Daybook -- Today is Monday, July 17, 2006. The Church Calendar remembers William White, Bishop of Pennsylvania (1747-1836).
* Today in Scripture: Daily Office meditation http://eds.libsyn.com * Today in Prayer: Anglican Cycle of Prayer: http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acp/index.cfm * Today in History: On this day in 1991, the 70th General Convention urged each diocese and local congregation to conduct an audit on the effects of institutional racism within its life and work. http://www.episcopalarchives.org/cgi-bin/acts/acts_resolution.pl?resolut ion=1991-A199
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Burundi's Archbishop prepares for Washington summit, visits Church Center
by Daphne Mack
[ENS] En route to the Interfaith Summit on Africa set for July 19-21 in Washington, Archbishop Bernard Ntahoturi of the Anglican Church of Burundi visited the Episcopal Church Center in New York City on July 13 and spoke of the challenges before his church.
Ntahoturi said that although his vision for the church has not changed in his first year as Archbishop, there has been a "delay in putting it into action" due largely to economic factors.
He identified the main challenges before Burundi as:
*Peace building - healing, reconciliation and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
*Poverty - generalized economic disadvantages after 13 years of war.
*HIV/AIDS - a health, social and economic problem.
*Integration - resettlement of military, and ex-refugees, and the shortage of land and employment.
Ntahoturi expressed gratitude to the Episcopal Church for the assistance Burundi is receiving from Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD) to fight the spread of Malaria and HIV/AIDS and the part Peace and Justice Ministries played in the building of the peace center in the capital city of Bujumbura.
Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold welcomed the Archbishop to the Church Center. Griswold and Ntahoturi -- who are both Primates of two of the 38 member Provinces of the Anglican Communion -- also met in New York with the Episcopal Church's Presiding Bishop-elect, Katharine Jefferts Schori.
Dialogue about challenges
Sponsored by Church World Service, the summit will bring Christian, Muslim, Hindu and Jewish leaders from Africa together with "Africa-vested" American faith leaders, U.S. advocacy organizations, think- tank analysts, and congressional policy makers focused on foreign policy to dialogue about the continent's major challenges.
"The issues that will be addressed are mission, peace building, water, Women and HIV/AIDS," said Ntahoturi. "All of these things, I think, have been put together to address the issue of poverty elimination because we have seen that one of the causes of war is poverty."
The Summit on Africa has gained support from members of Congress and will deal with key African issues including small arms trafficking; malaria and HIV/AIDS; durable solutions for the continent's thousands of displaced people; sustainable economic development; interfaith alliances; and the impact of faith voices in government policymaking.
"This will be an opportunity for me to network with other denominations and also the government because I feel the U.S., government should really give more to the poverty elimination program," he said.
-- Daphne Mack is staff writer for Episcopal News Service.
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Music: Cathedral Choral Society announces 2006-2007 season
Based at Washington National Cathedral, the Cathedral Choral Society has announced its 2006-2007 concert season led by Music Director J. Reilly Lewis.
Full information is online at
http://www.cathedralchoralsociety.org/season0607.htm
Highlights include:
* Sunday, October 15, 4pm, Choir of Westminster Cathedral
* Sunday, November 19, 4pm, Bach's Mass in B Minor
* Friday, December 15 - Sunday, December 17 (times vary), Joy of Christmas, with Children's Chorus of Washington
* Thursday, December 21 - Sunday, December 24 (times vary), Handel's Messiah (at the Kennedy Center)
* Sunday, March 4, 4pm, American Mystics with Anonymous 4
* Wednesday, Marcy 28 - Sunday, April 1, Carmina Burana with the Washington Ballet (at the Kennedy Center)
* Sunday, May 20, 4pm, Shakespeare Festival Concert _ _ _
Catalyst: "Race: Changing Society and the Churches" from Church Publishing Inc., by Kenneth Leech, 160 pages, paperback, $20.
[Source: Church Publishing Inc.] - Reflecting on Anglican priest Kenneth Leech's book "Race: Changing Society and the Churches," theologian and Duke Divinity School professor Stanley M. Huerwas says the author "exposes how racism grips the imaginations of Christian and non-Christian alike, shaping our relations with one another and having disastrous results not only in neighborhoods but in foreign policies.
"Pauline-like, Leech helps us see that race is a power all the more perverse because it is not acknowledged as such," adds Huerwas, whom Time Magazine named "America's Best Theologian" in 2001. "In conversation with the best work in science, social theory, and theology, Leech challenges the presumption that we have somehow gotten beyond racialized thinking. Moreover, drawing on his extraordinary pastoral experience, he helps us see a way beyond race. This book should be read in both England and America as both countries, in quite different ways continue to be dominated by racialized practice.
"And finally, and perhaps most important, Leech draws on Christian convictions to challenge Christians, not only how to think differently about race but hopefully how to practice our faith in a manner that we may be an alternative for the world."
In addition to his ministry as a priest, Leech is a writer, and former theologian-in-residence at St. Botolph's, Aldgate, in London's East End. His work in anti-racism activism and community building has won him wide praise and support from civic and governmental organizations as well as the church. His publications include the highly acclaimed "True Prayer," "Soul Friend," and "We Preach Christ Crucified."
To order: Episcopal Books and Resources, online at http://www.episcopalbookstore.org, or call 800.903.5544.
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