wfn.org | [ELD] California Supreme Court legalizes same-gender marriage / Virginia diocese gains support from

["Matthew Davies" <mdavies@episcopalchurch.org>]

>Episcopal Life Daily
>May 15, 2008

Episcopal Life Online is available at  http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife.

>Today's Episcopal Life Daily includes:

* TOP STORY - California Supreme Court legalizes same-gender marriage;
Integrity hails decision
* TOP STORY - Virginia diocese gains support from other religious
organizations in property lawsuit
* TOP STORY - Episcopal chaplain reports sailors are frustrated by  Myanmar's
intransigence
* TOP STORY - Uganda archbishop responds to Presiding Bishop's objection  to
his 'incursion' into Georgia
* WORLD REPORT - SOUTHERN AFRICA: Archbishop deplores violent attacks on
foreigners in Alexandra
* WORLD REPORT - SUDAN: Khartoum bishop recounts traumatic attack by  Darfur
rebels
* FEATURE - Into the Sacred Circle: San Juan Mission draws together  English
and Navajo traditions and peoples
* DAYBOOK - May 16, 2008: Today in Scripture, Prayer, History
* CATALYST - How to Believe: Teachers and Seekers Show the Way to a  Modern,
Life-Changing Faith

>_____________________

>TOP STORIES

California Supreme Court legalizes same-gender marriage; Integrity hails
decision

'A giant step closer to liberty and justice for all,' Russell says

>>From staff, wire reports

[Episcopal News Service] Integrity (http://www.integrityusa.org), an
organization of Episcopalians committed to full inclusion of lesbian,  gay,
bisexual, and transgender [LGBT] persons, heralded a May 15 California
Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-gender marriage as "a giant step  closer
to 'liberty and justice for all.'"

"The California Supreme Court today ruled in favor of marriage and  against
bigotry," said the Rev. Susan Russell, Integrity president and  an  assisting
priest at All Saints Church in Pasadena, California.

"Integrity is proud to have signed the interfaith amicus brief that  helped
influence this decision which we celebrate as a giant step closer to
"liberty and justice for all."

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_97128_ENG_HTM.htm

>- - - - -

Virginia diocese gains support from other religious organizations in
property lawsuit

>By Mary Frances Schjonberg

[Episcopal News Service] Eight more religious denominations and
judicatories, as well as the two other Episcopal dioceses in the state  of
Virginia, have asked the Fairfax County Court to let them join a
friend-of-the-court brief recently filed by the United Methodist Church  and
several others that supports the Diocese of Virginia
(http://www.thediocese.net) and the Episcopal Church in contending that  the
state's "division statute" is unconstitutional.

"All churches in Virginia are threatened by this statute, which
discriminates against hierarchical churches in favor of congregational  ones,
in violation of their faith and the right of churches to structure and
govern themselves based on their religious beliefs," the diocese said in  a
statement (http://www.thediocese.net/press/pressroom.shtml) issued May  15.
"All churches in Virginia must have the right to structure themselves
according to their faith beliefs without the intrusion of the  government."

The requests concern a case in which a number of Convocation of  Anglicans in
North America (http://www.canaconvocation.org) (CANA) congregations have
filed claims to property of parishes of the Virginia diocese under a  portion
of Virginia state law that is triggered when there is a so-called  "division"
of a church or religious society.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_97127_ENG_HTM.htm

>- - - - -

Episcopal chaplain reports sailors are frustrated by Myanmar's  intransigence

>USS Juneau's crew poised to give aid

>By Mary Frances Schjonberg

[Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal chaplain aboard one of four U.S.  Navy
ships waiting off the coast of Myanmar to deliver aid to the  cyclone-ravaged
country says "it is so gut wrenching seeing a government turn down help  at
the expense of people who have so little anyway."

"I have been praying that our powerful ships be instruments of that  faithful
promise of God that we proclaim in the presence of death and in such
desolate moments. As a chaplain and as a community of faith and hope at  sea,
this, in the last resort, is our true power," the Rev. Frank Munoz, a  Navy
lieutenant and the command chaplain of the USS Juneau, wrote from the  ship
in a May 14 interview ENS conducted via email.

