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2002-005

News Briefs

Bishops in Church of England reveal their finances

     (ENI) For the first time in history, the Church of England has publicly 
revealed the financial costs of maintaining its episcopate.

     In the face of criticism that the bishops were living in relative grandeur, 
church authorities have pointed out that only a quarter of the 44 diocesan 
bishops lives in anything resembling a palace--and the actual living quarters are 
more likely than not to be an apartment in the larger complex. The palaces 
usually include diocesan offices, rooms that are rented for conferences and even 
wedding receptions.

     "We would call this sensible, maximal use of space," said Stephen Conway of 
Durham, whose bishop lives in Auckland Castle, one of the grandest residences in 
the church. "It's a privilege to be in such surroundings but living at the castle 
as a temporary tenant doesn't identify the bishop with a particular socio-
economic group."

     Church figures show that, in 2000, the diocesan bishops together with 70 
suffragan and assistant bishops cost the church a total of 12.8 million pounds, 
about $18.6 million. Of that amount, about 3.5 million covered employment costs, 
an average of $44,500 per bishop. The rest of the costs are related to working 
expenses in maintaining an office.

     "Bishops are very hardworking, perhaps excessively so," said Prof. Anthony 
Mellows who released the figures. "The pressures on them are increasing. They do 
not have lavish lifestyles."

     As spiritual head of the Church of England and the Anglican Communion, as 
well as diocesan bishop of Canterbury, George Carey heads the list with total 
costs of $1.4 million.

Divinity school may have to return funds donated for chapel

     (ENS) In the wake of a controversy over the handling of funds at Berkeley 
Divinity School at Yale, and the resignation of Dean William Franklin, donors who 
have pledged $3 million for a new chapel will be asked if they want their 
donations returned.

     President Richard Levin of Yale University had sought Franklin's resignation 
for what university auditors said was "a nearly complete lack of internal 
controls" at Berkeley but the seminary's board rebuffed the request and defended 
Franklin. Levin subsequently blocked Berkeley's move to the reconstructed Yale 
Divinity School, preventing Berkeley from developing plans to occupy two of the 
eight historic houses in the YDS quadrangle. One of the houses was meant to serve 
as a chapel and the other has offices for Berkeley.

     "The board was highly annoyed at Levin's unilateral action," said the Rev. 
Rowan Greer, a retired professor from YDS. "There is a great deal of suspicion 
and distrust," he told the New Haven Register. He said that there had been "no 
misappropriation of funds. It was a sloppy system."

     One of 11 Episcopal seminaries, Berkeley has been affiliated with Yale 
Divinity School since 1971. Its students makeup about a third of the YDS student 
body. A university task force will study the future of the affiliation. Greer 
said that a Berkeley committee will try to work out new financial procedures with 
Yale.

     

Archbishop Peers says Canada forcing religion out of public life

     (Ottawa Citizen) Archbishop Michael Peers of the Anglican Church of Canada 
says that the nation is moving dangerously close to eliminating all mention of 
religion in public life.

     In a New Year's Day sermon in Ottawa's Christ Church Cathedral, Peers said 
that Canada prides itself on its multiculturalism yet is moving to eliminate 
references to the faiths that underpin that culture. "Imagine telling Sikhs and 
Muslims that their culture is respected in this country but the society has no 
place for their faith. Faith and culture are intimately connected," he said.

     In the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, prominent Canadians 
have suggested that what defines the country is "secularism, pluralism and 
democracy," he charged. That creates "a powerful and potentially very serious 
conflict" because secularism is increasingly being defined as elimination of all 
religious references in public life, out of fear that religion will cause 
division, he said. That would lead to what he called "not only a suppression of 
our pluralist reality, but also folly of the worst sort for our society."

     Peers said that without some understanding of faith, Canadians would never 
be able to understand the current conflicts between India and Pakistan or between 
Israel and the Palestinians. Suppression of religion does not work, he said, and 
"eventually that kind of suppression implodes on itself because it is a broad 
denial of things that run far, far deeper than material life."

     Peers concluded that "a truth suppressed always takes its revenge," 
predicting that, just as many Christian denominations moved beyond their disputes 
and began working together, so the world's major faiths will also enter into 
deeper relations during this century.

     

Good Friday offering destined for Jerusalem and the Middle East

     (ENS) In his annual Epiphany letter to all congregations, Presiding Bishop 
Frank Griswold has asked that Episcopalians continue to "pray for their sisters 
and brothers in the Holy Land" and to support the Episcopal Church's Good Friday 
Offering as "an opportunity to demonstrate solidarity with Anglicans and all 
Christians in that troubled region of the world." For the past 80 years the 
Episcopal Church has taken up a Good Friday Offering to be sent to the Episcopal 
Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East.

     The Province of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East covers 
the entire southern Mediterranean coast from Gibraltar to Lebanon and Syria, and 
down to the Persian Gulf and the Horn of Africa. Yet it is one of the smaller 
Provinces of the Anglican Communion in membership. Outside of Jerusalem, the 
countryside is overwhelmingly Islamic and Jewish, and even in Jerusalem the 
dominant Christian traditions are Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Armenian 
Apostolic.

     Bishop Riah Abu El-Assal maintains a visible Anglican presence in the 
Diocese of Jerusalem, which includes Israel, the Palestine National Authority, 
Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, and the sister dioceses of Egypt and North Africa, 
Cyprus and the Gulf, and Iran are equally involved with numerous ministries 
throughout the region. Support received through the Good Friday Offering 
translates into operating hospitals, schools, orphanages and many other programs, 
accomplished for the benefit of all people in the province, Christian, Jewish and 
Muslim alike.

     A form to order the 2002 offering materials, which include a poster, a 
bulletin shell, and offering envelopes, accompanied the Epiphany letter. The 
bulletin shell and the poster are also available online at 
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/agr/friday.html. Good Friday Offering materials 
are also available through Episcopal Parish Services in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 
by calling toll-free 800-903-5544.