U.S. nuns respond to Vatican rebuke with call for open dialogue

ST. LOUIS (Reuters) - American nuns who were criticized by the Vatican for having strayed too far from Catholic doctrine on Friday repeated their call for women to have a greater voice in the church, but sought to diffuse tensions by offering to sit down with a top official in an "open and honest dialogue."

Sister Pat Farrell, president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, said that members believe that "open and honest dialogue may lead not only to increasing understanding between the church leadership and women religious, but also to creating more possibilities for the laity and, particularly for women, to have a voice in the church."

She said that the more than 900 LCWR members who met in St. Louis this week told their leaders to conduct a conversation with Archbishop Peter Sartain of Seattle but that the leaders "will reconsider if LCWR is forced to compromise the integrity of its mission." Sartain is assigned to supervise reform of the group.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which represents active and retired bishops, did not immediately comment on the sisters' statement.

Farrell's remarks came on the final day of the LCWR's first national assembly since church leadership accused the group of focusing too much on social-justice issues such as poverty and not enough on opposing abortion, gay marriage and euthanasia. The meeting was filled with prayer, singing and private sessions to discuss the Vatican mandate.

The Vatican Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith has criticized the group for remaining quiet as some nuns publicly challenged U.S. bishops on matters of church doctrine, including ordination of women, and public policy. The Vatican also criticized LCWR programs for having "radical feminist themes."

Ahead of the conference, some nuns had suggested that the LCWR, which was founded in 1956 at the request of the Vatican, might dissolve its official ties with the church and become an independent nonprofit group. Others said that the best course was to stall and hope Vatican scrutiny would fade with time.

The Vatican has put the organization under the effective control of Sartain and two other U.S. bishops, who have the power to rewrite its statutes, meeting agendas and liturgical texts. Sartain will meet with LCWR officers Saturday.

The Vatican decision has led to protests and vigils across the country in support of the nuns, including a vigil with more than 300 participants in St. Louis Thursday night.

The organization represents 80 percent of the 57,000 U.S. Roman Catholic nuns.

Bishop Leonard Blair of Toledo, Ohio, who is one of the two U.S. bishops assisting Sartain in reviewing the LCWR's work, has said the Vatican's decision was meant to be an effort to work with the nuns to remedy "serious doctrinal concerns." But Blair said that "no middle ground" is possible on matters of faith and morals.

(Reporting by Mary Wisniewski. Editing by Corrie MacLaggan and Lisa Shumaker)

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Nigerian city under curfew after church massacre, gun battle

Authorities in Nigeria's Kogi state have slapped a dusk-to-dawn curfew on a key city after a church massacre and a gunfight between militants and troops left at least 23 people dead, officials said Wednesday.

The spate of violence in Okene in central Nigeria began on Monday night, when gunmen stormed an evangelical church, cut the electricity and opened fire once the building was plunged into darkness, killing 19 people.

On Tuesday, assailants shot at troops patrolling outside a government building in Okene, sparking an exchange of gunfire that left two soldiers and two of the gunmen dead, the military and police said.

The government building is located near a mosque, but the commander of a military task force in the state, Lt. Col. Gabriel Olorunyomi, said worshippers observing evening Ramadan prayers were not the target.

"The curfew is imposed in all of Okene, from dusk to dawn," said Jacob Edi, spokesman for the state governor.

It was not clear who carried out the church killings or whether the two attacks were linked, although a police spokesman said there was "suspicion" that the same group was responsible for both assaults.

The police said it raided a suspected hideout of militants who carry out attacks in the state, arresting a key leader and two other suspects.

"Crack detectives investigating the case stormed a criminal hideout in Idare hills of Okene, suspected to be a safe haven for the hoodlums wreaking havoc in the state," national police spokesman Frank Mba said in a statement.

A shootout followed and the gang leader, identified as Yekini Isah, received a head injury. Isah and two others, one of them a woman, were arrested, Mba said.

Boko Haram, a radical group of Islamist insurgents, has repeatedly targeted Christians during Sunday worship as well as the security forces in a series of gun raids and suicide blasts.

A leading Christian body said the Okene massacre showed that the plight of Christians was worsening.

"The enemies of Christians and Christianity in Nigeria have changed their tactics from their Sunday attacks on churches to an everyday onslaught," the Christian Association of Nigeria said in a statement Wednesday.

Speaking to the Vatican's radio station on Tuesday, the Archbishop of Abuja, Monsignor John Onaiyekan, underscored that despite the Boko Haram violence, the overwhelming majority of Nigeria's Christians and Muslims co-exist peacefully.

"It is important for the worldwide Christian community to have a clearer idea of the situation in Nigeria: a large persecution of Christians by Muslims is not ongoing," he said in Italian.

He also said he believed the aim of the extremists was to foment chaos by pitting Christians against Muslims.

Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation and largest oil producer, is roughly divided between a mainly Muslim north and predominantly Christian south. Boko Haram has said it wants to create an Islamic state in the north.

The group has killed more than 1,400 people since 2010 in attacks across northern and central Nigeria, according to a new toll released Wednesday by Human Rights Watch.

The US State Department last month designated three of the group's leaders as global terrorists and the top American diplomat, Hillary Clinton, currently on an Africa tour, is expected in Abuja on Thursday for talks in which security concerns are likely to feature prominently.

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Racy novel scuppers Bulgarian's chance as Vatican ambassador

The Vatican said Tuesday it has not accepted Bulgaria's proposed ambassador to the Holy See, apparently rejecting diplomat Kiril Marichkov for writing a racy novel featuring gay sex and prostitution.

Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said that "the proposal has not been agreed to," leading observers to surmise that Marichkov had been rejected over a graphic scene in his successful 2005 novel "Clandestination".

The book, based on the lives of illegal immigrants in Italy, features one scene where a desperate young eastern European man prostitutes himself with a man he picks up on a Rome street, before begging God's forgiveness.

Lombardi would not comment on Sofia's chosen candidate for the post, but confirmed there was no current Bulgarian ambassador at the Vatican.

"It's essential that there be an agreement before an appointment," he said.

Bulgarian foreign ministry spokesman Dimitar Yaprakov told AFP that Sofia, which has been without a Holy See ambassador for months, was still waiting for an official response to the proposal made in March.

Italy's Repubblica newspaper reported on Monday that Sofia's Archbishop Janusz Bolonek had drawn his superiors' attention to the controversial parts of the novel, scuppering the 39-year-old Marichkov's chances of being appointed.

Marichkov had dedicated the book to his wife, children and God.

Bulgaria has reportedly refused to propose another ambassador, creating a diplomatic stand-off with the powerful Vatican state, which demands that its representatives toe the line on issues such as homosexuality and cohabitation.

According to an investigation by weekly magazine Panorama published widely in Italy in 2011, numerous priests within the Vatican and its pontifical universities are gay.

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US nuns consider response to Vatican censure

ST. LOUIS (AP) — The largest group for American nuns is deciding how they should respond to a Vatican order to reform.

The Leadership Conference of Women Religious is expected to make an announcement Friday at the end of their national assembly in St. Louis.

The organization represents most of the 57,000 Roman Catholic nuns in the United States.

The Vatican orthodoxy watchdog issued a report in April saying the sisters had tolerated dissent from church teaching on the all-male priesthood, birth control and homosexuality. The Vatican also said the religious sisters had been nearly silent on other issues such as abortion. The nuns say the investigation was flawed.

The rebuke prompted an outpouring of support for the religious sisters. Vigils and protests have been held nationwide.

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Nigerian Christians vent frustration after another church attack

Twenty five Christian worshippers were killed by gunmen on Monday night during an evening church service in Okene in Kogi state nearby the federal city of Abuja.

The attackers arrived in a Toyota van, blocked the entrance, turned off the lights in the church, and fired shots into the church building, said the commander of the Joint Military Task Force in Lokoja, Lt. Col. Gabriel Olorunyomi. Fifteen of the dead were women, 10 were men. Tunde Ishaku, a senior member of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) an umbrella body of the Nigerian Christians, says that Christian patience with government protection was wearing out, and that Christians in Nigeria either must rise up and protect themselves, or allow their enemies to continue killing them. There is “not any religion in the world that accepts killing of innocent people at their worshipping centers,” Mr. Ishaku tells the Monitor. “We have to be serious now to take urgent action for the sake of our life and that of our followers."

