Rabbi Paul Citrin has announced he will leave Congregation Beth Israel next June, which means San Diego's largest and oldest synagogue will be looking for its third spiritual leader since 2001.
Citrin came to Beth Israel two years ago. He declined an interview request, saying his decision to leave “is purely personal.” In a letter to the congregation, the rabbi said he doesn't plan to seek another pulpit but would instead return to his home in Albuquerque and perhaps teach.
The congregation's two previous senior rabbis stayed for three years and seven years, leaving in 2004 and 2001, respectively.
Executive Director Stuart Simmons said Beth Israel's other leadership also did not want to comment on the turnover. However, he pointed out that Cantor Arlene Bernstein, who has been there nine years, recently agreed to a long-term contract renewal and the new associate rabbi, Glenn Ettman, will be there for at least the next three years.
Five years ago, Beth Israel moved from its historic quarters near Balboa Park to a new campus in University City.
– Union-Tribune
Bishops request disciplinary panel
In a conflict that could have wide repercussions for the deeply divided Episcopal Church, four California bishops, including San Diego's, have accused a fellow prelate of planning to break away from the church and have asked a disciplinary panel to stop him.
By allowing critical changes to his diocese's bylaws, conservative Bishop John-David Schofield of San Joaquin is clearly preparing to abandon the 2.2 million-member Episcopal Church, the four bishops argue.
“You have taken legal action that destroys any chance that the rest of the Episcopal dioceses in California could ever argue that we are a hierarchical church,” retired San Francisco Bishop William Swing wrote in a June 22 letter to Schofield. “That will create chaos for us for all time.”
The bishops are Swing, Jon Bruno of Los Angeles, Jerry Lamb of Northern California and James Mathes of San Diego.
Unhappy with the election of Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and what they perceive to be the leftward drift of the church, San Joaquin is one of seven dioceses that have asked to be put under the guidance of a different primate. The diocese, based in Fresno, is also one of three U.S. dioceses that does not ordain women.
– Religion News Service
'Truth Behind 9/11' irks conservatives
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A book published by the denominational press of the Presbyterian Church (USA) poses provocative questions about Sept. 11 and has raised the hackles of church conservatives.
Westminster John Knox Press, a division of Presbyterian Publishing Corp., is printing 7,500 copies of “Christian Faith and the Truth Behind 9/11,” according to publisher Davis Perkins.
The book is written by David Ray Griffin, a former professor of theology who has written two other books that posit a conspiratorial link between the U.S. government and the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
In the book Griffin argues that “the Bush administration planned the events of Sept. 11 so they could provide justification for going to war in Afghanistan and Iraq,” according to an article on Christianity Today's Web site.
While the Louisville, Ky.-based Presbyterian Publishing Corp. has strong ties to the Presbyterian Church (USA), it is separately incorporated and receives no funding from the church, Perkins said.
– Religion News Services
