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March 6, 2002

2002-058

Episcopalians: News Briefs

Tutu calls for choice of non-English archbishop of 
Canterbury

(ENS) According to the London Times, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, 
retired primate of the church in southern Africa, says that the 
Church of England should consider appointing a non-English 
bishop to replace Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey when he 
retires this fall.

A former member of the Crown Appointments Commission, which 
will send to Prime Minister Tony Blair two nominations, said 
recently that Tutus name was among the dozen or so candidates 
discussed when a successor was sought to former archbishop of 
Canterbury Robert Runcie, Careys predecessor. While Tutu did 
not end up on the short list, he was considered a strong 
contender, according to the Times.

When people made the point that Cantuar (archbishop of 
Canterbury) was now heading an international communion of 
autonomous provinces and that there was a great deal to be said 
for the net to be thrown much, much wider, and that therefore 
non-English candidates should be eligible, we were told that 
would be impossible since the archbishop also had a specific 
role in England as the head of the established church, Tutu 
said.

There were those who suggested that there might have to be a 
separation of the Establishment role, which could be fulfilled 
by an English appointment, as perhaps by the archbishop of York, 
and that non-English persons could thus be eligible for the 
primary task of being first among equals as president of the 
Lambeth Conference and the Primates Meeting and thus head of the 
Anglican Communion, Tutu said, adding that he personally 
subscribed to that possibility.

Roman Catholics welcome Israeli decision to block mosque in 
Nazareth

(ENI) The Roman Catholic Church has praised a decision by the 
Israeli government to block construction of a mosque in Nazareth 
near the Basilica of the Annunciation, where tradition holds 
that Gabriel told the Virgin Mary that she would give birth to 
Jesus.

Earlier Israeli governments had given Muslims permission to 
build the mosque on the site of the grave of a nephew of 
Saladin, the 12th century Muslim hero who defeated the Christian 
crusaders at Jerusalem. Christians opposed the construction, 
claiming that the proximity to the basilica was provocative. The 
Israelis halted construction in January and asked a committee to 
make a final recommendation. The Israeli cabinet subsequently 
ruled against further construction on the site.

Muslim leaders in Nazareth reacted angrily, charging that the 
decision followed pressure from Pope John Paul II and President 
George W. Bush. We defeated the Crusaders 800 years ago and we 
will defeat the enemies of Islam today, said Salman Abu Ahmed, 
the deputy mayor of Nazareth. We have an obligation to 
safeguard the holy places and protect the rights of minorities 
and their freedom of religion, said Natan Sharansky, the 
Israeli minister of housing and construction who headed the 
committee which will now propose alternate sites for a mosque.

We hope that the traditionally harmonious cohabitation of 
Christians and Muslims in Nazareth which had been threatened by 
a provocative initiative can be restored with the aid of leaders 
of the two sides and of the whole population, said a statement 
from the Vatican.

Episcopal bishops in Massachusetts sign letter on 
Israeli-Palestinian conflict

(ENS) Bishops M. Thomas Shaw, Barbara Harris and Roy Cedarholm 
of the Diocese of Massachusetts, and Gordon Scruton of the 
Diocese of Western Massachusetts, joined other ecumenical 
leaders in signing an open letter from the Massachusetts Council 
of Churches addressing the conflict between Israelis and 
Palestinians. The bishops earlier picketed the Israeli 
consulate, provoking strong reactions in Boston and leading to a 
meeting between Christian and Jewish leaders.

The letter noted that the escalating violence in the Middle 
East underscores the need for fresh approaches to stop 
reciprocal actions of violence, to counter the culture of blame, 
and to create a climate of responsibility that will enable the 
resumption of peace negotiations. The letter added that the 
three faith traditionsChristian, Jewish and Muslimhave strong 
commitments to justice and peace, based on a longing to make 
the world a better place for all Gods children.

The letter stated a common commitment to the right of the 
state of Israel to exist in security and tranquility, but it 
also affirmed the need for an autonomous Palestinian state with 
equal confidence and freedom from fear. It said that the 
persistent violence was creating a humanitarian crisis where 
people in the area fear for their safety, for their very 
survival.

If we dare to dream in days when the only dreams seem to be 
nightmares, then let us askand ask togetherwhat would be a 
good society for Israelis and Palestinians in that region? The 
role we seek for everyone who wants peace with justice is the 
risk of proactive, responsible engagement, a role we urge our 
governmental officials to pursue with renewed vigor, the letter 
concluded.

It was signed by leaders from the Unitarian Universalist 
Association, the Melkite, United Methodist, Greek Orthodox, 
Evangelical Lutheran, American Baptist, United Church of Christ 
and Presbyterian leaders. 

Episcopal Church Women launch Spanish version of website

(ENS) Episcopal Church Women (ECW) has launched a Spanish 
translation version of its website. It took a while to bring 
the translation to fruition but now that its happened Im 
thrilled, said ECW board president Pamela Stewart. One of our 
goals for this triennium is to find new and creative ways to 
tell the good news of the work of the women being done in this 
great church of ours, she said.