RELATED: What is Nigeria's Boko Haram? 5 things to know

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. But the radical Islamist sect, Boko Haram, advised President Goodluck Jonathan over the weekend to embrace Islam or face the wrath of their struggle.

Boko Haram, (a Hausa-language term for “Western education is forbidden, or sinful”) has carried on a low-level insurgency since 2009 to overturn Nigeria’s secular government and replace it with an Islamic system. While Muslims make up 50 percent of the country’s population, they are dominant in the impoverished north, while Christians and animists are dominant in the commercially powerful and oil-producing south. Security analysts worry that the three year long insurgency, which has killed some 660 people thus far in 2012 is straining the country’s secular foundations to the breaking point. Boko Haram has been quite active, launching attacks on an almost weekly basis, but their radical message does not resonate with all Nigerian Muslims.

Sheikh Ahmed Gummi, a respected Islamic scholar in northern Kaduna state told reporters recently, “Those killing innocent people are heartless people who are not fearing their God. The incessant attacks are condemnable, it’s against the teaching of any religion, so those who are doing this act are criminals who will face God hereafter.”

The fighting in the north has gotten so bad that even other Nigerian militant groups, engaged in their own insurgencies against the Nigerian government, have threatened to take action against Boko Haram.

Alhaji Mujahid Asari-Dokubo, the leader of Niger Delta People Volunteer Force in the oil-rich Niger Delta region, has threatened to intervene against Boko Haram, and to cut off the north from both food and weapon supplies. Mr. Asari-Dokubo, in an interview with reporters, said if it came to war, "it will continue forever. We are just waiting. It is we that they [Boko Haram] are pushing. They will push us to the extent that we will tell Goodluck [Jonathan, the Nigerian president] that you are on your own. Now we want to fight and the guns will start coming out.” “What will happen is unimaginable in the history of the world,” Asari-Dokubo said. “I feel pained because I am a Muslim. I know the north will suffer because not only oil, we will cut them off totally from the coast. No food will go in.”

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19 killed at central Nigeria church Bible study

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Three men entered a central Nigerian church just before Bible study began, but instead of joining the worship service they opened fire, killing at least 19 people in an attack that shows that violence is spreading in the divided nation.

Witnesses and the military described a chaotic, blood-soaked scene at the Deeper Life evangelical church in Otite, a quiet neighborhood on the outskirts of the city of Okene, 250 kilometers (155 miles) southwest of Nigeria's capital, Abuja.

Two gunmen sprayed the windowless sanctuary Monday night with fire from Kalashnikov assault rifles, said Lt. Col. Gabriel Olorunyomi, the head of a local joint army and police unit.

Another armed man stayed back and switched off the generator providing lights in the church, leaving those inside unable to flee as the gunfire flashed through the darkness, witness Lawan Saliu said. Saliu, who suffered gunshot wounds to the stomach, spoke from a hospital bed Tuesday.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack, but the violence came as Nigeria is facing attacks from a radical Islamist sect known as Boko Haram.

Olorunyomi said 15 people died in the church and four died later from their injuries. He said the number of wounded remained unknown, but that some of them sought care in hospitals, while others remained at home. A rescue official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that probably fewer than 20 people were wounded in the attack.

Soldiers and police officers searched for gunmen through Monday night, but had made no arrests on Tuesday, said Kogi state police spokesman Simon Ile.

Later on Tuesday, three gunmen on a motorcycle shot at a military patrol vehicle in Okene, said Olorunyomi. Police said two soldiers were killed in the attack.

Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege" in the Hausa language of Nigeria's mostly Muslim north, has attacked churches in the past. The sect has also has attacked mosques. However, Boko Haram has not previously claimed responsibility for attacks on places of worship this far south.

The national chief of police, Mohammed Abubakar, said in a statement Tuesday that he has ordered a 24-hour surveillance of all places of worship in the central state of Kogi state, which has not suffered such attacks.

In April, however, authorities there raided a bomb factory run by suspected sect members. They also blamed Boko Haram for a February prison break in the Kogi town of Koton-Karifi that freed 119 inmates. That attack mirrored a massive prison break in the northeastern city of Bauchi in September 2010 when Boko Haram freed about 700 inmates.

The sect is blamed for more than 660 killings this year alone in Nigeria, according to an Associated Press count.

Nigeria, a nation of more than 160 million people, is divided between a predominantly Muslim north and mainly Christian south. While members of the two faiths often live and work together, and intermarry, Boko Haram attacks have increased religious tensions in the nation over the last year.

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Associated Press writer Yinka Ibukun reported from Lagos, Nigeria.

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Gunmen open fire on Nigerian church service, kill 19

Gunmen stormed an evangelical church in central Nigeria, cut the electricity and opened fire once the building was plunged into darkness, killing 19 people including the pastor, officials said Tuesday.

Also in a fresh attack in the city of Okene, two soldiers were shot dead Tuesday by gunmen who fired on their patrol van, Kogi state police spokesman told AFP.

"Two soldiers were shot dead today in an attack on their patrol van. We suspect that it was the handiwork of the hoodlums who carried out yesterday's attack in the church in Okene," spokesman Simon Ile said.

He did not give further details on the fresh attack. Earlier, he said he had heard reports of "a confrontation" between troops and the gunmen.

Officials said it was too early to say who carried out the church raids, but the radical Islamist group Boko Haram has repeatedly targeted Christians during worship in a series of gun and suicide bomb attacks.

Kogi, southwest of the capital Abuja, has not been hit particularly hard by the Islamists, although members of the group are believed to have come from the ethnically diverse area.

In mid-July a bomb went off near another church in Okene but caused no casualties, while in April, the military said it had discovered a Boko Haram bomb-making factory in Kogi, in the town of Ogaminana.

The Deeper Life Church in Okene was attacked by "unknown gunmen" at roughly 8:20 pm on Monday, said Lt. Col. Gabriel Olorunyomi, head of a military task force in Kogi.

Before firing on worshippers who had come for a regular Monday evening service, two of the three assailants knocked out the building's generator, Ile earlier told AFP.

When military personnel arrived at the scene, they "saw 15 people dead including the pastor," said Olorunyomi, who added that four more people later died from their wounds. Several others were injured.

No arrest has been made yet, Ile said.

"They entered the church... they just opened fire and they went away. We don't know their motives yet," he said.

Residents in Okene said that heavily armed gunmen attacked a commercial street in the town on Tuesday, sparking a gunfight with troops.

"The soldiers succeeded in killing two of the gunmen and then the rest fled," said Abdul Omeiza, who lives near the street where several banks are located.

Boko Haram, which has said it wants to create an Islamic state in northern Nigeria, has increasingly attacked Christians but Muslims have also often been among the group's victims.

The group has killed more than 1,000 people since mid-2009 in a range of attacks, including the United Nations building in the capital Abuja.

President Goodluck Jonathan said in June that Boko Haram was seeking to incite a religious crisis by attacking churches in an attempt to destabilise the government.

Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation and largest oil producer, is roughly divided between a mainly Muslim north and predominately Christian south.

In a video posted to YouTube on Saturday, the suspected leader of Boko Haram criticised Jonathan as well as US President Barack Obama over Washington's decision to label him a "global terrorist".

It was unclear when the video was made, but it marked the first time Abubakar Shekau publicly addressed the terrorist designation slapped on him by the United States in June.

In addition to Shekau, the US State Department also announced the designations for Abubakar Adam Kambar and Khalid al-Barnawi. Kambar and Barnawi were said to be linked to Boko Haram and Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), Al-Qaeda's north African branch.

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Military: 19 killed at central Nigeria church

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Gunmen fired on a worship service in a church in central Nigeria, killing at least 19 people — including the pastor — and wounding others in a nation often divided by religion, the military said Tuesday.

The attack targeted a Deeper Life church in the town of Otite in Kogi state, about 250 kilometers (155 miles) southwest of Nigeria's capital Abuja. Blood stained the floors of the church as police and soldiers surrounded it Tuesday morning, witnesses said. It was unclear how many people were wounded in the attack Monday night.

The gunmen surrounded the church in the middle of a worship service and opened fire with Kalashnikov assault rifles, military spokesman Lt. Col. Gabriel Olorunyomi said. The church's pastor was among the dead.

Soldiers searched for gunmen through the night, but had made no arrests as of Tuesday morning, Olorunyomi said. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

Kogi State police spokesman Simon Ile declined to comment Tuesday about the attack. National Emergency Management Agency spokesman Yushau Shuaib said his agency had dispatched rescuers to the area Tuesday.

