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2001-68

News Briefs

Bishop undergoes voluntary AIDS testing

     (Panafrican News Agency) As part of a campaign to promote Voluntary 
Counseling and Testing (VCT) among South Africans, Bishop Brian Germond of 
Johannesburg and 30 other people were voluntarily tested for HIV, the virus that 
causes Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).

     The Anglican Church said it is seeking partnerships with business, and 
government to set up initiatives that seek to respond creatively and effectively 
to the well-being of people in all communities in the country.

     Germond said bishops would encourage the ordained and lay leadership in 
their dioceses to join them in this initiative, and congregations would be asked 
to pray for those who opted to undergo VCT.

     "We have insisted that all those who are undergoing the test be counseled to 
understand the dynamics and the implications of HIV testing, to keep the test 
result confidential, irrespective of whether it is positive or negative, and to 
disclose their possible HIV-positive status only when the person has come to 
terms with his/her situation," he said.

     Germond described the initiative as "…a call to lead into something unknown 
and to be seen to lean on God. We have chosen this time in the Church's calendar 
called Lent, since this is a time for reflection, repentance and intercession for 
and in a suffering world." He added, "We realize that the delivery of health 
services, in urban as well as in rural areas, need considerable improvement. The 
church has a potential army of people able and willing to render a variety of 
humanitarian services ranging from counseling and home-based care to responding 
to the needs of children orphaned as a result of HIV/AIDS. For the church to be 
able to deliver such services, effective and sustained partnerships have to be 
established."

GTS students participate in community organizing training

     (GTS) For the first time in the General Theological Seminary's history, 20 
seminarians participated in an on-campus leadership training in community 
organizing presented by the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF).

     The training was lead by Edward Chambers, national director of the IAF, who 
for 30 years has pioneered an approach to organizing that is rooted in local 
religious congregations. From March 9-12, several clergy and GTS students heard 
presentations on leadership, met in small groups, had one-on-one sessions, and 
visited St. Paul Community Baptist Church in East Brooklyn, where the nationally 
known Nehemiah Housing Project had its birth.

     "The workshop was invaluable in exploring what it means to be a Christian 
leader in an urban setting," said Margo Peckham Clark, a GTS senior student, who 
helped in planning the training. "This is not about causes, it is about growing 
our churches into vibrant and powerful institutions as we move into the 21st 
century."

     GTS Dean and President Ward B. Ewing restated his commitment to ensure that 
every seminarian who is interested would be able to learn community organizing 
skills as part of his or her theological formation.

     

Bishop Goodhew retires

     (The Sun-Herald) Hundreds of people gathered at St. Andrew's Cathedral in 
Australia on March 17 to hear Sydney's Anglican archbishop Harry Goodhew give his 
final sermon.

     Goodhew, who has been ordained for 43 years, officially retired on March 19. 
He served the Sydney diocese, which is the wealthiest diocese in Australia, for 
the past eight years.

     He told the congregation that it was time to look to the future, not reflect 
on the past. He urged people to retain their faith in God, no matter what 
obstacles they faced.

     "The crucifixion of Jesus must have appeared like that to the disciples but 
God had his times and his purposes," he said. "We are called to trust God and to 
live 'Coram Deo,' as in his presence, whatever may be the challenges and 
difficulties that confront us."

     Bishop Paul Barnett of North Sydney said Goodhew was one of Australia's most 
influential participants in worldwide Anglican debate during the past decade.

     "At the Lambeth Conference in 1998, where he was on the conservative side of 
the debate on sexuality, he won the respect of all from both sides," said 
Barnett. "It's safe to say that no archbishop in the world is better known or 
widely respected than our archbishop."

     Goodhew's successor will be announced in June.

    
 

Anglican Church supports land reform program

     (Herald Reporter) The land issue is a "justice issue" and land should be 
redistributed equally, declared the Justice, Peace and Reconciliation Committee 
of the Anglican Diocese of Harare, Zimbabwe.

     In a March 11 statement, the Rev. George Wauchope, chair of the committee, 
said that the committee supported the redistribution of land and efforts to carry 
out the exercise.

     "Any country is free to make its laws to safeguard the interests of the 
people," he said in reference to last week's amendment of the constitution to 
give government power to acquire land for resettlement without paying 
compensation.

     However, Wauchope said the committee was concerned about the decision by war 
veterans to occupy commercial farms as a way of trying to redress the imbalances 
in land ownership. He said that, while society will not always agree on who 
should form the government, "those diversities should enrich it by promoting an 
open and competitive platform for those searching for the best national good."

     The Anglican Church recently made headlines following the distribution of 
pamphlets by St. Luke's Greendale Parish criticizing President Mugabe's comments 
on farm invasions. Mugabe said that the government would not stop the invasions 
by the ex-combatants, as they were a peaceful demonstration against historical 
imbalances in land ownership.

     

Yale University appoints new dean to lead divinity school 

     (ENS) Yale University President Richard C. Levin announced on March 19 that 
Rebecca S. Chopp would be the next dean of the university's Divinity School.

     Beginning July 1, Chopp, an ordained Methodist minister, will be the 
school's 13th dean and its first woman. She will also be the Titus Street 
Professor of Theology and Culture.

     She currently serves as provost and executive vice president for academic 
affairs at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. In addition, she is Emory's 
principal academic officer and the chief liaison between the president and the 
deans and faculties on all academic matters.

     "Rebecca Chopp brings an extraordinary array of strengths to her new 
position at Yale, and we are extremely fortunate to have attracted a person of 
such distinction," said Levin. "She is an outstanding scholar as well as an 
energetic and capable administrator. Her judgment and humanity are widely 
appreciated by her colleagues at Emory and elsewhere.

     "She comes to the Divinity School at a crucial time in its history, when the 
school is in the midst of unprecedented renewal. Provost Richard and I look 
forward to working with our new dean in the years to come, as the School's 
facilities are splendidly restored, and as the School continues to prepare 
individuals for the ordained and lay ministries of the Christian churches, to 
encourage the study of religion in a University environment, and to shape the 
role of religion in society by providing theological education for its leaders."

     Chopp succeeds Richard Wood, who served from 1996 to 2000, leaving in 
December 2000 to assume the presidency of the United Fund for Christian Education 
in Asia.