Episcopal Life Online Newslink June 15, 2007
Episcopal Life Online is available at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife.
Today's ELO Newslink includes:
* TOP STORY - Search underway for National Council of Churches general secretary * TOP STORY - Arizona church's Day Labor Center intensifies immigration debate * TOP STORY - Protecting children: Church pressures travel industry on sex trafficking * MULTIMEDIA - Presiding Bishop, Bonnie Anderson review Executive Council meeting * MULTIMEDIA - House of Deputies president Bonnie Anderson * OPINION - Globalization and the future of the Anglican Communion * ARTS - My First Sculpture and The Crawling Eye
_____________________
TOP STORIES
Search underway for National Council of Churches general secretary
Bob Edgar to step down after two four-year terms
[ENS] The National Council of the Churches (http://www.ncccusa.org) of Christ in the USA (NCC), a leading force for ecumenical cooperation among Christians in the United States, has appointed a search committee to find a new general secretary to succeed the Rev. Bob Edgar, who has been named the head of the Washington-based advocacy group Common Cause (http://www.commoncause.org).
Edgar, a former six-term Democratic Party congressman from the state of Pennsylvania, has been credited with helping to turn around the financial fortunes of the NCC. He said in October 2006 he would not seek a third four-year term as the council's general secretary and is expected to end his tenure with the NCC at the end of August.
A 21-member search committee has produced the NCC General Secretary Job Description and identified priorities for the new incumbent, as well as the ideal experience and characteristics sought.
Bishop Christopher Epting, the Episcopal Church's ecumenical and interfaith officer and a member of the search committee, said: "Bob Edgar was the right person for the job at the right time. The ecumenical community will always be grateful for his contribution. This search for his successor is hugely important and I pray that many qualified candidates will put their names forward in this discernment process."
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_86935_ENG_HTM.htm
- - - - -
Arizona church's Day Labor Center intensifies immigration debate
By Pat McCaughan
[Episcopal News Service] A day labor center at Good Shepherd of the Hills Episcopal Church in Cave Creek, Arizona, has become a flashpoint for the nation's heated immigration debate.
Good Shepherd began the day labor program seven years ago at the invitation of officials in Cave Creek, located about 35 miles north of Phoenix, said the Rev. Glenn Jenks, the church's rector. But on June 18 the day labor center is expected to be a hot agenda item at a 7 p.m. town council meeting.
"The town had become concerned because the presence of migrants was creating issues for some of the businesses," Jenks said. "There were traffic problems, there's one main drag through town, no sidewalk, no shoulder, and the workers would mosey up and down the road looking for someone to pick them up."
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_86932_ENG_HTM.htm
- - - - -
Protecting children
Church pressures travel industry on sex trafficking
By Nan Cobbey
[Episcopal Life] The Episcopal Church and partner faith groups are pressing the travel and hospitality industries to help protect children from sex trafficking -- and they are having success.
The Office of Women's Ministries and the Executive Council's Social Responsibility in Investments (SRI) Committee have joined campaigns to protect and rescue children caught in the web of what has become a multi-billion dollar industry.
According to the U.S. State Department, more than 1 million children are caught up in a global network of sex trafficking in which people travel to engage in paid sex acts.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_86912_ENG_HTM.htm
_____________________
MULTIMEDIA
Presiding Bishop, Bonnie Anderson review Executive Council meeting
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and President of the House of Deputies Bonnie Anderson offer an overview of the Episcopal Church's recent Executive Council meeting, held June 11-14 in Parsippany, New Jersey. The Rev. Jan Nunley, deputy for communication for the Episcopal Church, reports.
Multimedia available at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81231_ENG_HTM.htm
- - - - -
House of Deputies president Bonnie Anderson
President of the House of Deputies Bonnie Anderson speaks about her experiences of pastoral visits to various parishes and dioceses throughout the Episcopal Church. She especially noted visits to dioceses such as San Joaquin and Pittsburgh, whose bishops are disaffected with the Church's leadership. Anderson explained that in some places there are not many outlets for people who are committed to the Episcopal Church. In such instances, she said, people "need to know more about the Episcopal Church, what we're doing and how they can be involved."
Multimedia available at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81231_ENG_HTM.htm
_____________________
OPINION
Globalization and the future of the Anglican Communion
By Frederick Quinn
[Episcopal Life] Globalization is a highly combustible concept. It produces angry street demonstrations, yet increasingly has become part of the working vocabulary of reflective church members everywhere. What does it mean in a religious context? Proponents acknowledge the Internet's instantaneous speed, the pervasive influence of cell phones, DVDs, television, and the spread of worldwide air travel. Globalization's opponents see it as a threat to the very fabric of societies, to be railed against without being precisely defined.
A minimal working definition of globalization in today's context might be: the process of increasing worldwide political, economic, technological, and religious interaction, resulting in swiftly shrinking horizons for all participants. Swift globalization also produces friction among affected parties and many incongruous moments as well. An overseas missionary recently recalled a difficult journey through the jungles of New Guinea to deliver a gift to a local church. When the ceremony, complete with local music and dances, was over, the village headman invited his visitors into a thatched hut to watch the world cup soccer finals on a battery operated TV.
In reality, globalization has been an active historical force since at least the 15th century when growing numbers of European merchants, military, and missionaries began making voyages to the earth's ends. But trade with distant people and the intrusiveness of new religious ideas really belong to much earlier times. The Acts of the Apostles, considered as travel literature for a moment, reflect many of the tensions facing the contemporary global church. In the century after Christ's death, his followers around the Mediterranean literal compiled various oral traditions about Jesus as Messiah and prayerfully applied them in their own widely diverse settings. Understandably, sharp disputes arose, both among Christians, and with enthusiasts for Greek, Roman, Jewish and other religious expressions. Globalization is never friction free.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80050_86908_ENG_HTM.htm
More Opinion: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80050_ENG_HTM.htm
_____________________
ARTS
My First Sculpture and The Crawling Eye
By Joel Haas
[Episcopal Life] With a 9 p.m. bedtime strictly enforced, it was no problem for me and my two younger brothers to bounce out of bed at 5:30 a.m. or earlier on a Saturday morning.
In self-defense, our parents eased the television restrictions so we could watch Channel 5's Saturday morning Sunrise Theater.
Using bright red fingernail polish, Mom placed a mark on the TV volume knob -- under no circumstances were we to turn the volume beyond that red mark. Thus, our parents could sleep late while we watched Grade B horror movies.
After pouring our bowls of cereal and making chocolate milk, we'd plop down in front of the 1957 vintage black and white "portable" TV. (Portable in those days meant a TV small enough it only required a gorilla-sized man wearing a steel truss to move it from point "A" to "A.")
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81827_86910_ENG_HTM.htm
More Arts: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81827_ENG_HTM.htm
- - - - - - - - -
To SUBSCRIBE to Episcopal Life Online, send a blank email message, from the address which you wish subscribed, to join-enslist@epicom.org and include "subscribe" in the subject line.
Send QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS to news@episcopalchurch.org
ELO provides information and resources which we consider to be of interest to our readers.
However, statements and opinions expressed in the articles and communications herein, are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of ELO or the Episcopal Church.