wfn.org | NewsBriefs

[ENS.parti@ecunet.org]

April 3, 1997
Episcopal News Service
Jim Solheim, Director
212-922-5385
ens@ecunet.org

97-1727
NewsBriefs                                                                

So when is Easter anyway?
      (WCC) In an effort to address a central symbol of Christian
disunity--differing dates for Easter--church representatives at a recent
World Council of Churches meeting have proposed a possible solution.
Eastern and Western churches calculate the date for Easter by the same
method established by the Council of Nicea in 325, which proclaimed
that the church's holiest day should fall on the Sunday following the first
full moon after the March equinox. The dates fall differently in most
years, however, because the churches follow different calculations of the
equinox and full moon. Since the dates will coincide on April 15 in the
year 2001, the meeting in Aleppo, Syria, March 5-10, proposed using
precise modern astronomical calculations to set the date from that Easter
on. The astronomical observations will be based on the meridian of
Jerusalem, the place of Christ's death and resurrection. The proposal will
be sent to churches throughout the world together with a chart showing
possible dates for Easter in the first 25 years of the 21st century
according to both the new and the old methods. The consultation
recognized that while theological differences are not at stake in the
thorny issue of dating Easter, the question of the proper date is tied
closely to perceptions of self-identity for some churches. "The
consultation therefore concluded that there will be need for great pastoral
sensitivity among church members as the proposal is pursued," according
to a WCC news release.

Presiding Bishop's Fund gives additional grants for flood, tornado relief
      (ENS) As states struck by tornadoes and floods in early March
continued to try to repair the damage and rebuild lives, the Presiding
Bishop's Fund for World Relief expanded its assistance with additional
grants. Having made two initial grants to the Diocese of Arkansas for
tornado relief ($25,000) and the Diocese of West Virginia ($15,000) for
flood relief, the fund added grants of $25,000 to the dioceses of
Lexington (Kentucky), West Tennessee and Southern Ohio, where heavy
rains and swollen rivers created widespread flooding. Contributions can
be marked for disaster relief and sent to: The Presiding Bishop's Fund
for World Relief, c/o Banker's Trust Company, Box 12043, Newark,
New Jersey 07101.

Archbishop Carey considers early retirement
      (ENS) Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey recently disclosed
that he is considering retiring five years early from his position. In an
interview for the five-part English television series "Archbishop," Carey
said that "there is no doubt that in five years I will be ready to hand over
to someone else." He described the position as "a very wearing job. You
pour yourself into it and it's not only the physical side of it, because
there is a physical demand, but it's also spiritually and emotionally
demanding because you are being hit from many different angles." After
the interview, Carey stressed that no date for retirement was set in stone.
His office issued a statement saying that in the interview he was
"anticipating how he might feel. This should not be taken as an actual
decision. It is far too soon for that. It will obviously depend on how the
archbishop and others feel in the future."

WCC official foresees lengthy process of reconciliation in Rwanda
      (WCC) "Reconciliation and forgiveness in Rwanda will be the
result of a long, long journey," said GeneviŠve Jacques, a specialist in
international affairs for the World Council of Churches (WCC). Jacques,
who recently returned from a visit to Rwanda, said the people there are
under heavy pressure from the international community to begin
forgiving each other immediately. "This is deeply hurting those who had
loved ones killed in the genocide which swept the country in 1994," she
said. "Today is still a time of heavy silence between the Rwandans.
External pressure for reconciliation and forgiveness shows a complete
lack of understanding that it is only three years since the genocide and
that this was the result of a deep and long-standing ideology based on
ethnic division." While in Rwanda, Jacques attended a Pan-African
Conference on Peace, Gender and Development and a seminar organized
by the Protestant Council of Rwanda (CPR) which considered the theme
"Christianity Before, During and After the Genocide in Rwanda."
Jacques reported that a workshop organizer at the CPR seminar put the
participants under heavy moral pressure, based on Christian principles, to
forgive those who had done them wrong. In response, one woman wrote
on the wall: "How can I forgive as nobody has yet come to me to ask
forgiveness?"

