wfn.org | [ACNS] Digest for 20 May 2005

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

The following is a roundup of the recent ACNS Digest stories, with
reports from the US, England, and Lambeth Palace. The ACNS Digest can be
found here:

http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/digest/index.cfm

(380) 20-May-2005 - General Seminary Begins Construction on New Tutu
Education Center - USA

[18 May 2005 New York City] - In a colorful procession along the sidewalks
outside its historic home in Chelsea, the trustees, faculty, staff, and
students of The General Theological Seminary (GTS) today marked the
beginning of construction on the new Desmond Tutu Education Center. After a
brief ceremony, the Very Rev. Ward B. Ewing, Dean and President of the
Seminary, perching high atop a ladder in his clerical vestments, took a
large pair of wire cutters and removed several links in the security fence
surrounding the Seminary buildings which face 10th Avenue. Following the
conclusion of a dedicatory prayer, the assembled members of the procession,
many carrying colorful balloons, burst into joyous applause. The symbolic
action signaled the beginning of construction on the $23 million project
which will begin in several weeks, with completion expected in two years.
Having been long in the design and planning stage, the new Tutu Center will
contain four learning centers, a h!
igh tech conference facility, and sixty well-appointed guestrooms. The name
of the new facility honors Anglican leader and Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu.
A longtime friend of the Seminary, Archbishop Tutu was a visiting professor
here when he was awarded the prize in 1984.

The overriding impetus for the education complex is the Seminary's enduring
commitment to serving the educational needs of the Church. Trends in
theological education over the past several decades indicate a need for
short-term educational programs--weekend workshops, summer programs,
continuing education events, national and international theological
conferences. Such programs are needed for both the Church's lay leadership
and its clergy. As a result, the Seminary found itself in critical need of
a modern conference facility and guest rooms to further its stated mission
of serving "the church in a changing world."

Creating a facility for the Seminary's existing programs, the Center for
Christian Spirituality and the Center for Jewish-Christian Studies and
Relations, will be highly beneficial. They will be joined by two new
centers, the Center for Peace and Reconciliation and the Center for
Continuing Education. "Our existing centers have made enormous
contributions to the life of the church," said Dean Ewing. "These two new
centers will embody this institution's longstanding commitment to the
values exemplified by Archbishop Tutu as well as our ongoing commitment to
make theological education a lifelong enterprise." The Dean continued, "In
two years this wonderful new facility will enable GTS to bring our ordained
and lay leaders back to Seminary at regular intervals in their ministry for
the kind of training and spiritual exploration that we know is critically
necessary for ministry in the 21st century."

The renovation is also expected to have lasting benefits to the
neighborhood, particularly 10th Avenue. "This is yet another tangible step
in the Seminary's long-term commitment to preserve and develop the
exquisite piece of living history known as Chelsea Square," explained GTS
Executive Vice President Maureen Burnley. "Although most of the work for
the Tutu Center will focus on adapting and improving the interiors,"
Burnley said, "when completed, bright and clean facades will also present a
much more welcoming face to the neighborhood." GTS plans to install new
slate and copper gutters and flashing and to remove outdated fire escapes.
Since most of the wall and fencing around the 10th Avenue enclosure will be
removed to create a beautifully landscaped entrance to the new facility,
ceremonially opening up the fence seemed a great way to symbolize that GTS
is opening itself up to the world. As has been done in renovating several
of the Seminary's other historic buildings, or!
iginal architectural features of the interior will be retained as much as
possible. Over the past six years, the Seminary has invested nearly $9
million in renovating its historic buildings, a masterwork of 19th century
architect Charles Coolidge Haight. GTS was recently given an award by the
New York Landmarks Conservancy for the quality of exterior work done on the
10th Avenue property.

Prior to the procession and "groundbreaking" ceremony, GTS trustees
formally authorized renovation of the three buildings-currently known as
Chelsea 8-9, Eigenbrodt and Hoffman Halls-to create the new center, as well
as to renovate two dormitories, Kohne and Dodge Halls.

For photos of this event, please email Bruce Parker at mailto:parker@gts.edu

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(379) 20-May-2005 - Archbishop's praise for progress towards reconciliation
- Lambeth

Thursday 19 May 2005

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has praised the progress
made towards reconciliation amongst the religious communities in Sarajevo,
ten years after the region's inter-ethnic conflict.