The web site (www.episcopalchurch.org/ecw) offers not only 
current information on programs and leadership but also 
interfaith education resources, links to other womens 
organizations in the Episcopal Church and other churches, and an 
on-line version of ECWs quarterly publication, The 
Communiqui. Program and registration information for ECWs 
triennial meeting in 2003 should also be available soon.

The Spanish translation of our web site is just a first step 
in our response to the 20/20 Task Force challenge to reach those 
traditionally outside our communication loop, said board member 
Susan Russell. The women of this church are committed to 
growing this church and ECW is committed to supporting that work 
in whatever way we can.

Film on church and Holocaust stirring strong reaction

(ENI) A film that raises provocative questions about the role 
of the church during the Holocaust has opened in France where it 
is stirring some powerful reactions.

Amen is a film by Constantin Costa-Gavras, a specialist in 
political cinema, and it portrays what he considers to be the 
moral bankruptcy of the churchs attitude towards the 
extermination of Jews by the Nazis. The two main charactersa 
young Italian Jesuit posted at the Vaticans mission to Berlin, 
and a German member of the SS--attempt without success to alert 
Christian churches and Pope Pius XII to the reality of the Nazi 
extermination camps.

In reaction to the films poster, which depicts a cross 
imposed on a swastika, Archbishop Jean-Pierre Ricard of Bordeaux 
said that it creates an intolerable identification of the 
symbol of the Christian faith with that of Nazi barbarism.

In response, Costs-Gavras said that the attention given to 
the poster risks turning people away from the film. That would 
be very unfortunate because their debate should be with the 
film. Jean-Arnold de Clermont, president of the Protestant 
Federation of France, pointed out that its not a historical 
film. Many aspects of it are certainly disputable, notably the 
absence of the Confessing Church, but in its dramatic force, it 
effectively raises the question of the responsibility of the 
churches as social institutions. We mustnt use the pretext of 
some historical inaccuracies to evade this examination.

Westminster Abbey now example of how to handle tourists

(ENI) Westminster Abbey in London has been lauded by a 
leading tourism official as a shining example of how to handle 
large numbers of tourists effectively.

Adrian Clark, director of the Tourism Society, said that by 
imposing an admission charge of six pounds ($8.50) the medieval 
abbey had acted to avoid the downside of tourism, the erosion 
of the building through wear and tear that plagues many of 
Britains historic religious buildings.

The abbey started charging admission in 1997 in response to 
growing congestion created by 1.75 million visitors a year. 
Canon David Hutt, responsible for maintenance of the abbey, said 
that the main purpose of charging an admission fee was to 
recover the spirituality of the building. We now have a proper 
degree of management, and visitors are sharing with us concern 
for the fabric and spirituality, he said. The abbey has a 
full-time conservator working in full view of visitors, who can 
now see that proper stewardship is being exercised. 

Canterbury Cathedral, the mother church of the Anglican 
Communion, also charges for entry but the number of visitors is 
more manageable. Litter on the grounds surrounding the cathedral 
is more of a problem than wear and tear.

Survey reveals widespread abuse of children in West African 
refugee camps

(ENS) A preliminary study by the office of the UN High 
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the British branch of Save 
the Children has revealed widespread child abuse and sexual 
exploitation at refugee camps run by the United Nations in 
Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. A team from the two agencies 
interviewed more than 1,500 children and adults and documented 
charges against 67 people from more than 40 agencies, most of 
them national and foreign relief agencies operating in the 
region. The suspects were primarily local male employees hired 
to distribute aid.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said that he was shocked and 
disturbed by the reports and promised further investigation and 
swift action. In all three countries workers reportedly used 
the very humanitarian aid and services intended to benefit the 
refugee population as a tool of exploitation, said the UN 
report.

A whole range of people in a position of authority and trust 
were abusing these positions, all in return for sexual favors, 
said Paul Nolan, child protection manager for Save the Children. 
The kids are in a desperate situation. In order to survive they 
have to make the choice between going without food or selling 
themselves, the only currency they have left to them, he said.

A background analysis by the US Committee for Refugees points 
out that there are an estimated 1.1 million people in the three 
countries still living in refugee camps and displacement sites 
after 12 years of war spilling across the international borders. 
Many refugee programs in the region are mismanaged, 
disorganized, poorly staffed and accommodate corruption by local 
officials and some aid workers, according the analysis. At the 
peak of the refugee crisis in Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone, 
UNHCR deployed fewer than 10 protection officers to monitor 
700,000 refugees and returnees, the report said.

Richard Parkins, director of Episcopal Migration Ministries 
(EMM) said that children are inherently vulnerable and made 
more so by protracted stays in understaffed and poorly supported 
refugee camps. He noted that the camps in West Africa are in 
remote parts of the host countries and that such isolation adds 
to the vulnerability of refugees generally and women and 
children particularly.

