Episcopal Life Daily April 4, 2008
Episcopal Life Online is available at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife.
Today's Episcopal Life Daily includes:
* TOP STORY - Office of the Presiding Bishop, Diocese of Virginia respond to preliminary court ruling * TOP STORY - Virginia judge issues preliminary ruling on application of state statute * DIOCESAN DIGEST - INDIANAPOLIS: Diocese Embraces New Communication Technology * PEOPLE - Learning central as Cuban church, seminary welcome Bishop Frank Griswold * PEOPLE - Spirit doesn't always 'play nice,' Professor L. William Countryman will tell graduates at CDSP * DAYBOOK - April 7, 2008: Today in Scripture, Prayer, History * CATALYST - Grace in Practice: A Theology of Everyday Life
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TOP STORIES
Virginia judge issues preliminary ruling on application of state statute
Constitutional challenges, conflicting claims to Episcopal Church property remain unresolved
By Mary Frances Schjonberg
[Episcopal News Service] A judge ruled April 3 that it was appropriate for 11 Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA) congregations to file property claims under a portion of Virginia state law that is triggered when there is a so-called "division" of a church or religious society.
Fairfax County Judge Randy I. Bellows did not rule on the property issues themselves or whether the Virginia statute violates the Episcopal Church's or the Diocese's First Amendment rights. He said only that the CANA congregations, some of which include former members of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia, could file their claims under Section 57-9(A) the so-called "Division Statute" of the Code of Virginia.
"We are obviously disappointed in yesterday's ruling by the trial judge against the Episcopal Church and the Diocese that involved one Virginia statutory issue in the case," the office of Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said in a statement. "While we believe that the Court's conclusion that Virginia's unusual 'division' statute applies to the current situation in the Diocese, the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion is incorrect, there will be time enough in the future to seek review of that decision if it becomes necessary."
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_96272_ENG_HTM.htm
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Office of the Presiding Bishop, Diocese of Virginia respond to preliminary court ruling
[Episcopal News Service] The Office of the Presiding Bishop and the Diocese of Virginia issued statements April 4 response to a preliminary ruling a day earlier by Fairfax County Judge Randy I. Bellows that it was appropriate for 11 Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA) congregations to file property claims under a portion of Virginia state law that is triggered when there is a so-called "division" of a church or religious society.
Statement from the Office of the Presiding Bishop follows:
We are obviously disappointed in yesterday's ruling by the trial judge against the Episcopal Church and the Diocese that involved one Virginia statutory issue in the case. While we believe that the Court's conclusion that Virginia's unusual "division" statute applies to the current situation in the Diocese, the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion is incorrect, there will be time enough in the future to seek review of that decision if it becomes necessary. In the meantime, we shall present to the Court at the scheduled argument in May our contention that if the statute means what the Court has held, it plainly deprives the Episcopal Church and the Diocese, as well as all hierarchical churches, of their historic constitutional rights to structure their polity free from governmental interference and thus violates the First Amendment and cannot be enforced.
We also note that this decision does not bar the contentions of the Episcopal Church and the Diocese regarding control over the property of the departing congregations that will be presented to the Court in the fall.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_96271_ENG_HTM.htm
More Top Stories: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife
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DIOCESAN DIGEST
INDIANAPOLIS: Diocese Embraces New Communication Technology http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_96280_ENG_HTM.htm
More Diocesan news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_ENG_HTM.htm
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PEOPLE
Learning central as Cuban church, seminary welcome Bishop Frank Griswold
[Episcopal News Service] Just before Easter, Frank T. Griswold, whose nine-year term as Presiding Bishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church concluded in November 2006, spent a month with the church in Cuba. His visit was at the invitation of Anglican Bishop Miguel Tamayo and Reinerio Valentin pArce, rector of the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Matanzas.
It was a return to Cuba for the 25th Presiding Bishop, who had made a five-day official visit to the island in February 2006. "This was of a different character altogether," he said. "There was time for coming to know the circumstances and ministry of Cuban Christians in a more substantive way."
Bishop Griswold was based at the seminary, where he delivered lectures to the seminary community and taught classes for the Anglican students. He also gave a Lenten retreat for diocesan clergy, preached in several parishes and at the Cathedral in Havana, addressed the Cuban Council of Churches, visited mission projects and met with government representatives for religious affairs.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81831_96281_ENG_HTM.htm
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Spirit doesn't always 'play nice,' Professor L. William Countryman will tell graduates at CDSP
[Episcopal News Service] Church Divinity School of the Pacific (CDSP) in Berkeley, California, has announced that the preacher for this year's graduation ceremony will be the Rev. Dr. L. William Countryman, Episcopal priest, noted author and Sherman E. Johnson Professor Emeritus in Biblical Studies at CDSP.
Countryman's commencement homily will be titled "The Spirit Doesn't Always Play Nice."
Commencement ceremonies will be held on Friday, May 23 at 10:30 a.m. on the CDSP campus, located at 2451 Ridge Road, in Berkeley.
In addition to the class of 41, three will receive honorary degrees: Matthew Kenyon Chew, CPA, former member of the CDSP Board of Trustees, and former trustee of the Church Pension Fund; Georgene Treadwell Keeler, former chair of the CDSP Board of Trustees; and Sharon-Gay Smith, Consortial Registrar of the Graduate Theological Union, of which CDSP is a member.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81831_96276_ENG_HTM.htm
More People: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81831_ENG_HTM.htm
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DAYBOOK
On April 7, 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 April 7, 1786, Walter Shirley, hymnist, died in Dublin, Ireland. Shirley was a friend of Whitefield and the Wesleys, often preached in their chapels, and was rector of Loughren, county of Galway. In 1774, he helped the Countess of Huntingdon revised the collection of hymns used in her chapels.
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CATALYST
"Grace in Practice: A Theology of Everyday Life" from Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., by Paul F. M. Zahl, 267 pages, paperback, c. 2007, $18
[Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.] Grace in Practice is a challenging call to live life under grace -- a concept most Christians secretly have trouble with. Paul Zahl pulls no punches, contending that no matter how often we talk about salvation by grace, in our "can-do" society we often cling instead to a righteousness of works. Asserting throughout that grace always trumps both law and church, Zahl illuminates an expansive view of grace in everything, extending the good news of grace to all creation. Conversationally written and filled with fascinating insights, Grace in Practice will reward any Christian who seeks to understand the full measure of God's grace and the total freedom it offers.
"Paul Zahl is at it again -- and, as usual, for the good of us all. He has been "long on grace and short on law" for all of his ministry, and who in these difficult tines could want more law and less grace? This is a book for everyday believers -- an act of grace." -- Peter Gomes, Harvard University
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