Mormon ‘Sea Trek’ Hits Stormy Financial WatersLast...

Mormon ‘Sea Trek’ Hits Stormy Financial Waters

Last year’s transatlantic re-creation of a Mormon migration from Northern Europe to Utah has turned into a financial nightmare for organizers, with three Norwegian ships demanding $530,000 in unpaid bills.

Bill and DeAnn Sadleir of Salt Lake City organized the 59-day voyage, known as Sea Trek 2001, from Denmark to New York City, to commemorate the 85,000 Mormon converts who left Europe. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, the Sadleirs were not able to sell all the spaces on the ships and so far have not paid three Norwegian ships the $530,000 owed to them. In addition, the couple owe about $43,000 to a Russian ship.

Pope to Lawyers: Don’t Help End Marriages

VATICAN CITY--Calling divorce a “plague” that has “devastating consequences” for all of society, Pope John Paul II urged Catholic lawyers and judges this week not to cooperate in the dissolving of marriages.

The Roman Catholic pontiff told judges and lawyers of the Roman Rota that the “indissolubility” of marriage is “good for the married couple, for their children, for the church and for all of humanity.”

Britain Returns Looted Ethiopian Relic

LONDON--An oblong wooden box that was part of the loot seized by British forces in an attack on the Ethiopian Emperor Tewodros in 1868 and that ended up in a church in Edinburgh, Scotland, is on its way back to Ethiopia.

The box, called the “tabot,” represents the Ark of the Covenant. It was handed over this week at a ceremony in St. John’s Episcopal Church, where it was discovered last year by the rector, the Rev. John McLuckie.

Church of Today Leader Vows to Stay in Group

WARREN, Mich.--A best-selling New Age author and leader of the Church of Today said her congregation won’t be quitting the Assn. of Unity Churches.

Marianne Williamson said a handful of her 2,300 members threatened to file suit if the church proceeded with a planned break.

Open House Set for a Mormon Temple

PHOENIX--Arizona’s second Mormon temple, perched on a butte above the tiny town of Snowflake, goes on public display during a two-week open house beginning today. It will serve nearly 35,000 members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in northeastern Arizona.

Many of the town’s 5,600 residents--half of them non-Mormon--hope it will help make Snowflake a boomtown that draws Mormon pilgrims and retirees.

Iranians to Be Allowed to Fly to Holy Sites in Iraq

TEHRAN--Iraq said it would allow Shiite Muslim pilgrims from Iran to fly to visit holy shrines in Iraq.

Iraq’s visiting Foreign Minister Naji Sabri was quoted by the state news agency as saying the air route between the two countries “will be opened soon.”

Pilgrims now travel by land. In July 1998, Iraq agreed to allow 12,000 Iranians a month to visit its holy cities of Karbala and Najaf.

Westmont College Installs Its 7th President

Westmont College, an evangelical Christian school near Santa Barbara, has inaugurated Stan D. Gaede as the seventh president of the 60-year-old school.

Gaede, who replaces David Winter, has been working in the post since July. Winter retired after a 25-year stint as head of the college.

The new president is a graduate of Westmont, where he finished in 1969 before earning a doctorate in sociology at Vanderbilt University in Nashville in 1974.