wfn.org | Episcopalians: News Briefs

[dmack@episcopalchurch.org]

April 4, 2003

2003-074

Episcopalians: News Briefs

An Easter reflection

Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, 
and giving life to those in the tomb.

This Easter anthem, drawn from the liturgy of the Eastern 
Church, appears in our Prayer Book at the conclusion of the 
Burial of the Dead.  It is to be sung as the body is borne from 
the church.

Through the resurrection, Christ not only rises from the dead 
but destroys death--death in all its forms. And as members of 
Christ's risen body we are called to trample down death.

What does it mean to trample down death?  It means to confront 
all that is death-dealing: greed, disease, poverty, hunger, 
violence, war, oppression, neglect of the needy and vulnerable, 
pollution of our planet, disregard for the dignity of all 
people, and--yes--legalized executions carried out for the 
presumed good of society. All of these are within our human 
power to overcome.  We in virtue of the power of Christ's Spirit 
at work within us are able to be instruments of his 
death-destroying love. With this in mind we keep the Easter 
feast.

During these anxious days may we who have been baptized into 
Christ renew our solidarity with the Risen One, and trample down 
death with a battle cry of alleluia on our lips.

The Most Rev. Frank T. Griswold

Presiding Bishop and Primate

The Episcopal Church

Church Publishing launches strategic expansion

(CPG) After nine months of exploration, Church Publishing Inc. 
is announcing plans for an expansion. "The committee has come to 
the conviction that our church both needs and deserves a sound 
and imaginative publishing house," said Bishop Hays Rockwell, 
head of the strategic planning committee and recently appointed 
chair of CPI's board of directors. "Our new strategic direction 
will enable us to use our understanding of the needs of the 
broader populations of the church to reach hundreds of thousands 
of Episcopalians--clergy, lay leaders, and the people in the 
pews."

In addition to printed books, the expanded strategic plan calls 
for use of new technologies, such as Web site downloading and 
electronic subscriptions. The plan also calls for including new 
authors. "It will be our aim to acquire authors in our American 
church and from around the Anglican Communion," said Rockwell, 
the retired bishop of Missouri. "Our list will include books 
about history, theology, liturgy, music, art. We want to reach a 
broad cross-section of our church's membership and beyond."

The new plan also includes the search for a new publisher. "We 
are now embarked on a search for a publisher who can bring 
vision and energy to this new expansion," said Rockwell. "The 
world is changing and Church Publishing is changing with it," 
added Alan F. Blanchard, president of the Church Pension Fund 
which includes CPI. "In coming years a printed copy of the Book 
of Common Prayer or the 1982 Hymnal will be just one among many 
formats. People will also be able to download these books, 
chapter by chapter, hymn by hymn, from the Church Publishing Web 
site, or print them out as pamphlets. It's an exciting time."

Shipment of soap for pediatric hospitals arrives in Baghdad

(CWS) A shipment of badly needed personal hygiene soap and 
laundry detergent for Iraqi children arrived in Baghdad March 31 
as part of the U.S.-based All Our Children campaign, a 
multi-agency effort that includes Church World Service, the 
relief and development arm of the National Council of Churches.

The truckload of 5.5 metric tons of supplies--enough to meet the 
needs of 14,688 Iraqi children for six months--and 5.8 metric 
tons of laundry detergent will be distributed by CARE Iraq to 
support a United Nations child nutrition program. CWS 
international emergency response consultant Steve Weaver in 
Amman, Jordan, where the shipment originated, said that the 
supplies will be used in "UNICEF nutrition rehabilitation wards 
in 68 pediatric and district hospitals throughout southern and 
central Iraq, as access allows." The death rate of children 
under the age of five is already two and one-half times greater 
than prior to the Gulf War, he said.

The $1 million All Our Children Campaign has been endorsed by 
former president Jimmy Carter and Rosalyn. In addition to CWS 
and the National Council of Churches, the campaign partners 
include Jubilee Partners, Lutheran World Relief, the Mennonite 
Central Committee, Oxfam America, Sojourners and Stop Hunger 
Now.

"We've gotten word from inside Baghdad that we are meeting 
simple yet critical needs," said CWS emergency response program 
director Rick Augsburger. "The children need hygiene and the 
hospitals need cleaning supplies. The need is great. When we 
visited in 1999 the lack of medical equipment and supplies in 
hospitals then was appalling. Conditions certainly haven't 
improved during this conflict."

