Pension woes hit Boston diocese

SEATTLE -- BRAINTREE, Mass. -- The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston is taking steps to reform its financially shaky clergy-pension system before it runs out of money.

Cardinal Sean O'Malley has mailed a letter to all priests that says sick clergy will receive only 60 percent of their stipend, in addition to health-care coverage, if on health leave.

Some priests will be required to submit medical and tax documents to the archdiocese to demonstrate need.

The policy also requires priests on health leave for more than six months to seek state and federal government assistance.

An archdiocese financial report recently described the clergy-pension fund as "our largest liability" because it is underfunded by $114 million and will run out of money in 2011.

Training program for police upsets Muslims

A Seattle police-training program has upset some Muslims because it comes from a Jewish group they accuse of spreading fear about Islam.

The racial-awareness program, "Perspectives on Profiling," was produced by the Simon Wiesenthal Center of Los Angeles. It is known for Holocaust education work and tracking down Nazi war criminals.

Muslim critics are unhappy about films on Islamic extremism that the Wiesenthal Center has distributed.

Arsalan Bukhari, president of the Washington state chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, says the group "has an anti-Muslim agenda."

Liebe Geft, director of the center's Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, disagreed. Geft said the films in question take on anti-Semitism and the dangers of a small subsection of Islam, not Islam as a whole.

Deputy Police Chief Clark Kimerer said the program will go forward. He said the program was by far the best and the least expensive of its kind that police found. The cost is $18,000.

Sponsor in Tenn. pulls license-plate proposal

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Tennessee Senate sponsor of a bill to create a special license plate for the Church of God in Christ has pulled the bill until next session.

Sen. Ophelia Ford, D-Memphis, asked the Senate Finance Committee to delay consideration of the measure.

Ford acknowledged state Attorney General Robert E. Cooper Jr.'s opinion that such a plate would violate the establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution. But Ford said at least two attorneys called her to disagree with Cooper's opinion.

The intent of the bill was to allow proceeds from the sale of a special plate to fund the Memphis-based denomination's charities.

The House had earlier deferred action on the bill until next year.