wfn.org | [ELD] Smaller triennial budget requires new ways of working / Interfaith prayer vigil seeks end to h

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

>Episcopal Life Daily
>September 16, 2009

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

>Today's Episcopal Life Daily includes:

* TOP STORY - Smaller triennial budget requires new ways of working
* TOP STORY - Interfaith prayer vigil seeks end to hateful immigrant
rhetoric
* TOP STORY - Nigeria elects Nicholas Orogodo Okoh as primate
* DIOCESAN DIGEST - SOUTHEAST FLORIDA: Bishop will allow blessing of
same-gender marriages
* DIOCESAN DIGEST - CALIFORNIA: Bishop Andrus to undergo surgery for
prostate cancer
* WORLD REPORT - Canadian and African theologians correspond about  sexuality
* CALENDAR - Upcoming special events and services
* SPIRITUAL REFLECTION - September 20, 2009 - Sixteenth Sunday After
Pentecost, Proper 20 - Year B
* DAYBOOK - September 17: Today in Scripture, Prayer, History
* CATALYST - Blessed Connections - Relationships that Sustain Vital  Ministry

>_____________________

>TOP STORIES

Smaller triennial budget requires new ways of working

Church Center staff discerns how best to support mission, ministry

>By Mary Frances Schjonberg

[Episcopal News Service] Employees of the Episcopal Church Center
suggested this week that project- and team-based work with greater
collaboration and better communication, all aided by increased use of
technology, will help them serve the church with a smaller budget and
fewer colleagues.

General Convention's decision to approve a 2010-2012 budget in July
that is $23 million smaller than the current triennial plan prompted
the need to rethink the work of church center staff. The $141-million
budget will mean that approximately 40 staff positions out of 192 in
the Episcopal Church's New York and regional offices will be
eliminated.

The program staff of the church center gathered at the New York office
in various groups September 14-16 to consider the impact of the cuts.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_114759_ENG_HTM.htm

>- - - - -

Interfaith prayer vigil seeks end to hateful immigrant rhetoric

>By Lynette Wilson

[Episcopal News Service -- Washington, D.C.] The character of the
United States depends on how its citizens treat the most vulnerable in
their midst and in some ways that character is being tested, said
Diocese of Rochester Bishop Prince Singh during a September 15 prayer
vigil in Washington, D.C.

Singh, faith leaders, members of Congress and others gathered in
prayer "to call for an end to hateful rhetoric in immigration debate,"
in the vigil organized by the Interfaith Immigration Coalition, of
which the Episcopal Church is a member.

"It is a call for us as people of faith to come together in some sense
of how we will reflect that character because we are a nation of
immigrants," said Singh.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_114735_ENG_HTM.htm

>- - - - -

Nigeria elects Nicholas Orogodo Okoh as primate

>By ENS staff

[Episcopal News Service] The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion)
has elected Archbishop Nicholas Orogodo Okoh of Bendel province and
bishop of the Diocese of Asaba to serve as its next primate.

Okoh, 57, will succeed Archbishop Peter Akinola, who has served as
primate since March 2000 and will step down on March 25, 2010 after
reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70.

The election took place at the Cathedral Church of St. Stephen's in
Umuahia, Abia State, on September 15 during a meeting of the church's
House of Bishops. Okoh was elected out of a field of three candidates
after receiving the required two-thirds majority of votes cast.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_114732_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>_____________________

>DIOCESAN DIGEST

SOUTHEAST FLORIDA: Bishop will allow blessing of same-gender marriages

>By Mary Frances Schjonberg

[Episcopal Life Online] Episcopal Diocese of Southeast Florida
(http://www.diosef.org) Bishop Leo Frade will allow clergy in the
Miami-based diocese to bless the unions of same-sex couples who have
been legally married in states or countries.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_114759_ENG_HTM.htm

>- - - - -

CALIFORNIA: Bishop Andrus to undergo surgery for prostate cancer

>By ENS Staff

[Episcopal News Service] Bishop Marc Handley Andrus of the San
Francisco-based Episcopal Diocese of California has announced he will
undergo surgery for prostate cancer on September 28.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_114760_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>_____________________

>WORLD REPORT

Canadian and African theologians correspond about sexuality

>By Ali Symons

[Anglican Church of Canada] In a kind of high-level pen pal
relationship, theologians from six African dioceses are now exchanging
essays about sexuality with theologians from four Canadian Anglican
dioceses. Kawuki (Isaac) Mukasa, coordinator for dialogue for the
General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada, paired up dioceses
during two trips to Africa, including visits to South Africa,
Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda from July 31 to August 21.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_114737_ENG_HTM.htm

More World news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_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

September 20, 2009 - Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost, Proper 20 - Year  B

(RCL) Proverbs 31:10-31 and Psalm 1 (Track 2: Wisdom of Solomon
1:16-2:1, 12-22 or Jeremiah 11:18-20 and Psalm 54); James 3:13-4:3,
7-8a; Mark 9:30-37

>By the Rev. Dr. Susanna Metz

[Sermons That Work] Sometimes the expanse of centuries between when
the scriptures were written and when we, in the twenty-first century,
are reading them seems to disappear. The readings today that
supposedly come from Wisdom and James couldn't possibly have been
written that long ago. They must have been written in our time - in
our generation, or at least only as far back as our parents or
grandparents. They're too current - too modern - too right between our
eyes, don't you think?

Full story:

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/sermons_that_work_114564_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>_____________________

>DAYBOOK

On September 17, 2009, the church remembers Hildegard, Abbess of
Bingen and Mystic (1098-1179).

* 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 17, 1979, the Council of Anglican
Provinces of Africa (CAPA) held its inaugural meeting at the Chilema
Lay Training Center in Malawi.

>_____________________

>CATALYST

"Blessed Connections - Relationships that Sustain Vital Ministry" from
the Alban Institute, by Judith A. Schwanz, foreword by David J. Wood,
197 pages, paperback, c. 2009, $17

[The Alban Institute] No pastor sets out to fail, but statistics say
15 to 20 percent of pastors leave pastoral ministry within the first
five years. One seminary administrator said that every person he had
heard of leaving the ministry had done so because of a relationship
failure. We cannot escape relationships in ministry, yet few
seminaries offer courses in how to build healthy relationships. The
assumption is that the type of person who is called to ministry will
have all the "people skills" they need, which sadly is not always
true.

In Blessed Connections, seminary professor Judith Schwanz focuses on
the person of the minister and the relational system of the minister's
life. She spotlights three areas of connection -- relationship with
self, relationships with other people, and relationship with God.
Attending to these three primary connections will strengthen the
pastor and cushion her or him against the pressures and stresses of
daily ministry. Blessed Connections is ideal for seminary students and
new pastors and includes "Assessment Journal" questions at the end of
each chapter for personal application.

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