Speaking at a reception in the city's national theatre to mark the end of
the Building Bridges Christian-Muslim Dialogue, Dr Williams said that
miracles were happening but that the past was still a burden.

"In this part of Europe, every community lives under heavy burdens and one
of those burdens is a history, a past of both guilt and suffering. In any
setting where people have made each other suffer across the centuries,
history lies heavily. Forgiveness and reconciliation are the ways in which
we bear each other's burdens, so that we do not deny or run away from our
history, but together make something new from it."

Forging a common national identity was a challenge, he said, but that
personal commitment helped to show the way.

"When we are faithful to each other, we learn how to be faithful to a
nation; not as something abstract, not as something imposed, but as the
very form of our love and commitment to one another. And in a way the
dialogue between our faiths shows us how this may be true."

Dr Williams compared Sarajevo with Jerusalem, with its mix of the three
great faiths and said that whenever he prayed for the peace of Jerusalem,
he would also be praying for Sarajevo:

"'Pray for the peace of Jerusalem,' says the psalmist; 'may those who love
you prosper'. In the name of God, I wish you that prosperity and that peace
and I thank you with all my heart on behalf of all your guests this week,
for the welcome and the inspiration which you have given to us all."

ENDS

Speech given at a reception at the conclusion of the 4th Building Bridges
Christian-Muslim Dialogue Sarajevo 18th May 2005

You have already heard it said this evening that many people have compared
Sarajevo with Jerusalem. Many of us during these days have quite
spontaneously said the same thing. As we walked through the streets of this
city we have been aware, as in Jerusalem, of the presence of the three
great faiths which take their origin from Abraham, and as in Jerusalem, we
have been aware of the history of suffering and of hope that seems to be
present in the very stones of the city. People go to Jerusalem on
pilgrimage in spite of many centuries of suffering and tragedy; they still
look to Jerusalem as a place where God has done wonderful things. Because
although terrible suffering often closes up the human heart, when it does
not do this it opens it wide to God. When people go in pilgrimage to
Jerusalem they go because they go to a place where hearts have been open to
God. When people come here to this little Jerusalem, we pray that the same
will be true and, in these days, we have seen!
 hearts opened to God in this place.

Jerusalem is a place where miracles happen and in this Jerusalem too, will
miracles happen? It seems that they have happened and continue, but there
are two things especially I would wish to say about that.

I hope that Metropolitan Nikolaj will forgive me if I quote words which he
spoke to us yesterday at his residence. He spoke to us of the communities
of this city 'bearing one another's burdens'. In this part of Europe, every
community lives under heavy burdens and one of those burdens is a history,
a past of both guilt and suffering. In any setting where people have made
each other suffer across the centuries, history lies heavily. Forgiveness
and reconciliation are the ways in which we bear each other's burdens, so
that we do not deny or run away from our history, but together make
something new from it. So my first prayer is that this city will indeed be
a place where your communities bear each other's burdens; help each other
face that long history of tragedy and violence which is part of this
region's story. That is it possible, we can have no doubt, but it needs the
clearest possible vision of religious leaders, political leaders, teachers,
artists and thinkers.

The second thing I have to say is about loyalty. It is not easy in a new
nation to understand properly and fully what loyalty might mean. It happens
when people learn how to be loyal to each other. When we are faithful to
each other, we learn how to be faithful to a nation; not as something
abstract, not as something imposed, but as the very form of our love and
commitment to one another. And in a way the dialogue between our faiths
shows us how this may be true. We have been meeting this week as Christians
and Muslims, deeply loyal and committed to our own faith, our own teaching,
our own prayer. We have not sought to find some religion that belongs to
no-one; we have tried to be ourselves. But in this meeting, by God's grace,
we have also discovered a loyalty, a faithfulness to each other. And out of
that, new things can grow. And so my second prayer is that that may be true
in this place of miracles; that the communities of this country may find
such loyalty to one anothe!
r, such faithfulness to one another, that new things may be possible;
healing and hope.