For nearly two weeks since a cyclone devastated the heavily populated
Irrawaddy Delta rice bowl -- leaving at least 43,000 people dead with a
further 28, 000 missing -- the military junta that rules Myanmar has  been
reluctant to accept outside relief aid.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_97124_ENG_HTM.htm

>- - - - -

Uganda archbishop responds to Presiding Bishop's objection to his
'incursion' into Georgia

>By Matthew Davies

[Episcopal News Service] Archbishop of Uganda Henry Orombi has responded  to
a May 12 letter to him from Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori,
saying that he is visiting a congregation in Savannah, Georgia, because  it
is now "part of the Church of Uganda."

Jefferts Schori criticized Orombi's planned May 14 visit to historic  Christ
Church because he had not sought the invitation of Episcopal Bishop of
Georgia Henry Louttit. These actions, she said in her letter, "violate  the
spirit and letter of the work of the Windsor Report, and only lead to
heightened tensions."

Orombi met May 14 with clergy and laity who voted in October 2007 to
disaffiliate from the Episcopal Church. The group continues to occupy  Christ
Church, Savannah, while the continuing Episcopal congregation meets at
Savannah's Church of St. Michael and All Angels. Christ Church dates  from
1733.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_97123_ENG_HTM.htm

More Top Stories: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife

>_____________________

>WORLD REPORT

SOUTHERN AFRICA: Archbishop deplores violent attacks on foreigners in
Alexandra
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_97114_ENG_HTM.htm

SUDAN: Khartoum bishop recounts traumatic attack by Darfur rebels
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_97115_ENG_HTM.htm

More World news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_ENG_HTM.htm

>_____________________

>FEATURES

>Into the Sacred Circle

San Juan Mission draws together English and Navajo traditions and  peoples

>By Carol Tookey

[Episcopal Life] San Juan Mission, also known as the New Mexico Region  of
the Episcopal Church in Navajoland, focuses on the ministry of the  baptized,
and thus all members participate in ministry.

San Juan, as in all of the Navajoland Area Mission, functions under the
philosophy of the Hooghan Learning Circle -- a formation program for  people
of all ages that seeks to bring together the Episcopal Christian  tradition
with the tradition of the Diné (Navajo) people. This means including  both
English and Navajo languages, as well as traditional Navajo images, in
worship services and discussing the sacred stories of both traditions in  an
effort to, as Bishop Mark MacDonald says, bring the gospel into the  Sacred
Circle of Navajo culture and tradition.

San Juan dates from 1917, when a mission was established in the area of
Farmington, New Mexico, by what then was called the Missionary District  of
New Mexico and Southwest Texas. The mission began as a health clinic and
grew into the first hospital for Navajo people in New Mexico. As needs
changed, the ministry changed. It has functioned as a children's shelter  and
ministered to people with addictions.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81834_97116_ENG_HTM.htm

More Features: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/78936_ENG_HTM.htm

>_____________________

>DAYBOOK

On May 16, 2008, the Church calendar remembers an Ember Day.

* 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 May 16, 1805, Anglican missionary Henry Martyn
arrived in India to aid William Carey with translation work.

>_____________________

>CATALYST

"How to Believe: Teachers and Seekers Show the Way to a Modern,
Life-Changing Faith" from Random House, Inc., by Jon Spayde, 209 pages,
hardcover, c. 2008, $25

[Random House, Inc.] After seeing Christianity become increasingly  defined
in the media as a narrow and punitive political movement, Spayde began  to
wonder: Are religions now just combatants in the culture wars?  Should  he
leave the organized church?  How are ordinary people using faith  positively
to search for the truth and improve their lives?

Spayde takes a journey across America that introduces him to an array of
believers, eminent and obscure, who relate their personal stories of  active
and living faith-how they balance Jesus's love and judgment, the  church's
dictates, and their own free will-to live and love completely while on
Earth. Spayde's odyssey brought him to a new understanding of why action  is
more important than the intellect in faith, how true solace is found in
forging a personal relationship with God, and why worrying about one's  own
"worthiness" is always beside the point.

This is a crucial book that reveals the different paths that can lead to  the
same inspiring place, a book that teaches "how to believe" in ways that
honor individuality, allow for personal journeys, and spiritually enrich  not
just our own lives but the lives of those around us.

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