Carey criticizes Runcie's revelations of dealings with royal family
      (ENI) Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey criticized his
predecessor, Robert Runcie, in a recently broadcast BBC television
program. Carey based his criticism on statements attributed to Runcie in
the book, "Robert Runcie: The Reluctant Archbishop" by Humphrey
Carpenter, published in 1996. Runcie described the Prince of Wales, who
is heir to the British throne, as "pious" but as having "given up on the
Church of England before I arrived." Of the prince's now dissolved
marriage to Lady Diana Spencer, Runcie said: "We thought it was an
arranged marriage, but my own view was, `They're a nice couple, and
she'll grow into it.'" He also reported, with apparent agreement, the
view that Diana was "a schemer." Carey criticized these remarks,
suggesting that they could undermine people's faith in the confidentiality
of talks with priests. He declared that his "whole ministry is based on the
fact that if you want to talk to me privately you can be absolutely sure
that whatever you say is safe and it goes to my grave, with no
indiscretion . . . " Runcie is known to be concerned about his biography,
and the author has had to fend off claims by critics that he duped the
former archbishop by publishing material intended only for background
information.

Congregation members charge Long Island bishop with canon violation
      (ENS) Twenty-one members of St. George's Church in Flushing,
New York, and three clergy from the diocese filed a complaint, March 4,
against Bishop Orris G. Walker Jr., of the Diocese of Long Island,
claiming that Walker violated canon law in not approving the
congregation's choice of rector. The charges, filed with Presiding Bishop
Edmond Browning, assert that Walker said that the Rev. Franco C.
Kwan was not "duly qualified" to serve as rector. Kwan has been serving
the Chinese congregation at St. George's since 1988. The parish,
consisting of more than 200 congregants, conducts services in English,
Chinese, and Spanish. Church canons require Browning to appoint a
review panel of five to seven bishops to determine whether the charges,
if proven true, would constitute a violation of the canons. If that first
review indicates that the canons might have been violated, a second panel
of clergy and lay people will be appointed to decide whether a
presentment should be brought against Walker. A review panel recently
dismissed similar charges against Bishop Frank Vest of Southern
Virginia, who refused to approve the election of the Rev. Dr. Peter Toon
to serve as rector of Christ Church in Danville, Virginia.

New pension plan adopted for national church's lay employees
      (ENS) On the heels of implementing a new compensation plan for
all national church employees, the Episcopal Church has initiated a
different pension program for its lay employees. Starting April 3, a
defined contribution plan administered by the Church Pension Fund
replaces a self-funded defined benefits plan. The former program
promised to pay lay employees a set amount or "benefit" each month that
they lived past retirement. New employees waited five years to be vested
in the plan. Under the new plan, the church will make regular
"contributions" into an investment fund for each employee. The
contributions will equal five percent of each employee's salary, with a
promise to match an additional four percent of the employee's own
contributions. New employees will be vested in the new plan after one
year. According to Treasurer Stephen Duggan, the new plan offers
employees the advantages of a portable plan with almost immediate
vesting, while saving the church an estimated $1.6 million each year. All
lay people currently working for the church will be vested automatically
in the old plan, even if they have not worked the required five years. A
variety of options will be developed, he said, to pay out the old plan's
benefits, in addition to the standard payment of monthly benefits at
retirement.

Archangels accompany Pope's Easter Internet launch
      (ENI) Easter Sunday marked the official Internet launch of Pope
John Paul II on the World Wide Web, thanks to a new Vatican website
powered by three computers named after the archangels Gabriel, Michael
and Raphael. Announcing the launch of the Vatican's website
(http://www.vatican.va), Bishop Claudio Maria Celli, a Vatican official,
said that the Pope was "fascinated" by the "enormous possibilities" the
new information technologies and the Internet offer for evangelization.
"The Holy See welcomes this new challenge, and with respect and care,
wishes to enter into dialogue with all," he said. The website has been
made possible by computer technology from Digital Italy and Digital
Equipment Corporation. Alberto Fresco of Digital Equipment said that he
was convinced that "the Vatican's Internet site will soon become one of
the most visited websites, particularly because of the jubilee year 2000."
The website--which to begin with will operate in six languages (Italian,
English, French, German, Spanish and Portuguese)--will include all the
speeches and documents of Pope John Paul II, biographical information,
and the main documents of the Roman Curia. The website will also offer
the daily bulletins of the Vatican's press office. The Vatican hopes to add
two further languages--Chinese and Arabic--and to link the website to the
Vatican museums and the Vatican library, making it possible to consult
documents linked to a thousand years of history.

