wfn.org | [ENS] Medical Trust work on denominational health plan underway / Archbishops issue urgent plea for

[<mdavies@episcopalchurch.org>]

>Episcopal News Service
>January 12, 2010

Episcopal News Service is available at  http://www.episcopalchurch.org/ens.

>Today's Episcopal News Service includes:

* TOP STORY - Medical Trust work on denominational health plan underway
* TOP STORY - Archbishops issue urgent plea for peace in Sudan
* TOP STORY - Jan. 24 bulletin inserts outline services offered by
Puerto Rico diocese
* WORLD REPORT - ENGLAND: Laptops, mobile phones get church's blessing
as workers' tools
* DAYBOOK - January 13: Today in Scripture, Prayer, History
* CATALYST - The Invention of Air - A Story of Science, Faith,
Revolution, and the Birth of America

>_____________________

>TOP STORIES

Medical Trust work on denominational health plan underway

Church-wide plan to be built on diocesan choice

>By Mary Frances Schjonberg

[Episcopal News Service] Against the backdrop of the health-care
reform debate across the United States., the Episcopal Church has
begun changing the way it provides employee healthcare benefits.

The General Convention in July (via Resolution A177) gave the
Episcopal Church Medical Trust, an affiliate of the Church Pension
Fund (CPF), three years to implement the new program. Dioceses,
congregations (including cathedrals, parishes and missions) as well as
other official church agencies are required by the resolution and the
canonical changes it included to provide benefits to all clergy and
lay employees who work 1,500 hours (30 hours a week) or more per year
in the church's domestic dioceses (including Puerto Rico and the
Virgin Islands). Employees who work 20 hours or more a week may
voluntarily participate according to guidelines their employers will
set.

Full story: http://www.episcopal-life.org/79901_118389_ENG_HTM.htm

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Jan. 24 bulletin inserts outline services offered by Puerto Rico diocese

The Diocese of Puerto Rico - once a missionary diocese of the
Episcopal Church and a full-fledged member diocese since 2003 -
carries on active programs of mission and ministry to meet the
increasing needs of the population. Episcopal New Service bulletin
inserts for Jan. 24 describe several diocesan and parish programs that
particularly serve young people of the island.

Bulletin inserts may be downloaded here:

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

>_ _ _ _ _

Archbishops issue urgent plea for peace in Sudan

>By Matthew Davies

Drawing attention to Sudan's faltering peace process, Archbishop of
Canterbury Rowan Williams and Episcopal Church of Sudan Archbishop
Daniel Deng Bul met with U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown Jan. 11 to
underscore the urgency for the international community to take action
to ensure that the country doesn't plunge back into civil war.

Full story: http://www.episcopal-life.org/79901_118385_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>_____________________

>WORLD REPORT

ENGLAND: Laptops, mobile phones get church's blessing as workers' tools

[Episcopal News Service] In an updated version of a traditional
"Plough Monday" back-to-work ceremony Jan. 11, Canon David Parrott of
St. Lawrence Jewry church in the City of London blessed laptops and
mobile phones.

Full story: http://www.episcopal-life.org/81808_118381_ENG_HTM.htm

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

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>DAYBOOK

On January 13, 2010, the church remembers Hilary, bishop of Poitiers

* 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 January 13, 1731, John Darwall, composer, was
baptized at Haughton, Staffordshire, England. Darwall was appointed
Curate and later Vicar of St. Matthew's Parish in Walsall, and lived
the rest of his life there.

>_____________________

>CATALYST

"The Invention of Air - A Story of Science, Faith, Revolution, and the
Birth of America" from Penguin Group, by Steven Johnson, 254 pages,
hardcover, c. 2009, $25.95

[Penguin Group] The Invention of Air is a book of world-changing ideas
wrapped around a compelling narrative, a story of genius and violence
and friendship in the midst of sweeping historical change that
provokes us to recast our understanding of the Founding Fathers.

It is the story of Joseph Priestley -- scientist and theologian,
protégé of Benjamin Franklin, friend of Thomas Jefferson -- an
eighteenth-century radical thinker who played pivotal roles in the
invention of ecosystem science, the discovery of oxygen, the founding
of the Unitarian Church, and the intellectual development of the
United States. And it is a story that only Steven Johnson, acclaimed
juggler of disciplines and provocative ideas, can do justice to.

In the 1780s, Priestley had established himself in his native England
as a brilliant scientist, a prominent minister, and an outspoken
advocate of the American Revolution, who had sustained long
correspondences with Franklin, Jefferson, and John Adams. Ultimately,
his radicalism made his life politically uncomfortable, and he fled to
the nascent United States. Here, he was able to build conceptual
bridges linking the scientific, political, and religious impulses that
governed his life. And through his close relationships with the
Founding Fathers -- Jefferson credited Priestley as the man who
prevented him from abandoning Christianity -- he exerted profound if
little-known influence on the shape and course of our history.

To order, please visit Episcopal Books and Resources online at
http://www.episcopalbookstore.org, call 800-903-5544, or visit your
local Episcopal bookstore.