The attack comes as Nigeria faces continuing attacks from a radical Islamist sect known as Boko Haram. Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege" in the Hausa language of Nigeria's Muslim north, has attacked churches in the past, though never as far as south. However, Boko Haram likely carried out a February prison break in the town of Koton-Karifi in Kogi state that freed 119 inmates. That attack mirrored a massive prison break in the northeastern city of Bauchi in September 2010 when Boko Haram freed about 700 inmates.

Boko Haram also has launched suicide car bomb attacks around Abuja in the past. The sect is blamed for more than 660 killings this year alone in Nigeria, according to an Associated Press count.

Nigeria, a nation of more than 160 million people, is largely divided into a Muslim north and Christian south. While members of the two faiths routinely live and work together, as well as intermarry, Boko Haram attacks have increased tensions in the nation over the last year.

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Yinka Ibukun report from Lagos, Nigeria.

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Economic crisis tests Italian family, Church opens doors

ROME (Reuters) - In happier times, ice-cream seller Antonio Siracusa would have considered turning to relatives for help when he lost his job in a cinema in Rome. But these are not happy times.

So Siracusa chooses to go to a free canteen run by Christians in the district of Trastevere for dinner, and picks up free food parcels for other meals.

"I have siblings, but I don't want anything from them," said Siracusa, as he stood in line at the Sant'Egidio charity's diner, adding that he didn't feel comfortable bothering them in such tough economic times. "The community here are my family."

A deep recession and rising unemployment has piled pressure on all Italians and may even be undermining Italy's most reliable social safety net in periods of financial difficulty - the family.

Christian charities say many Italians appear to be ashamed of turning to relatives already struggling in the economic crisis or are coping with the effects of divorce, the incidence of which has doubled in Italy since 1995.

Youth unemployment, at about 35 percent, is keeping sons and daughters at home even into their 30s and causing them to delay starting families of their own, while pension cuts have increased the additional support needed by the elderly.

"Social security in Italy has traditionally been the family. The problem is that families have become overloaded in the present crisis," said Augusto D'Angelo, who works at the Sant'Egidio diner.

The state has never offered a comprehensive jobless benefits system, and the debt crisis has forced it to further curb spending, limit pensions and hike taxes as part of austerity measures aimed at reining in strained public finances.

HANDOUTS

The Church, which still has strong influence in Italy despite a steady erosion in regular attendance numbers in recent years, has been stepping in where the family or government has failed to provide.

"If you go to the town hall for help, there are fixed responses, which they find it hard to deviate from. Church structures can be more flexible," D'Angelo said.

Unemployed barman Paride Santilli, 57, said he turns to his priest when he needs a warm meal, medicine or a new pair of shoes.

"When you go to the Church, they don't give you money, but they help you get what you need," said Santilli, who has no extended family to rely on.

"They sorted out a public transport pass for me, and some contact lenses," he said.

The number of Italians coming each evening to the Trastevere canteen has risen to about 200-250 from 100-150 about a year ago, D'Angelo said. Requests for food parcels that people can take home have also risen by at least 10 percent.

Pensioner Maria, 77, started coming more frequently after her landlady raised her room rate to 300 euros from 250 euros, burning more than three-quarters of her monthly income.

"I have to go to various free food handouts around Rome for breakfast, lunch and dinner," she said. She said she did have relatives in Turin but preferred to get by without them.

The crisis is fuelling feelings of anxiety, uncertainty and anger and causing tensions within families, according to Paolo Cruciani, psychology professor at Rome's La Sapienza University and vice president of the Lazio region's guild of psychologists.

CONFLICT

"The ideal response is for family members to pull together, but we see explosions of conflict, with relatives accusing each other of not having made enough pension provisions," Cruciani said.

"This can create internal crises: children develop distrust of parents, and mothers and fathers face anxiety because they worry they have not properly provided for their offspring. Meanwhile elderly people face shame and desperation when they find their pensions don't cover their needs."

The number of people living in absolute poverty in Italy, a country of about 60 million, rose to 3.4 million in 2011, or 5.7 percent, up from 5.2 percent in 2010, data from statistics office ISTAT showed.

Those living in relative poverty for Italian standards were roughly stable at 8.2 million, or 13.6 percent. But among families with no workers and no pensioners, the relative poverty rate rose to 51 percent from 40 percent.

"A growing number of people are falling from poverty into a state of misery," said Francesco Soddu, head of Catholic charity Caritas Italiana, at a church conference on poverty in Naples. "People who used to live a dignified life now find they are having to beg for food."

The rate of suicides for economic motives in Italy surged to 198 in 2009, easing to 187 in 2010 but still up by a quarter compared with 150 in 2008, according to a report by research institute EURES.

Most people eating at the Sant'Egidio canteen have little hope their situation will improve in the near future.

"It's very hard to find work, stores aren't doing much business, there's an enormous crisis of demand," said Siracusa.

Others have found ways to stay active by joining Christian networks.

Santilli, the barman, who had to sleep in dormitories after he lost his job and spent some nights on the street, said he had started volunteering at another free soup kitchen.

"You have to be hard, keep busy and make intelligent choices," he said. "I am worried about the crisis but I'm not crying, if you cry then it's all over."

(Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)

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US nuns under Vatican rebuke will continue talks

ST. LOUIS (AP) — American nuns described as dissenters in a Vatican report that ordered an overhaul of their group said Friday they would talk with church leaders about potential changes but would not compromise on the sisters' mission.

Sister Pat Farrell, president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, called the Vatican assessment of the organization a "misrepresentation." But she said the more than 900 women who attended the group's national assembly this week decided they would for now stay open to discussion with three bishops the Vatican appointed to oversee them.

"The officers will proceed with these discussions as long as possible but will reconsider if LCWR is forced to compromise the integrity of its mission," Farrell said at a news conference, where she declined to discuss specifics.

The organization represents about 80 percent of the 57,000 Roman Catholic nuns in the U.S.

The St. Louis meeting was the group's first national gathering since a Vatican review concluded the sisters had "serious doctrinal problems" and promoted "certain radical feminist themes" that undermine Catholic teaching on all-male priesthood, birth control and homosexuality. The nuns also were criticized for remaining nearly silent in the fight against abortion.

Farrell acknowledged the nuns' plan going forward was vague, but noted the process would stretch over five years and had only just started. The board is expected to meet this weekend with Seattle Archbishop Peter Sartain, who will be in charge of the overhaul.

"Dialogue on doctrine is not going to be our starting point," Farrell said. "Our starting point will be about our own life and about our understanding of religious life, and the (Vatican) document's, in our view, misrepresentation of that, and we'll see how it unfolds from there."

The Vatican orthodoxy watchdog, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, undertook the assessment in 2008, following years of complaints from theological conservatives that the American nuns' group had become secular and political while abandoning traditional faith.

The critique, issued in April, prompted a nationwide outpouring of support for the sisters, including parish vigils, protests outside the Vatican embassy in Washington and a congressional resolution commending the sisters for their service to the country.

After the Second Vatican Council of the 1960s, many religious sisters shed their habits and traditional roles as they sought to more fully engage the modern world. The nuns said prayer and Christ remained central to their work as they focused increasingly on Catholic social justice teaching, such as fighting poverty and advocating for civil rights.

"I think what we want is to finally, at some end stage of the process, to be recognized and understood as equal in the church, that our form of religious life can be respected and affirmed," Farrell said Friday. She said she wanted to create church environment that allows them to "openly and honestly search for truth together, to talk about issues that are very complicated and there is not that climate right now."

The Vatican review occurred at a time when the future of women's religious orders in the U.S. already was in question. The number of sisters has dwindled from about 180,000 in 1965 to 57,000 now, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University. The average age of the sisters who remain is around the 70s. While some orders are recruiting new candidates, many still are struggling to keep them.

The Vatican has separately conducted an Apostolic Visitation, or investigation, of all the U.S. women's religious orders, looking at quality of life, response to dissent and "the soundness of doctrine held and taught" by the women. The results of that inquiry have not been released.

Cardinal William Levada, who until recently was the head of the office that conducted the Vatican assessment, had told The National Catholic Reporter that if church leaders cannot reach some agreement with the sisters' group, the Vatican could withdraw official recognition.

In 1992, the Vatican already had created a separate U.S. group for sisters with a traditional approach to religious life. The Conference of Major Superiors of Women Religious represents about 20 percent of American nuns.

Still, Farrell gave no sign that her group would back down.

In a speech Friday morning, she said the sisters have been asking themselves whether the Vatican assessment was an "expression of concern or an attempt to control?" Farrell ended the address with a phrase she learned while serving the church in Chile when the country was under a military dictatorship.

"They can crush a few flowers, but they can't hold back the springtime," she said, before receiving a standing ovation.

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Associated Press writer Jim Salter reported from St. Louis. AP Religion Writer Rachel Zoll reported from New York.

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On the Call: Church & Dwight CEO James Craigie

Church & Dwight Co., the maker of Arm & Hammer baking soda, toothpaste and other products, said Tuesday its second-quarter net income fell 4 percent. But its CEO said he sees tremendous sales potential in some newer products, which are also getting an unexpected boost from a popular erotic novel.

James Craigie said on a conference call with analysts that Church & Dwight is hoping to grow in the profitable vibrator market, which the company entered in 2005 with its Trojan brand.

"We are very pleased with the distribution and sales gains at our entire vibrations line, which we believe has been aided by the popularity of the 'Fifty Shades Of Grey' novel," Craigie said.

The company's Trojan vibrators range in price from $17.99 for a small basic model to $199 for its Midnight Collection set.

The company is adding new vibrator products this year and noted a marketing campaign: It plans to give away about 10,000 vibrators on the streets of New York City over the next few days.

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Israeli scholar completes mission to 'fix' Bible

RAMAT GAN, Israel (AP) — For the past 30 years, Israeli Judaic scholar Menachem Cohen has been on a mission of biblical proportions: Correcting all known textual errors in Jewish scripture to produce a truly definitive edition of the Old Testament.

His edits, focusing primarily on grammatical blemishes and an intricate set of biblical symbols, mark the first major overhaul of the Hebrew Bible in nearly 500 years.

Poring over thousands of medieval manuscripts, the 84-year-old Cohen identified 1,500 inaccuracies in the Hebrew language texts that have been corrected in his completed 21-volume set. The final chapter is set to be published next year.

The massive project highlights how Judaism venerates each tiny biblical calligraphic notation as a way of ensuring that communities around the world use precisely the same version of the holy book.

According to Jewish law, a Torah scroll is considered void if even a single letter is incorrect or misplaced. Cohen does not call for changes in the writing of the sacred Torah scrolls used in Jewish rites, which would likely set off a firestorm of objection and criticism. Instead, he is aiming for accuracy in versions used for study by the Hebrew-reading masses.

For the people of the book, Cohen said, there was no higher calling.

"The people of Israel took upon themselves, at least in theory, one version of the Bible, down to its last letter," Cohen said, in his office at Bar-Ilan University near Tel Aviv.

The last man to undertake the challenge was Jacob Ben-Hayim, who published the Mikraot Gedolot, or Great Scriptures, in Venice in 1525. His version, which unified the religion's varying texts and commentaries under a single umbrella, has remained the standard for generations, appearing to this day on bookshelves of observant Jews the world over.

Since Ben-Hayim had to rely on inferior manuscripts and commentaries, numerous inaccuracies crept in and were magnified in subsequent editions.

The errors have no bearing on the Bible's stories and alter nothing in its meaning. Instead, for example, in some places the markers used to denote vowels in Hebrew are incorrect; or a letter in a word may be wrong, often the result of a centuries old transcription error. Some of the fixes are in the notations used for cantillation, the text's ritual chants.

Most of the errors Cohen found were in the final two thirds of the Hebrew Bible and not in the sacred Torah scrolls, since they do not include vowel markings or cantillation notations.

Cohen said unity and accuracy were of particular importance to distinguish the sacred Jewish text from that used by those sects that broke away from Judaism, namely Christians and Samaritans.

To achieve his goal, Cohen relied primarily on the Aleppo Codex, the 1,000-year-old parchment text considered to be the most accurate copy of the Bible. For centuries it was guarded in a grotto in the great synagogue of Aleppo, Syria, out of reach of most scholars like Ben-Hayim. In 1947, a Syrian mob burned the synagogue, and the Codex briefly disappeared before most of it was smuggled into Israel a decade later.

Now digitized, the Codex, also known as the Crown, provided Cohen with a template from which to work. But because about a third of the Codex — nearly 200 pages — remains missing, Cohen had to recreate the five books of Moses based on trends he observed in the Codex as well as from other sources, such as the 11th-century Leningrad Codex, considered the second-most authoritative version of the Jewish Bible.

Cohen also included the most comprehensive commentaries available, most notably that of 11th-century Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaki, known as Rashi.

The result is the completion of Ben-Hayim's work.

"It was amazing to me that for 500 years, people didn't sense the errors," said Cohen, who wears a knitted skullcap and a gray goatee. "They just assumed that everything was fine, but in practice everything was not fine."

He's not the only scholar to devote decades to the task. In 1976, Rabbi Mordechai Breuer published a version of the Torah based mainly on the Aleppo Codex. The Hebrew University Bible Project in Jerusalem has also been working on a scientific edition of the Hebrew Bible, but theirs is directed toward scholars, while Cohen's output is aimed at wider consumption.

Rafael Zer, the project's editorial coordinator, called Cohen's work "quasi-scientific" because it presents a final product and does not provide the reader a way of seeing how it was reached. He credits Cohen for bringing an exact biblical text to the general public but said it "comes at the expense of absolute accuracy and an absolute scientific edition."

With the assistance of his son Shmuel, a computer programmer, Cohen launched a digital version he hopes will become a benchmark of the Israeli education system. He said his ultimate goal was to "correct the past and prepare for the future."

As a former teacher, Cohen said he took particular pride in a sophisticated search engine that allows even novices to explore his work with ease. He called computers a "third revolution" to affect Jewish scripture, following the shift from scrolls to bound books and the advent of the printing press.

"I want the Bible to be user-friendly," said Cohen, a grandfather of eight. "Today, we can create sources of information and searches that allow you to get an answer to everything you are wondering."

____

Follow Aron Heller at http://www.twitter.com/aronhellerap

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Earnings roundup: CVS, Church & Dwight

Among the earnings stories for Tuesday, Aug. 7, from AP Business News:

— CVS Caremark Corp.'s second-quarter net income jumped 18.4 percent, as its drugstores took business from rival Walgreen Co. and an expansion of its pharmacy benefits management segment boosted revenue.

— Church & Dwight Co., the maker of Arm & Hammer baking soda, toothpaste and other products, said its second-quarter net income fell 4 percent.

— Maximus Inc., which sells health consulting services to state and federal governments, said that its fiscal third-quarter net income rose 3 percent, boosted by a large order that occurred during the quarter.

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Alec Baldwin: Church Pariah

Today in celebrity gossip: Alec Baldwin has angered churchgoers in the Hamptons, Kristen Stewart has gone into relative hiding, and Taylor Swift is even more of a cradle robber than we thought. 

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Havoc-wreaking Hamptons homeowner Alec Baldwin regularly attends Most Holy Trinity Parish in East Hampton with his new wife, and, shockingly, he seems to have angered some parishioners. Apparently Baldwin is a total attention hog and is always going up to the pulpit to do readings and that just really burns people's butter. So Baldwin is basically a vain, Catholic Ned Flanders? One churchgoer said of the troubles, "When people go to the church, they don’t want to see the movie star up there." Which, OK, I don't know that that's entirely true. When people go to church they maybe don't want to see *Alec Baldwin* up there, but they'd maybe be perfectly fine with other movie stars. "Hey, there's Julia Roberts, neat." "Oh look, Tom Hanks!" Y'know? Like I don't think it's any movie star in general, I think it's Alec Baldwin. Anyway, there's a rumor in St. Petersburg that during a recent Baldwin reading, some parishioners stood up and turned their backs to him in silent protest. Which, what are they, idealistic kids protesting a commencement speaker? Come on, this is church. This is Catholic church. And that's what you're disagreeing with? Simmah down, everyone. Simmah down. For his part the priest says he wasn't there when all this happened and Alec's rep said he was too focused on the reading to see such a thing, but added just in case, "But does someone violating the sanctity of a church even deserve a response?” Oohh. Sick church burn! The Hamptons are heatin' up you guys. [Page Six]