Jerusalem is a city set on a hill. Sarajevo is a city in a valley, but by
God's grace it can be lifted up as a sign to the world, that it is possible
to bear one another's burdens; that it is possible as human beings before
God to learn how to be faithful to each other. We have seen the seeds of
this and the signs of this.

And so from today onwards, when I and other Christians pray for the peace
of Jerusalem, the words of the psalm, we shall pray too for the peace of
this little Jerusalem. In different words and different traditions, our
Muslim brothers and sisters, I know, will pray the same. 'Pray for the
peace of Jerusalem,' says the psalmist; 'may those who love you prosper'.
In the name of God, I wish you that prosperity and that peace and I thank
you with all my heart on behalf of all your guests this week, for the
welcome and the inspiration which you have given to us all.

Thank you.

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(378) 20-May-2005 - Archdeacon's Rallying Call - England

[The Diocese of Sheffield Media Release 18 May 2005] The Archdeacon of
Doncaster, Venerable Bob Fitzharris, last night urged congregations to get
up and be involved with society and culture to make sure the Christian
message is heard.

Speaking last night in Wombwell, at a special service for clergy and
churchwardens, the Archdeacon said that the right way was the involved way:
"Sometimes Christians think that the way to go is to keep away from getting
involved with society and popular culture. But by shying away from the
realities and our world we might indeed be hiding our light under the bushel."

He added: "To make a difference we must get up and get involved."

Archdeacon Fitzharris gave a sober assessment of the task facing hundreds
of congregations in South Yorkshire.

He paid tribute to the remarkable resilience and hard work of so many
clergy and lay people whilst suggesting that other parishes could do more
in cutting down on time-wasting meetings and being more efficient.

"There is much to yet still achieve in mission and it can seem daunting but
if the early pagans were converted to seeing the change wrought in the
lives of early Christians and in their loving relationships with each
other, can we not determine to follow their example?"

Archdeacon Fitzharris said that a sure sign of growth was the fostering of
vocations to full time ministry in the Diocese.

He urged local churches to "pray hard for every member of the Church to
hear and answer their unique vocation."

Link: www.sheffield.anglican.org

Ends

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(377) 20-May-2005 - Easier access to doctrine classics - England

Church of England doctrine becomes more accessible with the publication of
Contemporary Doctrine Classics. The volume not only draws together three of
the most significant books from the Doctrine Commission in the last two
decades but also provides an extensive foreword and commentary by Professor
Stephen Sykes, who chaired the Commission from 1997 to 2003.

Contemporary Doctrine Classics combines the Doctrine Commissions' work on
three fundamental aspects of Christian doctrine: belief in God (We Believe
in God, 1987), belief in the Holy Spirit (We Believe in the Holy Spirit,
1991) and the atoning work of Christ (The Mystery of Salvation, 1995).

The works explore the subjects in considerable depth and represent the
collaborative efforts of a wide range of authors, all of whom have been
members of the Doctrine Commission.

Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams said of the books: 'These
reports have genuinely sought to find words for the mind of the whole
Church, whilst at the same time being fresh and creative pieces of
reflection. They are a resource of lasting value and significance.'

Professor Sykes' commentary provides a detailed insight into the political
and social contexts in which the three books were written. Comprehensive
biblical and subject indexes help readers access the key themes.

Contemporary Doctrine Classics is published by Church House Publishing,
priced £20 and is available from all Christian bookshops and Church House
Bookshop, 31 Great Smith Street, London SW1P 3BN.
tel. 020-7898 1300
e mail mailto:bookshop@c-of-e.org.uk, or on the web at:
www.chbookshop.co.uk (mail order available).

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(376) 20-May-2005 - Archbishop calls for Christian-Muslim co-operation on
global poverty - Lambeth

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has said Christian and
Muslim leaders should work together to forge a new vision of a prosperous
society to challenge the orthodoxies of the global economy.

In an address in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, where he is chairing a major
seminar of Christian and Muslim scholars, Dr Williams, insisted poverty was
not just a matter of material deprivation or lack of access to power and
influence.

It was also, he said: "the modern Western person cut off from the depths of
religious and cultural meaning by a series of relentless messages about
consumer gratification."