Bishop and sheikh at odds over Ugandan deaths
      (ENI) Sheikh Sulaiman Kakeeto, leader of an Islamic group in
Uganda, the Tabliq Muslims, sharply criticized an Anglican bishop
recently, accusing him of damaging relations with Muslims. Kakeeto had
demanded that Bishop Zebidee Masereka, of the Diocese of South
Ruwenzori, retract alleged remarks suggesting that some Muslims wanted
to force all Ugandans--and all people of Africa--to become Muslims. He
said that remarks made by Masereka during a funeral service on January
16 had "soured" relations between Christians and Muslims. The funeral
service was held for a clergyman, Peter Bwambale, who had been
abducted and killed by guerrillas. Bwambale had been taken from his
home in Kasese on November 15, 1996, and killed in Zaire, along with
two Zairean Anglican priests, Matayo Sabuni and Douglas Munzombo.
The rebels who killed the priests are trying to overthrow the government
of Uganda's President, Yoweri Museveni. During the funeral, Masereka
said, "The tragic death of Reverend Bwambale . . . raises many
questions about Christian-Muslim relations in the country. One cannot
avoid to think of this wanton killing as part of the long-term plan to force
Ugandans and all people of Africa to become Muslims."  Kakeeto said
Masereka's speech was intended to "blackmail Muslims, and if he does
not apologize, Muslims will interpret it to be the official position of the
Church of Uganda."

Australian church leaders welcome quashing of euthanasia law
      (ENI) Many Australian church leaders, including the Anglican and
Roman Catholic archbishops of Sydney, have welcomed the recent
decision by the country's federal parliament to overturn a law legalizing
voluntary euthanasia in Australia's Northern Territory. The Northern
Territory euthanasia law--the world's first law permitting voluntary
euthanasia--came into force last year. Four people have died with medical
assistance under the law and two other people were awaiting medical
assistance to end their lives when the federal parliament voted on the
issue. The parliament also voted down an amendment which would have
allowed the two people to die legally with the help of their doctor.
Church leaders have been almost unanimous in their condemnation but
surveys have suggested that 40 percent of the country's Protestant
church-goers think people should have the choice of death rather than
suffer the torment of incurable illness. Anglican Archbishop of Sydney,
Harry Goodhew, said he was deeply pleased with the federal vote.
"While we feel a deep sense of compassion for those who are suffering
and longing for release from pain, yet we must recognize that the Senate
vote shows that there is still a sense of reverence for life in our
community," he said. "To condone the deliberate killing of the most
vulnerable in society is to risk the status of all human life in our
community."  

Survey of scientists finds a stability in faith in God
      (NYT) Scientists have been accused of playing God when they
clone sheep, and of naysaying God when they insist that evolution be
taught in school, but a new study indicates that many scientists believe in
God by the most mainstream definition of the concept. Repeating
verbatim a famous survey first conducted in 1916, Edward J. Larson of
the University of Georgia has found that the depth of religious faith
among scientists has not changed regardless of whatever scientific and
technical advances this century has wrought. Then as now, about 40
percent of the responding biologists, physicists and mathematicians said
they believed in a God who, by the survey's strict definition, actively
communicates with humankind and to whom one may pray "in the
expectation of receiving an answer." Roughly 15 percent in both surveys
claimed to be agnostic or to have "no definite belief" regarding the
question, while about 42 percent in 1916 and about 45 percent today said
they did not believe in God as specified in the questionnaire, although
whether they believed in some other definition of a deity or an almighty
being was not addressed. Although Gallup polls of the general U.S.
population have found that about 93 percent of people surveyed profess a
belief in God, those familiar with the survey said that, given the
questionnaire's exceedingly restrictive definition of God--narrower than
the standard Gallup question--and given scientist's training to say exactly
what they mean and nothing more, the 40 percent figure is impressively
high.

