Episcopal Life Online Newslink September 13, 2007
Episcopal Life Online is available at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife.
Today's ELO Newslink includes:
* TOP STORY - 'Episcopal Life Focus' video multicast debuts September 13 * TOP STORY - Presiding Bishop calls on people of faith to insist U.S. government refrain from 'inhumane treatment' of migrants * TOP STORY - NetsforLifeSM partnership successful in combating malaria in Africa * TOP STORY - Archbishop Tutu tells center's inaugural conference to forgive, not retaliate * DIOCESAN DIGEST - NEW YORK: AIDS group invites proposals for ministry in New York City * DIOCESAN DIGEST - SOUTHWEST FLORIDA: Dabney Smith to be invested as fifth bishop September 15 * WORLD REPORT - CENTRAL AFRICA: Provincial synod overcomes disruptions * FEATURE - 'Spiritual spas': Arkansas women take Time for JOY during rejuvenating weekend retreat
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TOP STORIES
'Episcopal Life Focus' video multicast debuts September 13
[Episcopal News Service] With an eye on post-hurricane rebuilding efforts and the upcoming House of Bishops meeting in New Orleans, Episcopal Life Focus debuted on September 13.
Episcopal Life Focus, the new monthly half-hour video "multicast" featuring church mission, ministries and news, is available on Episcopal Life Online at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81231_89777_ENG_HTM.htm.
Mike Collins is the producer of Episcopal Life Focus. The Rev. Jan Nunley, executive editor for Episcopal Life Media, anchors the show.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_89987_ENG_HTM.htm
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Presiding Bishop calls on people of faith to insist U.S. government refrain from 'inhumane treatment' of migrants
[Episcopal News Service] In a September 13 letter to the members of the Episcopal Church, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has renewed the church's call for "immigration policies which respect the rights and gifts of those among us, now living in fear, whose contributions to our communities and economy are so valued."
The failure of recent attempts to reform U.S. immigration laws have left migrants "without any hope of being brought in from the shadows and protected from the exploitation which has been their fate for far too long," Jefferts Schori wrote.
This lack of hope stems in part, she wrote, from an escalation of raids by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency since reform measures failed to pass Congress.
Full story and text of letter:
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_89985_ENG_HTM.htm
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NetsforLifeSM partnership successful in combating malaria in Africa
[ERD] Episcopal Relief and Development's (ERD) NetsforLifeSM malaria partnership is providing life-saving protection to children and families in 16 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The program is protecting close to 700,000 people, including mothers and vulnerable children who are most susceptible to contracting the disease.
The NetsforLifeSM partnership encompasses ERD and a number of private individuals and corporations including ExxonMobil Foundation, Standard Chartered Bank and the Coca-Cola Africa Foundation. Christian Aid is playing a key role as well. The Episcopal Church's Millennium Development Goal Inspiration Fund supports NetsforLifeSM.
In its second year, NetsforLifeSM has distributed 328,708 long-lasting insecticide-treated nets in eight countries including Angola, Kenya and Zambia since June 2007. The program has trained more than 3,400 malaria agents, or community volunteers, who have reached more than 500,000 people directly with malaria prevention messages.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_89983_ENG_HTM.htm
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Archbishop Tutu tells center's inaugural conference to forgive, not retaliate
Presiding Bishop calls all to work for justice, reconciliation
By Daphne Mack
[Episcopal News Service] On the sixth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorists attacks, Desmond M. Tutu, Anglican Archbishop emeritus of Cape Town, South Africa delivered a message of forgiveness to those gathered at the Chapel of the Good Shepherd on the campus of General Theological Seminary (http://www.gts.edu) (GTS) in New York City.
Tutu's plenary address "Can There Ever Be a Future without Forgiveness?" was part of the three-day inaugural conference called "Reconciliation at the Roundtable" that helped to officially open the seminary's Desmond Tutu Education Center (http://www.tutucenter.org).
On September 12, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori helped close the conference with her speech "Through Justice to Reconciliation: Bearing Fruit on the Ground."
More information about the mission of the center, which had a formal opening September 9, is available here (http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_89862_ENG_HTM.htm).
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_89978_ENG_HTM.htm
More Top Stories: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife
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DIOCESAN DIGEST
NEW YORK: AIDS group invites proposals for ministry in New York City http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_89991_ENG_HTM.htm
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA: Dabney Smith to be invested as fifth bishop September 15 http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_89992_ENG_HTM.htm
More Diocesan news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_ENG_HTM.htm
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WORLD REPORT
CENTRAL AFRICA: Provincial synod overcomes disruptions http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_89993_ENG_HTM.htm
More World news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_ENG_HTM.htm
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FEATURES
'Spiritual spas'
Arkansas women take Time for JOY during rejuvenating weekend retreat
By Julia Fleming
[Episcopal Life] The Episcopal women of Arkansas take time to relax and be pampered each year when they meet for an annual Time for JOY (Jesus Others Yourself) retreat, a weekend-long event to give participants a calming escape from their daily lives.
"We want to give young women a weekend of nurturing and an opportunity to pursue and discover their own spirituality ... without the pressures of today's world," said Shellie Bailey from St. John's Episcopal Church, Harrison, who has helped organize the retreats in her diocese since 2005. The Diocese of Arkansas sponsors the gatherings.
The retreats originally targeted women ages 19 to 40, whether married, single or divorced, but the ages of the women attending tends to vary, Bailey said. Because of changing family dynamics and the fact that women are having children later, women outside the age range have wanted to attend, she said. "I just told them, 'We don't check ID.'"
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81834_89989_ENG_HTM.htm
More Features: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/78936_ENG_HTM.htm