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Ruined strumpet Kristen Stewart is in hiding. She has pulled out of a movie called Cali that she was supposed to make with Alex Pettyfer (maybe she just saw him act in Magic Mike and was like "Oh hellll no") and she's canceled her red carpet appearance at the London premiere of On the Road next week. She is just too ashamed to show her face! And especially in Britain, whose native son she befouled with her cheatery with... well, another British guy, so. Maybe it all comes out in the wash? Who knows. The point is, Kiki Stewart, once the smirk-goddess of everyone's dreams, the quirky red carpet fixture, has now been reduced to hiding in a shack somewhere and hoping the moral police don't soon bang down the door and drag her to Azkaban Prison for Loose Women. My how things change. Robert Pattinson, meanwhile, is drinking and hanging out with friends. So, OK, not everything changes. [Daily Mail]

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Speaking of loose women that the moral police should have their sights on, good grief the increasingly dreadful and unseemly news coming out of the Kennedy compound these days. The latest is that infiltrating country tick Taylor Swift, 22, began dating Conor Kennedy, grandson of Robert, when the poor innocent lad was just 17. Crime! Criminality! If the two, er, well, fornicated, then surely that was a nefarious illegal act! Knowing this, some shadier branches of the family advised that the relationship stay secret until Conor's 18th birthday, which has since come and gone. So everyone is complicit in this hideousness. Sage Andrea Peyser only had it half right. Everyone's dirty here. No one gets out clean. [Page Six]

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Historically black university Spelman College is said to be heavily recruiting Olympic gold medalist Gabby Douglas, even traveling to London to start wooing the 16-year-old gymnast early. The president of the university, in fact, Beverly Daniel Tatum, flew out herself to chat up the family and give Douglas a Spelman gift bag. She said of the smiley acrobat, "A young woman who has demonstrated the drive and discipline needed to achieve world-class excellence is likely to have what it takes to be successful at Spelman, and we would welcome her interest in the college." Which, can't disagree there! Though, really, if she's going to go to a HBCU, we'd strongly prefer she attend Hillman. (And, oh god, if you want a little rage breakfast this morning, read the comments on the post. They are... unfortunate.) [TMZ]

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Lady Gaga likes to have sex on the beach and drunkenly take her top off at bars, the only reason you never hear about it is that she has good friends who protect her or something. So... OK. Sure. That's... You know what would be a really free spirit type of thing to do? Not always talking about what a free spirit you are. Just a thought. [Page Six]

Oh, well, this is nice. Darlene Cates, who played the housebound obese mom in What's Eating Gilbert Grape?, has lost 250 pounds and is thinking she might act again. That is a good story! Certainly a better story than what happens to her in the movie. Though at least in the movie she gets hugged by Leonardo DiCaprio all the time. He's probably not hugging her too much these days, is my guess. Anyway, congrats Momma! [People]

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Obama: Attack at Sikh temple assails religion

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says an attack at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin is an assault on religious faith and has no place in the United States.

He says such an attack "is an attack on the freedom of all Americans." He says no American should ever have to fear worshipping in public.

Obama spoke at a White House dinner he hosted Friday night to celebrate the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

Obama singled out Huma Abedin (HOO'-muh AB'-uh-deen), an aide to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton who is Muslim. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota has alleged that Abedin has family ties to Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood.

Obama called Abedin "an American patriot" and "an example of what we need in this country."

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Miss. congregation fights town square church ban

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- A tiny Mississippi congregation is fighting a city's attempt to ban churches from the town square, a move that the pastor said is aimed at preventing the church from taking up valuable space for shops and other businesses.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments in the case Wednesday. The dispute involves a Holly Springs, Miss., ordinance banning churches from the town square. Town officials want to make the square a business district. The case stems from a lawsuit filed by the church in January. A federal judge ruled in favor of the town in January, and the church is appealing.

Telsa DeBerry, the 44-year-old pastor of Opulent Life Church, accused town officials of relegating churches to the "third-rung" parts of town to make sure tax-exempt churches don't take up valuable space in the desirable town square.

"When the almighty dollar prevails, evil is part of that," he said Thursday. "They're looking at their tax base. A church doesn't bring in taxes."

The Opulent Life Church is a small Southern Baptist congregation of about 18. Its members want to expand by leasing a building on the town square and turn it into a church fit for a congregation of more than 100 people.

But the request was opposed in September 2011 by several town officials — including the pastor's uncle, Mayor Andre DeBerry.

Since then, the Opulent Life Church has gained some heavy-weight supporters: the Liberty Institute, a Texas-based legal group that fights on behalf of churches, and the U.S. Department of Justice. The Justice Department filed a brief arguing that churches in Holly Springs are discriminated against because they are treated differently from other institutions, such as museums, post offices and social clubs.

Initially, the church aimed to strike down a zoning ordinance that spelled out special steps churches must take before they can open their doors. One requirement made churches get the approval of 60 percent of nearby property owners and the mayor before being able to open their doors. Other nonprofits and businesses do not have to take those extra steps.

The church alleged the ordinance violated the First Amendment and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, a law passed in 2000 designed to force towns to treat churches the same as other businesses and nonprofits under zoning laws.

However, town lawyer J. Kizer Jones told the appellate court Wednesday that the town's board of aldermen passed a new zoning ordinance on Tuesday forbidding churches on the main town square altogether. He conceded to the judges that the previous ordinance was unconstitutional but said the new ordinance was not.

He said the town was trying to "develop retail and foot traffic, commercial business" on the square. He said the town also was concerned with traffic congestion should the Opulent Life Church grow to become a large congregation. He argued that a church's rights are not being violated because it can operate elsewhere in town, just not on the town square.

Reached by telephone Thursday after the hearing, Jones said Holly Springs has a cross-section of faiths and houses of worship, including a Muslim mosque. But he added that a town should have the power to decide how it wants to develop.

"Churches are like regulating any other activity," he said.

However, it's unfair that the town would allow museums, art galleries and libraries while excluding churches, said Hiram Sasser, the Liberty Institute's litigation director.

"It's surprising to see a city so hostile to seeing a church on the town square," he said. "You think of the town square as the apex of constitutionally protected activity; and for a church to be excluded simply because it's a church is mind-boggling."

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AdWatch: Romney ad hits Obama on religious freedom

NEW YORK (AP) — TITLE: "Be Not Afraid"

LENGTH: 30 seconds.

AIRING: The ad is on the web. Romney's campaign said it will air on television beginning Friday, but will not say where.

KEY IMAGES: The spot opens with text that asks "Who Shares Your Values?" followed by a voice that says President Barack Obama "used his health care plan to declare war on religion, forcing religious institutions to go against their faith." As the announcer talks, Obama appears in grainy, black-and-white video above the newspaper headline, "Obama's Insurance Decision Declares War on Religion." The ad then cuts to color video of Romney last month on his visit to Poland, including an excerpt from a speech he gave there. "In 1979, a son of Poland, Pope John Paul II, spoke words that would bring down an empire. Be not afraid," Romney says. A series of images flash by: a photo of Pope John Paul II, arms outstretched, holding a crozier; John Paul talking with ex-Polish President Lech Walesa, the former leader of the Solidarity labor movement that helped end Communist rule. Next is video of Walesa and Romney shaking hands during Romney's visit. Text on the screen says: "Endorsed by Lech Walesa" as a voice asks, "When religious freedom is threatened, who do you want to stand with?"

ANALYSIS: This latest ad by Romney's campaign and the Republican National Committee is the former Massachusetts' governor's most direct bid yet for religious voters.

Obama's health care overhaul split religious groups, with Catholic bishops and conservative Protestants strongly opposed to provisions that permitted women to buy insurance coverage for abortion, provided they used their own money. But liberal Protestant denominations supported the law, as did many religious orders of Catholic nuns, and the trade group representing Catholic hospitals.

Religious objections arose again when the administration ruled that most employers, including faith-affiliated hospitals and nonprofits — but not churches — will have to provide health insurance that includes birth control as a preventive service covered free of charge. The bishops have been fiercely lobbying against the rule. Obama promised to change the requirement so that insurance companies and not faith-affiliated employers would pay for the coverage. But details have not been worked out. And not only the bishops, but Catholic hospitals and some other religious leaders generally supportive of Obama's policies are saying the compromise appears to be unworkable.

Lis Smith, an Obama campaign spokeswoman, said in a statement that the president believes "women should have access to free contraception as part of their health insurance and he has done so in a way that respects religious liberty."

The ad does not name the specific policy on birth control or any others, but instead repeats the broad claim by Obama critics that the administration aims to restrict religious freedom overall.

