wfn.org | Episcopalians: News Briefs

[dmack@episcopalchurch.org]

July 1, 2002

2002-169

Episcopalians: News Briefs

Jerusalem 2000 campaign hopes to raise $2.5 million for work in 
Middle East

(ENS) Jerusalem 2000, a capital campaign to support the 
ministries of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, has raised 
over $700,000 on its way to a goal of $2.5 million by the end of 
the year, according to a report to the campaign's executive 
committee meeting June 27.

Phoebe Griswold, who leads the effort in the United States, 
met with the committee to review progress and plan for the final 
appeal coming during the Christmas/Epiphany season. The theme of 
the campaign is "Jerusalem 2000: Building Presence, Building 
Peace," emphasizing the critical role of the church in seeking 
reconciliation and trying to maintain a Christian presence in 
the Holy Land.

In September all Episcopal parishes will receive a mailing 
that invites them to hold a special event and offering to 
support the church's hospitals, schools and churches in 
Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza and Jordan. The campaign will 
provide various printed materials to explain the urgency of the 
need and the specific goals. A video featuring the church's 
ministries will incorporate footage and interviews from a visit 
earlier this year by a team from the church's communications 
office and Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD).

Members of the committee have actively recruited diocesan 
representatives for the fall campaign to publicize and promote 
the goals. So far 157 participants representing 52 dioceses have 
agreed to help.

(To learn more about the campaign and how to serve as a 
diocesan-based participant contact Janette O'Neill of ERD at 
800-334-7626, ext. 6279.)

Australian survey shows decline in commitment to 
Christianity

(ENI) A national census conducted last year shows a decline in 
the commitment of Australians to Christianity and a rise in the 
number of people who declare they have no religion. While 
Christianity remains the dominant faith in the nation, it is 
losing followers to other religions, the figures show. Buddhism 
and Islam are growing faster and almost 5 percent of the 
population identify themselves with a religion other than 
Christianity, up from 3.5 percent in 1996. About 25 percent said 
they were of "no religion" or declined to answer the question.

"We have to face these currents in society, just as we have 
to face the increase in materialism and privatization," said the 
Rev. John Henderson, general secretary of Australia's National 
Council of Churches. "Christianity is not, in any case, a 
numbers game. It is about God's love. Jesus had only 12 against 
the Roman Empire but it was his message and self sacrifice that 
counted."

He admitted that the survey does challenge the churches to 
self-examination. "We can't just continue in past modes. We have 
to reassess whether our existing structures are aiding and 
abetting the task of communicating the central Christian 
message," he said. 

The survey also indicates a big decline in traditional family 
life. In 1971 only 36 percent of those between the ages of 20 
and 29 had never been married but now this figure is 76 percent. 

Interfaith consultation concludes religion must address 
issues of violence and peace

(WCC) Participants in an interfaith consultation at the World 
Council of Churches Ecumenical Institute near Geneva concluded 
that the elimination of violence is a challenge common to all 
religions--and they committed themselves to work together for 
peace.

"Religious communities and their leaders should work towards 
solemn mutual commitments to withdraw any moral or ethical 
legitimization from the use of violent means in response to 
conflict or in the pursuit of political, economic, cultural and 
even religious ends," said WCC General Secretary Konrad Raiser 
in comments to the consultation. He reminded participants that 
Christianity, once a persecuted minority religion, came to be 
the persecutor once it was the dominant religion of the Roman 
Empire, using violence to maintain the unity of the church and 
empire. "The traces of this unholy alliance of religion and 
violence are still with us in the crusading language of the 'war 
on terrorism,'" he said.

Yehezkel Landau, a Jew who is director of a center for 
interfaith dialogue and cooperation in Jerusalem, said that Jews 
and Muslims are fighting for control of territory and Christians 
are either squeezed in the middle or looking on in pain from a 
distance. "I appeal to Christians, chastened by their own 
violent history, to exemplify the gospel teaching of preemptive 
forgiveness, so as to shock us into seeing how destructive our 
own behavior has become," he said. 

Speaking as a Muslim woman who teaches Islamic studies in 
India, Dr. Zeenat Ali said that "it would be more constructive 
if religions focused on acts of peace-making, appreciation of 
the other, and acceptance of the plurality and diversity of 
humankind."  She argued that the world's religions can create a 
vision and action plan for global peace and survival through 
non-violent means--and she believes that women can play a vital 
role in that process.

Liberian refugees straining recovery efforts in war-damaged 
Sierra Leone

(ENS) The recent arrival of over 8,000 refugees from Liberia 
into eastern Sierra Leone is placing a serious strain on the 
recovery efforts of that war-damaged nation. It also comes at a 
difficult time, threatening to sidetrack efforts to reintegrate 
tens of thousands of repatriated Sierra Leonean refugees back 
into their home communities, according to a report by the U.S. 
Committee for Refugees (USCR.