Dr Williams said that, for all their differences, there was a "common
agenda" between Christian and Muslims in rejecting "any simply individual
idea of the good life."

He added: "Wealth itself has to be redefined to mean access to the
resources that make our existence stable and meaningful - so that material
abundance created at the expense of such access, at the expense of cultural
or family stability, or the presence of the signs of faith in public life,
will represent a net move towards poverty."

Dr Williams also rejected claims that religious approaches to the debate on
poverty and world trade lacked rigour: "It has to be said clearly and often
that the religious objection to aspects of the current global trade regime
is not a sentimental aversion to wealth or a sort of commendation of
endless large-scale almsgiving. It is rather to do with the ways in which
certain practices make it impossible for some nations to be economic agents
in any meaningful way."

Dr Williams urged Christians and Muslims "to look out for opportunities for
a particular sort of collaboration." These included being "advocates for
the visibility of religion."

"We know where the roots of poverty lie - in the refusal to accept the
meaning that God gives the world, a refusal which shows itself not only in
atheism but also in the anxious and greedy spirit that cannot see the human
context of economic activity," he said.

Lecture can be found here:

http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/articles/39/75/acns3979.cfm

ENDS

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(375) 18-May-2005 - Archbishop Carnely's Sermon at Cathedral Church of St.
James - ACO

A sermon preached by The Most Revd Dr. Peter Carnley AO. Anglican
Archbishop of Perth and Primate of Australia at the Cathedral Church of St.
James in the Archdiocese of Seattle at vespers on Monday 16th May to
celebrate the publication of the 'Seattle Statement' of the Anglican-Roman
Catholic Theological Commission: 'Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ'.

Check against delivery.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

It is a great privilege and indeed a very considerable pleasure for me to
be present with you this evening to celebrate the publication of what I
think will be one of the most momentous documents in the history of modern
ecumenism. This is a particularly appropriate day for me to bring you
greetings,. not just from the Anglican side of the membership of the
Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission, but also from the part of
the Church of God from which I myself come, the Anglican Diocese of Perth
in Western Australia, and indeed, as Primate of Australia, I bring you
greetings in the name of the whole Anglican Church of Australia, which as
with the Episcopal Church here in the United States, is one of the 38
member Churches of the Anglican Communion.

The document which we have published today was successfully completed in
February last year here at Seattle, so it will be known as the Seattle
Statement, and that is why we have also published it also here in Seattle.

There is a sense in which we just happen to be here today, a bit by
accident, because we had planned the launch of the document two weeks ago
on 2 May. However, the death of Pope John Paul II and the election and
installation of a new Pope made for complications at that time. As a
consequence the publication was delayed until today. But, as it turns out,
it seems to me that this unscheduled delay is not only somehow entirely
appropriate but even providential. For it means that the launching of this
particular agreed statement is occurring in the context of the celebration
of the Feast of Pentecost. This is particularly appropriate because one of
the fundamental themes of the Seattle Statement has to do with Mary,
precisely as a member of the community of faith, the community of the
redeemed. The statement invites us to think of Mary amongst those redeemed
by her Son, for, just as Mary conceived by the over-shadowing of the Holy
Spirit and carried the Incarnate Word for a tim!
e within her own body, so as a consequence of the redemptive work of her
Son, she became a member of the apostolic community of faith which at that
first Pentecost received the gift of the Spirit. As a consequence, she who
had once carried the Incarnate Word in her body became a member of his
Body, for through the obedience of faith and the gift of the Spirit she
became a member of the Body of Christ, a member of the Church whose coming
into being we celebrate at Pentecost.

A second point of convergence between our reflection on Mary and the
celebration of the gift of the Pentecostal Spirit and the birth of the
Church, is that Mary can also be understood as a type or sign of the
Church. Mary is a type or paradigm of the Church insofar as she embodies
the grace-filled response of faithful discipleship. And just as Mary was
prepared by grace to be the Mother of God Incarnate, and responded in
faithful obedience to the announcement of the angel that she had been
chosen to perform this unique role in the history of salvation, so we, and
all other faithful disciples who make up the Church must, like Mary,
respond in faithful obedience to the call of God to pursue our particular
vocation in the world. Like her all of us must respond to the word of God:
'Be it unto me, according to your word.'

