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BY SHARON WILSON
Linda
Barrows-Stacey Photo
In the wake of the closing of Boston Regional Medical Center on February 4, 1999 (see Review, April 22), and a pending eviction of the Greater Boston Academy (see Review, December 9) officials of the New England Memorial Church reached an agreement to sell the church's right to continue use of the property, also located on the 42-acre hospital campus. Under terms of the settlement agreement, which was signed in December, The Guiterrez Company, buyers the property, compensated the congregation for its property rights while allowing occupation of the church through June 30, 2000. The negotiation of the sale also included a term allowing the academy (pictured below) to complete the school year rent-free at the same location. The office development company, based in Burlington, Massachusetts, has not stated its plans for use of the property, although Mr. Guiterrez has said that market demands will shape their plans. Timing constraints, continued legal expenses, and the congregation's concern for the academy students on the campus all factored into the ultimate decision to sell the property rights. The settlement
follows the first ever jury These verdicts surprised the attorneys, because the school was thought to have the stronger case. "To prevent the same kind of loss that we have experienced," says Southern New England Conference president Halvard Thomsen, "we encourage that the deeds and related documents of every church and school be checked, particularly where more than one institution uses common property. While the legal proceedings continue Adventists are still in anguish over of the ripple effect of the hospital's closing. "I keep wondering when it will end for the members of my congregation," says Eric Doran, pastor of the New England Memorial Church. "First it was the loss of jobs, followed by eviction notices to those who rented homes on the hospital campus. Then it was the lawsuit and trial. And now it looks like four families who bought their off-campus homes from the hospital may have to sell them because the loans, secured by mortgages held by the hospital, require payment in full upon termination of employment." This June, while the focus of the world church will be centered on the General Conference session in Toronto, members of a church and school in Stoneham will be saying farewell to that "most desirable site" seen in vision by Ellen White one hundred years ago. Sharon Wilson, J.D., a member of the New England Memorial Church and Southern New England Conference Association Board, volunteered her services in assisting attorneys representing the congregation, school and conference. Adventists Ask
United States Senate A delegation including Seventh-day Adventist religious liberty leaders visited United States Senate leaders on December 14 to ask for an early vote on the Religious Liberty Protection Act (RLPA). RLPA, a law intended to raise the level of religious free exercise protection under the United States Constitution, was approved by the House in August, 1999 but must also be passed by the Senate before it becomes law. "Free exercise of religion is constitutionally guaranteed as an inherent human right," says Richard Lee Fenn, associate director of the General Conference Public Affairs and Religious Liberty Department. "Tragically, Supreme Court decisions this decade have eroded this guarantee. The Religious Liberty Protection Act is an absolutely necessary step toward statutory restoration of what has been taken away. RLPA is a bill for every American. We Adventists endorse it. We support it." The Adventist Church takes an active part in the RLPA Coalition, a diverse group of more than 30 religious and civil rights groups. Fenn, along with four other RLPA Coalition members, visited the offices of Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott and Majority Whip Don Nickles to ask for early consideration of the bill when the Senate resumes its work in January 2000. While legislative aides assured the delegation that RLPA is a Senate priority, they also pointed to the overloaded legislative agenda and could make no firm promises on when the bill would come to up for a vote. "The purpose of RLPA is really quite simple," says Sam Casey, executive director of the Christian Legal Society, and coalition chair. "It will restore the level of protection for religion to the same legal standard of 'strict scrutiny' that applies to every other civil right." Strict scrutiny means that a law burdening the exercise of someone's religion will be invalid, unless the state can show that it was pursuing a "compelling state interest" in the "least restrictive" manner. The level of legal protection for religious free exercise in the United States was dramatically lowered in 1991 by the Supreme Court case Oregon v. Smith. In this case the Court held that government need not be concerned when a generally applicable, "neutral" law interferes with the ability of people to practice their religious belief.--Adventist News Network Adventist
Review Circulation For the first time since January 1986 the weekly circulation of the Adventist Review has surpassed the 50,000 mark, reports editor William G. Johnsson.
Besides the weekly edition, the monthly North American Division edition has a circulation of 302,000. The combined circulation of the NAD issue, weekly issue, and overseas editions printed in various languages, is more than 750,000.
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trial granted in the
101-year history of
the Boston federal bankruptcy in October. At the close of the four-day
trial, eight jurors found that the church has a permanent, irrevocable
right to use the land and the church building in the same manner that
they have been used for the past 50 years. The court awarded the
church a prescriptive easement to the church but ruled that the
academy does not have legal interest in the land or the school
building.
As of December 20,
circulation stood at 50,311, up 14,556
or 41 percent, from the previous year. A significant reason for the
increase is the magazine's new believers campaign, a cooperative
effort of the Review, and local and union conferences, that provides
subscriptions for new Adventists. The magazine also offered a
half-price subscription rate from October to December, 1999. Johnsson
says, "Review circulation has been declining slowly since
1963, so this turnaround gives me special delight. I praise the Lord
for what has happened. At the same time I think we should aim for
100,000 weekly circulation."
