Episcopal Life Daily January 29, 2008
Episcopal Life Online is available at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife.
Today's Episcopal Life Daily includes:
* DIOCESAN DIGEST - MONTANA: Laurel parish starts 'new church on old foundations of faith' * DIOCESAN DIGEST - SOUTHWESTERN VIRGINIA: Council welcomes Presiding Bishop, supports MDGs * DIOCESAN DIGEST - WYOMING: Diocesan foundation awards nearly $200,000 in grants * WORLD REPORT - CANADA: National Indigenous Bishop Mark MacDonald reflects on first year * WORLD REPORT - ENGLAND: Jamaica-born Anglican priest Rose Hudson-Wilkin appointed Queen's chaplain * PEOPLE - In Florida, Petersburg Cathedral dean Russell L. Johnson plans early retirement * TEACHING - Anglican covenant conference to be held at Desmond Tutu Center, April 10-12 * TEACHING - Former Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold to teach at Episcopal Divinity School * MISSION - Baghdad's Anglican church benefits from former Alabama parishioner's generosity * OPINION - Campaign-season guidance for election year * DAYBOOK - January 30, 2008: Today in Scripture, Prayer, History * CATALYST - Dare to be Rare: A Christian Guide for Girls
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DIOCESAN DIGEST
MONTANA: Laurel parish starts 'new church on old foundations of faith' http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_94344_ENG_HTM.htm
SOUTHWESTERN VIRGINIA: Council welcomes Presiding Bishop, supports MDGs http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_94329_ENG_HTM.htm
WYOMING: Diocesan foundation awards nearly $200,000 in grants http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_94341_ENG_HTM.htm
More Diocesan news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_ENG_HTM.htm
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WORLD REPORT
CANADA: National Indigenous Bishop Mark MacDonald reflects on first year http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_94348_ENG_HTM.htm
ENGLAND: Jamaica-born Anglican priest Rose Hudson-Wilkin appointed Queen's chaplain http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_94337_ENG_HTM.htm
More World news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_ENG_HTM.htm
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PEOPLE
In Florida, Petersburg Cathedral dean Russell L. Johnson plans early retirement
[Episcopal News Service] The Very Rev. Dr. Russell L. Johnson, dean of St. Peter's Cathedral in St. Petersburg, Florida since 2004, will retire January 1, 2009. Johnson, who had planned to serve until May 2009, is leaving for health reasons beginning July 1, 2007 with a pre-retirement sabbatical.
According to a letter from the cathedral's wardens: "Under Russell's leadership St. Peter's has become a place of stability, peace and progress. Russell has truly made our congregation a safe place for an increasingly diverse congregation to explore our relationships with God. He has supported and encouraged the lay leadership, a unique demonstration of courage and trust. And on a personal level, Russell and Judith have showered us with their love, good humor, hospitality and generosity. They are beloved friends who will always have a place in our hearts."
The cathedral is currently in conversation with Bishop Dabney Smith of the Diocese of Southwest Florida about appointing a priest-in-charge while the search process to find a new dean gets underway.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81831_94334_ENG_HTM.htm
More People: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81831_ENG_HTM.htm
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TEACHING
Anglican covenant conference to be held at Desmond Tutu Center, April 10-12
[Episcopal News Service] "An Anglican Covenant: Divisive or Reconciling?" is a public conference to be held April 10-12 at the new Desmond Tutu Center, located on the grounds of the General Theological Seminary (GTS) in New York City.
An Anglican covenant has been proposed as a way to resolve conflicts and clarify polity in the Anglican Communion, especially in the sexuality debate. In February 2007, the Anglican Primates' Meeting invited commentary on a proposed covenant in preparation for the Lambeth Conference to be held in England July 16-August 4, 2008.
The Tutu Center conference is an opportunity to engage the issues and ask questions such as: Will an Anglican covenant clarify Anglican identity and strengthen mutual interdependence or will it be a tool of exclusion and dominance? Is a covenant a biblical way forward, or would it impose a uniformity foreign to Anglicanism? Would a covenant assist or impede reconciliation among Anglicans?
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/78650_94330_ENG_HTM.htm
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Former Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold to teach at Episcopal Divinity School
[Episcopal Divinity School] Former Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold will be teaching "From the Desert to the City: an Exploration of Christian Spirituality" at Episcopal Divinity School (EDS) in June. The course will explore various pathways of Christian spirituality that have shaped and molded men and women, and continue to guise and form persons of faith. Discussion topics include: the wisdom of the fathers and mothers of the desert, the evolution of the practice of discerning spirits, as well as classical spiritual disciplines.