Let me unpack this a little more. Just as Mary was the Mother of the Christ
who became incarnate of her flesh, so the Church, which like her responds
in obedience to the Word of God, is itself by the gracious gift of the
Spirit formed as the Body of Christ in the world. But Mary is also a sign
or type of the Church insofar as, in her role as Mother of the Lord, she
received the Word of God delivered to her by the angel 'in her heart and in
her body' and brought that Word forth into the world as the Christ of God,
the Word Incarnate. In this sense Mary stands in the great prophetic
tradition of the people of God. A prophet is one who in a uniquely poignant
way receives the Word of God and then delivers it to the world. In Mary's
case she received the Word of God in her heart and in her body and then
delivered it in the world. The Church stands in that same prophetic
tradition. For, the Church at all times and places, likewise has a vocation
of essentially the same kind, to he!
ar the Word of God, and so to express it in the world, as to bring Christ
to birth in the hearts and minds of Christian believers. That is why we
speak of 'Holy Mother Church'. The Church, like Mary, is now called to
bring Christ to birth in the world.

This idea that the Church bears and nurtures the children of faith through
the on-going ministry of Word and Sacrament was first suggested by St Paul
in Galatians 4:19 where Paul conjures up the maternal image of the labour
pains of a woman, to describe his own experience of labouring, often
enduring anguish and pain, so as to bring Christ to birth in others: 'My
little children, for whom I am again in the pain of childbirth until Christ
is formed in you'.

Given this Scriptural precedent it is understandable that there has been a
long tradition of speaking of the coming to be of the Church in maternal
images. St Augustine of Hippo writing in the fifth century once said of the
role of the Church both in bringing people to Christ and in Christian
nurture: 'Nobody can have God as Father who does not have the Church as
mother'. (De catholicae ecclesiae unitate, 6).

So, one of the things we celebrate today is the event of the bringing to
birth of the Church by the gift of the Pentecostal Spirit, but also the
motherly role of the Church itself in bringing Christ to birth in others.
The Church is not only the recipient of grace but the instrument of the
communication of grace to the world. At the time of the Reformation Martin
Luther said: the Church 'bears children without cease, until the end of
this world, as she exercises the ministry of the Word.' (WA 40/1:464).

Since the completion of the Mary document I have come across the following
very similar statement of the arch-reformer John Calvin, which I think is
very interesting. It comes from his Institutes of the Christian Religion
(IV. I. 4) 'But as it is now our purpose to discourse of the visible
Church,' he writes, "let us learn, from her single title of Mother, how
useful, nay, how necessary the knowledge of her is, since there is no other
means of entering into life unless she conceives us in the womb and give us
birth, unless she nourish us at her breasts, and, in short, keep us under
her charge and government, until, divested of mortal flesh, we become like
the angels.'

The fact that we find both Luther and Calvin appealing to the maternal role
of Mary in understanding the motherly role of the Church with respect to
the coming to birth of faith in believers and their continuing nurture,
means that the agreed statement we will publish tomorrow is not just an
agreed statement of Anglicans and Roman Catholics; it is not just an
in-house statement of Anglicans and Roman Catholics in other words, but is
offered for the consideration of all the Churches. The publication of Mary;
Grace and Hope in Christ is not only significant therefore because it marks
a further stage in the ecumenical journey of Anglicans and Roman Catholics;
it is significant because it is the first major agreed statement on Mary
amongst all the ecumenical dialogues. Indeed, it is an invitation to all of
the Churches to go back to their own traditions to re-discover some of the
common ground that we can all share and celebrate, and own our essential
unity as the Church of God !
through the gift of the Spirit.

Certainly, the role of the Church as mother, with a specific vocation or
calling to bring the faith of Christ to birth in others and to nurture them
as a mother, continues to have significance for all of us. It means that
our task, our mission in the world, is to bring Christ to birth in the
context of today, both in individual souls and in the sense that we must
labour earnestly to gather faithful people together into community and form
them in human unity and peace as the Body of Christ in the world. The late
Pope John Paul II at a celebration last November of the 40th anniversary of
the passing of the Decree on Ecumenism Unitatis Redintegratio at the Second
Vatican Council, observed that the modern ecumenical movement was the
world's most important and significant peace movement. That is what is at
stake. The unity of the Church is not an end in itself but a sign of the
human unity and peace of the whole world which God promises when his Spirit
will be poured out on all f!
lesh.

