues
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The increasingly stark
polarization of religious
groups aboTit homosexuali
ty is seen in new alliances
that favor and oppose
amending the U.S. Consti
tution to bar same-sex mar
riage.
The pro-amendment Reli
gious' Coalition for Mar
riage unites leaders from
the Roman Catholic
Church, Southern Baptist
Convention, evangelical
Protestantism (including
blacks and Hispanics, Epis
copal conservatives,
Charles Colson, James
Dobson, Rick Warren),
Lutheran Church—Mis
souri Synod, Eastern
Orthodoxy, Mormonism
and Orthodox Judaism.
The anti-amendment
Clergy for Fairness draws
support from the Episcopal
Chm-ch majority. United
Church of Christ, Unitari-
. an Universalist Associa
tion, liberal Judaism and
the largely gay Metropoli
tan Commxmity Churches,
among others.
Joining neither alliance:
Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America, Presby
terian Church (U.S.A.),
United Methodist Church,
black Baptist and
Methodist denominations,
and Mushm groups.
Meanwhile, June show
down meetings of the Epis
copal Church and Presby
terian Church (U.S.A.) will
confront severe splits
caused by internal gay poh-
cies.
The biblical debate is cru
cial- Lutheran Frederick
Gaiser wrote in the Christ
ian Centiuy magazine that
Old Testament prophets
shifted to embrace non-
Jews and the New Tfesta-
ment abrogated purity
laws, therefore, likewise
with homosexuality, Chris
tianity should consider call
ing “previous words of God
into question.”
In response. Southern
Baptist R. Albert Mohler
Jr. said hberals now say
“the church must grow
beyond Scripture” because
their claims that the Bible
was misimderstood for 20
centiuries lack credibility
Recent liberal writings
include:
• “What God Has Joined
Together?: A Christian
Case for Gay Marriage”
(HarperSanFrancisco) by
David Myers and Letha
Scanzoni.
• “Jesus, the Bible and
Homosexuality” (Westmin
ster John Knox) by theolo
gian Jack Rogers, aimed at
Presbyterians.
• “Tb Set Our Hope on
Christ,” the Episcopal
Church’s case for tolerant
pohcies-
Woman tosses 3 boys into SF Bay
Continued from page 6B
prosecutors presenting evidence, was held in
reva^ order so out-of-town witnesses could
testify for the defense.
When prosecutors presented their case, they
showed part of the video footage of the pohce
interview with Harris immediately after the
incident. She soimded groggy almost dnxgged
and the officers questioned her as if she was a
child. Her answers were mumbled, quiet and
she seemed confused about where she was and
what day it was.
She told the investigators God “said I need to
Irill my kids,” and she took them to the pier for
that purpose.
Pohce officer Thomas Johnson testified that
he foimd Harris at the scene pushing an empty
stroUer.
“Where did you put the baHes?’ he asked.
Harris rephed, “They’re OK. They’re with their
father,” Johnson said.
“Did you put the babies into the bay?” John
son said. “Tb that question. Miss Harris shook
her head up and down and said. Yes.”’
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