wfn.org | [ENS] Presiding bishop describes Canterbury's sanctions as 'unfortunate' / AFRECS conference looks t

[<mdavies@episcopalchurch.org>]

>Episcopal News Service
>June 8, 2010

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

>Today's Episcopal News Service includes:

* TOP STORY - Presiding bishop describes Canterbury's sanctions as  
'unfortunate'
* TOP STORY - AFRECS conference looks to January 2011 referendum,
anticipates outcome
* TOP STORY - 'We are all connected,' says presiding bishop in June 20
bulletin inserts
* DIOCESAN DIGEST: WASHINGTON: Ugandan bishop says 'human sexuality is
universal'
* PEOPLE - More than 300 celebrate 25th anniversary of Fran Toy's  ordination
* MULTIMEDIA - Video: Bonnie Anderson preaches in Brazil
* MULTIMEDIA - Video: Historic ties between the Episcopal Church,
Igreja Episcopal Anglicana do Brasil point to future
* DAYBOOK - June 9: Today in Scripture, Prayer, History
* EBAR PICK - "Jesus Wars - How Four Patriarchs, Three Queens, and Two
Emperors Decided What Christians Would Believe"

>_____________________

>TOP STORIES

Presiding bishop describes Canterbury's sanctions as 'unfortunate'

>By Marites N. Sison

[Anglican Journal] Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has
described the decision by Lambeth Palace to remove Episcopalians
serving on international ecumenical dialogues as "unfortunate ... It
misrepresents who the Anglican Communion is."

Jefferts Schori's comments were made during a June 8 press conference
at the Anglican Church of Canada's General Synod 2010 in Halifax, Nova
Scotia.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79425_122744_ENG_HTM.htm

>_ _ _ _ _

AFRECS conference looks to January 2011 referendum, anticipates outcome

>By Lynette Wilson

[Episcopal News Service - Alexandria, Virginia] In January 2011 the
people of South Sudan are expected to vote in a referendum that will
determine the future of Africa's largest country, a country with a
long history of civil war, and rich in oil and other natural
resources.

Most experts believe the south will vote for independence.

"I think the south is going to become an independent power in January,
one way or another; I hope it's not through a unilateral declaration
of independence. I hope it is through a formal referendum," said
Georgetown University Professor Andrew S. Natsios, who has years of
experience working for the U.S. government on development and
humanitarian aid issues in Sudan.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79425_122736_ENG_HTM.htm

>- - - - -

'We are all connected,' says presiding bishop in June 20 bulletin  inserts

[Episcopal News Service] A lesson can be drawn from the
still-unfolding oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico - that all
are connected, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori writes in
ENS Weekly bulletin inserts for June 20.

The presiding bishop, who was a research oceanographer before entering
the ministry, writes of the devastating effect of the flood of oil on
the ecology and economy of the entire region, the nation and the
world.

"The Abrahamic traditions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) charge
human beings with care for the whole of creation, because it is God's
good gift to humanity," Jefferts Schori writes. "Another way of saying
this is that we are all connected and there is no escape; our common
future depends on how we care for the rest of the natural world, not
just the square feet of soil we may call 'our own.'"

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79425_122724_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>_____________________

>DIOCESAN DIGEST

WASHINGTON: Ugandan bishop says 'human sexuality is universal'

>By Mary Frances Schjonberg

[Episcopal News Service] Retired Diocese of Western Uganda Christopher
Senyonjo said he and other Ugandans are "very grateful for the voices
all over the world" that have spoken out against the proposed
legislation in his country that would continue the criminalization of
homosexuality.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_122740_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>______________________

>PEOPLE

More than 300 celebrate 25th anniversary of Fran Toy's ordination

Toy: 'It's been a wonderful ride and it's not over yet'

>By Pat McCaughan

[Episcopal News Service] Hailing her pioneering spirit, more than 300
people gathered at Christ Church in Alameda, California, on June 5 to
celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Rev. Dr. Fran Toy's ordination
as the first Asian American woman priest in the Episcopal Church.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81831_122734_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>_____________________

>MULTIMEDIA

>Video: Bonnie Anderson preaches in Brazil

House of Deputies President Bonnie Anderson preaches at the closing
Eucharist of the Anglican Church of Brazil's 31st General Synod, held
June 3-6 just outside Sao Paulo.

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

>- - - - -

Video: Historic ties between the Episcopal Church, Igreja Episcopal
Anglicana do Brasil point to future

The Rev. Glenda McQueen, Episcopal Church partnership officer for
Latin America, speaks June 5 about the past and present relationship
between the Episcopal Church and the Igreja Episcopal Anglicana do
Brasil.

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

>_____________________

>DAYBOOK

On June 9, 2010, the church remembers Columba, Abbot of Iona.

* 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 9, 1536, the clergy of England agreed to
petition for the right to read the Bible. On June 9, 1549, England's
first Act of Uniformity, passed by Parliament in January, took effect.
The act ordered that religious services be consistent throughout the
country, using Thomas Cranmer's Book of Common Prayer.

>_____________________

>EBAR PICK

"Jesus Wars - How Four Patriarchs, Three Queens, and Two Emperors
Decided What Christians Would Believe" by John Philip Jenkins,
hardcover, 352 pages, c. March 2010, $26.99.

[Harper Collins] In Jesus Wars, highly respected religious historian
Philip Jenkins (The Next Christendom) reveals in bloody detail the
fifth century battles over Christianity's biggest paradox: the dual
nature of Jesus Christ, as both fully human and fully divine. Jesus
Wars is a must for the bookshelf of those who enjoy the work of Jared
Diamond, Karen Armstrong, N.T. Wright, Elaine Pagels, and Alister
McGrath, as well as anyone interested in early Christian history.

Jesus Wars reveals how official, orthodox teaching about Jesus was the
product of political maneuvers by a handful of key characters in the
fifth century. Jenkins argues that were it not for these
controversies, the papacy as we know it would never have come into
existence and that today's church could be teaching something very
different about Jesus. It is only an accident of history that one
group of Roman emperors and militia-wielding bishops defeated another
faction.

Christianity claims that Jesus was, somehow, both human and divine.
But the Bible is anything but clear about Jesus' true identity. In
fact, a wide range of opinions and beliefs about Jesus circulated in
the church for four hundred years until allied factions of Roman
royalty and church leaders burned cities and killed thousands of
people in an unprecedented effort to stamp out heresy.

Jenkins recounts the fascinating, violent story of the church's
fifth-century battles over "right belief" that had a far greater
impact on the future of Christianity and the world than the
much-touted Council of Nicea convened by Constantine a century before.

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