Let us, as we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost and the coming to birth of
the Church, pray that each one of us may bring Christ to birth in the lives
of those with whom we have to do, in a new and vital way for the ultimate
good of all humanity.

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(374) 17-May-2005 - Archbishop's new Chaplain and Ecumenical Officer - Lambeth

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has appointed the Revd
Jonathan Goodall as his Chaplain and Ecumenical Officer. He will succeed
the current Archbishop's Chaplain, the Revd Canon Dr David Marshall, who
will be moving on in August after five years in the post.

Fr. Goodall, who is 44, was ordained in 1989. He served as curate in the
Bicester Team Ministry in the diocese of Oxford. In 1992 he was appointed
as Minor Canon, Chaplain and Sacrist at Westminster Abbey before moving to
his present post as Chaplain and Research Assistant to the Bishop of the
Church of England Diocese in Europe in 1998.

Fr. Goodall is married to Sarah and they have two children, Thomas and
AnnaMary.

He said, "I am delighted to have been appointed to this new task. It is a
wonderful opportunity to serve the Church both by supporting the personal
ministry of the Archbishop, and assisting him in carrying forward the
ecumenical achievements of the last half century."

Fr. Goodall is expected to take up his appointment at Lambeth Palace in the
Autumn.

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

A jpeg photograph of Fr. Goodall is available on request from Lambeth
Palace press office.

Lambeth Palace press office:
Tel: 0207 898 1280 / 1200
Fax: 0207 261 1765
www.archbishopofcanterbury.org

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(373) 17-May-2005 - Environmental Issues a Communion-Wide Priority - ACO

[ENS] Striving "to safeguard the integrity of creation" and urging all
provinces to get involved, the Anglican Communion Environmental Network
(ACEN), meeting in Canberra, Australia, April 17-22, discussed the church's
response to global warming and related issues such as rising sea levels,
droughts, and increased storms and floods.

"It's a matter of continuing the education," said Martha Gardner, the
network's Episcopal Church delegate and a consultant in the Episcopal
Church's Office of Peace and Justice Ministries. "People of faith are
becoming increasingly concerned about protecting the Earth and its people."

Becoming a major player

Hosted by Bishop George Browning of Canberra and Goulbum and organized in
association with the Anglican Communion's U.N. Observer's Office, the
meeting featured reports on issues affecting individual provinces, as well
as current and planned local initiatives.

The network noted that current global CO2 levels have not been experienced
for more than 400,000 years and average global temperatures rose by almost
1ï¾°C during the twentieth century.

Delegates from Polynesia and Melanesia described how "low-lying atolls in
Tuvalu and Kiribati are experiencing coastal flooding and contamination of
fresh water," and that current sea-level is rising at 6 cm per decade.
Delegates from Kenya and the Philippines reported an increase in the range
of mosquitoes, resulting in more widespread malaria -- a concern that is
attributed in part to rising temperatures.

Longer and more severe droughts were reported in Australia and Africa
which, "in the case of Kenya, are also coupled with uncertainty over the
length and timing of the rainy season," the network noted. "Prolonged
droughts across Africa are already affecting local food security, causing
increased poverty and suffering. This trend is set to intensify under
projected temperature rises."

Delegates from the U.S., Canada, Oceania and the Philippines reported
increased storm activity severely affecting vulnerable coastal populations.

"The Anglican Communion has a really exciting opportunity to become a major
player in grass roots understanding of environmental issues and can
genuinely provide a force to make a difference," said David Shreeve,
director of the U.K.-based Conservation Foundation. "Canberra was excellent
and it comes at a time when there is a surge of interest and an
encouragement from many quarters to link environmental concern with faith
and spirituality."

