wfn.org | [ELD] Survey shows diversity in political opinion among mainline Protestant clergy / Anglican women

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

>Episcopal Life Daily
>March 6, 2009

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

>Today's Episcopal Life Daily includes:

* TOP STORY - Survey shows diversity in political opinion among
mainline Protestant clergy
* TOP STORY - Anglican women find strength at network meeting
* TOP STORY - Melanesia elects David Vunagi as primate
* DIOCESAN DIGEST - FORT WORTH: Continuing diocese requests 'orderly
transfer of assets'
* DIOCESAN DIGEST - OREGON: Diocese forgives churches' debts
* WORLD REPORT - CANADA: Ottawa diocese appoints committee to consider
same-sex blessings
* WORLD REPORT - CENTRAL AFRICA: Bishops 'cautiously welcome'
Zimbabwe's national unity government
* OPINION - Letters: Episcopal Life Monthly March 2009
* MULTIMEDIA - Video: Memories of a trailblazer
* MULTIMEDIA - Video: Presiding Bishop speaks at anniversary celebration  for
Bishop Barbara Harris
* MULTIMEDIA - Video: Presiding Bishop delivers sermon celebrating
ministry of Bishop Barbara Harris
* DAYBOOK - March 9, 2009: Today in Scripture, Prayer, History
* CATALYST - Love God, Heal Earth

>_____________________

>TOP STORIES

Survey shows diversity in political opinion among mainline Protestant  clergy

Episcopal clergy take lead in staking out progressive positions

>By Mary Frances Schjonberg

[Episcopal News Service] A survey by Public Religion Research released
March 6 shows that mainline Protestant clergy are much more likely to
identify themselves as liberal and Democrat than conservative or
Republican.

The "Clergy Voices" survey showed that Episcopal Church, which it
included in its definition of mainline Protestants, and United Church
of Christ (UCC) clergy (66 percent and 74 percent, respectively) were
the most likely to call themselves liberal. Overall, 48 percent of the
clergy surveyed chose that label.

Robert P. Jones, the research group's founder and president, said
during a March 6 telephone briefing said the survey showed that
Episcopal Church and UCC clergy were "really staking out more
progressive views" than the rest of the clergy who responded.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_105711_ENG_HTM.htm

>- - - - -

Anglican women find strength at network meeting

>By Solange De Santis and Susanna Rodell

[Episcopal News Service] While political and social concerns topped
the agenda at a meeting in New York February 22-27 of the
International Anglican Women's Network, members said that merely
meeting in person for the first time gave them renewed courage to
advance women's issues in sometimes-hostile environments.

They came from 30 of the worldwide Anglican Communion's 38 provinces
(national or regional groupings of national churches) and talked about
the places where girls receive less education then boys, where women
bear a greater burden of care for AIDS patients, where poverty affects
more women than men and where women are not well-represented in the
councils of the church.

They talked about issues affecting women in all countries, developed
and developing, such as domestic violence, and how to organize best to
bring these concerns to the attention of secular and church leaders.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_105699_ENG_HTM.htm

>- - - - -

>Melanesia elects David Vunagi as primate

[Episcopal News Service, Melanesian Messenger] The Anglican Church of
Melanesia has elected the Rt. Rev. David Vunagi to serve as its next
archbishop and primate.

Vunagi, who has served as bishop of the Diocese of Temotu in Solomon
Islands for the last eight years, was elected March 4 by the
provincial electoral board at Tetete Ni Kolivuti, near Honiara.

Vunagi will become the fifth archbishop of Melanesia when he is
enthroned on May 31 in Honiara. He succeeds Archbishop Ellison Pogo
who retired in December 2008.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_105690_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>_____________________

>DIOCESAN DIGEST

>OREGON: Diocese forgives churches' debts

[Diocese of Oregon] The policy-making body of the Episcopal Diocese of
Oregon on February 27 approved a motion to cancel some of the past due
mandated share of diocesan expenses owed by some of its 75 churches.
The amount, approximately $860,000, covers all Diocesan Program
Assessment (DPA) debt delinquent for the years ending on or prior to
December 31, 2006. Some of the outstanding debt is more than ten years
old.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_105710_ENG_HTM.htm

>- - - - -

FORT WORTH: Continuing diocese requests 'orderly transfer of assets'

>By Pat McCaughan

[Episcopal News Service] The standing committee of the continuing
Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth (Texas)
(http://www.episcopaldiocesefortworth.org) and Provisional Bishop
Edwin Gulick have written to former bishop Jack Iker to request a
"peaceful and orderly transfer of property and other assets."

