wfn.org | Episcopal Communicators meet in Col

[ENS.parti@ecunet.org]

June 6, 1997
Episcopal News Service
Jim Solheim, Director
212-922-5385
ens@ecunet.org

97-1784
Episcopal Communicators meet in Colorado, honor best work in the past
year

by James Solheim
   (ENS) Eighty members of Episcopal Communicators, a national
organization of the church's print and electronic professionals, gathered
in the mountains of southern Colorado to share common concerns and
honor the best work in the past year.
   Meeting in a Victorian-era hotel in Durango, the communicators also
attended Evensong and a church supper at a local parish which featured
cowboy Gospel poets. Some also took a trip to see the ancient cliff
dwellings at nearby Mesa Verde and others enjoyed a ride on the narrow-
gauge steam train into the mountains that once held lucrative silver
mines.
   The 1997 Polly Bond Awards, named for a prominent diocesan
communicator from Southern Ohio who helped create the organization in
the early 1970s, drew 442 entries from which the judges gave 181
awards for excellence, the top award, and for merit (second place),
according to Bob Williams of Los Angeles who chaired the awards
committee. 
   Interchange, the newspaper of the Diocese of Southern Ohio edited
by Michael Barwell, received the top award for diocesan newspapers
with a circulation above 12,000. Awards of Merit went to Soundings, the
quarterly newspaper of the Diocese of Minnesota, edited by Walt
Gordon, and Anglican Advance, the paper for the Diocese of Chicago,
edited by David Skidmore.
   The top diocesan newspaper with a circulation below 12,000 was
Plenteous Harvest, Diocese of Kansas, edited by Melodie Woerman.
Awards of Merit went to Dayspring, Diocese of West Virginia, edited by
Elizabeth Walker; Trinity, Diocese of Pittsburgh, edited by Fentress
Waits; and Diocesan Life, Diocese of Bethlehem, edited by Bill Lewellis.
   The top award in the category for Agency Newspapers went to
Episcopal Life, edited by Jerry Hames. An Award of Merit went to
Network News, published by the Episcopal Information Network in the
Diocese of Rio Grande, edited by Laura Hughes.
   The Witness, edited by Jeanie Wylie-Kellerman, received the Award
of Excellence in the Magazine category, with Awards of Merit going to
General Seminary News, edited by Bruce Parker, and Journal of
Women's Ministries, edited by Marcy Darin.

Navajo bishop and wife speak
   Bishop Stephen Plummer and his wife Kathy joined in a keynote
address, "Communicating at the Cultural Crossroads," that described the
Episcopal Church's work among the Navajos that led to the formation of
the missionary diocese.
   The bishop, who described himself as a cradle Episcopalian, said
that one reason the Navajos responded to the Episcopal Church is that it
came "with medicine, education and social service." It was clear to the
Navajos that "this is the only church that helps us." 
   Yet the late Bishop Wes Frensdorf, who was responsible for work on
the reservation, could see that "the church had not taken root in the
Native soil yet so he asked us, 'When will you plant the church and
make it yours?'" Plummer said.
   Because "we still live in the old ways, Kathy and I are often caught
between cultures," the bishop added. "We still believe that the holy
people exist, that we must protect the holy mountains. And our doors
still face the east, where the light begins each day." He compared the
church to the clan structure of the Navajos "because of the way it gathers
people." And he expressed the hope that the church in Navajoland will be
able to raise up leaders for its future.

Permeable borders
   The program included a panel of editors of area small-town
newspapers and workshops on a variety of topics, including how to
survive General Convention, video production, the World Wide Web,
electronic communication and an introduction to parish print media.
   Michelle de la Rosa, a language arts instructor at the University of
Southern California, conducted a popular workshop on how an
"ethnographer looks at the Episcopal Church." An ethnographer
demonstrates that "a singular identity no longer exists, we are all
influenced by each other. The borders of the world are permeable,
especially with the demise of colonialism when a few European nations
tried to control the world.
   She contended that, based on her examination of Episcopal
publications, what they publish places them "at the borders of society."
Holding up a packet of photographs from ENS, she said that they
illustrated that "you see the progression of post-colonialism in a
fundamental way." As journalists "you are involved in identity formation,
you are participants as well as observers," she said. "You are making
meaning, sense, choosing what is significant.... You stand at the nexus
of local, national and global events. Your great strength is that you
participate--and you report."

A gift for Africa
   In a business session the communicators considered several
resolutions that will come before General Convention this summer. One,
introduced by retired Bishop Elliott Sorge of Easton, asks the church to
develop "a comprehensive, coordinated communications strategy."
Another, introduced by Cynthia McFarland of Central New York,
commends the church's communication efforts but asks that the
communications committee of Executive Council be reactivated to assess
the effectiveness of those efforts. It also urges the church to explore the
use of the Internet as "potentially cost-effective medium" for internal and
external communication. The communicators will support the resolutions
in committee meetings.
   The communicators also wrote a resolution on salary parity for the
church's lay and clergy employees that will be introduced by Bishop
Tharp of East Tennessee at General Convention.
   Responding to a request brought to the meeting by Katerina Whitley
of the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief, the communicators took
an unusual action by deciding to sponsor a refugee boy for a year of high
school in Tanzania. "Even though this is unusual for us as an
organization, there was strong enthusiasm for the idea," said Sarah
Moore of University of the South, president of Episcopal
Communicators.
   Elected to the board were: Walt Gordon, Diocese of Minnesota;
David Skidmore, Diocese of Chicago; and Virginia Barrett Barker,
Diocese of Florida.

--James Solheim is the Episcopal Church's director of news and
information.