Parkins hoped that the UN and other relief agencies would act 
with a great sense of urgency, but he also argued that the 
situation wouldnt improve until the practice of containing 
thousands of refugees in camps for years without any prospect of 
a new life ends.

Episcopal Church launches major Interfaith Education 
Initiative

(ENS) As a direct response to the terrorist attacks of 
September 11, Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD) and the 
Office of Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations have launched a 
joint projectthe Interfaith Education Initiative.

The purpose of the initiative is to promote better 
understanding within the church of the worlds religious 
diversity, complexity and interconnectedness by developing a 
curriculum and providing educational resources. Seminars and 
workshops will also be offered, beginning this spring.

The initiative will be supervised by Bishop Christopher 
Epting, deputy for Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations, and Mary 
Becchi, ERDs deputy director of program and planning, assisted 
by an advisory committee of 10 people with expertise in 
education, theology or interfaith relations. Dr. Allen Mosher, 
an active participant in Jewish-Christian dialogue who has 
taught world religions, has been appointed as the interfaith 
education officer on the project, funded by ERD.

The presiding bishop could not have been more clear, as we 
discussed my coming on board as his deputy, that he wanted our 
interfaith work to be a high priority, said Epting. The global 
situation and changing demographics in this country make 
understanding the worlds major religions no longer a matter of 
mere curiosity but a real necessity.

According to Becchi, Dialogue and understanding are the 
preconditions for global peace and development. In awakening the 
Episcopal Church to the larger world, in all its diversity and 
complexity, this process will help us all learn about the 
interconnectedness of all societies. From our perspective, this 
is necessary because we are an engaged church committed to our 
mission and work.

St. Georges College in Jerusalem open despite continuing 
strife

(ACNS) Despite the continuing strife in the area, St. 
Georges College in Jerusalem is still open, welcoming pilgrims. 
The Rev. Ross Jones, an American who serves as dean, said that 
only 146 had registered recently, compared with an average of 
450 in recent years. At a meeting of the colleges executive 
committee recently in Virginia, he called it one of the 
colleges poorer years as we struggle to survive with a dearth 
of pilgrims.

Bishop Riah Abu El Assal of the Diocese of Jerusalem shared 
his own visionas well as his fearsfor the future, noting the 
Christians continue to leave the region. He also spoke of the 
humanitarian crisis created by the continuing violence. The 
diocese has been providing food for hundreds of families who 
have lost their homes.

Riah called St. Georges an important window to the world, 
serving as a Holy Land centre for the formation of faith, 
presenting the Christian faith through the Anglican tradition in 
the context of the land, the people and the traditions from 
which it arose.

Jones said that the college is running a considerable deficit 
but he also reported that it is one of only three comparable 
institutions still open. Those who have attended have heartily 
endorsed both the program and their decision to attend.

Forward Movement Publications appoints laywoman to chair 
executive committee

(ENS) Margaret Graham Beers of Washington, DC, has been 
appointed to a five-year term as chair of the executive 
committee of Forward Movement Publicationsthe first layperson 
to serve in that capacity. She has been a member of the 
committee for the past five years and edited Echoes of the 
Spirit, a book of prayers by women.

She and her husband David Booth Beers, chancellor to the 
presiding bishop, are members of St. Patricks Church in 
Washington. She has been involved with the diocesan commission 
on peace and served as assistant to the president of the House 
of Deputies for the last three General Conventions.

Forward Movement was established by the 1934 General 
Convention to help reinvigorate the life of the church by 
producing materials that support persons in their lives of 
prayer and faith. In addition to the daily devotional, Forward 
Day by Day, it also produces over 400 tracts, pamphlets and 
books. We are excited about the future of Forward Movement on 
many fronts, Mrs. Beers said. In our efforts to reach a wider 
audience we have mounted a web page (www.forwardmovement.org) 
and increased our audio offerings and works in Spanishand we 
are looking to move into trade bookstores with the publication 
of a new line of books.

Spiritual Formation in Broken World theme of 33rd Trinity 
Institute

(ENS) Trinity Institutes 33rd national teleconference on 
April 5-6 will broadcast from a site very near Ground Zero, 
around the corner from the September 11 terrorist on the World 
Trade Center in New York. The conference, on the theme How Then 
Must We Live? will feature panelists who specialize in helping 
individuals establish priorities and rework their relationships 
with family, work and God.

The participating speakers are all actively engaged in 
spiritual formation in a broken world, helping people rethink 
their lives: Parker Palmer works primarily with educators; 
Robert Bondi counsels graduate students; Andre Delbecq coaches 
business leaders; Sharon Daloz Parks guides young adults; and 
Phyllis Tickle shares her prayer disciplines in print and on the 
Internet.

GraceCom, the media ministry of Grace Cathedral in San 
Francisco, will work with the Episcopal Cathedral 
Teleconferencing Network to produce the live video webcast 
available on www.GraceCathedral.org and www.ECTN.org.

To register for the conference or for further information go 
to the web site at www.trininst.org or call 1-800-457-0224.

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