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[ENS.parti@ecunet.org (ENS)]

January 15, 1998
Episcopal News Service
Jim Solheim, Director
212-922-5385
ens@ecunet.org

MewsBriefs                                                                              
                                                                                           

97-2067
Transition period is over, Griswold tells national staff
     (ENS) On his first day in the office, following his January 10
investiture at Washington National Cathedral, Presiding Bishop Frank T.
Griswold gathered the staff at the Episcopal Church Center and said,
"The period of transition has finally come to an end." He said the service
was "very positive, giving the church the opportunity to experience itself
in a place of hopefulness and in worship." And he was intrigued by the
"extension of community" made possible by the 215 downlink sites
where Episcopalians across the country could join in the cathedral service
at the local level. He called it "an imaginative foray" into the exploration
of new technologies which could be very useful in connecting the
national and local perspectives of the church. "There's energy in the
community--and that is important for us at this moment," he said. "It
reminds us of a larger perspective, encouraging us to celebrate the unity
we all share in our baptism." During a period of staff comments and
questions, he was asked if he was prepared to switch his allegiances to
Chicago's sports teams, the Bull and the Bears. Griswold responded that
he "may be ready to have my allegiances stretched." He ended the
session saying, "I'm here, get used to me, let's figure out how we work
together in this time of mutual discovery. Let's see what divine sense of
humor and God's boundless grace are up to."

General Theological Seminary elects Buffalo rector as dean
     (ENS) Following a nine-month search process, on January 12 the
trustees of the General Theological Seminary in New York elected the
Rev. Ward B. Ewing, rector of Trinity Church in Buffalo, as the 12th
dean and president of the church's oldest seminary. A graduate of Trinity
College and the General Seminary, Ewing has been rector in Buffalo
since 1985, serving a parish in Louisville before that. During his
leadership in Buffalo attendance and income at the parish has doubled, a
transitional housing facility for the homeless and single-parent families
was built, a bookstore opened, and the endowment tripled. "Few people
posses the combined talents we have found in Ward Ewing, said Bishop
G.P. Mellick Belshaw, chair of the seminary trustees. "He is a pastoral
person of great sensitivity and compassion. We welcome him to GTS
warmly and with every confidence that his leadership will provide vision
for the seminary's commitment to priestly formation and academic
excellence for clergy and laity." Ewing said that he was "excited and
honored" when he learned of the decision. He is expected to assume his
office in the spring. Belshaw will continue as acting dean until then.

Church of England bishops respond to papal encyclical
     (ACNS) The Church of England's bishops have formally
responded to Pope John Paul II's 1995 encyclical on Christian unity, Ut
Unum Sint. The bishops embraced the encyclical's insistence on the
importance of common prayer, the need for repentance and conversion,
the affirmation of joint action and patient theological dialogue, the
recognition of common baptism and the degree of communion that flows
from it, and the conviction that unity is required for authentic mission.
The bishops raised issues, however, that need further study--including the
teaching office of the church, the place of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the
implications of common baptism for eucharistic hospitality, and the role
of the bishop of Rome. In the foreword to the response, the archbishops
of Canterbury and York stressed the point that the response is made with
the same joy and fraternal affection that characterizes the encyclical itself
and express a hope that "these reflections will be of help in the on-going
ecumenical dialogue."

Woman priest celebrates Eucharist at Eau Claire cathedral
     (ENS) The Rev. Mary Caucutt served as a guest preacher and
celebrant at Christ Church Cathedral in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, on
December 28, 1997. Bishop William Wantland, while opposed to the
ordination of women to the priesthood and episcopate, publicly stated at
the General Convention in Philadelphia and before his clergy that he
would not prevent the offering of an invitation to a woman priest to
celebrate the Eucharist in the Diocese of Eau Claire. Shortly after
General Convention, the diocesan executive council repealed all
prohibitions against women priests in the diocese. After these actions and
statements, the invitation to Caucutt was offered and carried the full
support of the wardens and vestry of the cathedral.

Poll shows more people believing in God
     (AP) A recently released poll commissioned by the Pew Research
Center reported that 71 percent of respondents said they never doubt the
existence of God. In 1987, the figure was 60 percent. The poll also
found that 61 percent of Americans believe miracles come from the
power of God--an increase of 14 percentage points from a decade ago.
And 53 percent said prayer is important to daily life. In 1987, it was 41
percent. The poll results appear to dovetail with popular culture:
"Touched by an Angel" ranks among TV's highest-rated shows, and
books on angels, miracles and spirituality, in general, line bookstore
shelves.

Staccato Powell named to NCC post
     (ENS) The Rev. Dr. Staccato Powell was recently named National
Council of Churches (NCC) deputy general secretary for national
ministries. He currently serves as pastor for the Washington Metropolitan
African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in St. Louis, Missouri. " If we
are not passionate about our ministry, it will not be as `contagious' as it
ought to be," said Powell, who will give leadership to a diverse array of
NCC national ministries including education, advocacy, and
evangelization. "We must be proactive. The church can no longer sit
passively by and react to crisis situations that develop," he said. Powell
succeeds the Rev. Dr. Mac Charles Jones, who died suddenly March 6,
1997, after serving only four days in the NCC post. 