EPF to issue award honoring Mordechai Vanunu
      (ENS) The Episcopal Peace Fellowship (EPF) recently announced
that Mordechai Vanunu will be the first recipient of a new award named
in his honor. The Mordechai Vanunu Award for Sacrifice and Moral
Witness in the Struggle for Peace with Justice was established by the
EPF in October 1996 as a way to honor Vanunu and to focus on his
imprisonment. The award will be presented at the EPF dinner during the
72nd General Convention of the Episcopal Church in July of this year.
Convicted of espionage and treason at a closed-door trial in Israel,
Mordechai Vanunu received an 18-year sentence for exposing his
government's secret nuclear weapons program, where he once worked as
a technician. He has been held in solitary confinement for more than ten
years. His story was published by the London Sunday Times in 1986 and
confirmed that Israel had become a major nuclear weapons power, with
100 to 200 warheads of advanced design. During his March visit to the
Middle East, Presiding Bishop Edmond Browning presented a letter to
Israeli president Ezer Weizman requesting access to Vanunu so that he
could deliver a letter from EPF notifying him of the award. No member
of Browning's party was permitted contact with Vanunu. 

NCC reissues call for U.S. sanctions against Burma
      (ENS) A National Council of Churches (NCC) official recently
returned from Southeast Asia with reports of violence against refugees on
the border between Myanmar (Burma) and Thailand and has reissued a
call for the United States to impose sanctions on Myanmar. "Burma is a
pariah government and no one should do business with them," said the
Rev. Larry Tankersley, director of the Southern Asian Office for the
Church World Service Unit of the NCC. Tankersley returned from a trip
to the Thai-Myanmar border with news of increased atrocities against
refugees who have been living there. "While I was there, the military
Burmese government--the State Law and Order Restoration Council
(SLORC)--had begun attacking refugee camps, burning them down and
committing atrocities against the people, causing them to flee into
Thailand," he said. The NCC supports the Burma Border Coalition, a
nongovernmental organization (NGO) which provides relief aid to the
100,000 refugees on the border. Also at issue, according to Tankersley,
is the treatment of the democratic opposition in Myanmar. In February,
Nobel Peace Prize winner and democratic advocate Aung San Suu Kyi
appealed for international sanctions, saying there was a "large scale
repression of the democracy movement" under way and on March 4,
Aung San Suu Kyi complained of new arrests and intimidation tactics.
Tankersley and other church leaders were turned away from a meeting
with Aung San on November 16, 1996, leading them to conclude that she
was still essentially under house arrest.

Tutu needs more cancer therapy
      (ENS) South African Nobel peace laureate Desmond Tutu recently
announced that his prostate cancer had spread and that he would go to the
United States for radiation therapy. Tutu, 65, a leading campaigner in the
fight against apartheid, had most of his prostate cut out in January when
the gland was diagnosed as cancerous. Doctors told him at the time that
he would need further surgery or treatment with radiation and hormones.
Tutu, former Anglican archbishop of Cape Town and currently chairman
of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission probing apartheid
crimes, said in a statement that after consulting doctors in the United
States last week he had decided on a combination of hormone treatment
and radiotherapy. "Medical specialists in Cape Town will begin a three-
month course of hormone treatment . . . After the treatment, I plan to
have the radiotherapy at a clinic in the United States," Tutu said. "This
will take two months." He said that while he was in the United States, he
would set up an office through which he would keep close touch with the
truth commission, which is investigating human rights abuses on both
sides of the apartheid conflict.

Lutherans, Roman Catholics find "fundamental consensus"
      (ENS) The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and the Vatican
have agreed on wording that could end four centuries of bickering
between the two churches. The Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of
Justification brings global attention to a "fundamental consensus" reached
by the ELCA and the Roman Catholic Church in the 1980s. "Justification
is a central concept in how both of our churches understand the gospel of
Jesus Christ," said the Rev. Daniel F. Martensen, director of the ELCA
department of ecumenical affairs. It's also "the core of the difficulty . . .
.  Over that doctrine there were condemnations thrown back and forth
between the Roman Catholic Church and the then-emerging Lutheran
community . . . not so much against individuals but against teachings,"
he said. For Lutherans, the doctrine of justification is "that we cannot
obtain forgiveness of sin and righteousness before God by our own
merits, works, or satisfactions, but that we receive forgiveness of sin and
become righteous before God by grace, for Christ's sake, through faith."
The declaration states that Roman Catholics agree but have a different
way of looking at "grace" than Lutherans. 

