Episcopal Life Online Newslink July 17, 2007
Episcopal Life Online is available at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife.
Today's ELO Newslink includes:
* TOP STORY - ERD's 2006 Annual Summary now available online * TOP STORY - Faith leaders call for new covenant with American, world farmers * TOP STORY - Presiding Bishop joins religious leaders praising Bush administration for North Korea agreement * DIOCESAN DIGEST - ALABAMA: Four nominated as bishop suffragan * DIOCESAN DIGEST - CONNECTICUT: Bishop invites remaining Episcopalians at Bristol parish to discuss future * DIOCESAN DIGEST - Maryland: Nominations for bishop accepted * DIOCESAN DIGEST - PITTSBURGH: Prayer Council issues call for prayer, fasting * WORLD REPORT - AUSTRALIA: Perth Diocese celebrates 150 years of the Anglican Church * WORLD REPORT - ENGLAND: Church youth worker finds faith in Harry Potter's magic * WORLD REPORT - KENYA: Church leaders implicate politicians in actions of violent sect * OPINION - And the Truth Shall Set You Free
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TOP STORIES
ERD's 2006 Annual Summary now available online
[Episcopal Relief and Development] A summary of the 2006 work of Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD), title "Empowering Individuals, Transforming Communities," is available here.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_88212_ENG_HTM.htm
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Faith leaders call for new covenant with American, world farmers 'House leadership must now begin to address' farm bill, Chane says
By Alex Baumgarten
[Episcopal News Service] Washington D.C. - At a multi-denominational press conference on Capitol Hill on July 17, Bishop John Bryson Chane of the Diocese of Washington and five other faith leaders called upon the leadership of the United States Congress to stand for a farm bill consistent with "our nation's fundamental values of fairness and opportunity for all people."
"Current U.S. foreign policy is a broken promise to American farmers -- especially small rural farmers -- and also is a threat to the world's poor," said Chane, speaking of the Episcopal Church's commitment to farm-bill reform to national reporters gathered one room away from where the House Agriculture Committee was slated to begin its final consideration of the U.S. farm bill later in the day.
Noting that the Committee thus far has rejected calls for reform of the U.S. commodity-crop payment program, Chane said that "the House leadership must now begin to address this bill from a moral perspective and center that transcends the typical as-you-go-politics that have sustained U.S. agricultural policy" in recent years.
Chane was joined at the press conference by Father Andrew Small of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops; the Rev. David Beckman, president of Bread for the World; Sister Simone Campbell, executive director of NETWORK, a national Catholic social justice lobby; the Rev. Earl Trent, director of missions for the Progressive National Baptist Convention; and Bishop Theodore Schneider of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Metro Washington, D.C. synod.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_88223_ENG_HTM.htm
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Presiding Bishop joins religious leaders praising Bush administration for North Korea agreement
[National Religious Partnership on the Nuclear Weapons] A group of prominent religious leaders including Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori released a statement July 17 congratulating the Bush administration for successful diplomatic efforts toward the denuclearization of North Korea and urging the administration to apply a similar strategy to the Iranian nuclear standoff.
The statement coincided with the July 16 announcement that North Korea has begun to dismantle its nuclear facilities under international inspection, to fulfill its obligations under the February 2007 denuclearization agreement.
In addition to Jefferts Schori, signatories included the Rev. John L. McCullough, executive director of Church World Service; the Most Rev. Thomas G. Wenski, chair of the Committee on International Policy for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops; and Dr. Sayyid M. Syeed, national director of the Islamic Society of North America.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_88214_ENG_HTM.htm
More Top Stories: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife
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DIOCESAN DIGEST
ALABAMA: Four nominated as bishop suffragan
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_88217_ENG_HTM.htm
CONNECTICUT: Bishop invites remaining Episcopalians at Bristol parish to discuss future http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_88203_ENG_HTM.htm
Maryland: Nominations for bishop accepted
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_88202_ENG_HTM.htm
PITTSBURGH: Prayer Council issues call for prayer, fasting http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_88200_ENG_HTM.htm
More Diocesan news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_ENG_HTM.htm
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WORLD REPORT
AUSTRALIA: Perth Diocese celebrates 150 years of the Anglican Church http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_88207_ENG_HTM.htm
ENGLAND: Church youth worker finds faith in Harry Potter's magic http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_88209_ENG_HTM.htm
KENYA: Church leaders implicate politicians in actions of violent sect http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_88205_ENG_HTM.htm
More World news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_ENG_HTM.htm
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OPINION
And the Truth Shall Set You Free
By Tom Ehrich
[Episcopal Life] Balmy days in January, a snow-less winter in the Northeast, polar ice cap crumbling, predictions of the hottest year in Earth's recorded history -- sounds like "global warming" to me.
But what do I know?
Exactly. Is anyone telling us the truth?
With the petroleum industry engaged in disinformation and the auto industry resisting change; with politicians rewarding friends at the expense of truth about human-caused greenhouse gases; and with religion focused on issues of disturbing triviality, who will help the public to make informed decisions about global warming?
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80050_88171_ENG_HTM.htm
More Opinion: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80050_ENG_HTM.htm