wfn.org | [ELD] Jefferts Schori removes Pittsburgh bishop from office

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

>Episcopal Life Daily
>September 22, 2008

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

>Today's Episcopal Life Daily includes:

* TOP STORY - Jefferts Schori removes Pittsburgh bishop from office
* WORLD REPORT - ENGLAND: Church offers prayer for current financial
turbulence
* EDUCATION - VTS to support seminaries in Haiti and the Dominican Republic
* DAYBOOK - September 23, 2008: Today in Scripture, Prayer, History
* CATALYST - Acedia & me: A Marriage, Monks, and A Writer's Life

>_____________________

>TOP STORIES

Jefferts Schori removes Pittsburgh bishop from office

Duncan led effort to take diocese out of Episcopal Church

>By Mary Frances Schjonberg

[Episcopal News Service] Robert Duncan has been given a formal
sentence of deposition from the ordained ministry of the Episcopal
Church and has been removed as the bishop of the Diocese of Pittsburgh
(http://www.pitanglican.org).

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori signed Duncan's sentence on
September 19, the day after the House of Bishops agreed by a vote of
88-35 to authorize
(http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_100894_ENG_HTM.htm) the action.
Bishop Richard S.O. Chang, vice president of the house, and Bishop
Kenneth Price, the secretary, also signed as witnesses to the
sentence.

The sentence and an accompanying letter from Jefferts Schori to Duncan
were sent to Pittsburgh diocesan offices on September 22 and later
released to the public.

Full story here: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_100988_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>_____________________

>WORLD REPORT

ENGLAND: Church offers prayer for current financial turbulence
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_100986_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>_____________________

>EDUCATION

VTS to support seminaries in Haiti and the Dominican Republic

[Episcopal News Service] As the result of a grant from the E. Rhodes
and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation,
(http://www.vts.edu/default.asp?bhcp=1) Virginia Theological Seminary
(VTS) will provide English language training to seminarians in Haiti
and the Dominican Republic for entry into its Masters in Theological
Studies (http://www.vts.edu/academic/academic/theological.asp)
Program.

"As a native of Haiti and a VTS graduate, I am truly grateful to see
the launch of this initiative," said the Rev. Joseph Constant,
director of Ethnic Ministries and Student Life at Virginia Seminary.
"The Episcopal Church in Haiti and the Dominican Republic are a source
of life and light to citizens of both countries . this partnership
will strengthen all three institutions."

Through the Carpenter grant initiative, the three seminary partners
will support English language immersion, build up a faculty in two
dioceses within the Episcopal Church, and provide access to
theological education by concretely addressing the language barrier.
The program will also benefit VTS students, many of whom already take
advantage of cross-cultural immersion experiences in the Dominican
Republic, by offering opportunities for them to expand on their
knowledge of Spanish, French or Creole.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/78650_100983_ENG_HTM.htm

More Education: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80263_93222_ENG_HTM.htm

>_____________________

>DAYBOOK

>On September 23, 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 September 23, 1571, John Jewel, bishop of
Salisbury, died at the episcopal manor house of Monkton Farleigh.

>_____________________

>CATALYST

"Acedia & me: A Marriage, Monks, and A Writer's Life" from Penguin
Group, by Kathleen Norris, 334 pages, hardcover, c. 2008, $25.95

[Penguin Group] Kathleen Norris had written several much loved books,
yet she couldn't drag herself out of bed in the morning, couldn't
summon the energy for daily tasks. Even as she struggled, Norris
recognized her familiar battle with acedia. She had discovered the
word in an early Church text when she was in her thirties. Having
endured times of deep soul-weariness since she was a teenager, she
immediately recognized that this passage described her affliction:
sinking into a state of being unable to care. Fascinated by this
"noonday demon," so familiar to those in the early and medieval
Church, Norris read intensively and knew she must restore this
forgotten but utterly relevant and important concept to the modern
world's vernacular.

Like Norris's bestselling The Cloister Walk, Acedia & me is part
memoir and part meditation. As in her bestselling Amazing Grace, here
Norris explicates and demystifies a spiritual concept, exploring
acedia through the geography of her life as a writer; her marriage and
the challenges of commitment in the midst of grave illness; and her
keen interest in the monastic tradition. Unlike her earlier books,
this one features a poignant narrative throughout of Norris's and her
husband's bouts with acedia and its clinical cousin, depression.
Moreover, her analysis of acedia reveals its burden not just on
individuals but on whole societies -- and that the "restless boredom,
frantic escapism, commitment phobia, and enervating despair that we
struggle with today are the ancient demon of acedia in modern dress."

An examination of acedia in the light of theology, psychology,
monastic spirituality, the healing powers of religious practice, and
Norris's own experience, Acedia & me is both intimate and historically
sweeping, brimming with exasperation and reverence, sometimes funny,
often provocative, and always important.

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