The ad — and the issue — also gave Romney a way to talk about religion without discussing his own. The presumptive GOP presidential nominee, who is Mormon, has avoided direct mention of his church while campaigning. The spot links Romney with the late, beloved John Paul. The pope was a hero not only to Catholics, but to people across faiths for his defense of Christian orthodoxy, stand against communism and personal struggle as a young man living under the Nazis. The phrase, "Be Not Afraid," is from the Bible, but was used so often by John Paul that it became known as his trademark.

Obama supporters say Romney's focus on Walesa's endorsement isn't the full story. Walesa effectively backed Romney when they met. But the current leaders of the Solidarity movement distanced themselves from Romney, citing his "attacks against trade unions and labor rights."

Catholic voters, who were about one-fourth of the 2008 electorate, are key in any presidential race. The candidate who wins the most Catholic votes usually wins the White House.

While Obama won the overall Catholic vote in 2008, 54 percent to 45 percent, he lost the votes of white Catholics, 52 percent to 47 percent, according to exit polls.

An Aug. 1 poll by the Pew Research Center found that more than half of Catholics who had heard about the birth control rule side with the Catholic bishops. So far this year, neither Obama nor Romney has established a consistent lead among Catholic voters. Obama had a narrow edge overall in the Pew survey, but Romney was slightly ahead among white Catholics.

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Church of England sells $3M in News Corp. shares over media giant's phone-hacking scandal

LONDON - The Church of England says it has sold its shareholding in Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. because of findings that the media giant was involved in phone hacking.

The church says in a statement Tuesday it is not satisfied that News Corp. has shown, or is likely to show, a commitment to reform its business practices following evidence of illegal eavesdropping at the defunct News of the World newspaper.

Church official Andrew Brown says the decision to sell the 1.9 million pounds (US$3 million) in News Corp. shares followed a year of inconclusive dialogue between News Corp. executives and members of the church's ethical investment committee.

The Church of England has three funds holding assets worth 8 billion pounds ($12.5 billion).

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Insight: Mormon church made wealthy by donations

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - If the Mormon church were a business, wealthy adherents like Mitt Romney would count as its dominant revenue stream.

Its investment strategy would be viewed as risk-averse.

It would also likely attract corporate gadflies protesting a lack of transparency. They would call for less spending on real estate and more on charitable causes to improve membership growth - the Mormons' return on investment.

Those are a few of the conclusions that can be drawn from an analysis of the church's finances by Reuters and University of Tampa sociologist Ryan Cragun.

Relying heavily on church records in countries that require far more disclosure than the United States, Cragun and Reuters estimate that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints brings in some $7 billion annually in tithes and other donations.

It owns about $35 billion worth of temples and meeting houses around the world, and controls farms, ranches, shopping malls and other commercial ventures worth many billions more.

The church claims 14 million members around the world, more than half outside the United States. All are supposed to tithe, or give 10 percent, of their income, which Mormons frequently interpret as pre-tax earnings. But only about 40 percent of Mormons counted by the church actually attend weekly services in the United States and Canada, and in many countries, including Mexico and Brazil, only a quarter of nominal members are active, according to Cumorah, an independent research group headed by a devoted, active Mormon.

These active members are most likely to tithe, and the result is that from a financial standpoint at least, the church remains largely a venture of active American members, says Cragun, who adds that U.S. Mormon men tend to be wealthier than the average U.S. male.

"Most of the revenue of the religion is from the U.S., and a large percentage comes from an elite cadre of wealthy donors, like Mitt Romney," said Cragun. " is a religion that appeals to economically successful men by rewarding their financial acuity with respect and positions of prestige within the religion."

The church is full of successful businessmen, including chemical billionaire Jon Huntsman Sr., the father of the former presidential candidate, J.W. "Bill" Marriott Jr. and his hotel-owning family, and even entertainer Donny Osmond.

Romney, the Republican presidential candidate, gave $4.1 million to the church over the past two years (amounting to 9.7 percent of his gross adjusted income, according to the two years' worth of tax returns he has released). He would tithe on his IRA, valued at as much as $102 million, only when he withdraws from it and pays taxes.

CRUNCHING THE NUMBERS

Several countries around the world require religious groups and charities to file financial reports, including Canada. The country has only 185,000 Mormon members but a wealth of statistics on them. Taking total reported Canadian donations and dividing by the estimated number of active Mormons and family financial data from the World Bank indicates that active Canadian Mormons give slightly less than 8 percent of their income to the church.

Assuming that active U.S. Mormons give at a similar rate and adjusting for higher U.S. income, total U.S. tithing would amount to more than $6 billion, or about $6.5 billion annually between the United States and Canada.

Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, which also require financial disclosures, all have sharply lower donation rates than Canada. Based on data from those countries, tithing outside the United States and Canada totals several hundred million dollars, taking global total donations to about $7 billion.

Canada also requires the church to disclose the value of its assets and spending. Using those figures as a basis suggests the total value of church buildings, including temples and meeting houses, would be about $35 billion globally.

Church spokesman Michael Purdy declined to comment specifically on the estimates but said that the church was different from a corporation.

"Other projections are speculative and do not reflect an understanding of how the church uses its income to bless the lives of people," he added, saying the church was financed primarily from member tithing and offerings.

FOCUS ON BUSINESS AND BUILDINGS

Concerned or disgruntled current and former Mormons complain that the church spends too much on real estate and for-profit ventures, neglecting charity work.

The Mormon church has no hospitals and only a handful of primary schools. Its university system is limited to widely respected Brigham Young, which has campuses in Utah, Idaho and Hawaii, and LDS Business College. Seminaries and institutes for high school students and single adults offer religious studies for hundreds of thousands.

It counts more than 55,000 in its missionary forces, primarily youths focused on converting new members but also seniors who volunteer for its non-profits, such as the Polynesian Cultural Center, which bills itself as Hawaii's No. 1 tourist attraction, and for-profit businesses owned by the church.

The church has plowed resources into a multi-billion-dollar global network of for-profit enterprises: it is the largest rancher in the United States, a church official told Nebraska's Lincoln Journal Star in 2004, with other ranches and farms in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Australia and Great Britain, according to financial documents reviewed by Reuters.

Ranching and farm industry sources say they are well-run operations.

It also has a small media empire, an investment fund, and is developing a mall across from its Salt Lake City headquarters, which it calls an attempt to help revitalize the city rather than to make money. These enterprises are also part of a vast nest egg for tough times. The church expects wars and natural disasters before Christ returns to earth in the Second Coming, and members are encouraged to prepare by laying in stores of food. Farms and ranches are part of the church's own preparation.

"The church teaches its members to live within their means and put a little money aside for life's unexpected events. As a church, we live by the same principle," Purdy said. The rainy-day fund and operating budget rarely mix, officials say.

Cost-cutting is a top priority, church documents show. It has even laid off janitors and called on members to clean temples and meeting houses, but the buildout of temples continues, including one under construction in Rome.

Those temples take a lot of money to operate, Purdy points out, and many of the grand church buildings are short on congregants, says David Stewart, a physician who leads research group Cumorah.

"I have been to beautiful church buildings in Hungary and Ukraine, and Latvia and other places, and there are these huge buildings and 35 people there, and you say, how can this work financially? The math - it just doesn't work."

The Seventh-day Adventist Church, which had about 17 million members a year ago, appears to be getting a better return on investment: It builds smaller meeting houses and lots of schools and hospitals, and its numbers are swelling faster than the Mormons', said Stewart. The Adventists claim a million new members join annually, compared with every three years or so for the Mormons.

"The Seventh-day Adventists clearly have a much more expansive humanitarian project in terms of building hospitals and medical schools and schools and universities and long-term developmental infrastructure around the world," said Stewart. "It's paid off for them."

The Mormon church, meanwhile, appears to be decreasing transparency and member control of donations. New tithing slips give fewer donation options and come with an expanded disclaimer saying the church has sole discretion over spending, even though it will make "reasonable efforts" to follow donors' wishes.

"Hey, where's the slot of 'shopping malls'?" a poster said of the new slips on exmormonforums.com, one of several dissident sites.

Many faithful have no such issues. On chat boards and in private conversations, they emphasize that volunteering for the church and giving to it are worthy deeds in and of themselves.

"The funds are used to build and maintain temples and meeting houses, as well as take care of the many expenses associated with helping the work of the Gospel of Jesus Christ roll forth. I love to pay tithing," Carl Ames said on one church site.