ELCA asked to recommit to multicultural plan
      (ENS) The new multicultural mission strategy of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) calls for all members of the church
"to make a renewed affirmation of and commitment to" a 10 percent
membership goal of persons of color and/or persons whose primary
language is other than English. The strategy calls for the ELCA to
support and encourage the ministry of congregations with predominantly
African-American, American Indian and Native Alaskan, Arab and
Middle Eastern, Asian and Hispanic members. In 1987, the ELCA
adopted as a goal that within 10 years at least 10 percent of the
membership of the church would be people of color and/or people whose
primary language is other than English. "The 10-year deadline for this
churchwide goal has arrived," states the "Recommitment to a Strategy for
Proclamation of the Gospel," but the present 2.13 percent membership of
people of color and/or primary language other than English "falls
dramatically short" of the original goal.

Church officials warn of growth of racism in Europe
      (ENI) The general secretaries of four major church organizations
based in Geneva recently condemned "the racism which exists in Europe
and our churches" and have warned that the "specter of anti-Semitism" is
"haunting" Europe. The statement, which comes in the European Year
Against Racism, was issued by the general secretaries of the Conference
of European Churches, the Lutheran World Federation, the World
Alliance of Reformed Churches and the World Council of Churches. All
four organizations have member churches in Europe. The European
Union, which has 15 member states in western Europe, has declared
1997 the European Year Against Racism. 1997 is also the Ecumenical
Year of Churches in Solidarity with Uprooted People. "The continuing
existence of the blight of racism is an affront to the ministry of Jesus
Christ," the general secretaries said. They pointed out that many local
congregations had shown solidarity with the "victims of racism and
xenophobia" but called for a re-doubling of efforts against racism. "We
view, with deep misgiving, the growing acceptance by individuals and
political parties, of organizations which promote racist views," they said.
"Migrants, immigrants and refugees become scapegoats for
unemployment, crime and a host of other problems throughout Europe."

Southern African Anglican bishops apologize to homosexual people
      (ENI) The bishops of the Church of the Province of Southern
Africa recently apologized to homosexual people who have been hurt by
the "unacceptable prejudice" against gays and lesbians within the church.
The bishops, meeting in synod in Cape Town, said in a press statement
released on March 6 that "as a church we have been responsible over the
centuries for rejecting many people because of their sexual orientation . .
. . The harshness and hostility to homosexual people within our church
[are] neither acceptable nor . . . in accord with our Lord's love of all
people. We repent of this attitude and ask forgiveness of many
homosexual people who have been hurt, rejected and marginalized
because of this deep-seated prejudice," the bishops said. However, they
rejected all forms of promiscuity which, they said, dehumanized many
relationships. "The church's position is that sex is for life-long marriage
with a person of the opposite sex for companionship, sexual fulfillment
and procreation. The reality is that divorce and remarriage, polygamy,
same-sex unions, single-parent families, and persons living together
outside marriage do exist. As a church, we have to find loving, pastoral
and creative ways of dealing with all these situations," the statement
concluded.

Hindu convert to Christianity to succeed Mother Teresa
      (ENI) A Hindu convert to Christianity has been elected to succeed
Mother Teresa of Calcutta as leader of the Missionaries of Charity, the
order of nuns founded and led by Mother Teresa to promote her vocation
to work with the poorest of the poor. The Archbishop of Calcutta, Henry
D'Souza, announced on March 13 that Sister Nirmala would succeed
Mother Teresa, who, at the age of 86, is suffering from heart and
respiratory problems. The transfer of power, it is reported, will take
place immediately. Sister Nirmala, 63, is believed to have been the only
Indian on the short list of candidates to take over as superior general.
She was born in Ranchi in the state of Bihar of a military family with a
Nepalese background and has been in charge of the order's contemplative
wing since 1979. The decision was made by the order's general chapter,
consisting of 123 delegates from around the world, which has been
meeting in closed session since mid-January.

