Episcopal Life Online Newslink October 28, 2007
Episcopal Life Online is available at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife.
Today's ELO Newslink includes:
* TOP STORY - Executive Council comments on House of Bishops' statement, endorses Church Center reorganization * TOP STORY - Presiding Bishop calls listeners to remember the 'mixed reality' of being 'the image of God in earthen vessels' * TOP STORY - Executive Council commits Episcopal Church to more Anglican covenant dialogue
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TOP STORIES
Executive Council comments on House of Bishops' statement, endorses Church Center reorganization
By Mary Frances Schjonberg
[Episcopal News Service] As it concluded its three-day fall meeting at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Dearborn, Michigan, the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church thanked the House of Bishops for its efforts that resulted in a statement to the Anglican Communion issued in September.
However, Council Resolution NAC026 said that where the bishops' statement called "particular attention to the application of [General Convention] Resolution B033 to lesbian and gay persons, it may inappropriately suggest that an additional qualification for the episcopacy has been imposed beyond those contained in the constitution and canons of the church."
Resolution B033, passed by General Convention in June 2006, calls upon diocesan standing committees and bishops with jurisdiction "to exercise restraint by not consenting to the consecration of any candidate to the episcopate whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church and will lead to further strains on communion."
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_91397_ENG_HTM.htm
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Presiding Bishop calls listeners to remember the 'mixed reality' of being 'the image of God in earthen vessels' Diocese of Michigan, Province V brief Council on ministries
By Mary Frances Schjonberg
[Episcopal News Service] Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori reminded the worshippers at Christ Episcopal Church in Dearborn, Michigan, October 28 that human beings are the image of God in earthen vessels.
"As long as we don't forget that mixed reality, we're doing just fine," she told the congregation which included both Christ Church members and those of the Episcopal Church's Executive Council and Church Center staff who have been meeting in at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Dearborn. "When we assume either that we've got it all right, or if we forget that we are bearers of the divine image, we've missed the point."
Jefferts Schori, who also presided at the Eucharist, preached on the Proper 25's Revised Common Lectionary readings of Jeremiah 14:7-10,19-22 and Luke 18:9-14.
The full text of the Presiding Bishop's sermon is available at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_91391_ENG_HTM.htm
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_91395_ENG_HTM.htm
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Executive Council commits Episcopal Church to more Anglican covenant dialogue Ten-page document notes differences of opinion, worries about draft text's implications
By Mary Frances Schjonberg
[Episcopal News Service] Members of the Episcopal Church's Executive Council on October 28 committed the Episcopal Church to the effort to perfect the current draft Anglican covenant "so that the resulting Covenant can be a beacon of hope for our common future."
That commitment came in a roughly 5,200-word response available at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_91392_ENG_HTM.htm.
The response says that the Episcopal Church is "prepared to consider a covenant that says who we are, what we wish to be for the world, and how we will model mutual responsibility and interdependence in the body of Christ. We believe we must be open to God's doing a new thing among us; therefore, we remain open to explore such new possibilities in our common life while honoring established understandings."
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_91394_ENG_HTM.htm
More Top Stories: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife