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April 18, 2002

2002-097

Episcopalians: News Briefs

US Jewish-Christian dialogue resumes

(ENS) While conflict in Israel-Palestine showed little signs of 
easing, Jews and Christians in the United States gathered in 
Stony Point, New York April 15-16 to resume a national dialogue 
after a hiatus of a number of years. Sponsored jointly by the 
National Council of Synagogues and the National Council of 
Churches in the United States of America, the two-day dialogue 
focused on how scripture is read in the two faith traditions.

An initial presentation by Dr. Vincent Wimbush, Professor of 
New Testament and Christian Origins at Union Theological 
Seminary, focused on raising such questions as "How are sacred 
texts created?'" and "Why do people consider some texts sacred 
and some not?" Wimbush said that he was not so much interested 
in "the meaning of texts" but of "meaning" in relationship to 
the texts.

Dr. Burton Visotzky, professor of midrash at the Jewish 
Theological Seminary, focused on the commonality of Jewish and 
Christian hermeneutics, given the fact that rabbinic Judaism and 
patristic Christianity were both heavily influenced by the 
Graeco-Roman culture in which they were both formed. A lively 
discussion among the participants followed such assertions that 
Christian missionaries often used the text as pretext for 
mercantile interests and issues of domination and control 
(Wimbush) and that ideology often drives hermeneutic (Visotzky).

After morning prayers on the second day, participants heard 
brief presentations on the topic "What is Required of Us: 
Scripture and Justice in Our World." Discussion flowing from 
this theme revolved around the way the various traditions use 
scripture in proclaiming God's demand for justice and 
righteousness in the world.

Because a number of the Jewish participants came directly to 
the conference from a rally in Washington, DC, a final session 
was spent in candid, and sometimes painful, sharing of concerns 
about Israel and Palestine and the heart rending situation in 
the Holy Land. The assembly unanimously agreed that the 
gathering had been productive, that it must be followed up on, 
and that a small group would work on an expanded consultation 
sometime in 2003.

"I am extremely encouraged by this new beginning," said 
Bishop Christopher Epting, the Episcopal Church's deputy for 
ecumenical and interfaith relations. "Because of our 
disagreements with the State of Israel over certain policies in 
the Middle East, Jewish-Christian dialogue in this country had 
almost come to a standstill on the national level. These new 
conversations provide a way forward for which we should all be 
grateful."

Rabbi Gilbert Rosenthal, of the National Council of 
Synagogues, and the Rev. Jay Rock of the National Council of 
Churches co-chaired the meeting and will provide leadership for 
the continuing working group.

Episcopal Church urges further debt cancellation for poorest 
countries

(ENS) The Office of Government Relations of the Episcopal Church 
hailed the introduction of bipartisan legislation in the House 
and Senate on April 18 to deepen debt relief for the world's 
poorest countries. The bill, known as the "Debt Relief 
Enhancement Act of 2002," is sponsored by Senators Joseph Biden, 
Jr.(D-DE)and Rick Santorum, (R-PA) and Congressmen Chris Smith 
(R-NJ) and John J. LaFalce (D-NY).

"Poor countries shouldn't be sending their scarce resources 
to the richest countries and institutions in the world - they 
should be allowed to invest in their people, in health, in 
education," said Tom Hart, director of government relations for 
the Episcopal Church. "Leaders in Congress are once again 
reaching across party lines to help the world's needy people 
with substantial debt relief." 

The legislation calls for doubling the amount of annual debt 
service relief to the 26 heavily indebted poor countries (HIPCs) 
that have qualified so far for the Enhanced HIPC Initiative. 
Currently, the Enhanced HIPC program has cut annual debt service 
payments for 26 countries from $3 billion to $2 billion per 
year. This legislation would cut an additional $1 billion per 
year in debt service.

"This is a strong compliment to the Administration's 
grants-loans proposal," Hart said. "Grants and deeper debt 
relief are two solutions to the same problem - the poorest 
countries can't and shouldn't sustain heavy debt burdens. We 
should remedy the HIPCs' debt crisis like any bankruptcy. We 
should write off their debts, then help them avoid getting back 
into debt by providing grants. It's the only sensible long-term 
solution."

Washington office says Senate vote on Arctic a victory 

(ENS) The Episcopal Church's Office of Government Relations 
praised the U.S. Senate's April 18 vote to protect the Alaska 
National Wilderness Refuge. 

"Energy security is obtained through conservation and the 
development of alternatives to fossil fuels, not drilling for 
three percent of the world's oil reserves," said John B. Johnson 
of the Office of Government Relations. "The Senate vote reflects 
the character of our country, that we can use the economic, 
entrepreneurial, and innovative might of this nation to solve 
our energy challenges. We don't have to threaten life, land and 
culture to meet our energy needs."

The Arctic Refuge is the spiritual homeland to the Gwich'in 
Indians. Oil development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge 
would have threatened the calving grounds of the Porcupine 
Caribou Herd, which is the very basis of Gwich'in culture and 
life. Traditionally Gwich'in communities are almost totally 
Episcopalian and have been since Anglican and subsequently 
Episcopal missionaries came to bring the Gospel more than 100 
years ago. For 10,000 years, generations of Gwich'in native 
people of northeast Alaska and northwest Canada have relied on 
the caribou for subsistence.

