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April 16, 2002

2002-095

Episcopalians: News Briefs

Church leaders embark on Mideast visit

(NCCC/USA)A delegation of U.S. Protestant, Orthodox and Anglican 
church leaders will visit the Middle East April 16-27.  Planned 
for several months, the trip is "all the more urgent" given the 
deepening crisis, said the delegations leader, the Rev. Dr. Bob 
Edgar, general secretary of the National Council of Churches.

The NCC--whose 36 member denominations comprise 50 million 
adherents--organized the visit by invitation of the Middle East 
Council of Churches and Jerusalem church leaders.  Co-leader 
with Edgar, a United Methodist, is Elenie Huszagh, a Greek 
Orthodox layperson from Nehalem, Ore.

Acknowledging security concerns, the delegation nevertheless 
intends to fulfill as much of its planned itinerary as possible. 
The group will meet with clergy in each country and expects to 
meet with high-level political officials, including Syrian 
President Bashar Al Assad and Lebanons Prime Minister Rafiq 
Hariri. The delegation also intends to meet with Israeli and 
Palestinian government officials and with the U.S. Consul 
General in Jerusalem, and hopes to visit Israeli and Palestinian 
wounded and bereaved.

Delegation members include the Rt. Rev. Arthur Edward 
Walmsley,retired Episcopal bishop of Connecticut; the Rev. Janet 
Arbesman, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.); Bishop Vicken Aykazian, 
Diocese of the Armenian Church; Mark Byron Brown, Evangelical 
Lutheran Church in America; the Rev. Dr. James A. Forbes, Jr., 
Senior Minister, Riverside Church, New York City; Rev. Joseph 
Rice Hale, former general secretary of the World Methodist 
Council; the Rev. Robert S. Jones, National Baptist Convention 
U.S.A.; His Eminence Cyril Aphrem Karim, Archdiocese of the 
Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch for the Eastern United States; 
the Rev. William Shaw, president, National Baptist Convention 
U.S.A.; the Rev. James, Churches for Middle East Peace; and 
James Edward Winkler, general secretary, United Methodist Board 
of Church and Society.

ER-D approves more money for WTC victim assistance

(ENS) Episcopal Relief and Developments (ER-D) Board of 
Directors just approved a grant of $650,000 for Episcopal 
Charities of the Diocese of New York to continue to provide 
financial and case management assistance to low income families 
who lost their jobs at the World Trade Center due to the events 
of September 11, 2001.

The first part of this partnership responds to the emergency 
needs of victims by providing critical financial assistance. 
Many of those affected are unemployed low-wage earners, hotel 
workers, and support staff of the World Trade Complex, as well 
as the families of deceased victims of the tragedy. For up to 
three months, victims are given food through local pantries as 
well as emergency money to cover rent, food, and other basic 
necessities, in addition to help finding employment and access 
to additional sources of funding. 

Through Episcopal Social Services, Episcopal Relief and 
Development is also helping families cope with trauma and grief. 
The program offers case management and counseling services for 
the distressed.  Mental health specialists are recommended for 
people who need additional support. 

Episcopal Relief and Development has already contributed 
$750,000 to support this program. In addition to giving 
financial assistance, ER-D supported relief workers at Ground 
Zero who were provided with places for refuge, rest, and 
prayer. So far, ER-D has dispersed over $1.4 million to those 
dealing with the aftermath of September 11.

ECVA calls to artists illuminating the Word

(ENS) The Episcopal Church and Visual Arts seeks works of 
calligraphy, manuscript illumination, and/or book arts by 
Episcopal artists for an online exhibition entitled 
"Illuminating the Word." The exhibit will open on the ECVA 
website June 1, 2002. Submissions should enrich or explicate a 
Biblical or liturgical text. Please send submissions or 
questions to illumination@earthlink.net or ECVA, c/o Mel 
Ahlborn, 76 Sullivan Drive, Moraga, CA 94556. Send work as an 
e-mail attachment in JPG (at least 150 dpi) or CD-ROM. Deadline 
is May 1, 2002. The announcement is also available in pdf format 
for placement in publications.

UK bishop supports easing law against cannabis  

(ENI) A senior Church of England bishop, John Oliver, has added 
his voice to a growing movement in Britain to relax the law 
against using cannabis. Oliver said the law against the use of 
cannabis had become unenforceable and police energies would be 
better directed to the fight against hard drugs.

Oliver is the bishop of Hereford, an area of northwest 
England that attracted worldwide publicity in March with 
pictures of a dead 21-year-old heroin addict, Rachel Whitear. 
With the permission of her family, health authorities released 
the pictures, including one of the corpse holding a syringe, in 
a bid to deter others from taking hard drugs.

Oliver called for more education to persuade cannabis users 
not to switch to harder drugs. He told ENI: "It's not good to be 
on cannabis, which is not a harmless drug. It's pretty 
unpleasant." But, he added, cannabis "clearly isn't" always a 
gateway to hard drugs, since most cannabis users did not take 
other drugs.  The 67-year-old bishop, who said he had never 
smoked cannabis, described himself as "reluctantly in agreement" 
with the campaign to relax the law.

The Hereford diocesan synod voted in favor of reclassifying 
cannabis as a first step towards decriminalization. It is 
understood to be the first time an English diocesan synod has 
favored such action. The Church of England's ruling general 
synod last debated drugs in July 1998 and then passed a 
resolution that neither supported nor condemned the 
decriminalization of cannabis use, according to a church 
spokesman.

The Church of England's Board for Social Responsibility told 
a parliamentary select committee that possession of cannabis 
should cease to be illegal. It said that criminalization led to 
disrespect for the law among young people, that the law was 
enforced in a random manner, and that there was no general link 
between cannabis and hard drugs. But the board's policy looks 
certain to attract opposition from evangelicals within the 
general synod. Britain's 1 million-member Evangelical Alliance, 
which draws support from across Christian denominations, is 
opposed to changing the law against taking drugs. 

Countryman lectures EDS on 'Christian exclusivism'

(ENS) The Rev. Dr. L. William Countryman will give the Kellogg 
Lectures at Episcopal Divinity School May 2 and 3 on the topic 
of Christian Exclusivism: Exegesis or Eisegesis.

Countryman, professor of Biblical Studies at the Church 
Divinity School of the Pacific, is well known for his book 
Dirt, Greed, and Sex, a study of sexual ethics in the New 
Testament and their significance today.  Other recent books by 
Countryman include Living on the Border of the Holy, on 
the meaning of priesthood, and The Poetic Imagination: An 
Anglican Spiritual Tradition.

The lectures on May 2 are 10:15 a.m. to noon (Luke: Jews, 
Gentiles, Christians); and 2 to 3:30 p.m. (John: Are the Jews 
Us or Them?). A book signing follows. On May 3 Countrymans 
topic is The New Testament and Interfaith Realities. The event 
will be held in Washburn Hall and is free and open to the 
public.

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