Purdy did offer a list of spending priorities: building houses of worship, supporting Brigham Young University and a seminary system, operating nearly 140 temples and the world's largest genealogy research program, and humanitarian aid for both members and non-members.

Since 1985 the church has spent a total of $1.4 billion on relief for disasters such as Japan's earthquake and Ethiopian famine, and it operates 129 "bishops' storehouses" with food and household items for the needy.

Romney himself focuses on the act of giving, not the result. As he told Fox News Sunday, "Hopefully, as people look at various individuals running for president, they'd be pleased with someone who made a promise to God and kept that promise."

(Editing by Lee Aitken and Prudence Crowther)

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Pope remembers victims of Asian calamities

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI has remembered the victims of Iran's violent quake as well as those impacted by unusually heavy rains in the Philippines and China.

The pope in his traditional Sunday Angelus prayer on Sunday expressed solidarity to those suffering in the aftermaths of "these devastating calamities," which left many dead, injured and homeless.

Twin earthquakes Saturday in Iran have killed over 250 people and left some 2,000 injured.

In the Philippines, the worst flooding since 2009 left at least 66 people dead this week while more than 440,000 fled to evacuation centers. And a typhoon slammed eastern China's coast on Wednesday, washing out roads, knocking out power and disrupting transport in one of the nation's most populous regions.

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US nuns ready to talk with Vatican after rebuke

American nuns in open conflict with the Vatican over claims they have "radical feminist" views and have strayed too far from Catholic doctrine offered Friday to talk with top Church leaders.

Nearly a thousand nuns met in Saint Louis, Missouri, for an annual assembly of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) to craft a response to a three-year Vatican probe that criticized them for taking liberal stances on contraception, homosexuality and the question of women priests.

The Vatican's doctrinal watchdog, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), found that the nuns had "serious doctrinal problems" and accused them of staying "silent on the right to life" and failing to promote the Church's view of heterosexual family life and sexuality.

The LCWR, which represents 57,000 nuns across the United States, said it hoped for an "open and honest dialogue" with the Vatican that would "lead not only to increasing understanding between the church leadership and women religious, but also to creating more possibilities for the laity and, particularly for women, to have a voice in the Church."

Nuns at the conference called on their leaders to hold talks with Archbishop Peter Sartain of Seattle, who heads a Vatican-appointed team of US bishops assigned to supervise reform of the group.

But the nuns led by Sister Pat Farrell "will reconsider if LCWR is forced to compromise the integrity of its mission," the group warned in a statement.

The US Church has been increasingly involved in social work and education, with nuns taking on areas previously reserved for men in the institution, including marriage and psychological counseling.

Some members of the US Church have also spoken out against what they view as extreme rigidity on questions surrounding contraception and homosexuality.

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Church & Dwight revenue misses estimates as U.S. personal care sales fall

(Reuters) - Consumer goods maker Church & Dwight Co Inc reported quarterly revenue that missed market expectations on lower sales of its higher-margin personal care products in the United States, and forecast a third-quarter profit below estimates.

The company, known for its Arm & Hammer brands, expects to earn about 58 cents per share for the third quarter. Analysts on average were expecting 61 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The maker of Trojan condoms and XTRA detergent said net income fell to $79.3 million, or 56 cents per share, for the second quarter from $82.6 million, or 57 cents per share, a year earlier.

Analysts had expected earnings of 55 cents per share for the third quarter.

Revenue rose 3.2 percent to $696.4 million, but fell short of estimates of $702.7 million.

Personal care products sales fell 5 percent to $160.3 million.

Shares of the Princeton, New Jersey-based company closed at $55.7 on Monday on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Aditi Shrivastava in Bangalore; Editing by Don Sebastian)

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Church of England dumps News Corp shares

The Church of England said on Tuesday that it has sold all its shares in Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation because of ethical concerns over Britain's tabloid phone-hacking scandal.

The announcement came as police arrested another journalist from The Sun, the top-selling daily sister paper of Murdoch's weekly News of the World which shut down in disgrace last July.

The mother church of the worldwide Anglican Communion said it had sold its £1.9 million ($2.9 million, 2.4 million euro) stake because it was not convinced by News Corp's efforts to reform its corporate governance.

"The Church of England first raised concerns with the board of News Corporation in the aftermath of the phone-hacking allegations that surfaced in July 2011," the Church of England said in a statement.

"After a year of dialogue between the company and the EIAG (the Church's Ethical Investment Advisory Group), the Church of England was not satisfied that News Corporation had shown, or is likely in the immediate future to show, a commitment to implement necessary corporate governance reform."

Andrew Brown, Secretary of the Church Commissioners, said the decision was "not taken lightly".

The Church of England said it already excludes investment in companies involved in military products and services, pornography, alcoholic drinks, gambling, tobacco, human embryonic cloning and high interest rate lending.

The Church has three national investment bodies -- the Church Commissioners for England, the Church of England Pensions Board, and the CBF Church of England Funds -- which together hold assets worth more than £8 billion.

Other News Corp shareholders have expressed concerns about the effect the scandals at Murdoch's British papers will have on the wider business of the media giant.

More than 60 people have been arrested in a British police investigation into wrongdoing in the press, almost all of them from Murdoch's stable of papers.

Scotland Yard said on Tuesday it had arrested a male journalist, 37, and a serving policeman, 29, over the suspected bribery of a police officer.

A spokeswoman for News International, News Corp's British newspaper wing, confirmed that the journalist worked for The Sun but would not name him.

The arrests came as a result of information provided to police by the Management Standards Committee of News Corporation, which was set up to investigate malpractice at the media giant, said police.

The journalist was arrested in a dawn raid at his north London home while the policeman, a serving officer with Sussex Police in south-east England, was arrested at his home.

Both were later bailed until November, Scotland Yard said.

The pair was detained under Operation Elveden, which is investigating journalists' alleged bribery of public officials and has detained a total of 43 people so far.

Police have also arrested 24 people under Operation Weeting, its core probe into phone hacking, and nine under Operation Tuleta into alleged computer hacking and privacy breaches by journalists.

Andy Coulson, former media chief to Prime Minister David Cameron, and former top Murdoch aide Rebekah Brooks are among those who have been formally charged with phone hacking.

Brooks previously edited both the News of the World and The Sun while Coulson formerly edited the News of the World.

Two current or former staff from the rival Trinity Mirror group have also been arrested.

Australian-born Murdoch was forced to shut down the 168-year-old News of the World over revelations that its staff hacked into the voicemail messages of a murdered teenager, as well as dozens of public figures.

Murdoch resigned in July as director of a number of companies behind The Sun, The Times and The Sunday Times. In June he said News Corp would split its entertainment division from its struggling publishing business.

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Church & Dwight 2Q profit falls 4 pct, shares drop

PRINCETON, N.J. (AP) — Church & Dwight Co., which makes Arm & Hammer and Oxi Clean products and Trojan condoms, said Tuesday its second-quarter net income fell 4 percent, as consumers shifted their spending toward the company's less-profitable products.

The profit beat Wall Street predictions by a penny, while the revenue fell slightly short. But Church & Dwight also projected a lower-than-expected third-quarter profit and full-year earnings roughly in line with Wall Street predictions, warning that it expects tough consumer spending conditions to continue. Its shares tumbled 7 percent in morning trading.

The Princeton, N.J.-based consumer products company earned $79.3 million, or 56 cents per share, down from $82.6 million, or 57 cents per share, in the same quarter last year. Revenue rose 3.2 percent to $696.4 million from $674.9 million.

Analysts, on average, expected a profit of 55 cents per share on $702.2 million in revenue, according to a FactSet poll.

James Craigie, the company's chairman and CEO, said Church & Dwight's sales continue to get a boost from the introduction of new products, including high-tech cat litters and musical children's toothbrushes.

In addition, the company continues to expand its presence in the $300 million vibrator market, which it joined in 2005 with its Trojan brand. This year, the company is adding a line of full-sized vibrators, he said.

"We are very pleased with the distribution and sales gains at our entire vibrations line, which we believe has been aided by the popularity of the 'Fifty Shades Of Grey' novel," Craigie said.

Domestic sales of consumer goods rose 5 percent to $506.5 million, mainly as result of strong demand for the company's Arm & Hammer laundry detergent. Higher volumes increased the business' sales by 8.6 percent, but a shift toward less-profitable products and weaker pricing reduced sales by 3.6 percent, the company said.

