wfn.org | [ELD] Presiding Bishop's Easter message for 2009 / In East Asia and the Pacific, Anglicans commit to

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

>Episcopal Life Daily
>March 30, 2009

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

>Today's Episcopal Life Daily includes:

* TOP STORY - Presiding Bishop's Easter message for 2009
* TOP STORY - In East Asia and the Pacific, Anglicans commit to action
on climate change
* DIOCESAN DIGEST - PENNSYLVANIA: Presiding Bishop engages in
conversation with laity
* WORLD REPORT - BRITAIN: G20 leaders must not forget promises to the
poor, religious leaders say
* WORLD REPORT - ENGLAND: Outspoken Rochester bishop says he will leave  his
post
* PEOPLE - Katherine Ragsdale named president and dean of Episcopal
Divinity School
* MULTIMEDIA - Video: Pan Adams-McCaslin on the 2010-2012 budget
* DAYBOOK - March 30, 2009: Today in Scripture, Prayer, History
* CATALYST - A Church of Her Own: What Happens When A Woman Takes the  Pulpit

>_____________________

>TOP STORIES

>Presiding Bishop's Easter message for 2009

[Episcopal News Service] The Presiding Bishop's Easter message for
2009 follows in English and in Spanish and is available online at
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_106562_ENG_HTM.htm. (A French
translation will be posted shortly.)

>An Easter Message

>The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori
>Presiding Bishop
>The Episcopal Church

The light returns and the days lengthen, even if it remains
startlingly dark as we rise these days -- daylight savings time is not
always a blessing so early in the year! Christians, however, look for
light even in the midst of darkness, for we know that darkness will
not overcome it. The rising of the Son brings light into lives filled
with grief, agony, and despair. Are you searching for the light of new
life?

Easter recollects us and reorients us toward God's eternal light of
truth and peace and love. The resurrection is the ultimate
proclamation that nothing can separate us from that light, not despair
or destruction or death. We see hints of that resurrection all around
us once our eyes have learned to look, and we continue to hope for its
fullness, for the blessing of a light so encompassing that there can
be no darkness or separation. Lent has been a willingness to
experience the darkness of our current separation and tune our
yearning for that light. Carry that yearning into Eastertide, and
beyond, that we and the world around us may know the blessing of the
light of Christ.

>Easter 2009

>- - - - -

>Mensaje Pascual 2009

>S. E. Rvma. Katharine Jefferts Schori
>Obispa Presidenta de la Iglesia Episcopal

La luz va aumentando y los días se van alargando, aunque cuando nos
levantamos todavía continúa bastante oscuro: la hora de verano no  trae
tantas bendiciones tan temprano en el año. Sin embargo, los cristianos
buscan la luz aun en medio de la oscuridad, porque sabemos que las
tinieblas no prevalecerán contra ella. La resurrección del Hijo trae
luz a las vidas llenas de dolores, agonia, y desesperación. ¿Está
buscando la luz de la vida nueva?

La Pascua nos hace meditar y nos reorienta hacia la luz eterna de
Dios, luz de verdad y paz y amor. La resurrección es la proclamación
superlativa de que nada puede separarnos de esta luz: ni el
desesperación ni la destrucción ni la muerte. Veremos señales de  esta
resurrección alrededor de nosotros después que nuestros ojos han
aprendido a ver, y continuamos esperando hasta su plenitud, por la
bendición de una luz tan plena que no hay lugar para la oscuridad o
separación. La Cuaresma ha sido la disposición de experimentar la
oscuridad de nuestra actual separación y sintonizar este deseo hacia
esta luz. Continúe con este deseo durante la estación pascual y  aún
más allá, para que el mundo que nos rodea pueda conocer la  bendición
de la luz de.

>Pascua, 2009

>- - - - -

In East Asia and the Pacific, Anglicans commit to action on climate  change

>By Matthew Davies

[Episcopal News Service] With a pledge to work together in addressing
pressing environmental concerns in East Asia and the Pacific,
representatives from several Anglican provinces and mission agencies
met March 23-26 in Hong Kong for a consultation on climate change,
co-sponsored by Episcopal Relief and Development, the Episcopal Church
and the Anglican Province of Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui.

The consultation was inspired by several conversations in 2008 with
Episcopal Church partners and church leaders primarily from East Asia
and the Pacific Rim, said Kirsten Muth, ERD's senior director of Asia,
Pacific and New Initiatives, who noted that the purpose of the
gathering was to focus on "climate change as it relates to poverty,
and identifying how we can work together more effectively in areas of
sustainable development."

Around 30 participants attended the gathering from Australia, China,
Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Philippines, Polynesia, Solomon Islands, the
U.K., the U.S. and Vanuatu.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_106572_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>_____________________

>DIOCESAN DIGEST

PENNSYLVANIA: Presiding Bishop engages in conversation with laity

>By Jerry Hames

[Episcopal News Service] For two hours on Sunday afternoon (March 30),
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori held a conversation with
lay people at Philadelphia Cathedral, listening to their views and
responding to their questions about the diocese, the Episcopal Church
and the Anglican Communion.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_106571_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>_____________________

>WORLD REPORT

BRITAIN: G20 leaders must not forget promises to the poor, religious  leaders
say

[Lambeth Palace] Religious leaders in Britain have urged the G20
leaders not to forget their commitments to the world's poorest people
in the current economic crisis.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_106561_ENG_HTM.htm

>- - - - -

ENGLAND: Outspoken Rochester bishop says he will leave his post

>By Mary Frances Schjonberg

[Episcopal News Service] Church of England Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali,
leader of the Diocese of Rochester, announced March 28 that he will
leave his diocesan post in September.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_106567_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>_____________________

>PEOPLE

Katherine Ragsdale named president and dean of Episcopal Divinity School

[Episcopal Divinity School] The Rev. Dr. Katherine Hancock Ragsdale,
president and executive director of Political Research Associates and
vicar of St. David's Episcopal Church, Pepperell, Mass., has been
named the new president and dean of Episcopal Divinity School,
according to an announcement by Brett Donham, chair of EDS's board of
trustees, on March 30.

Elected by unanimous vote of the board, Ragsdale succeeds the Rt. Rev.
Steven Charleston, who led the seminary from 1999 to 2008. Ragsdale
will join the EDS staff full-time on July 1.

"The search committee presented to the Board of Trustees the Rev.
Katherine Ragsdale as its unanimous recommendation for president and
dean of Episcopal Divinity School," said Donham. "Katherine's gifts,
skills, and experience are an excellent match with the criteria
established by the search committee, both in terms of the current
challenges and opportunities at EDS, and the personal attributes we
are looking for in a new leader."

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81831_106569_ENG_HTM.htm

More People: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81831_ENG_HTM.htm

>_____________________

>MULTIMEDIA

Video: Pan Adams-McCaslin on the 2010-2012 budget

[Episcopal News Service] Pan Adams-McCaslin, chair of the Joint
Standing Committee on Program, Budget and Finance, describes how PB&F
is developing the 2010-2012 budget for the approval of the 76th
General Convention in July.

Video: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81231_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>_____________________

>DAYBOOK

On March 30, 2009, the church calendar remembers John Donne, priest
(1572-1631).

* 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 30, 1999, Bishop Jim Ottley officially
left his post as Anglican Observer at the United Nations.

>_____________________

>CATALYST

"A Church of Her Own: What Happens When A Woman Takes the Pulpit" from
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Co., by Sarah Sentilles, 338
pages, hardcover, c. 2008, $25

[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Co.] 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 take us from their calls to the pulpit through their
ordinations and service in congregations. These women show us 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, we might well see 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

>_____________________

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