wfn.org | Notes About People

[PCUSA NEWS <pcusa.news@ecunet.org>]

25-May-1999 
99205 
 
    Notes About People 
 
    by Jerry L. Van Marter 
 
    The Rev. Phil Tom, a pastor, community organizer, educator and 
denominational leader, has been chosen this year's distinguished alumnus by 
McCormick Theological Seminary. 
    Tom, who graduated from McCormick and the University of Chicago in 1976 
with twin Master's Degrees in Divinity and Social Work, has served two 
inner city pastorates in Indianapolis and from 1993-96 was coordinator for 
urban ministry in the National Ministries Division in Louisville. 
 
                                  # # # 
 
    Presbyterians for Renewal has selected the Rev. Steven Matthies to 
receive its first Renewal Scholars Fellowship, a stipend for Ph.D. studies 
for up to four years.  Matthies is currently enrolled at Princeton 
Theological Seminary for this study. 
    Matthies, a 1987 graduate of Whitworth College, received his M.Div. 
from Princeton in 1992 and served as associate pastor of Moreland 
Presbyterian Church in Portland, Ore., until returning to Princeton for 
graduate study last fall. 
    The Renewal Scholars Fellowship was created by PFR "with a vision of 
providing the church with a pool of pastor-scholars who will enrich the 
church by their pastoral and preaching influence or by teaching in 
seminaries."  To qualify for the fellowship, applicants must have four to 
five years of pastoral ministry experience. 
 
                                  # # # 
 
    Robert M. Salati, a member of the General Assembly Council and its 
Mission Support Services Committee, died May 11 after a brief bout with 
cancer. 
    Salati, a retired school superintendent and educational consultant, was 
an elder of St. Paul's Presbyterian Church in Laurel Springs, N.J.  He was 
a New Jersey native. 
    A memorial service was scheduled for May 15 at St. Paul's church. 
Salati is survived by his wife, Ellen. 
 
                                  # # # 
 
    More Light Presbyterians has announced the hiring of Michael J. Adee as 
its national field organizer.  The hiring signals another step in More 
Light Presbyterians' strategy to work more on organizing at the grass roots 
to increase the number of Presbyterian congregations that are committed to 
the full inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered persons in 
the life of the church, including ordained offices. 
    More Light Presbyterians was created a year ago as the result of a 
merger of Presbyterians for Lesbian and Gay Concerns and the More Light 
Churches Network. 
 
                                  # # # 
 
    Edward J. Murray, a Roman Catholic layman from St. Louis, has been 
named president and CEO of the National Interfaith Cable Coalition (NICC), 
a consortium of 80 U.S. faith groups that funded the cable television 
network now known as Odyssey.  The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is a 
charter member of the coalition. 
    NICC provides Odyssey with 30 hours of religious programming a week and 
co-produces an additional 10 hours of programming a week with Odyssey 
co-owners Hallmark Entertainment and the Jim Henson Company. 
    The PC(USA) is represented on the Odyssey board of directors by Ann 
Gillies, coordinator for media services in the Office of Communication. 

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