International sales of consumer products fell 3.7 percent to $121.3 million, as lower European demand pulled organic sales down 2.7 percent. Meanwhile, overall sales of specialty products increased 3 percent to $68.6 million on higher prices and volume.

Church & Dwight said it expects the tough economic conditions to continue for the rest of the year, with high unemployment and consumer worries about the economy hurting its growth.

Based on its results for the first half of the year, the company said it expects to post a third-quarter profit of 58 cents per share and an adjusted full-year profit of $2.41 to $2.43 per share.

Analysts polled by FactSet expect a third-quarter profit of 61 cents per share and a full-year profit of $2.43 per share.

Church & Dwight shares fell $3.72, or 6.5 percent, to $51.98 in morning trading, after dropping as low as $50.64 earlier in the day. Over the past 52 weeks, the company's shares have traded between $37.28 and $59.27.

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Ky. judge to review Christian health care case

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — A judge will consider whether a Christians-only health care plan should be held in contempt of court more than a year after the Kentucky Supreme Court subjected it to stricter regulations that could have meant its demise in the state.

Franklin County Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate set a hearing for Aug. 30 in the case that pits the Kentucky Department of Insurance against Medi-Share, a Florida-based cost-sharing ministry that helps pay medical bills for churchgoers.

The legal battle involves how tightly the state can regulate Medi-Share, which serves nearly 40,000 people in 49 states, including more than 700 in Kentucky.

Justices found in 2010 that Medi-Share is insurance and should be subject to the same regulations as secular health care plans, a move that could have forced the organization to serve non-Christians and to provide costly coverage of pre-existing conditions. Medi-Share says its members aren't buying insurance, but taking part in a charitable endeavor to help cover medical bills of fellow Christians and potentially have their own costs covered should the need arise.

Department of Insurance spokeswoman Ronda Sloan said she expects the judge to consider the state's motion to hold Medi-Share in contempt for disobeying a permanent injunction barring it from doing business in Kentucky.

"Medi-Share agreed to the injunction on March 1, 2011, but continues to operate in the state," Sloan said Monday.

The judge may also hear a motion to reconsider the injunction because of changes Medi-Share has made over the past year that could bring it into compliance with state insurance regulations.

Tea party activist David Adams, who has filed complaints with the Department of Insurance about Medi-Share and similar ministries, said he believes Kentucky's Christian community is closely watching the case.

"The more they look at this issue the clearer it will become to Kentucky's two million active Christians that their rights to save money on one of their biggest bills is being unconstitutionally inhibited by their state government," Adams said.

Medi-Share continues to recruit new members in Kentucky by running ads on Christian radio stations, despite the injunction.

Tony Meggs, president of Medi-Share's parent organization, Christian Care Ministry, has said he's confident that the health plan, as it operates now, is in full compliance with state regulations.

Medi-Share members affirm a statement of Christian beliefs and pledge to follow a code that includes no tobacco or illegal drugs, no sex outside of marriage, and no abuse of alcohol or legal medications. Every month, members pay a fixed "share" to cover the medical expenses of members in need. The cost usually is less than private insurance.

The organization says it helps Christians pay medical bills based on a Bible verse that urges people to "carry each other's burdens."

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U.S. nuns meet to decide how to respond to Vatican rebuke

ST. LOUIS (Reuters) - The largest group for American nuns begins a four-day meeting in St. Louis on Tuesday to consider a response to the Vatican's decision to assign effective control of the group to a trio of bishops because the nuns had strayed from church doctrine.

The Leadership Conference of Women Religious is conducting its first national assembly since church leadership accused the group of focusing too much on social-justice issues such as poverty and not enough opposing abortion, gay marriage and euthanasia.

The Vatican Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith also criticized the group for remaining quiet as some nuns publicly challenged U.S. bishops on matters of church doctrine, including ordination of women and public policy.

The Vatican has put the organization under the effective control of three U.S. bishops, who have the power to rewrite its statutes, meeting agendas and liturgical texts. The decision has led to protests and vigils across the country in support of the nuns.

The organization represents 80 percent of the 57,000 U.S. Roman Catholic nuns, and about 900 sisters from 320 communities are registered to attend, according to the LCWR president, Sister Pat Farrell.

Farrell said in a press call last week that the conference will include "time for prayer and communal reflection and thoughtful consideration and, very importantly, time to listen to one another." She said the LCWR finds it "absolutely critical" to get a sense of how the membership is thinking.

"One of our concerns is that questioning is seen as defiance," Farrell said.

MAYBE NO DECISION

It is possible that no decision will be reached by the end of the Assembly, but private sessions will give leadership a sense of the "leaning" of the group, Farrell said.

In early June, LCWR issued a statement calling the Vatican's rebuke "unsubstantiated" and "the result of a flawed process that lacked transparency."

Some nuns have suggested that the LCWR, which was founded in 1956 at the request of the Vatican, might dissolve its official ties with the church and become an independent nonprofit group. Others have said that the best course may be to stall and hope Vatican scrutiny will fade with time.

The U.S. bishop assigned to supervise reform of the group, Archbishop Peter Sartain of Seattle, will meet with LCWR leaders soon after the Assembly, said Sister Mary Ann Walsh, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Both sides have tried to be "prayerfully collaborative," Walsh said.

Bishop Leonard Blair of Toledo, Ohio, who is assisting Sartain in reviewing the group's work, disputed the idea that the Vatican action was a crackdown.

Blair, in an interview on National Public Radio's "Fresh Air," said it was meant to be an effort to work with the group "to have them enter into dialogue with us in order to remedy what we feel are serious doctrinal concerns."

But Blair, who conducted the Vatican's doctrinal assessment of the LCWR, said that "no middle ground" is possible on matters of faith and morals.

John Gehring, Catholic program director for Faith in Public Life, a liberal advocacy group, said he did not think the LCWR would make a "quick, snap judgment." He called the gathering "the most important meeting in the history of the LCWR."

"Catholic sisters face a defining moment and want to remain true to their broad social justice mission in a time when the church is increasingly conservative and narrowly focused on issues like same-sex marriage," Gehring said. "There is a lot at stake."

The conference opens Tuesday evening and concludes Friday. Farrell is expected to speak at a press conference Friday afternoon.

(Reporting By Mary Wisniewski; Additional reporting by Stephanie Simon; Editing by Vicki Allen)

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Protesters in St. Louis support U.S. nuns rebuked by Vatican

ST. LOUIS (Reuters) - More than 300 supporters of a group of U.S. Catholic nuns accused by the Vatican of straying from church doctrine held a vigil on Thursday evening near the St. Louis Arch, across the street from the site of a massive meeting of the group.

Their message: Don't mess with the nuns.

The Leadership Conference of Women Religious is conducting its first national assembly since Catholic Church leaders accused the group of focusing too much on social justice issues like poverty and not enough opposing abortion, gay marriage and euthanasia. About 900 nuns are attending the four-day assembly.

At the vigil in front of the 178-year-old Basilica of St. Louis, men and women held signs saying "Thank you sisters" and "Nunsense not nonsense" as passing cars honked in support. Many attendees wore light blue, a color associated with the Virgin Mary.

"I think the Vatican chose the wrong group of people this time," said attendee Marg Beckmann, a 78-year-old Catholic from Illinois.

Another attendee, Sharon Tebbe, 69, of the St. Louis area, said she believed women should be able to be priests.

"I support the nuns and their rights to express themselves," Tebbe said. "I appreciate all they do to educate our children, to care for our sick and to help our poor."

The Vatican Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith has rebuked the LCWR for remaining quiet as some nuns publicly challenged bishops on matters of church doctrine, including ordination of women, which is prohibited. The assessment also complained of "radical feminist themes" in some LCWR programs.

The Vatican has put the organization under the effective control of three U.S. bishops. The decision has led to protests across the country in support of the nuns.

The organization represents 80 percent of the 57,000 Roman Catholic nuns in the United States.

In between speakers and prayer services at the assembly, the nuns were meeting in private sessions to talk about how they should respond to the Vatican assessment. LCWR members gave no sense Thursday of what that response will be, saying they preferred to wait until the "discernment" process is complete.

LCWR President Pat Farrell will give a press conference Friday afternoon, but it is possible that no decision will be reached by the end of the assembly.

(Reporting by Mary Wisniewski; Editing by Corrie MacLaggan)

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