A USCR team recently spent three days in a border region of 
Sierra Leone, an area already struggling to absorb about 45,000 
former refugees trying to return to Sierra Leone after years of 
asylum in Guinea and Liberia, and now facing a fresh influx of 
Liberians fleeing a renewal of fighting in their country. The 
movement is straining humanitarian aid agencies as well as local 
residents whose basic services were destroyed in Sierra Leon's 
civil war that officially ended six months ago.

"Local Sierra Leonean authorities are very nervous at this 
stage of having another refugee influx," said an official for 
the UN High Commission for Refugees. "We know that the conflict 
in Liberia could quickly come to the borderline" and even 
provide an excuse for Liberia to launch military action, the 
official said.

USCR is recommending that the United Nations move more 
aggressively in response to the Liberian refugee influx, seeking 
support from the U.S. and other international donors. Refugees 
should also be moved to camps away from the potentially 
dangerous border zone. There are already about 40,000 Liberian 
refugees in Sierra Leone who have registered with the U.N. or 
local authorities and thousands of others who have not 
registered. Over half a million Sierra Leoneans are trying to 
return to their country to rebuild their lives.

"We were just beginning to see some rays of hope that Sierra 
Leone was recovering and now that is being threatened," said 
Richard Parkins, director of Episcopal Migration Ministries who 
has visited the region several times in recent years. "The 
attempt by Sierra Leone to recover from its disastrous civil war 
could be set back by this new movement of refugees." He pointed 
out that "a crisis like this also reverberates throughout the 
region," creating additional problems in surrounding countries.

Archbishop of Rwanda may offer 'ecclesiastical protection' to 
Canadian dissidents

(ENS) Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini of Rwanda is offering what he 
calls "ecclesiastical protection" to those clergy and parishes 
in the Diocese of New Westminster in the Anglican Church of 
Canada who are opposing a June 15 decision to offer blessings 
for same-gender relationships.

Kolini extended "the welcoming hand of Christian fellowship, 
shared concern, ready support and tangible assistance" in his 
letter to the parishes of the diocese based in British Columbia. 
"We fully understand that this compromise of the Gospel 
constitutes a serious violation of your firmly based and deeply 
held religious convictions and conscience. Communion has been 
jeopardized by the schismatic acts of that Synod." He noted that 
Archbishop of Canterbury George L. Carey had already labeled the 
action "a departure from Anglican moral tradition" one that 
contradicts a resolution passed at the 1998 Lambeth Conference 
of the world's Anglican bishops advising against such a move.

Kolini said that he deeply regretted "the threats toward you 
and numerous others concerning you clerical licenses" and 
announced his willingness "to share with others the possibility 
of ecclesiastical protection." Bishop Michael Ingham of New 
Westminster wrote to a dozen clergy who walked out of the synod 
meeting, asking if they wished to remain in the diocese "under 
my jurisdiction and authority as your diocesan bishop." He 
appealed to them to remain in the diocese "and continue to 
exercise your ministry among us" but some of the dissidents 
interpreted the letter as a threat.

Ingham said that Kolini's offer was "meaningless" since the 
archbishop has no jurisdiction in Canada. "He has never been in 
contact with me or tried to ascertain the facts of the 
situation," he said, suggesting that Kolini "is clearly being 
manipulated by this dissident group which is feeding him partial 
information."

Sullivan is candidate for bishop in the Diocese of Easton

(ENS) The Rev. Rosemari Sullivan, executive officer of the 
General Convention, has confirmed that she is a finalist in the 
election for a new bishop in the Diocese of Easton, comprised of 
 41 churches on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake in Maryland. 
The election is scheduled for September 28.

"As secretary of the General Convention, I have been asked 
what implications the nomination will have for the planning and 
carrying out of the 2003 General Convention," she said. "I want 
to assure everyone that planning and arrangements for the 
convention have never been in better shape."

Sullivan noted that a strong, experienced General Convention 
staff is well-prepared for the 74th convention to be held in 
Minneapolis July 27-August 8, pointing out that the actual 
logistics, worship, legislative process and exhibits are 
"solidly in place." She added that "regardless of the election 
in Easton, the General Convention is in good hands and in 
excellent order."

Sullivan was appointed to her office by Presiding Bishop 
Frank T. Griswold and Pamela P. Chinnis, president of the House 
of Deputies, on September 21, 1998 and assumed her office on 
November 1. At the time she was rector of the Church of St. 
Clement in Alexandria, Virginia.

In addition to planning the triennial convention, her office 
is responsible for the work of the committees, commissions, 
boards and agencies that implement the mission commitments of 
the church during interim years. In an interview following her 
appointment Sullivan stressed that "General Convention is really 
a process that his happening all the time--not just the visible 
meeting that happens every three years."

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