wfn.org | Episcopalians: News Briefs

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April 10, 2003

2003-079

Episcopalians: News Briefs

Presiding bishop raises question of human rights in Sudan

(ENS) Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold wrote to Ambassador 
John Negroponte, United States representative at the United 
Nations, expressing his "deep concern about the situation in 
Sudan."

The UN Human Rights Commission, meeting in Geneva through April 
25, is considering a resolution that would reclassify Sudan's 
human rights status, an action that would revoke the mandate for 
the presence of a UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights. "The 
presence of the Rapporteur and his human rights monitoring 
functions are among the elements helping to keep the Sudan peace 
process on track," according to Jere Skipper, international 
policy analyst at the Episcopal Church's Office of Government 
Relations in Washington, DC.

Griswold quoted Secretary of State Colin Powell who has said 
that "there is perhaps no greater tragedy on the face of the 
earth than in Sudan." The conflict has claimed the lives of over 
two million and left hundreds of thousands displaced, "often 
without food and exposed to unremitting bombardments" by the 
central government in Khartoum against the rebels in the south, 
Griswold pointed out. "It has long begged for resolution and 
clearly nothing less than the full diplomatic energy of many 
nations, with strong leadership from the United States can 
create sufficient urgency around the peace process."

Human rights violations are "an ongoing and significant problem 
in Sudan and the need for credible human rights monitoring has 
not diminished," Griswold wrote. "The passage of a UN resolution 
that determines that Sudan is no longer a country with 'special 
problems' will undermine the fragile peace process and the 
credibility of the UN Commission on Human Rights." He argued 
that the failure to continue the mandate of the Special 
Rapporteur "will jeopardize the peace talks as they enter a 
critical round of negotiations." He urged the ambassador to 
maintain Sudan's current human rights classification and renew 
the mandate. (The letter was also sent to Powell, national 
security adviser Condoleeze Rice and the French amabassador 
since observers think that the French vote could be pivotal.)

The Conference of Catholic Bishops in Sudan also called for 
renewal of the mandate, arguing that the presence of a UN envoy 
is necessary because "military action of armed groups supported 
by the Khartoum regime continued to violate the lives and safety 
of villages in the oil-rich areas in the recent months." The 
bishops sought help among the African governments attending the 
commission meeting. "The primary victims of violence so far are 
civilians, who in the thousands have fled the violence," the 
bishops said in a statement distributed by the Catholic 
Information Service for Africa.

Tutu still believes Iraq war is 'immoral'

(ENS) Speaking to reporters during a convocation at Elon 
University in North Carolina, retired archbishop of Cape Town, 
Desmond Tutu, said that he agrees with other international 
church leaders--including Pope John Paul II and Archbishop of 
Canterbury Rowan Williams--that the war in Iraq "is a war that 
should not have happened."

Tutu, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984, said that he 
found the timing of the war strange, wondering why after waiting 
12 years for Saddam Hussein's government to comply with UN 
resolutions "it seems odd not to have waited another six months. 
Why should it have become so urgent now?" He said that it is 
"almost bizarre" for the Americans to argue that Iraq posed a 
threat. He also doubted that the war would make the United 
States more secure from terrorist threats. It would be much more 
effective to use the funds on programs to feed and educate the 
world's poor, he said.

"People like Americans--I do," said Tutu. "And this country has 
a special place in the hearts of many because of the compassion 
it has shown. You wonder why that is not what you want to 
spread," he said. He also expressed deep concern for rebuilding 
Iraq after the war, especially over apparent US attempts to 
limit the role of the United Nations. 

While other nations have been able to agree on cooperation--such 
as creating a world criminal court and signing the Kyoto 
Agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions--the United States 
has not joined those efforts. "It's a sad pattern," Tutu said. 
"This is not what makes your country great. What makes your 
country great is the alliance of power with morality."

Tutu repeated his comments at the World Affairs Council in 
Portland, Oregon, on the day that Baghdad apparently fell. "You 
can bet your bottom dollar there won't be peace," he said. "You 
will never get true security from the barrel of a gun. Anything 
war can do, peace can do better. God is weeping because it could 
be so different."

Churches take Iraq war concerns to Kofi Annan

(ACNS) An ecumenical delegation has met with United Nations 
General Secretary Kofi Annan to stress the importance of getting 
humanitarian aid to Iraqi civilians trapped inside the expanding 
war zone.

The Rev. Marian McClure, director of the Worldwide Ministries 
Division (WMD) of the Presbyterian Church (USA), was the 
spokesperson for the delegation that included representatives 
from Church World Service (the relief arm of the National 
Council of Churches), the Quakers, the Anglicans, the Lutheran 
World Federation and the Presbyterian Church (USA). The 
seven-member delegation said it also spoke on behalf of the 
United Methodist Church and the Mennonites.

