Living-Today: Issues of modern living

WRONGFUL ADOPTION CASE

A suburban Cleveland couple is suing the county for allegedly failing to inform them of their adoptive son's family health history.

George and Kathy Sirca of Wadsworth, Ohio, are seeking $1.6 million from Medina County for not telling them that their adoptive son's birth mother was a schizophrenic drug abuser. Their lawsuit alleges that their son, John, 23, suffers from the same problems, which they say have led to drug abuse, dropping out of school and crimes that sent him to jail.

The Sircas allege they are victims of fraud because they told the county they were willing to wait for a healthy white baby when they sought a child to adopt.

The county argues that children do not come with a warranty.

Jury selection in the wrongful adoption case is scheduled to begin Tuesday before Common Pleas Judge Christopher Collier. The adoption took place 22 years ago. State law requires adoption agencies to provide all non-identifying facts about a child's parents.

Psychologist Suzanne LeSure said in a report that "it would be difficult to prove" a direct link between John's illness and his mother's, although "with hindsight, we might have guessed problems could develop in young John."

THE ASTRONAUTS' DIET

You may be able to eat as much as you want and still lose weight -- if you follow the astronauts' daily diet of 60 carbohydrates, 20 protein and 20 fat.

That's according to a study sponsored by the National Institutes of Health.

William J. Evans, Ph. D. of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, who is conducting the study, writes in the May issue of Reader's Digest New Choices that if "you stick to the 60-20-20 ratio ... that simple change can help preserve muscle and actually promote weight loss without leaving you feeling hungry."

Evans -- a NASA consultant who was asked to develop a program that would prevent physical deterioration in near-zero gravity -- believes this diet formula "works on Earth as well."

SPIRITUALLY LONELY TEENS

American teenagers are spiritually lonely and feel deprived of parental guidance in matters of faith, the head of a major youth ministry project told UPI Monday.

Asked about a new survey showing a decline in the number of young Americans who believe in absolute values, Mark Yaconelli of San Francisco Theological Seminary replied, "The teens are not the problem -- the grownups are."

Yaconelli is co-director of the seminary's extensive Youth Ministry and Spirituality Project, which is funded by the Indianapolis-based Lilly Foundation and involves 17 denominations. He summed up his encounters with thousands of youngsters over the last five years thus:

"They are not interested in words. They keep saying, 'Show me.' And by that they mean, 'Show me that you have a spiritual life worth passing on.'"

California-based pollster George Barna has found two seemingly contradictory developments about the spiritual life of young Americans. One the one hand, 33 percent declared themselves born-again Christians. This figure has remained virtually unchanged over the last quarter-century, Barna reported last week.

On the other hand, a big slump occurred in another segment -- the young evangelicals who do not consider themselves born again but nonetheless hold orthodox biblical views on God, Jesus and Satan, believe in the accuracy of Scripture and salvation by grace alone. Their share has declined from 10 percent in 1995 to just 4 percent now, mirroring a similar drop among adults.

"This demise is attributable to growing numbers of teenagers who accept moral relativism and pluralistic theology as their faith foundation," wrote Barna.

Yaconelli, a Presbyterian, linked this decline with what Harvard psychologist Robert Coles termed a moral and spiritual dilemma -- the isolation of the adolescents in the United States.

"Not only do grownups fail to conduct their lives in a way commensurate with their stated convictions, they also don't talk with their children about their spiritual concerns," said Yanonelli, calling the parents of today's teenagers a lost generation.

To Yaconelli, today's teenagers are a prophetic voice that "rattles adults, especially when the subject of faith is broached."

"The adults are scared of these young people," said Yaconelli, recalling the outburst of a girl during a youth ministry consultation in a downtown San Francisco church: "Tell them (the adults) to stop being afraid of us. We are their kids."

Added Yaconelli, "In other words, they are telling their parents, 'Don't hold us at arms length. Don't keep us distant. Don't pawn us off to a program, curriculum or outside expert. After all, we are not an outside group. We come from your bodies. We are as close as the deepest hopes within you -- as close as your very hearts. We don't know who we are. We need someone to accept and accompany us in our groping towards adulthood.'"

(Thanks to UPI Religion Correspondent Uwe Siemon-Netto)