CWS recently issued its own appeal to raise $1.5 million for a 
humanitarian response to the conflict, working through the 
Middle East Council of Churches. It has already airlifted 4,500 
blankets to Jordan--and it is working with partners to support 
the needs of displaced people in Iraq and refugees who may flee 
to Jordan or Syria.

Parkins of Episcopal Migration Ministries writes to Ridge on 
status of asylum seekers

(ENS) Richard Parkins, director of Episcopal Migration 
Ministries (EMM), wrote to Tom Ridge, secretary of Homeland 
Security, asking his department "to rethink its position 
regarding prospective asylum seekers as set forth in Operation 
Liberty Shield."

"While fully endorsing the need to ensure that persons coming to 
our nation do not pose a threat to the safety of the American 
people, we feel that detaining those seeking asylum for the 
'full duration of the asylum process' does not serve our nation 
well and clearly undermines our tradition of being a nation 
where those fleeing persecution can find safety," wrote Parkins 
in his April 3 letter.

Parkins also argued that "the premise that the country of origin 
of an asylum seeker is sufficient reason for indefinite 
detention comes dangerously close to the practice of racial or 
ethnic profiling. Our church has taken a strong stand against 
such practices," he added. "Asylum seekers are themselves 
seeking safety from tyranny and persecution and, as such, should 
not have the  pain of their past history compounded by a 
protracted stay in a detention facility."

If the claims were handled on an individual basis, Parkins 
contended, "the validity of a person's claim can be readily 
ascertained. If an affirmative determination is made, the 
benefits of asylum should be immediately conferred." He said 
that it was "inhumane" to increase the pain and suffering of 
those seeking asylum, many of them women and children. 

During this time of fear and anxiety it is especially important 
that we be "vigilant in safeguarding our Constitutional 
principles," Parkins concluded. "To do otherwise belittles us as 
a nation and, in a way, hands a victory to our enemies who might 
wish to see our system of justice undermined."

Still hope for peace in Cyprus, WCC delegation concludes

(WCC) Despite the failure of recent peace negotiations, there is 
still hope for a peaceful settlement in the divided island of 
Cyprus, a World Council of Churches delegation concluded after a 
recent visit--but only if the Greek and Turkish communities 
reconcile at the grassroots level.

Peter Weiderud, director of the WCC's international affairs 
office, said that although a peace plan offered by UN Secretary 
General Kofi Annan was not accepted, it created hope and 
demonstrated that "reunification of the island is possible." He 
said that the energy released in both communities, especially 
among Turkish Cypriot youth, is in danger of turning into 
apathy, pessimism and frustration."

"There is very little interaction and a lot of mistrust between 
the two communities," said Salpy Eskidjian, WCC program 
executive for Middle East affairs. "The people of Cyprus need to 
honestly address their past histories, heal pain on both sides, 
build confidence and trust. A peace plan has to engage the 
people of Cyprus at the grassroots, not just the treetops."

"Reconciliation needs to begin now, even in the absence of a 
signed plan, in order to pave the way for a solution," Weiderud 
said. "The churches have a unique role and responsibility to be 
a catalyst for such a process."

"The two communities still need the auspices of the UN secretary 
general and international solidarity in order to solve this 
decades-long conflict, to bring together what has been divided 
by geopolitics, mistrust and war," said Bishop Vasilios 
Karayiannis of the Greek Orthodox Church of Cyprus, a member of 
the WCC Central Committee.

First refugees from Iraq war despair about their future

(Tearfund) The first group of refugees from the Iraq war--many 
of them Africans--ended up in a camp over the border in Jordan 
where they expressed deep fears and despair about their future.

About 200 refugees huddled in tents on a bleak, cold landscape 
in blinding sandstorms. A Sudanese couple said that they had 
left behind their five children when they escaped from Baghdad 
by bus. They said that their lives have been destroyed. "Where 
are we supposed to go?" asked Milewan. "We do not want to go 
back to Sudan because of fighting between the military and 
different tribes. And we cannot go back to Baghdad."

Another Iraqi father, born and raised in Baghdad, fled with his 
wife and three children soon after the war began. "We heard a 
bomb detonating and we ran from our apartment down to the 
basement with many other people in the house," he said. "We are 
afraid for our friends in Baghdad. We are thankful for staying 
here. We get good food and we have fresh water, but our tent is 
cold at night."

A network of churches in Jordan, supported by British Christian 
relief and development agency Tearfund, is feeding the refugees. 
So far the expected mass exodus from Iraq into Jordan has not 
materialized. "We are ready and waiting should thousands more 
refugees flee Iraq and head this way," said Mark Smith of the 
Jordanian Evangelical Community for Relief and Development.

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