Episcopal News Service March 13, 2007
TEAM: Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori reiterates MDG commitment at conference
By Mary Frances Schjonberg
[ENS] The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are a good frame for the Anglican Communion's mission and ministry because they are ''real evidence of what it means to love your neighbor as yourself,'' Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said the morning after her arrival at the Towards Effective Anglican Mission conference in Boksburg, South Africa.
''When Jesus calls us to feed the poor and water the thirsty and provide clothing to the naked, visit the prisoner, visit the sick, heal the sick - the Millennium Development Goals are about all of those,'' Jefferts Schori said during an interview on March 13. ''They are concrete images that people can wrap their minds around. They are a specific way of addressing the Gospel challenge to care for our neighbors. They're achievable in our own day if we have the will to do it and, increasingly, this church is vested in that.''
Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori arrived on the evening of March 12. She participated in TEAM events on March 13 and will address the conference's closing luncheon on the 14th.
Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane of Cape Town, Primate of the Province of the Anglican Church in Southern Africa, welcomed Jefferts Schori to the TEAM conference at the March 13 morning session.
To the applause of participants, he said that the TEAM conference ''reflects the Anglican Communion at its best and we say without any shadow of doubt that the Anglican Communion is alive and well.''
''For seven days there's been much enthusiasm and much 'oomph' for God's mission and I hope that you will be part of our deliberations,'' he said. ''We know how busy you are and that you are with us in these last two days and look forward to your contribution as we winding up our proceedings, ready to go out into the world to make real what we have been deliberating here. And we know your own commitment to the MDGs.''
Jefferts Schori flew to Boksburg from the Episcopal Diocese of Hawai'I, where on March 11 she was the chief consecrator of the Rev. Canon Robert L. Fitzpatrick as the fifth bishop of Hawai'i.
Full story and photo:
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_83484_ENG_HTM.htm
-- The Rev. Mary Frances Schjonberg is national correspondent for the Episcopal News Service.
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