The Rev. Canon Sally Bingham, a California priest and an Episcopal Church
participant at the ACEN meeting, is executive director of the Regeneration
Project, an interfaith ministry devoted to deepening the connection between
ecology and faith. "Every mainstream religion has a mandate to care for
creation," she said. "It is particularly important for us to recognize that
the poorest countries will feel a disproportionate negative impact from
global warming. Yet these are the countries that can least handle
disruptions to their food and water supplies. And, unlike the wealthier
nations, they are the least able to pioneer solutions."

Another positive feature, Shreeve noted, is the networking about
environmental issues throughout the Communion. "In Canberra there were
representatives from developed and developing countries. Some were from
huge continents suffering from major drought; others were from tiny islands
threatened by rising sea levels," he said. "The network [gives] its members
a unique opportunity to share and discuss a wide range of issues presented
by colleagues with first hand knowledge. You just don't get that from the
media."

The Anglican Observer at the United Nations, Archdeacon Taimalelagi
Tuatagaloa-Matalavea, also attended the meeting.

Communion-wide endorsement

The network was formed after the Anglican Consultative Council, the
Communion's main policy-making body, met in Hong Kong in September 2002 and
adopted a resolution -- based on a proposal presented by
Tuatagaloa-Matalavea -- which asked all churches of the Anglican Communion
to place environmental care on their agenda. The council also requested
that ACEN be established as an official network of the Anglican Communion.
[http://www.aco.org/acc/meetings/acc12/resolutions.cfm#s11]

The Episcopal Church's 2003 General Convention in Minneapolis passed a
resolution on sustainable development which endorsed the ACC resolutions.
[http://www.episcopalarchives.org/cgi-bin/acts/acts_resolution.pl?resolution=2003-D066]

Gardner, who is also a lay deputy to General Convention and co-chair of the
National Council of Churches Eco-Justice Working Group, said, "The more
education and advocacy we do to change our ways, both from the public
policy perspective...and changing our own consumer ways, the more we are
going to help our Anglican sisters and brothers around the world."

The network is currently unfunded and Gardner is hopeful that fundraising
efforts can be initiated. "We have a real role in the network to take some
leadership," she said. "I am confident we can identify some resources."

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, who the network commended for his
outstanding leadership, has warned that continued failure to protect the
earth and to resolve economic injustices within and between societies will
lead not only to environmental collapse but also to social collapse.

Being informed

"The conference was a marvelous opportunity for study, worship, reflection
and scientific analysis in the context of a well-informed faith community,"
said Anglican Church of Canada representative Ken Gray. "It was beneficial
to meet in the global south which faces specific climate-related challenges
caused in significant part by established industrial practices in the
global north."

Presentations were offered by leading Australian environmental experts,
including Professor Ian Lowe, emeritus professor of science, technology and
society at Griffith University in Brisbane, and Professor Peter Cullen,
emeritus professor of the University of Canberra, where he was dean of
applied science.

"We were particularly blessed by the contributions of Australian
participants, who shared insightful and detailed scientific analysis of the
consequences of global climate change in their region," Gray said.

Effecting change

The Rev. Canon Eric Beresford, the Anglican Communion's consultant for
ethics and president of the Atlantic School of Theology in Halifax, Nova
Scotia, described the meeting as a success. "We had good representation
from regions affected by global climate change," he said. "There is clearly
a lot of energy and enthusiasm for the work and it was good to hear some of
the initiatives that are taking place in a variety of places."

Out of a total of 38 Anglican provinces, 13 were represented at the
Canberra meeting. Each regional co-coordinator agreed to work at gaining
representatives from the provinces in their region that are not currently
represented. The regional coordinators form the Executive Committee of the
network, of which Bishop Browning has agreed to be the convener.

The network will also include energy points, individuals who are not
official representatives but who have knowledge, energy and commitment to
contribute to the network.

A soon-to-be-released statement from the network meeting highlights
environmental concerns and proposed responses designed to encourage
Anglicans to play a major role in effecting change. "We commit to pray for
one another, especially our sisters and brothers who courageously set
standards in developing countries," the statement says. "We commit
ourselves to maintain this global network, to share resources with each
other, and to lift the Anglican Communion to new levels of both awareness
and commitment to these aspects of our Gospel imperative."

The statement will be presented to the June 2005 meeting of the Anglican
Consultative Council for endorsement.