"We are delighted to have Bishop Griswold offer a course here in June," said the Rev. Dr. Sheryl Kujawa-Holbrook, EDS academic dean. "He has many friends at EDS and we appreciated his visits here when he was Presiding Bishop, but this course gives us an opportunity to experience him as a teacher, and for students to hear all he has learned over the years about prayer and spirituality. It is a unique opportunity."
For more information and a complete list of June term courses, visit the EDS website (http://www.eds.edu), or request a catalogue at 617-682-1507. For registration and fee information, contact Lisa Howell, registrar, at 617-682-1516, or at registrar@eds.edu. If you are interested in staying on EDS' campus during the June terms, contact Guestroom Booking at guestroombooking@eds.edu or 617-682-1593.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/78650_94340_ENG_HTM.htm
More Teaching: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80263_93222_ENG_HTM.htm
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MISSION
Baghdad's Anglican church benefits from former Alabama parishioner's generosity
By Lisa B. Hamilton
[Episcopal News Service] The last remaining Anglican church in Iraq is receiving help from a Mobile, Alabama Episcopalian stationed in Baghdad. The Alabama Press-Register reports that Commander Scott Rye, one-time parishioner of Trinity Mobile and day chief at the Media Operations Center at the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad, has begun a campaign to support the unique ministry of St. George's Memorial Church in Baghdad.
According to The Press-Register, Rye, who has served in Baghdad since September 2007, worships at the Embassy Chapel in the U.S. Embassy. There he met and was inspired by the Rev. Canon Andrew White, who ministers at St. George's Church, located outside the Green Zone, Baghdad's "secured area" and center of international presence in the city.
Rye explained to The Press-Register that St. George's "was forcibly shut down for 10 years under Saddam Hussein's regime. Sometime after the war started, the church was hit and badly damaged by rocket fire. Of the 1,300 or so parishioners, only a half a dozen are men -- the rest were killed or kidnapped in the sectarian violence that swept through Iraq."
White recalls that the church had been "totally looted; not a pew remained. Many of the windows had been broken, the organ was removed, and the only church fixture that remained was the solid marble font." Slowly, St. George's became functional for worship.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81799_94311_ENG_HTM.htm
More Mission: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81799_ENG_HTM.htm
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OPINION
Campaign-season guidance for election year
Interfaith Alliance offers election-year resources for houses of worship, clarification of IRS rules
By Jane Holmes Dixon
[Episcopal Life] Editor's note: The following text is adapted from remarks given by Bishop Jane Holmes Dixon at the Interfaith Alliance's recent Walter Cronkite Faith and Freedom Awards in New York.
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Later this year, we'll be going to the polls to select our next president. If you're paying close attention to the news right now, though, you might think that we're electing the religious leader of our nation, not the president of the United States.
The Republican Party once cornered the market on religious talk in politics, but this campaign season we've seen the Democrats throw themselves into it with the zeal of a convert.
While Republican candidates have wooed the Religious Right at the "Values Voter Summit," Democratic candidates have embarked on "faith tours" around South Carolina, talking with reporters about their sins and prayers, and popping up in pulpits to convince the flocks of their worthiness.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80050_94336_ENG_HTM.htm
More Opinion: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80050_ENG_HTM.htm
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DAYBOOK
On January 30, 2008...
* Today in Scripture: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/82457_ENG_HTM.htm * Today in Prayer: Anglican Cycle of Prayer: http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acp/index.cfm * Today in History: On January 30, 1877, the first members of the Church Mission Society arrived in Uganda. Though missions saw few immediate results, after the missionaries' deaths, the Ugandan church grew quickly.
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CATALYST
"Dare to be Rare: A Christian Guide for Girls" from Church Publishing, Inc., by Kathleen Whitten, 141 pages, paperback, c. 2007, $15
[Church Publishing, Inc.] Though addressed to young women, this book appeals to women of all ages. Taking Romans 12:2 as its foundation, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, you may prove the will of God, that which is good, acceptable, and perfect," the book dares readers to explore critical issues such as self-esteem, courage, honesty, and identity through the lens of scripture and experience, offering the positive message that they are valued and loved by God.
To order: Episcopal Books and Resources, online at http://www.episcopalbookstore.org, or call 800-903-5544 -- or visit your local Episcopal bookseller, http://www.episcopalbooksellers.org
More Catalyst: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/83842_ENG_HTM.htm