According to the Presbyterian United Nations Office, 
humanitarian agencies are having a hard time obtaining licenses 
to operate inside Iraq. The US military is apparently making 
those decisions instead of a UN-umbrella group, as has been the 
case in the past. Some relief agencies are remaining on the 
Kuwaiti side of the border, while others inside Iraq are having 
difficulty getting to the places they're needed. No coordinating 
authority was established before the war began, the PCUSA UN 
Office said. The US military is delivering some assistance, 
rather than allowing neutral organizations to do so, sources in 
the region say.

Reading from a prepared text, McClure told Annan: "We believe 
that our humanitarian involvement is especially important given 
that this war is too often misunderstood as a conflict between 
Christians and Muslims. Please continue working to establish the 
conditions for all NGOs, including faith-based ones, to reach 
the vulnerable citizens of Iraq." In addition to access, the 
delegation raised four other issues: protection of civilians; 
human rights monitoring; rapid coordination of rebuilding 
efforts in Iraq at war's end and insistence that it's not too 
late to cease hostilities and resume inspections and 
negotiations.

The delegation also cautioned that Iraqis should not bear the 
primary financial burden of relief or reconstruction. 
Specifically, McClure said, the "Oil for Food" program should 
not be used to finance Iraq's reconstruction. Iraq's resources, 
the delegation said, should be controlled by Iraqis, citing 
biblical warnings against "keeping what belongs to another." 

"A lot of us feel moral anguish about a number of things having 
to do with this war, including real concern for the life-long 
trauma experienced by both combatants and civilians," she said, 
stressing that ordinary Iraqis have already suffered greatly 
under 10 years of economic sanctions. "But there is a real 
concern for civilians," she said.

Churches in Kenya ask government to honor pledge on new 
constitution

(ENI) Church leaders in Kenya have urged the country's new 
government, as it marked its first 100 days in office, to honor 
an election pledge to introduce a new constitution for the East 
African nation. 

The ruling National Alliance Rainbow Coalition party of 
President Mwai Kibaki promised to have a new constitution for 
Kenya within 100 days of assuming power. In elections last 
December the party ousted the Kenya African National Union, 
which had been in power for 40 years. "Kenyans were promised a 
new constitution in 100 days if they voted for the opposition 
coalition," said the Rev. Habil Omungu of the All Saints 
Anglican Cathedral. "But we are still waiting."

Church leaders have campaigned for a constitution that would 
limit the power of the presidency. They have also appealed for 
equal constitutional rights for all religions, arguing that 
constitutional commissioners appointed by the last parliament 
drafted a document permitting a special court for Muslims. About 
66 per cent of Kenya's 30 million population is Christian and 6 
per cent Muslim, with others having mostly traditional animist 
beliefs. 

A national constitutional conference was set for April 28, but 
some church leaders are uneasy about the sluggish pace of the 
process, fearing the new government is dragging its feet. "[The 
new constitution] will guarantee services for all," said 
Anglican Bishop Horace Etemesi of Butere optimistically. "It is 
also the basis of good governance, but some politicians want to 
derail its process." 

An interfaith group of religious leaders who met a parliamentary 
committee on constitutional review on April 3 in Nairobi 
expressed concerns about the process. "We are people of faith 
and not generally used to harping on the negatives, but there 
comes a time when we have to be downright realistic," said the 
Rev. Mutava Musyimi, the general secretary of the National 
Council of Churches of Kenya.

Church elder embarks on tour of Scotland to make silver 
inventory

(ENI) Kirkpatrick Dobie, a Church of Scotland elder, has started 
a 10-year project to personally visit all 1200 congregations in 
Scotland to record every item of communion and baptismal ware. 

The project was launched by the church's general assembly 
because of the importance of the collection for Scotland's 
national heritage. "It is by far the most important body of 
silverware for the 16th and 17th centuries," Dobie told ENI. 
"With Scotland's turbulent political history, most of the 
secular articles vanished [to raise money for fighting]." 

Communion and baptism are the only two sacraments recognized by 
the Kirk, as the (Presbyterian) Church of Scotland is known. It 
has about 600,000 members. 

A specialist in silver, the 62-year-old Dobie is semi-retired, 
and he works on the project one day a week. He has found the 
value of communion and baptismal ware--in silver, pewter and 
electro-plated nickel silver--ranges from "practically nothing" 
to over US$150,000 per church. In one church he discovered a 
pair of rare 18th century cups that no one knew about. Dobie 
said the nationwide inventory might be completed sooner if 
someone with the time and specialized knowledge could work with 
him. 

Douglas Galbraith, secretary of the Kirk's committee on artistic 
matters, said congregations faced with pressing maintenance 
needs sometimes wanted to sell their silver, which needed 
approval from church authorities. "They are not very pleased 
with us when the church says no," he told ENI. "But the 
financial benefit from selling an asset is transient." 

Among notable communion articles owned by the church is a pewter 
plate from the American Revolutionary War period of the late 
18th century, produced in Glasgow and inscribed, "Success to the 
USA." A silver plate from the 17th century shows somebody 
kneeling beside the communion table--an apparent reference to an 
unsuccessful attempt by King James VI of Scotland (who also 
ruled England as James I) to enforce the Anglican practice of 
kneeling. Among the Kirk's greatest treasures is the silver 
"Mary Cup," a communion cup traditionally associated with Mary, 
Queen of Scots, who was crowned queen of Scotland in 1543, but 
was executed by English monarch Elizabeth I in 1587. 

Church of Scotland hymns to become more Scottish

(ENI) The Church of Scotland is planning to cull more than a 
third of its hymnbook, making room for more Scottish words and 
music. 

"Previously, too many of our hymns have been borrowed," said 
Douglas Galbraith, coordinator of the Kirk's worship and 
doctrine office and a member of the committee that prepared this 
4th edition of the Church Hymnary. "The new book has vastly more 
material from the folk and traditional strands of Scottish 
culture, both lowland and Gaelic." 

The list of 250 hymns to be dropped, most of which are rarely 
used, includes the well-known song "Jerusalem," with words by 
William Blake, and the verse "Till we have built Jerusalem in 
England's green and pleasant land." The music to which 
"Jerusalem" is traditionally sung, however, has survived to 
accompany a psalm. Traditional Scottish tunes like the Skye Boat 
Song, Ye Banks and Braes and the Eriskay Love Lilt will 
accompany words by modern Scottish writers as well as by Robert 
Burns, Scotland's national poet. 

The revised hymnbook will be evaluated by the Church of 
Scotland's general assembly in May and, if approved, should be 
published by the end of the year. It will also be considered for 
use by the United Free Church of Scotland. The committee 
preparing the Church Hymnary stressed that the new edition, the 
first in 30 years, would keep much familiar material from the 
16th to 19th centuries, but would also take account of "the 
amazing outpouring of creativity in worship texts and music 
worldwide since the 1960s."

Recent material from Asia and Africa is included, as well as 
children's songs published in Australia and in Canada. The 
hymnary borrows from the Anglican tradition with short sung 
responses suitable for interspersing in services. 

ECVA plans to sanctify convention worship space through art

(ENS) How do you transform a 99,000 square foot convention hall 
into a space for worship for 9,000 people at General 
Convention--on a limited budget? Use projected images to create 
visual meditations on the convention theme, Engaging God's 
Mission, and the sub-themes--Receive, Repent, Reconcile, and 
Restore. 

To do that, the Episcopal Church in the Visual Arts (ECVA) is 
seeking images of original work from artists and architects in 
the Episcopal community for projection as part of daily worship 
at General Convention July 3-August 8. Selected work will be 
credited and shown to participants to enhance worship and to 
raise awareness of the visual arts in the church. 

In addition to the convention themes, the Feast of the 
Transfiguration will feature images of transformation on a day 
that focuses on youth, the feast day for Enmegabowh will provide 
an opportunity to showcase Native American art, and the theme 
Rebuilding the Church will focus on church renovations and new 
buildings, as well as the social dimension of 'rebuilding.'

"The use of projected images that are not simply a direct-feed 
video link of the service will be a new departure for General 
Convention," said Eliza Linley of ECVA. "We are very excited 
about the possibilities, not only for the transformation of the 
space, but for revealing the richness and diversity of artists' 
work in the church." Other art at Convention will include the 
National Altar Guild's exhibit of liturgical art, and a set of 
Stations of the Cross in the chapel, created by Tom Faulkner, 
sculptor and ECVA member.

Artists from Native American, Latino, and other ethnic 
traditions are especially encouraged to submit. Submissions 
should include a short statement connecting the work to the 
chosen theme, and complete contact information. Send digital 
images as an e-mail attachment in .jpg format (between 200 and 
300 dpi) or CD-ROM to Mel Ahlborn, 55 Sanders Ranch Rd., Moraga, 
CA 94556 or submit@illuminationstudio.org.