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_105694_ENG_HTM.htm

More Diocesan news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_ENG_HTM.htm

>_____________________

>WORLD REPORT

CANADA: Ottawa diocese appoints committee to consider same-sex blessings

Niagara bishop meets with Archbishop of Canterbury

[Anglican Journal] Bishop John Chapman of the Diocese of Ottawa has
appointed a doctrine and worship committee to determine whether
same-sex unions can be blessed on a limited basis in the diocese.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_105689_ENG_HTM.htm

>- - - - -

CENTRAL AFRICA: Bishops 'cautiously welcome' Zimbabwe's national unity
government

[Episcopal News Service] The bishops of the Church of the Province of
Central Africa have issued a statement in which they "cautiously
welcome" the formation of a national unity government in Zimbabwe and
urge its political leaders "to put the interests of the people and the
development of the nation in the fore."

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_105693_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>_____________________

>OPINION

>Letters: Episcopal Life Monthly March 2009

[Episcopal News Service] Letters that appeared in the March 2009
edition of Episcopal Life Monthly are available at
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80050_105692_ENG_HTM.htm

Episcopal Life welcomes letters, especially those with pictures, and
will give preference to those in response to stories. Letters should
be no longer than 250 words and must include the writer's name,
address and phone number for verification. Send to Letters, Episcopal
Life, 815 Second Ave., New York, NY 10017; or email to
letters@episcopal-life.org. All letters will be edited for brevity and
clarity.

More Opinion: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80050_ENG_HTM.htm

>--------------------------------------------

>MULTIMEDIA

>Video: Memories of a trailblazer

[Episcopal News Service] On the tenth anniversary of her consecration,
the Rt. Rev. Barbara Harris reminisces about her experience as the
first woman bishop in the Anglican Communion.

>- - - - -

Video: Presiding Bishop speaks at anniversary celebration for Bishop
Barbara Harris

[Episcopal News Service] Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori
shares memories and appreciation for the Rt. Rev. Barbara Harris and
her ten years of ministry as the first woman bishop in the Anglican
Communion.

>- - - - -

Video: Presiding Bishop delivers sermon celebrating ministry of Bishop
Barbara Harris

[Episcopal News Service] Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori
delivers a sermon at a Eucharist marking the groundbreaking ministry
of Bishop Barbara Harris, who was consecrated 10 years ago as bishop
suffragan of Massachusetts.

>- - - - -

Videos available at: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81231_ENG_HTM.htm

More Multimedia: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80056_ENG_HTM.htm

>_____________________

>DAYBOOK

On March 9, 2009, the church calendar remembers Gregory, bishop of
Nyssa (c. 335-394).

* 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 March 9, 1995, the Committee for a New Dialogue
on Sexuality met at General Seminary in New York City.

>_____________________

>CATALYST

"Love God, Heal Earth" from St. Lynn's Press, by the Rev. Canon Sally
G. Bingham, 227 pages, paperback, c. 2009, $17.99

[Source: St. Lynn's Press] Foremost religious leaders from diverse
faith communities respond to the most controversial question of our
time: Can we save the earth? The answer could hinge on the phenomenon
of the fast-growing interfaith religious environmental movement. The
author makes the case for environmental stewardship that cuts across
old divisions of faith and politics. She presents 20 fellow religious
leaders and eminent scholars (from rabbis to evangelicals to
Catholics, Muslims and Buddhists) each contributing an original
essay-chapter, with personal stories of awakening to the urgent need
for environmental awareness and action. From all parts of the
religious and political spectrum, they come together to tell why
caring for the earth is a spiritual mandate, giving chapter and verse
and offering plans of action that go beyond the walls of religious
congregations and out into the broader community.

>Essays and contributors are:

* The Landscape Tradition: A Broader Vision for Ecotheology, by Stephen
Downs
* Globalization and Ecology, by Christine Burke, I.B.V.M.
* 'For Your Immortal Spirit Is in All Things': The Holy Spirit in
Creation, by Denis Edwards
* Enfleshing the Human: An Earth-Revealing, Earth-Healing Christology,
by Duncan Reid
* God's Shattering Otherness: The Trinity and Earth's Healing, by
Patricia Fox, R.S.M.
* Embracing Unloveliness: Exploring Theology from the Dungheap, by
Lorna Hallahan
* Up Close and Personal: In the End, Matter Matters, by Anthony Lowes
* The Relationship Quilt: Feminism and the Healing of Nature, by Lucy  Larkin
* A Timely Reminder: Humanity and Ecology in the Light of Christian
Hope, by Gregory Brett, C.M.
* Ecotheology as a Plea for Place, by Phillip Tolliday
* Situating Humanity: Theological Anthropology in Context of the
Ecological Crisis, by James McEvoy
* Bioethics, Ecology, and Theology, by Andrew Dutney.

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

>_____________________

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