Religion News Briefs

Touro Synagogue, the nation’s oldest, stands in Newport, R.I.
Touro Synagogue, the nation’s oldest, stands in Newport, R.I.

Synagogue wants

ownership ruling

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- A lawyer for congregants at the oldest synagogue in the United States say they want to take their fight for control of Touro Synagogue to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Gary Naftalis says they plan to ask the high court for review after the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on June 7 let stand a decision awarding ownership of Rhode Island's Touro Synagogue to a congregation in New York.

The court also found New York's Shearith Israel owns a set of ceremonial bells valued at $7.4 million.

Lou Solomon, a lawyer for the New York congregation, says it's time to put the matter behind them "for the good of American Jewry and people of faith everywhere."

The court found the New York congregation owns the 250-year-old synagogue under a 1903 agreement.

-- The Associated Press

Cleric's remains

OK'd for move

PEORIA, Ill. -- The remains of famous Roman Catholic Archbishop Fulton Sheen can be moved to Illinois from New York, nearly 40 years after his death, a judge said.

Joan Sheen Cunningham, 90, believes moving her uncle's remains to Peoria, Ill., will improve his cause for sainthood. New York Supreme Court Judge Arlene Bluth said that is a "laudable purpose."

"It makes no sense, given his lifelong devotion to the Catholic Church, that he would choose a location -- New York City -- over the chance to become a saint," Bluth said June 8, calling Sheen a "legendary figure."

Sheen's remains are at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan. Cunningham sued the cathedral and the Archdiocese of New York, which have opposed her wishes.

Sheen, who died in 1979, was known for his revolutionary radio and TV preaching in the 1950s and '60s. He was ordained a priest in Peoria.

Peoria Bishop Daniel Jenky has pledged to work for Sheen's sainthood and place his remains at St. Mary's Cathedral in the western Illinois city.

Trustees at St. Patrick's Cathedral said in a statement that lawyers would review the judge's decision. They said Sheen indicated in his will that he wanted to be buried in New York.

"The process of beatification and canonization focuses only on where the soul of a person is, not on where an individual's mortal remains might be," trustees said Monday.

-- The Associated Press

Jewish museum

in Cyprus plans

LARNACA, Cyprus -- A new Jewish museum in Cyprus aims to be a bridge-builder to the Arab world and beyond, a place where visitors who may never set foot in Israel can learn about the Jewish faith, the Holocaust and the tumultuous beginnings of the Jewish state.

Items going on display in the seven-story structure in Larnaca will include some of more than 100 Torah scrolls -- Judaism's holiest book -- that Russian authorities discovered in the Nazis' possession and which for decades were kept at a military installation 280 miles east of Moscow.

A key selling point for the eastern Mediterranean island nation as the venue for the museum is its proximity to the Middle East. It plans to open in May 2019.

-- The Associated Press

Religion on 06/16/2018

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