Internet gives Russian Orthodox new means for world-wide mission 
      (ENI) Orthodox Christians with World Wide Web access who
want to hear the views of Patriarch Alexy II, leader of the Russian
Orthodox Church, can now use their Internet browser to visit the
electronic website recently established by the church. A message from
Alexy on the church's website invokes "God's blessing upon all users of
the new information channel." The recently inaugurated website, which
includes photographs of Alexy and pictures of Russian Orthodox
churches, provides first-hand information, in Russian and in English,
about the history and the contemporary life of the church--Russia's
largest religious body. Deacon Alexander Boulekov, director of
communications of the Moscow Patriarchate's Department of External
Church Relations, said, "We want to provide as much material as
possible about the life of the church" on the website. The site was set up
in response to what Boulekov described as "a wave of often unobjective
and distorted media coverage of church activities" such as media attacks
last autumn against the church, and particularly the Department of
External Relations headed by Metropolitan Kirill, for its alleged
involvement in massive imports of duty-free alcohol and tobacco. The
official website of the Russian Orthodox Church is: http://www.russian-
orthodox-church.org.ru (in Russian) and http://www.russian-orthodox-
church.org.ru/en.htm (in English).

Search committee appointed for new dean and president
      (ENS) The executive committee of the General Theological
Seminary board of trustees recently created an eight-member team to
search for a new dean and president for the 180-year old institution.
Details on how the search would proceed were left up to the search
committee, but trustees gave top priority to receiving input from other
seminary constituencies, such as faculty, administrative staff, students
and alumni/ae. "The selection of a new dean and president is too
important a task for any single group to undertake in isolation," said
Mellick Belshaw, retired bishop of New Jersey and chair of the new
committee. "It is of critical importance that the views of all seminary
constituencies be heard." Belshaw also expressed full confidence in the
search committee to determine its own methods and praised the collective
experience of its members. The search committee's first meeting was
scheduled for April 3.

Allan Boesak's trial on 30 charges set for August
      (ENI) Dr. Allan Boesak, one of South Africa's most prominent
clergymen in the struggle against apartheid, appeared briefly in the Cape
Town Magistrate's Court recently to face 21 counts of theft and nine of
fraud. The court appearance follows allegations of misappropriation of
donor funds from DanChurchAid earmarked for victims of apartheid.
Boesak was head of the now-defunct Foundation for Peace and Justice
through which the DanChurchAid money was meant to be channelled.
The charges follow protracted investigations and international publicity
about the case. After Boesak's court appearance, South Africa's Justice
Minister, Dullah Omar, said that DanChurchAid had asked the Office for
Serious Economic Offences, a police unit, to investigate the charges.
Boesak, who has consistently protested his innocence on all the charges, 
was not asked to plead at the hearing. "It won't be an easy road. I'm
spiritually strong ... God is with us," he told supporters outside the
magistrate's court. The trial is set for August 4 in the Cape High Court. 

Female bishops opt out of pre-Lambeth London visit
      (AJ) A Church of England priest recently criticized the women
bishops of the Anglican Communion for having cancelled a proposed
meeting with the English Church. The Rev. Donald Reeves, rector of St.
James' Church, near London's Picadilly Circus, called the cancellation
"discourteous," especially after all the bishops had originally
enthusiastically accepted his invitation. Reeves said that he proposed the
visit in order to allow the bishops to meet together and to allow the
English to meet the women bishops and become more comfortable with
the idea of women in the episcopacy. Bishop Victoria Matthews,
suffragan in the Diocese of Toronto, said she was initially excited about
the invitation, when she believed Bishop Penelope Jamieson of Dunedin,
New Zealand, would be coming. It showed promise, Matthews said, that
St. James had a commitment from the bishop who was furthest away.
"Then I had gotten a fax saying (Bishop Jamieson) was now not going to
come. Then, Barbara Harris (suffragan of Massachusetts) told me she
was not going to be able to come, at which point it ceased to be a
meeting of women bishops," Matthews said. Reeves had raised $8,800
for the visit and had arranged two public meetings at St. James Church
where the women would celebrate the eucharist.

