wfn.org | [ELD] Bishops' Theology Committee chair declines to release names of same-gender study group / Episc

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

>Episcopal Life Daily
>June 3, 2009

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

NOTE: Due to an error in the original text, corrected versions of the
Episcopal Life Weekly bulletin inserts for June 7 have been posted on
the Episcopal Life Online website at
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/95270_ENG_HTM.htm. Please use the
updated inserts.

>Today's Episcopal Life Daily includes:

* TOP STORY - Bishops' Theology Committee chair declines to release
names of same-gender study group
* TOP STORY - Episcopal Life Weekly continues General Convention
bulletin insert series
* TOP STORY - Pregnancy-loss prayers, new church calendar proposed
* DIOCESAN DIGEST - FORT WORTH: Gulick to extend term as provisional
bishop till November
* WORLD REPORT - MIDDLE EAST: Jerusalem diocese receives $250,000
grant for healthcare training program
* MISSION - Public policy network urges support for hate crimes bill
* CALENDAR - Upcoming special events and services
* SPIRITUAL REFLECTION - June 7 - First Sunday After Pentecost,
Trinity Sunday - Year B
* DAYBOOK - June 4, 2009: Today in Scripture, Prayer, History
* CATALYST - Wheeling & Dealing - A Guidebook for Travelers with
Disabilities

>_____________________

>TOP STORIES

Bishops' Theology Committee chair declines to release names of
same-gender study group

Advocacy groups call decision 'insult' that goes against church's
transparent governance

>By Mary Frances Schjonberg

[Episcopal News Service] A group formed by Episcopal Church bishops to
study the theology of same-gender relationships has begun its work,
but the chair of the committee that appointed the panel refuses at
least for now to identify its members, a decision that critics say is
insulting and lacking in transparency.

"It has always been the committee's intention to publish the names of
the panel when the work has reached the appropriate stage," Diocese of
Alabama Bishop Henry Parsley, chair of the House of Bishops Theology
Committee, said in a statement June 3. "We believe that for a season
the work can best be accomplished by allowing the panel to work in
confidence. This supports the full collegiality and academic freedom
of the theologians and provides the space they need for the deep
dialogue and reflection that is taking place among them."

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_108986_ENG_HTM.htm

>- - - - -

Episcopal Life Weekly continues General Convention bulletin insert  series

[Episcopal News Service] Continuing the series of bulletin inserts on
General Convention is the June 14 edition, titled "Together met,
together bound." The text describes the structure of The Episcopal
Church, from parish to diocese to province to the wider national and
international level, and emphasizes the bonds of worship and ministry
uniting all Episcopalians, whether they worship in cathedrals, tiny
rural churches or urban storefronts.

The bulletin inserts may be downloaded here:

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/95270_ENG_HTM.htm

>- - - - -

Pregnancy-loss prayers, new church calendar proposed

General Convention to address liturgical issues

>By Sharon Sheridan

[Episcopal Life] Six years ago, Georgette Forney, head of an Episcopal
Church pro-life group, asked the church to create a healing service
for people like herself and others she encountered who had had
abortions.

She terminated a pregnancy when she was 16. "For 19 years I was fine.
I never thought about it," she told a committee that was considering
liturgy legislation at the 2003 General Convention. Then, one day,
without warning, she opened an old yearbook and "felt the presence of
my child.

"I did not expect this, I did not plan for it, and I was overwhelmed
when it happened. I didn't know how to cope," said Forney, president
of Anglicans for Life (formerly the National Organization of
Episcopalians for Life or NOEL).

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_108850_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>_____________________

>DIOCESAN DIGEST

FORT WORTH: Gulick to extend term as provisional bishop till November

Assistant chancellor appointed; congregations thriving

>By Pat McCaughan

[Episcopal News Service] The Rt. Rev. Edwin F. Gulick Jr. will extend
his initial six-month term as provisional bishop of the Episcopal
Diocese of Fort Worth by about five months, until at least
mid-November, according to a statement released by the diocese.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_108923_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>_____________________

>WORLD REPORT

MIDDLE EAST: Jerusalem diocese receives $250,000 grant for healthcare
training program

[Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem is
undertaking a training program in neurosurgery made possible by a
US$250,000 grant from the TATWEER Association, a non-governmental
development center based in Ramallah, with funding coming from the
World Bank.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_108868_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>_____________________

>MISSION

Public policy network urges support for hate crimes bill

>By Lynette Wilson

[Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Public Policy Network (EPPN)
issued an alert in May urging Episcopalians to send letters to their
U.S. Senate representatives in support of the Matthew Shepard Hate
Crimes Prevention Act, a bill which would reform existing hate crimes
law.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81799_108993_ENG_HTM.htm

>______________________

>CALENDAR

A round-up of upcoming special events, services, concerts and diocesan
conventions taking place throughout the Episcopal Church is available
at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/calendar.htm

>_____________________

>SPIRITUAL REFLECTIONS

June 7 - First Sunday After Pentecost, Trinity Sunday - Year B

(RCL) Isaiah 6:1-8; Psalm 29 or Canticle 2 or 13; Romans 8:12-17; John
3:1-17

>By the Rev. Timothy B. Safford

[Sermons That Work] Imagine that you are sitting at a piano, and with
your left hand you press down on the key in the middle of the keyboard
- middle C. What do you hear?

One full note that fills your ears and your senses. It is pure.

Then imagine that with your right hand, you press down very, very
gently on the key exactly seven keys above middle C, the note of C one
octave above middle C. Imagine you've pressed the key so gently that
the hammer doesn't strike the strings in the piano. Those strings
remain undampered, or as the musicians say, "open."

Full reflection:

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/sermons_that_work_108514_ENG_HTM.htm

More Spiritual Reflections:  http://www.episcopalchurch.org/82457_ENG_HTM.htm

>_____________________

>DAYBOOK

On June 4, the church calendar remembers the First Book of Common  Prayer.

* 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 June 4, 1996, Bishop Winston Njongonkulu
Ndungane was chosen to succeed Desmond Tutu as Anglican Archbishop of
Cape Town.

>_____________________

>CATALYST

"Wheeling & Dealing - A Guidebook for Travelers with Disabilities"
from Seaboard Press, by Sue Maris Allen and the Reverend Barbara
Ramnaraine, 127 pages, paperback, c. 2008, $14.95

[Seaboard Press] The heart of travel has always been beyond mere
intineraries and "sight-seeing." Similarly, Wheeling and Dealing is
more than a mere "How-To Guidebook." Written with hard-earned wisdom
and wit, it offers readers nothing short of a first-class ticket to
expanding their horizons, both inside and out. -- Marc Nieson

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

>_____________________

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