The Episcopal Church has repeatedly called upon the United 
States Congress and the Bush administration "to permanently 
protect the calving and nursery grounds of the Porcupine Caribou 
herd by prohibiting oil development in the Coastal Plain of the 
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge." 

Washington diocese and Georgetown University host Mideast 
forum 

(ENS) The Middle East Peace Committee of the Episcopal Diocese 
of Washington and the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding 
at Georgetown University are sponsoring a free forum on 
Religion and Politics in Egypt and Israel, America's closest 
allies in the Middle East on Monday, April 22 at 7 PM at St. 
Alban's Episcopal Church on the grounds of the Washington 
National Cathedral. Egypt is a predominantly Muslim country and 
the world's largest Arab nation. Israel is a Jewish state and 
the US's closest ally in the region. Together both countries 
receive over 50% of our foreign aid each year. Religion plays an 
important role in the political affairs of both countries.

Presenters include three Middle East policy experts who are 
interviewed frequently in the national and international media: 
Dr. Samer Shehata, assistant professor of Arab politics, 
Georgetown University; Dr. Ian Lustick, professor of political 
science, University of Pennsylvania; and Dr. Yvonne Haddad, 
professor of history of Islam and Christian-Muslim relations, 
Georgetown University. 

The forum's moderator will be the Rt. Rev. Allen Bartlett, 
assisting bishop in the Diocese of Washington and the former 
bishop of the Diocese of Pennsylvania.

The moderator will introduce the three speakers and 
coordinate questions from the media and the audience following 
the presentations. Haddad will provide a 15-20 minute regional 
overview of the issue, focusing on the historic treatment of 
minority religions in the region. Shehata and Lustick will speak 
for 30 minutes on their assigned country, addressing such issues 
as the role of religion in promoting democratic values and how 
the majority religion has influenced the government's treatment 
of religious minority groups. Following the presentation there 
will be time for questions. The first 15 minutes are reserved 
for questions from press.

St. Alban's Episcopal Church is located at 3001 Wisconsin 
Avenue, NW, at the corner with Massachusetts Avenue in 
Washington, DC. 

Pro-Israel Episcopal group responds to Massachusetts 
bishops

(ENS) A Massachusetts group calling itself the Episcopal-Jewish 
Alliance for Israel plans a response to protests by 
Massachusetts' Episcopal bishops last November in front of the 
Israeli consulate. The group will present a panel discussion of 
the conflict in the Middle East on April 21 in Newton, 
Massachusetts. 

The panel includes Rabbi William Hamilton of Congregation 
Kehillith Israel in Brookline; the Rev. Keith Roderick, an 
Episcopal priest in Illinois who began working in 1982 with a 
group called Aid to Soviet Christians, but now heads an umbrella 
organization entitled the Coalition for the Defense of Human 
Rights Under Islamization; and Dennis Hale, an Episcopalian and 
associate professor of political science at Boston College.

"The Episcopal Diocese of Boston has waged an unbalanced, 
unfair campaign against Israel," the group said in an 
announcement. "Now Episcopal clergy and laymen, offended by 
these actions, are uniting with Jews to support Israel."

The panel discussion is jointly sponsored by the Boston Israel 
Action Committee (BIAC) and CAMERA, the Committee for Accuracy 
in Middle East Reporting in America. 

In a statement posted on the website for the Boston Israel Action 
Committee, the group said that "the fundamental cause of the 
conflict in the Middle East is the Arab refusal to accept the 
reality of a non-Muslim state" and characterized the 
Massachusetts bishops' position as "tragically one-sided."

"Under constant attack, Israel has been forced to take 
self-defense measures which our local Bishops portray as an 
'unjust occupation'--despite Israel's withdrawal of its military 
from Arab villages and towns in the 1990s--turning the 
victimizers into victims and the victims into aggressors," the 
statement said. "This is morally confused and dangerous, because 
it rewards terror with concessions, and in the process 
encourages more terror

"We urge all men and women of good will to stand with our 
Jewish friends at a time when the Arab war against Israel is 
being advanced by terror and anti-Semitism all over the world," 
the statement concludes. "We must not let this darkness fall 
again." 

CDO profiles now available online

(ENS) Thanks to new technology, Episcopal clergy can now view, 
update, and print their own Clergy Deployment Office (CDO) 
personal profiles online. The CDO On Line system is located at 
http://cdo.dfms.org. The first time a user logs on, the system 
will ask for the selection of a unique CDO user name and 
password.

"Clergy are encouraged to enter CDO On Line as soon as 
possible to check the accuracy of personal profile data imported 
from the old CDO system and to make any necessary corrections 
and updates," said the Rev. James Wilson, executive director of 
the Church Deployment Office. "They should pay special attention 
to the work history section, which presents some particular 
translation problems, and the compensation and skill/experience 
sections."

Clergy who now subscribe to the electronic version of the 
Positions Open Bulletin (POB) will be able to access it from the 
CDO On Line Main Menu after logging in. They will also be able 
to access the POB from the Positions Open Bulletin button on the 
CDO home page by using the new CDO user name and password.

All of the tools needed to update a profile, including the 
skill/experience manual and a list of dioceses, are available on 
line and for downloading, free of charge. In addition, clergy 
will be able to print updated personal profiles at no cost.

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