Washington National Cathedral to establish historic girls choir
      (ENS) Washington National Cathedral recently announced that by
fall of this year a newly established Episcopal cathedral girls choir
composed of students at the National Cathedral School will begin singing
at services. "The establishment of the choir realizes the cathedral's dream
of including the sound of girls' voices in worship, of teaching girls the
cycle of Anglican sung services," said Cathedral Dean Nathan D. Baxter.
The Cathedral Girls Choir will include 20 to 24 first and second sopranos
in grades seven through twelve at the National Cathedral School for
Girls. As do the boy choristers, they will receive financial assistance for
maintaining a demanding singing schedule in addition to a full academic
workload. According to the announcement from the cathedral, this is the
first Episcopal cathedral girls choir associated with a school in the United
States.

World Council of Churches examining its future
      (ENS) Major discussions on the role of the World Council of
Churches are now taking place within the WCC and among the member
churches, based on a draft document, "Towards a Common
Understanding and Vision of the WCC." A recent meeting of the WCC's
executive committee discussed the document and responses it has
received so far. A final version will be approved by the WCC central
committee in September and forwarded to delegates to the WCC Eighth
Assembly in Zimbabwe, September 10-22, 1998. The executive council,
meeting in Cyprus in mid-February, heard encouraging reports about
WCC finances, based largely on improved exchange rates and better
investment performance. Despite the increased general income, the
committee was warned that the WCC could face some significant
reductions in 1998 and 1999 because the support of the Evangelical
Church in Germany, the council's largest contributor, will decrease.

Shell and WCC agree to "a common concern" for people of Ogoniland
      (ENS) Following a recent meeting of representatives from Shell
and WCC, the organizations issued a "joint communique" saying that
"the WCC and Shell International Limited share a common concern for
the people of Nigeria and the developments in the country." The meeting
was prompted by a WCC report that accused Shell of being responsible
for pollution, accidents and oil spills in the Ogoniland section of Nigeria.
The communique did not acknowledge errors in the report, Ogoni--the
Struggle Continues, but it said the WCC agreed to "verify facts and
statistical data in the WCC report which Shell has called to its attention
as being in error." The report, issued in January by the WCC's Unit III
(Justice, Peace and Creation), cited a "socio-political malaise" throughout
Nigeria. Intimidation, rape, arrests, torture, shooting and looting by
soldiers are a part of life in Ogoniland, the report suggested. The report
called upon Shell to take a more active role in protesting human rights
abuses in Ogoniland, to accept responsibility for the Ebubu oil spill in
1970, and to clean up existing oil spills. Shell had attacked the accuracy
of some of the WCC allegations, which included "eyewitness testimony
to oil spills, dumping of oil into waterways and pollution, gas flares, and
over-ground oil pipes that crisscross Ogoniland."

Presbyterians ban ordination of gays
      (ENS) In a major setback to Christian gay-rights activists, the
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) recently voted to make its ban on the
ordination of homosexuals part of church law. On March 18, the ban was
approved by regional bodies in Miami and Charlotte, North Carolina,
bringing the tally to 88 in favor of the ban and 60 against. This gave the
measure a majority of votes. The Book of Order--the church's
constitution--will be changed to require chastity of single ministers. "It
says to the country that Presbyterians are committed to reaffirming their
biblical center for faith and practice," said the Rev. Jack Haberer,
moderator of the Presbyterian Coalition, a group favoring the
amendment. But Scott Anderson, co-moderator of Presbyterians for Gay
and Lesbian Concerns, said the change will force more gay and lesbian
Presbyterians out of the 2.7 million member church. "It's one more club
that has been used to beat up gay and lesbian people in the Presbyterian
Church," he said.

People

Bishop Peter James Lee of Virginia was recently presented the 1997
Jessie Ball duPont award. The award is given annually to recognize an
individual and his or her institution who "together have demonstrated the
highest ideals of leadership, creativity, courage and community service."
In a letter to Lee, duPont fund executive director Dr. Sherry Magill
wrote that "We recognize your courageous and bold commitment to
community leadership and social ministry." The award carries a $40,000
grant to the recipient's institution and a $10,000 discretionary award to
the recipient.

Bishop Victoria Matthews, suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Toronto,
was elected diocesan bishop of Edmonton on the fifth ballot, thereby
becoming the first woman elected diocesan bishop in the Anglican
Church of Canada.

Bishop James T. Yashiro, primate of the Nippon Sei Ko Kai (Episcopal
Church of Japan) and bishop of the Diocese of Kita Kanto, suffered
respiratory failure after a long illness and died on March 12. He was 65.