National Cathedral sculpture subject of lawsuit
     (NYT) The National Cathedral in Washington and the artist who
created a sculpture of the Bible's creation story on its main entrance have
sued the Warner Brothers movie studio, asserting that its film "The
Devil's Advocate," displays a copy of the sculpture that distorts its
religious meaning by making it appear demonic. The lawsuit asserts that
Warner Brothers and its parent, Time-Warner, violated copyright law by
"copying, grotesque distortion and unauthorized use of a profound and
beautiful sculpture, `Ex Nihilo' (Out of Nothing), for commercial gain.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and an injunction against showing
the film, which was released in October. The lawsuit says a "bas-relief
remarkably and substantially similar to `Ex Nihilo' appears in some
scenes of the movie on the wall of an apartment of a Manhattan lawyer,
played by Al Pacino, who is revealed to be the Devil. In a climactic
scene, the human forms in the sculpture appear to come to life, and, the
lawsuit says, "begin engaging in sexual acts." In a statement, the
sculptor, Frederick E. Hart, said he was "deeply disturbed that 13 years
of work to create a sculpture of the profound mystery and beauty of
God's creation would be so debased and perversely distorted."

NCC public policy advocates outline 1998 goals
     (ENS) A meeting of public policy advocates for the National Council
of Churches (NCC) and its member denominations recently decided to
focus on public education as a means of addressing their goals of
reducing poverty, fostering racial justice, protecting religious liberty, and
promoting peace and human rights. The theme of public education
"touches immigration, race, poverty--virtually every issue we've said is
among our priorities," commented NCC general secretary Joan Brown
Campbell. Underscoring the urgency of the theme, advocates reported on
Philadelphia schools without books, New York City's use of school
bathrooms as classrooms, a $1 million shortfall for public education in
one Virginia county after the state reduced taxes, enormous disparities
between schools in affluent and poor communities and ongoing confusion
about appropriate religious expression in public schools. The December
conference was the second annual "working session on how churches
engage in public policy advocacy from our heritage of faith," said NCC
associate general secretary for public policy Albert Pennybacker.

Bible Society joins drive to link all North America's churches
     (ENI) The American Bible Society (ABS) is giving $5 million to a 
project intended to link every church in North America to the World
Wide Web. The project--called Houses of Worship (HOW)-- aims to
enlist every church in the United States and Canada, estimated at more
than 300,000. The project expects to offer the opportunity world-wide by
the year 2000. Churches which sign up will be offered four free pages on
the HOW website
(http://www.housesofworship.net). Through the Internet and the World
Wide Web, project initiators believe, churches can better connect with
their members, with each other and with the communities they wish to
serve. The project was initiated last year by the Pittsburgh Leadership
Foundation, an interdenominational agency working on community needs
and 
coordinating a national network of similar agencies in several U.S. cities.

PB Fund awards $50,000 in emergency grants
     (ENS) The Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief recently issued
$50,000 in emergency grants in response to civil unrest and natural
disaster in Sierra Leone, Kenya and Spain. In Sierra Leone, the military
coup of May 25, 1997, resulted in many civilian deaths and the
destruction of homes and property. The Bishop of Freetown was forced
from his official residence and the diocesan staff had to relocate its
office. Two grants worth $10,000 each will provide emergency food,
medicine and shelter for affected parishioners in the Dioceses of
Freetown and Bo. A $15,000 grant was sent to Mombasa, Kenya, where
a combination of civilian strife, heavy rains and flooding has caused
damage to diocesan institutions and the displacement of many
parishioners. Heavy rains and flooding also destroyed many homes and
buildings in Alicante on the eastern coast of Spain. $15,000 was
given to the Spanish Reformed Church for flood relief.

Browning deplores attack on ecumenical patriarch
     (ENS) A bomb thrown into the property of Ecumenical Patriarch
Bartholomew I seriously injured an Orthodox deacon and damaged a
portion of the Cathedral of St. George in Instanbul, Turkey, in early
December. The patriarch, who had just returned from a widely
publicized tour of the United States, was not injured in the blast. The
patriarch has been the target of several bombings in 1994 and 1996,
including a hand grenade attack which damaged the cathedral. Presiding
Bishop Edmond Browning of the Episcopal Church immediately protested
the violence to Turkey's Permanent Mission to the United Nations in
New York, calling for the government of Turkey to "root out and
prosecute the perpetrators of such despicable acts." Browning, who met
with the patriarch at the White House and other Washington events
during Bartholomew's visit in November, said that the bombing "causes
fear among the Orthodox Christian minority living in Istanbul and must
be condemned as a shameless and cowardly act." Bartholomew, spiritual
leader of 250 million Orthodox
Christians, is known as the Green Patriarch for his outspoken support of
environmental issues and his consistent messages of peace and love,
especially during his U.S. visit when he "made an enormous impression
on the American people," Browning wrote to the
Turkish envoy.