[ENS] African bishops look to the future, commit to leading the church in the 21st century / Bulleti

[<mdavies@episcopalchurch.org>]

>Episcopal News Service
>August 30, 2010

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

>Today's Episcopal News Service includes:

* TOP STORY - Bulletin inserts highlight work of Episcopal Public 
Policy Network
* TOP STORY - African bishops look to the future, commit to leading
the church in the 21st century
* TOP STORY - Dreaming of urban orchards: Two Diocese of Louisiana
groups continue Katrina recovery work
* OPINION - African bishops' priorities go largely unreported, by Jan 
Butter
* DAYBOOK - August 31: Today in Scripture, Prayer, History
* EPISCOPAL BOOKS & RESOURCES PICK - "Claiming the Beatitudes - Nine
Stories from a New Generation"

>_____________________

>TOP STORIES

Bulletin inserts highlight work of Episcopal Public Policy Network

In Episcopal News Service Weekly bulletin inserts for Sept. 12, Mary
Getz, grassroots and online communications officer for the Episcopal
Public Policy Network, explains EPPN's issues advocacy work, its roots
in General Convention resolutions, and how Episcopalians can take part
in its actions.

To download inserts, click here:

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

>- - - - -

African bishops look to the future, commit to leading the church in
the 21st century

>By Matthew Davies

[Episcopal News Service] As the All Africa Bishops Conference
(http://www.africanbishops.org) in Entebbe, Uganda, drew to a close
Aug. 29, participants said they'd been encouraged by the bishops'
determination "not to be distracted from the urgent business of
leading the church in the 21st century," the Rev. Canon Petero Sabune,
Africa partnerships officer for the Episcopal Church, told ENS.

"There was so much more to this conference than internal disagreements
over certain issues," said Jan Butter, director of communications for
the Anglican Communion, referring to the media's focus on human
sexuality and other controversial topics. "All anyone needed to do was
strike up a conversation with any bishop from any country and soon
they would be marveling over what was happening in dioceses and
parishes up and down the continent."

More than 400 Anglican bishops from Africa were joined by
international partners, diplomats and representatives from relief and
development organizations for the weeklong gathering, which focused on
issues of conflict, poverty, corruption and disease.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79425_124255_ENG_HTM.htm

>- - - - -

Dreaming of urban orchards: Two Diocese of Louisiana groups continue
Katrina recovery work

>By Mary Frances Schjonberg

[Episcopal News Service] Five years ago as New Orleanians struggled to
survive in the wake of the Hurricane Katrina, few if any of them were
thinking about trying to plant an orchard somewhere in the Uptown
neighborhood.

This August, a group supported by the Jericho Road Episcopal Housing
Initiative is working towards just that goal. The orchard will
complement the community garden that already exists in the Faubourg
Delassize "sub-neighborhood" of what some people call the Uptown and
others call Central City.

Jericho Road Episcopal Housing Initiative and Episcopal Community
Services of Louisiana are two examples of Episcopal Church-affiliated
organizations that have grown and transformed themselves and the
people they serve since they began work during the months after
Katrina wreaked destruction over the Gulf Coast.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79425_124251_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>_____________________

>OPINION

African bishops' priorities go largely unreported

>By Jan Butter

[Episcopal News Service] I flew into Entebbe on Monday morning (Aug.
23) without map or compass; this was only the second gathering of
bishops from across the continent of Africa. The first had been six
years ago in Lagos, Nigeria, long before my time with the Anglican
Communion Office.

As an invited guest I had received the conference agenda, but I was
worried that disagreements between provinces of the Anglican Communion
-- a perpetual topic for most bloggers and journalists -- could
overshadow the proceedings.

This concerned me because the official conference agenda appeared to
be a genuine attempt to bring to the table those issues that hampered
the mission of the church in Africa: poverty, poor leadership, health
inequalities, conflict and violence. In fact, many of the invited
guests were from mission agencies such as Church Mission Society
Africa and World Vision Uganda.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80050_124249_ENG_HTM.htm

More Opinion: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80050_ENG_HTM.htm

>_____________________

>DAYBOOK

On August 31, 2010, the church remembers Aidan, bishop of Lindisfarne.

* 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 August 31, 1159, Adrian (or Hadrian) IV, the
only English pope in history, died in Anagni, Italy.

>_____________________

>EPISCOPAL BOOKS & RESOURCES PICK

"Claiming the Beatitudes - Nine Stories from a New Generation" from
the Alban Institute, by Anne Sutherland Howard, foreword by Marcus J.
Borg, 150 pages, paperback, c. 2009, $17

[The Alban Institute] In Claiming the Beatitudes: Nine Stories from a
New Generation, Anne Sutherland Howard uses Jesus' beatitudes to
challenge us to live as the "salt of the earth" and the "light of the
world," recognizing that God is present and active in our lives today.

Though Jesus spoke the words of the beatitudes thousands of years ago,
people throughout our society are continuing to adjust their way of
modern living in the hopes of changing the world around them. With her
experience both as an Episcopal priest and as executive director of
The Beatitudes Society, Howard meets these people around the world and
shares their inspiring stories.

"In troubled times, hope often seems elusive, a vague promise of the
future. But Anne Howard transforms hope into a tangible practice of
faith by sharing the stories of young adults who take Jesus'
beatitudes both literally and seriously. Read Claiming the Beatitudes
and glimpse a transformational wisdom for church that grounds life in
God's beauty, truth, and goodness." --Diana Butler Bass, author,
Christianity for the Rest of Us and A People's History of Christianity

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