Event honors alliance of Damien and Mormon

An interfaith alliance between Catholic and Mormon missionaries who worked together to help leprosy patients at Kalaupapa was celebrated in a meeting last week in Laie.

Catholic Bishop Larry Silva met with Von Orgill, president of the Polynesian Cultural Center, and Scott Whiting, an elder with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to present a certificate of appreciation and a print by Big Island artist Dietrich Varez of “;The Canonization of Damien.”;

Silva praised the collaboration between Damien and Jonathan Napela, a former Maui judge who moved to Kalaupapa in 1873, the same year as Damien. Napela became the presiding elder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at Kalaupapa.

Napela and Damien worked together to provide shelter and support for people forced to live in the quarantine settlement. Damien referred to Napela as his “;yoke mate.”;

Orgill said the certificate will be displayed at the Polynesian Cultural Center's Hawaii Mission Settlement. He presented a carved koa canoe paddle to Silva symbolizing that the different churches are journeying together with similar goals in the community.

Iowa's same-sex unions in camping controversy

DES MOINES, Iowa » Plans to allow married same-sex couples to qualify as families for camping permits reflects an “;insidious pattern”; of state agencies seeking to change rules to benefit such couples, an Iowa lawmaker said.

Sen. Merlin Bartz, a Republican from Grafton, opposes same-sex marriage and was troubled that the Department of Natural Resources would propose the new rules. He said the changes, considered Monday by a legislative committee, follow similar moves by state agencies that oversee public pensions and income taxes.

The proposed change would allow married same-sex couples with children to stay in family-designated camping areas and have more than one tent or trailer on a single site.

Bartz said that “;the department is changing the definition of immediate family.”;

Department of Natural Resources officials said they are only trying to comply with state law. The Iowa Supreme Court ruled in 2009 that a state law defining marriage as between a man and woman violated the state constitution.

Bartz's concerns stunned and puzzled some same-sex couples and lawmakers.

“;Who the hell cares what the relationship is?”; Senate President Jack Kibbie, D-Emmetsburg, asked during a hearing on the issue Monday. “;To me it's a nonissue.”;

Indictment states boss made Muslims eat pork

TAIPEI » A Taiwan rights group says three Indonesian Muslims were “;distraught and afraid”; after their boss at a suburban Taipei factory forced them to eat pork over a seven-month period or face punitive measures.

Taipei prosecutors have indicted owner Chang Wen-lin of Shin Hua Hang Fashion Co. Ltd. for forcing the female workers to consume pork during their September 2008-to-April 2009 employment.

Chairwoman Susan Chen of the Taiwan International Workers Association said Monday that her organization cared for Tarsinah, Suswati and Wasilah after they were rescued by government officials from the factory last year.