New Zealand Anglicans push for childcare ID cards

(New Zealand Herald) People who want to work with children 
should have to apply for a "suitability card," according to the 
Anglican Church in New Zealand. The photo ID card would be 
issued only after extensive criminal-history checks on 
applicants, including any charges, even if no conviction 
resulted. Queensland's system, operating since 2001, would be a 
model. 

The Anglican Bishop of Wellington, Thomas Brown, has pushed the 
idea after discussing it with fellow bishops and he has raised 
it with government ministers. "The idea appeals to me. It might 
be said it's a bit draconian to have people carting cards 
around, but I think that's far better than the Church--and 
perhaps other bodies--having to run its own vetting." 

The Queensland system covering child-related employment is 
administered by the state's Commission for Children and Young 
People, and it looks at whether an applicant has ever faced a 
charge or been convicted. A suitability notice is valid for two 
years and the fee can be paid by either the employee or the 
employer. The commissioner considers whether anything uncovered 
is relevant, and applicants rejected can appeal. New South Wales 
also runs a screening system. 

People who would find the cards helpful ranged from parents 
seeking babysitters to Scout groups assessing volunteers. 

Poe letter brings $20,000 for Episcopal church 

(AP) An 1840 letter by Edgar Allan Poe discovered inside a safe 
at a church has been auctioned off for $20,000. Chris Coover, a 
senior specialist in manuscripts at Christie's auction house 
which handled the item for St. Paul's Episcopal Church in 
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, said the buyer was a New York firm that 
deals in rare books. 

"I am thrilled, especially thinking that this is something that 
someone just tucked away thinking that it would be valuable 
sometime," said the Rev. Amy Richter, the church's rector.

Poe sent the letter to the ancestor of a now-deceased church 
member whose family had established a fund to support the 
church's music program. The auction proceeds will go into that 
fund. Paul Haubrich, the church volunteer who found the letter 
last year, estimated St. Paul's would get about 94 percent of 
the winning bid after paying a commission and other fees to 
Christie's.

Poe, best-known for poems and horror stories such as "The Raven" 
and "The Telltale Heart," wrote the letter Feb. 12, 1840, to 
"J.C. Passmore Esqr.," who became an Episcopal priest. Passmore, 
who lived in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, at the time, had proposed 
providing articles for Burton's Gentleman's Magazine in 
Philadelphia, where Poe was an assistant editor. Poe says in the 
letter that the proposed articles sounded interesting, but the 
magazine didn't have the money to pay for them. 

Women flocking to theological education in Myanmar

(ENI) Theology may not attract many women students in certain 
other Asian countries, but in Myanmar (Burma) women are flocking 
to theological colleges. Of the 4,000 students enrolled in 
theological colleges run by mainstream Protestant churches, more 
than 50 per cent today are women, said Peter Joseph, executive 
secretary of the Association of Theological Education in 
Myanmar.

Interest in these 27 theological institutions has risen, at 
least in part, in response to the government curbs imposed on 
secular colleges after pro-democracy student protests in 1988, 
observers say. The government relocated many secular colleges 
from cities to remote areas of the country and cut class hours 
back in an attempt to prevent students from uniting in further 
protests. In addition, students have been attracted to the new 
subjects many theological colleges have added to their 
curricula, said Anna May Say Pa, principal of the Baptist-run 
Myanmar Institute of Theology in Yangon. "We include even 
computer education as well as improving English-language 
skills," she notes.

Following the imposition of military rule in 1962, the 
government nationalized all educational institutions. Those run 
by the churches, however, are not subjected to the same level of 
government scrutiny as secular ones. Graduates of the 
theological colleges are considered "better educated" than their 
counterparts from government-run secular colleges, Pa says, and 
are sought out as employees by the United Nations and other 
international agencies. But the colleges' traditional mission of 
theological education has "not been compromised at all," she 
insists, pointing to the keen competition for admission to 
theology programs. More than 200 students took an entrance exam 
this month for the 70 places available in one master's course in 
theology.

Approximately 6.5 per cent of Myanmar's 52 million people are 
Christians, and almost half of them are Baptists. Mary Dun, 
principal of Myanmar Institute of Christian Theology -- another 
Baptist seminary in Yangon -- says the high numbers of women 
students at theological colleges in recent years is "preparing 
the way for a silent revolution." 

Congregations have been reluctant to take women as pastors, "but 
this is sure to be challenged soon," said Dun, one of the three 
women principals of the country's five major theological 
colleges. All five institutions include a course on gender and 
inclusive theology which, Dun hopes, will change the "social 
bias against women's ordination in the long run."

Sorry, wrong number

The new direct telephone number for the Episcopal Church Center 
in New York City is 212-716-6000. The 800 number is 
continued--800-334-7626.

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