Further information about the Anglican Communion Environmental Network can
be found online at:
http://www.aco.org/ethics_technology/introducing_the_network.html

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(372) 16-May-2005 - Patriarch of Babylon visits Cathedral of the Holy
Trinity, Paris - USA

Convocation of American Churches in Europe

May 15, 2005

His Beatitude, Emmanuel III Delly, Patriarch of Babylon and head of the
Chaldean Church in Iraq, made a Pentecost visit to the Cathedral of the
Holy Trinity, Paris, France, where the Solemn Evensong was sung in his
honor. The Patriarch's visit to the Cathedral is part of his ongoing visit
to France, where an estimated 16,000 Chaldeans make their home. The Right
Reverend Pierre Whalon, who is among those facilitating the Patriarch's
visit to France, noted that the purpose of the trip was both religious and
diplomatic. While visiting France, his Beatitude will ordain three deacons
at the Chaldean parish of St Thomas the Apostle in Sarcelles, a suburb of
Paris. On the afternoon of May 16, the Patriarch will meet with President
Jacques Chirac to share his perspective on the evolving circumstances in
his country since the fall of Sadaam Hussein.

The Dean of the Cathedral, the Very Rev. Zachary Fleetwood, officiated at
the vesper service in the packed church. Dean Fleetwood in his opening
remarks welcomed the Patriarch and other invited guests, including leaders
of the French Catholic, Orthodox, Coptic, Reformed, and Lutheran churches,
and representatives of the American Embassy and the French Ministry of
Foreign Affairs.

In his homily given in English and French, Bishop Whalon began by conveying
to Emmanuel III the greetings and prayers of the Archbishop of Canterbury,
the Most. Rev. & Rt. Hon. Rowan Williams. He also read a letter of welcome
from Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold of the Episcopal Church. Bishop Whalon
then thanked the Patriarch for welcoming him to Baghdad in February 2003,
just before the conflict there began. Bishop Whalon had expressed there the
opposition of the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion to a war, and
at the Patriarch's invitation, led an ecumenical service for peace.

Whalon commented that he was changed by his trip to Iraq. The experience
made him more aware of the ancient churches of the Orient, of which he had
been previously ignorant. He expressed his hope that Americans and French
people (Whalon is a citizen of both countries) will become more and more
aware of the Churches in Iraq. 'The more we know of Iraqi Christians, the
better we will remember you and our duty toward you and all Iraqi Christians.'

Quoting Bishop Griswold, Whalon underlined to the Patriarch the "deep pain"
felt by Griswold and all Episcopalians for "your suffering in the aftermath
of our nation's attack, which we did everything to try to prevent." He
called upon "all people of good will" now to support the new democracy
being born in Iraq, saying that religious tolerance was necessary not only
for the survival of Iraqi Christians, but indeed all Iraqis. "It is
therefore imperative that we all support this new democracy," said Whalon,
"it is our duty." He concluded by expressing to the Patriarch his hope that
they could meet again "on the banks of the Tigris, where there will be peace."

A formal reception followed for Emmanuel III, who in his remarks thanked
Bishop Whalon and Dean Fleetwood for their warm welcome, and especially for
the sincere expression of support and care for the Chaldeans and all Iraqi
Christians. The Patriarch said that their plight extends to all humanity,
for we all deeply desire to live in peace. He received a gift of a
leather-bound French-English Book of Common Prayer, one of four bilingual
texts published by the Convocation of American Churches in Europe. The
Patriarch gave his benediction to the packed parish hall before departing.

This event is the second in a series on international affairs hosted at the
American Cathedral. In June 2004 Bishop Whalon and Dean Fleetwood welcomed
key representatives from the Middle East of the Muslim, Jewish and
Christian faiths for a conference on peacemaking.

For more information on Emmanuel III's visit to France see
http://www.mission-chaldeenne.org

For more on the June 2004 conference see
http://www.childrenofabrahampeacemakers.org/

For more on Bishop's trip to Baghdad, see
http://anglicansonline.org/archive/special/iraq/sheherazade.html and also
http://anglicansonline.org/resources/essays/whalon/Back_to_Iraq.html

Contact: Laurence Moachon office@tec-europe.org +33 1 47 20 02 23

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