Episcopal Life Daily April 7, 2008
Episcopal Life Online is available at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife.
Today's Episcopal Life Daily includes:
* TOP STORY - Presiding Bishop endorses debt cancellation legislation in letter to House of Representatives * TOP STORY - Episcopal Relief and Development commemorates World Health Day 2008 * DIOCESAN DIGEST - LOUISIANA: Diocesan efforts bring hope and help to New Orleans * DIOCESAN DIGEST - SAN DIEGO: Diocese welcomes Presiding Bishop; mission focus central * DIOCESAN DIGEST - SAN DIEGO: New video highlights diocese's mission, debuts on YouTube * WORLD REPORT - MIDDLE EAST: Jordan's King Abdullah II donates land to Jerusalem diocese * WORLD REPORT - SRI LANKA: Churches deplore killing of Catholic government minister * PEOPLE - Paul Zahl's latest book provides 'healing for alienated relationships' * MULTIMEDIA - Image Gallery: Diocese of San Diego welcomes Presiding Bishop * FEATURE - Green education: Episcopal schools move toward sustainability * DAYBOOK - April 8, 2008: Today in Scripture, Prayer, History * CATALYST - A Church of Her Own: What Happens When a Woman Takes the Pulpit
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TOP STORIES
Presiding Bishop endorses debt cancellation legislation in letter to House of Representatives
[Episcopal News Service] Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori sent a letter to the House of Representatives on April 6 offering the Episcopal Church's "very strong endorsement" for H.R. 2634, the Jubilee Act for Responsible Lending and Debt Cancellation, which is scheduled for consideration on the House floor this week. The full text of the letter is available at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_96316_ENG_HTM.htm.
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Episcopal Relief and Development commemorates World Health Day 2008
[Episcopal News Service] On April 7, Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD) commemorates World Health Day. This year's theme, "protecting health from climate change," highlights the challenge of keeping global neighbors healthy in the face of the destabilizing force of the human footprint on the planet's ecological balance.
"Climate change poses a unique set of health threats," an ERD release says. "From increasing the incidence of extremely destructive weather-related disasters like floods and droughts to changing the patterns and severity of infectious disease outbreaks, climate change is already impacting the health of people around the world."
"Many of ERD's Africa partners report that they are experiencing increasingly long and frequent periods of drought, as well as there being more flash floods," says Janette O'Neill, ERD's program director for Africa. "In the first three months of 2008, emergency support has been needed to cope with flooding in Mozambique, Zambia, Malawi, Angola and Namibia. In other areas rainfall is decreasing, becoming more unpredictable, and the seasons are less distinct."
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_96302_ENG_HTM.htm
More Top Stories: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife
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DIOCESAN DIGEST
LOUISIANA: Diocesan efforts bring hope and help to New Orleans http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_96313_ENG_HTM.htm
SAN DIEGO: Diocese welcomes Presiding Bishop; mission focus central http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_96294_ENG_HTM.htm
SAN DIEGO: New video highlights diocese's mission, debuts on YouTube http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_96292_ENG_HTM.htm
More Diocesan news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_ENG_HTM.htm
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WORLD REPORT
MIDDLE EAST: Jordan's King Abdullah II donates land to Jerusalem diocese http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_96299_ENG_HTM.htm
SRI LANKA: Churches deplore killing of Catholic government minister http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_96312_ENG_HTM.htm
More World news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_ENG_HTM.htm
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PEOPLE
Paul Zahl's latest book provides 'healing for alienated relationships'
By Daphne Mack
[Episcopal News Service] Readers should be left with a sense of "hope, absolution and potential reunion," said the Rev. Dr. Paul F.M. Zahl, rector of All Saints Episcopal Church in Chevy Chase, Maryland, in reference to his latest literary work "Grace in Practice: A Theology of Everyday Life."
Zahl, the author of "2000 Years of Amazing Grace: The Story and Meaning of the Christian Faith" and "Understanding the Windsor Report: Two leaders in the American Church Speak Across the Divide" written with the Rev. Ian T. Douglas, spoke about his books at an April 4 book signing at the Catalyst Café and Books in New York City. He described his latest work as an attempt to understand how the "grace of God or judgment or law of God" relates to various types of relationships and social issues such as "war and peace, and classism."
He said the inspiration came from his devoting more than 30 years in the ministry on God's unconditional love for human beings or the "everyday person who is both sad and often very aggressive."
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81831_96304_ENG_HTM.htm
More People: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81831_ENG_HTM.htm
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MULTIMEDIA
Image Gallery: Diocese of San Diego welcomes Presiding Bishop
[Episcopal Life] Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori visited the Episcopal Diocese of San Diego April 4-6, touring local ministry sites and speaking with hundreds of clergy and lay people.
An image gallery of the Presiding Bishop's visit to the Episcopal Diocese of San Diego is available at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81991_96306_ENG_HTM.htm
More Multimedia: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80056_ENG_HTM.htm
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FEATURES
Green education: Episcopal schools move toward sustainability
By Phina Borgeson
[Episcopal Life] A little more than a year after moving into their new school building, students at St. Philip's Academy in Newark, New Jersey, not only have a much bigger, brighter science lab, but they also have a building that itself serves as a teaching tool. Elements of the structure, as well as meters and gauges, are exposed so that children understand how the building's systems work.
Formerly a cocoa factory, the 55,000-square-foot structure was renovated according to sustainable principles, reusing an existing building and keeping the growing school in the neighborhood where its students live.
Head of School Miguel Brito led the challenge to develop a green school in an urban setting and extended the meaning of sustainability to include not just the school's students, teachers, staff and facilities, but also its wider community.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81834_96310_ENG_HTM.htm
More Features: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/78936_ENG_HTM.htm
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DAYBOOK
On April 8, 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 8, 1093, the new Winchester Cathedral was dedicated by Walkelin. Winchester Cathedral is one of the largest cathedrals in England, with the longest nave and overall length of any Gothic cathedral in Europe. It is dedicated to the Holy Trinity, St. Peter, St. Paul and St. Swithun and is the seat of the Bishop of Winchester and center of the Diocese of Winchester.
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CATALYST
"A Church of Her Own: What Happens When a Woman Takes the Pulpit" from Harcourt, Inc, by Sarah Sentilles, 338 pages, hardcover, c. 2008, $25
[Source: Harcourt, Inc.] Thirty years after the first group of women was ordained by the Episcopal Church, women are among some of the most vital and successful ministers in all Protestant denominations, even as churches struggle to hold on to their members. Sarah Sentilles enters the lives of female ministers -- women of various ages and races, in a range of churches -- to paint the first real portrait of what it's like to serve as a woman of faith today.
Sometimes triumphant, sometimes hilarious, sometimes painful, their stories journey from their calls to the pulpit through their ordinations and service in congregations. These women show how the church can be more welcoming to the women who are its lifeblood. And in their inspiring determination to perform the ministry to which they are called, no matter what the obstacles, might well be the future of the church itself.
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