By SHARON McLEOD HALIFAX (CP) — Im- migration officials are pleased with “‘the very Christian concern for refugees” being shown by the people of Nova Scotia under the refugee span- sorship program. Bill Hamm, manager of the Canada Immigration Centre at the Halifax In- ternational Airport, says: “The private sector is doing a better job than government in this program becawse of their persona] contact and concern with each person coming in. “If the refugee la govern- ment-sponsered, he is mate- rially provided for butis still a stranger in a strange place." The religious community in Nova Scotia is heavily involved in the sponsorship program, either directly or setting up sponsorship groups to take over care for one year of refugee families. The plight of the Viet- namese boat people was the impetus for federal legislation in April, 1079, permitting five or more wageearner’s to form a group and sponsor a refugee, The sponsorship entails being financially responsible for the refugee for one calendar year unless during that time Page 12, The Herald, Friday, December 14, 1979 Nova Scotians receive boat people well the refugee becomes self- supporting. Since the legislation was passed, Nova Scotian churches have taken the program to their congregations in an effort to rovide homes and velihoods for as many as possible, In the nearby Enfield- Elmsdale area, St. Ber- nard's Roman Catholic parlsh has sponsored a family of four and a single individual. In Truro, the Christian Reform Church has sponsored a family of four and a group of Its members has brought in five refugees. A church group in the Brookfield-Upper Stewiacke area has applied for a family of eight. “The requests keep coming,” says Hamm. The United, Roman Catholic, Anglican and Christlan Reform churches have so far been most active In the sponsorship program, Hamm says, ‘‘but other churches as well have ex- pressed a great deal of Inter- est,” The Refugee Support Soclety in New Glasgow, an incorporated body within Trinity United Church formed to sponsor refugees, has brought ina family of six and the Roman Catholic B.C. a haven for atheists, agnostics British Columbia is the Canadian haven for atheists and agnostics, says a study by a professor at the University of Western On- tario in London, Ont. The report by Jean Veevers, in conjunction with D. F. Cous-ineau of Simon Fraser Univeralty in Bur- naby, B.C., also says heathens are three times more common than Jews in Canada. Veevers says agnosticism increases as one travels from east to west in Canada and that 7.2 per cent of the population of Alberta, often called Canada’s Bible belt, is agnostic or atheist, But B.C., at almost 14 per cent, leads the country in heathens, the study says. archdiocese of Halifax has announced that sponsorship activity is taking place at the parish level in all of its 60 parishes from Amherst to Liverpool, The church has also hired Archbishop Sheen- NEW YORK (AP) — Arch- bishop Fulton Sheen, whose radia and _— television progrems made him one of the Roman Catholic Chur- ch’'s most widelyknown figures, died Sunday, He was 84, Church officiaissaid Sheen died at his Manhattan home after a lengthy battle with heart disease. , Sheen's religious com- mentary program, called The Catholic Hour, began on radio in March, 1938 — sponsored by the U.S. National Council of Catholic Men. The council estimated that the show reached 7.5 million listeners, many of them in Canada. It even- tually spread to television as Life Is Worth Living. As national director of the Society for the Propogation of the Faith, Sheen was known as the instructor of some of North America’s most famous converts to the Catholic faith, They included newspaper columnist Heywood Broun, automaker Henry Ford Tl and playwright Clare Boothe Luce. A progressive on many social and church matters, Sheen was a relentless foe of communism. However, he drew a distinction between the ideology and ils, ad- herents. “The ideology is wicked, the people are good,’’ he once said. “One may hate communism as an evil system, but still love the Zion Baptist Church Corner Sparks and Koith Pastor Paul Mohninger Home 635-5309 | Sunday Schoo! 