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Daybook -- Today is Monday, October 2, 2006.
* Today in Scripture: Daily Office meditation
http://www.forwardmovement.org/todaysreading.cfm * Today in Prayer: Anglican Cycle of Prayer http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acp/index.cfm * Today in History: On this day in 1976, John Bowen Coburn was consecrated Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts http://www.episcopalarchives.org/cgi-bin/ENS/ENSpress_release.pl?pr_numbe r=76309a
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Mission: United Thank Offering welcomes applications for 2007 grants
By Daphne Mack
[ENS] The 2007 grant application process for the United Thank Offering (UTO) is officially underway.
Dioceses within the Episcopal Church and provinces of the Anglican Communion may submit grant requests. Applications, instructions and letters of invitation have been mailed to diocesan and provincial offices and may be submitted through January 31, 2007. Established in 1889 as the United Offering by the Women's Auxiliary to the Board of Missions, UTO primarily supported the work of women missionaries in the Episcopal Church. That emphasis has broadened to include all areas of the church's work.
"We have a lot of potential to help people meet their goals," said JoAnne Chapman, UTO Coordinator. "We look at the grant applications and try to meet the most compelling needs."
This year, UTO will also consider the budget priorities adopted by the 75th General Convention, including the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The UTO Committee has discussed the MDGs and attended the Episcopal Partnership for Global Mission where these goals were emphasized, Chapman explained.
"We welcome grants from overseas that support the MDGs as well as Theological Education for the Anglican Communion (TEAC), because the [Anglican] Primates have identified that as a goal," she said.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_78305_ENG_HTM.htm
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Diocesan Digest
PENNSYLVANIA: Standing Committee rejects bishop's chancellor choice http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_78299_ENG_HTM.htm
ROCHESTER: Irondequoit congregation turns over keys to property http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_78298_ENG_HTM.htm
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World Report
CANADA: Retired Toronto bishop disciplined for performing same-sex marriage http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_78296_ENG_HTM.htm
ENGLAND: Manchester bishop to chair women bishops legislative drafting group http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_78294_ENG_HTM.htm
SOUTH AFRICA: Tutu scolds South Africans for 'senseless crime,' warns of new racism http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_78292_ENG_HTM.htm
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Music: A Concert Heard Round the World: Monika Jalili and NoorSaaz Return
By Nicole Seiferth
[Source: Trinity Church, Wall Street] In October 2005, Monika Jalili and NoorSaaz filed on to the stage at Trinity Church and straight into Trinity history. Their concert of music from pre-revolutionary Iran has been viewed via www.trinitywallstreet.org more than 300,000 times since last October, making it one of the most heavily trafficked features ever presented on Trinity's website.
"It has been the most amazing year," Jalili said, "basically due to that concert at Trinity."
Jalili and NoorSaaz return to Trinity on Thursday, October 5 as part of the Concerts at One series.
Following the concert, the band received emails from all over the world, but particularly from Iranians both in and outside of Iran.
"It was really emotional," she said. "We rekindled all kinds of memories for them."
Jalili was first introduced to the music of Iran by her Iranian husband's family. An accomplished professional musician, Jalili had already found an interest in traditional Persian folk music. But riding in the car with her father-in-law one day, he played her the popular pre-revolutionary song Jaane Maryam, telling Jalili, "I can hear you singing this."
"It opened a door to a whole genre of music I could relate to," Jalili recalled.
The Iranian music Monika Jalili and NoorSaaz perform, said Trinity Concerts director Earl Tucker, "is about nostalgia and hope. Nostalgia for what was; hope for what is continuing and evolving [in Iran]."
"The poetry and beauty of the music touched me," Jalili said, "I thought, 'I just have to do this.'"
But she couldn't do it alone. She founded NoorSaaz -- made up of violinist Megan Weeder, percussionist Timothy Quigley, oudist Mavrothis Kontansis and guitarist Nathan Dillon - a year and half ago to help bring these songs to life in a new way.
"We've spent a lot of time making something of our own, keeping true to the music and the lyrics," she said.
Jalili translates some lyrics into English and French, in order to "make it accessible to people who don't speak Persian."
Jalili's passion for her work comes through clearly when she speaks about NoorSaaz, their fans and, certainly, the music.
"This is," she said, "the best thing I've ever done with music in my life."
Full story: http://www.trinitywallstreet.org/resources/article.php?id=781
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Catalyst: "Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ" from Morehouse Publishing, by The Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission, 82 pages, paperback, $15.95
[Source: Morehouse Publishing] Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ is the 5th statement of the second phase of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) and brings to completion the mandate the Commission was given when it began its work in 1983.
"The Scripture lead us together to praise and bless Mary as the handmaid of the Lord, who was providentially prepared by divine grace to be the mother of our Redeemer. Her unqualified assent to the fulfillment of God's saving plan can be seen as the supreme instance of a believers' 'Amen' in response to the 'yes' of God." --from the Agreed Statement
To order: Episcopal Books and Resources online at http://www.episcopalbookstore.org or call 800-903-5544.
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