9:45 a.m. Morning Worship 11:00 a.m. full-time people ta operate a day-care centre at Chebucto School in Halifax for refugee children while their parents study English. There are currently 20 children at the centre with the church also Communists as creatures made to the image and likeness af God and capable of divine redemption.” Sheen was appointed bishop of Rochester, N.Y., in October 1966. Within a week of his arrival, he became involved in a dispute bet- ween black militants and the management of an Eastman Kodak plant involving the hiring of GOO blacks. During the dispute, he de- clared: ‘'Stained-glass windews are apt to becloud our vision of poverty and distress.” In 1967, Sheen urged then U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson to unilaterally with- draw U.S. troops from Vietnam, The next year, he touched off a how! of protest within the church when he offered a parish church and other buildings for use in housing the poor, calting ita $68,000 “sacrificial gift.” Sheen’s concern .over poverty marked his numerous books and in his 15 years of service as director of Catholic Forcign Mission fund-raising efforts. He moved to New York atter his retirement in 1969, where he continued writing and preaching on occasion. His annual Lenten services at St. Bartholemew's Episcopal Church on Park Avenue drew standing-room- only crowds. seeing to their medical needs. Hamm points out that the program covers not only the boat people but ‘‘any refugees, and the sponsors are asked to specify ethnic In July, 1977, Sheen under- went open heart surgery for replacement of a defective origin requested when making their application to us. He saya Nova Scotia is ex- pected to provide homes for about 700 refugees by December, 1980, with 175 heart valve. Sheen was a farmer's son — born in El Paso, fl., on currently living here. He admits there has been “some negative response,” “There are those who complain about the program citing the current unem- ployment rate, and asking May 8, 1805, His family later moved to Peorla, ML, where he attended parochir! “why provide homes and jobs for outsidera when there are many Canadians out of work?" ; “But for the most part, even the unemployed here are a lot better off.” dead at 84 schools. He was ordained in Peoria on September 20, 1919. Bank of Commerce comes under fire from churches on S.A. policy By NICK HUNTER TORONTO: (CP) — Two church leaders demanded Tuesday that the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reveal its policies on em- ployees who unionize and loans to South Africa. At a shareholders meeting where the Commerce's good finaneial health was displayed, the churchmen eriucized the bank's ap- proach to human rights questions. Rey, James Webb of Toronto, a Jesuit priest, said that if the bank is antl-union itis out of step with a Roman Catholic church policy, established at the 2nd Vatican Council in 1885, that says the right to found labor unions Is a basic human right. The Canada Labor Relations Board ruled last week that the bank had discriminated agalnst employees by freezing wages in branches where a union had been certified a had applied for certification. On the South African ques- tion, Rev. Peter Hamel of Toronto, a consultant on ‘national affairs for the Anglican Church of Canada, told bank officers that church shareholders want the bank to divulge its guide- lines for making = in- ternatlonal loans. The bank shauld declare its position on Joans to South Africa and South African in- dustries as three other Cana- dian banks have done, said Hamel, who was representing bank shareholdings. of the chur- ch’s governing body, the general synod. Webb and Hamel are of- ficlals of a study group on church and corporate responsibility, which they said represents the major Christian churches in Canada. Russell E. Harrison, the bank’s chief executive of: ficer, saida public statement on corporate responsibllity is being prepared, But a bank spokesman said later that this policy may not include guidelines for international loans, Harrison said the bank’s policy on unionization is that “an employee is free to join or not to join « trade union as he or she decides.” “The bank has never in- tentionally interfered with its employees in making their own decisions as to union representation,” he said, Harrison said the bank is considering appealing the labor board deciaion and for that reason would not add to 4 prepared statement on the is: sue. Hamel and Webb asked moat of the questions at the annual sharehalders meeting, which they said Children of God use sex lure NEW YORK (AP) — The latest summary of teachings circulated by the Children of God details its recom- mended use of sex to lure recruits into the fold. David Berg, known to his followers as Moses David, Father David or Mo, has called the tactic ‘flirty fishing."” "People today are terrifically desirous of sex and in need of sex, therefore if you don't satisfy their sexual appetite they have a hard time believing that you really love them,’’ Berg says was typleal. If the churches did not raise social issues at - the meetings nobody would, Webb sald in an interview. “Sometimes you can hear audible opposition to what we gay,” said Hamel outside tte meeting. “I've heard groaning and whistling and sometimes they shout ‘get out.’ “It didn't happen’ today. Maybe because it has been happening three or four yeors it is becoming an acceptable practice,” in a new compiliation of letters written to potential recruits. “So sometimes we have to sastisfy that appetite to prove to them that we really care and we're concemed that we love them." The current mailings come from Zurich, Switzerland, where Berg resides, says his personal secretary known only as John, The group, founded by Berg in California in 1968, now is geattered in 70 countries and claims 8,000 young pecple belong, says a recent study by the Anti- Pastor Bob Lesyk 635-2807 Sunday School 11:00 a.m, Morning Worship Service 7:30 p.m Singing and Bible Study Wednesday 8.00 Home Bible Studies “You Are Welcome at Uplands” Uplands Baptist Church Cornar of Halliwell and W. Thomas 9: i5a.m. Bible Teaching St. Uatthew's Anglican Church 4726 Lazelle Avenue 635-9019 Sunday Services 10:00 a.m. Sunday School. Adults Discussion. 11:00a.m.- Holy Communion tor the family Minister: Reverend Lance Stephens - 635-5855 DACRED NEAR rAuloN 4830 Straume Avenue, Terrace 635-2312 SATURDAY EVENING 7:30 70m, SUNDAY MASSES 9:00am. W:1S a.m. 7300.0. 635-6014 Worship Service 11:00 a.m. KNOX UNITED CHURCH 4907 Lazelle Avenue Minister Reverend Dave Martyn SALVATION ARMY 4637 Walsh Avenue SUNDAY TUESDAY NIGHT 7°30 p.tn. Bible Study and Prayer Meeting WEDNESDAY 7:30 p.m. Ladies Home League Fellowship SATURDAY 7.30p.m. Youth Group Christian Counselling Emergency Welfare Spiritual Resources 635-5446 or 635-2626 8 9:30a.m. Christian Education Hour 11:00 a.m. Family Worship Service \ 7:30 p.m. Evanglistic Salvation Meeting Welcom as You To Worship CHRIST LUTHERAN CHURCH ‘Corner Sparks Street and Park Avenue CHURCH OF GOD 3341 River Drive Terrace, B.C. 638-1561 Reverend A.L. White Sunday Schoo! 10:00 a.m Reverend R.L. White Morning Worship 11:00 a.m. Evening Worship ?:30 p.m. Prayer Service Wednesday 7: 30 p.m. ATTEND THE CHURCH OF YOUR CHOICE THIS SUNDAY Christian Reformed Church Sparks Street and Straume Avenue Reverend S. Van Daalen Sunday School - Terrace 10:00a.m. Sunday School Renia 1:00p.m. 11:00 a.m. Worsbip Service 5:00 p.m. Worship Service a House of Praise JME Eby Street 635-3015 — 635-3657 Sunday Worship 10; 30 a.m. Education & Instruction. Thurs. 7-8: 30 A class for all ages Rev. Hermaa Hagen B.A. M.Div.0. 635-3485 Worship Service - 11 a.m. Church School 9:45 a.m. Sunday School, Confirmation Youth and Adult Classes Holy Communion first Sunday each month Defamation League of B'nai B'rith. The B'nai B'rith report says the group's materials are a mixture of biblical misquotations, sex, predictions of earthly doom and “anti-Isreal, pro-Arab propaganda steeped in crude anti-Semitism.” It algo regularly denounces all historically- organized churches, the report says. Religion is alive and well at Berkeley’s University of California — but it’s not what it used to be. Some denominations listed by students on their religious preference cards: the Polyester Pagoda of the Palpitating Pulpit, the Cosmic Yo-Yo Church of Evolutionary Oneness and of Perpetual Motion. Rev, Guatay Schultz, pastor of the University Lutheran Church, said other categorles included Blue Oyster Cult, Born-Again Athelat, Fat Worship of the High Cholesterol Order, Southern Pedestrian and Church of God the Totally Indifferent. KITCHENER, Ont, (CP) — Religion classes at the University of Walerloo and Wilfrid Laurier University are filling up again after a slump in the past few years, + university officials say. David Granskou, head of Wilfrid Laurier's religion department, says he believes the revived interest in religion reflects youth's concern over survival issues — ecology, inflation, Unemployment and the energy crisis. Wilfrid Laurier graduate student! Suzanne Sykes says: “If you want to study human beings you have do it in reti- Bion. There's nowhere else," hte Vat Most famous Gasket in the warid Veto ian I's time to call your Welvome Wagon hostess. fLols Mohninger 635.5309 The Holy Order of Qur Lady Evelyn Anweiler 635 5571.