Episcopal Life Online Newslink September 14, 2007
Episcopal Life Online is available at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife.
Today's ELO Newslink includes:
* TOP STORY - One third of dioceses respond to Bishops' communiqué study document * DIOCESAN DIGEST - LOS ANGELES: State Supreme Court agrees to review property ruling * WORLD REPORT - ENGLAND: Government increases support for faith schools * WORLD REPORT - KENYA: Church-backed theological college gets university charter * WORLD REPORT - NEW ZEALAND: Retired Archbishop Whakahuihui Vercoe dies at 79 * WORLD REPORT - NIGERIA: Four new bishops elected for Convocation of Anglicans in North America * WORLD REPORT - NIGERIA: Bishops urge postponing Lambeth Conference, call for special Primates' Meeting * OPINION - Guest Column: In rebuilding New Orleans, churches 'deliver' * ARTS - Board game seeks to build inter-faith understanding
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TOP STORIES
One third of dioceses respond to Bishops' communiqué study document
Responses sent to House of Bishops prior to New Orleans meeting
By Mary Frances Schjonberg
[Episcopal News Service] Roughly a third of the Episcopal Church's dioceses and have formally responded to reflections and questions contained in a study document aimed at helping the House of Bishops respond to the requests made to them by the Primates of the Anglican Communion.
The bishops will have copies of those responses, ranging in length from two to six pages, as they meet in New Orleans, according to Alabama Bishop Henry N. Parsley.
Parsley chairs the House of Bishops Theology Committee, which released the 15-page "Communion Matters: A Study Document for the Episcopal Church" (http://www.collegeforbishops.org/media/documents/Communion%20Matters%20c olo r.pdf) on June 1. The study document is aimed at helping the bishops respond to the requests made to them by the Primates of the Anglican Communion.
The requests were made in a communiqué
(http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_82722_ENG_HTM.htm) from the Primates at the end of their February meeting in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_90029_ENG_HTM.htm
More Top Stories: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife
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DIOCESAN DIGEST
LOS ANGELES: State Supreme Court agrees to review property ruling http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_90028_ENG_HTM.htm
More Diocesan news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_ENG_HTM.htm
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WORLD REPORT
ENGLAND: Government increases support for faith schools http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_90022_ENG_HTM.htm
KENYA: Church-backed theological college gets university charter http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_90021_ENG_HTM.htm
NEW ZEALAND: Retired Archbishop Whakahuihui Vercoe dies at 79 http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_90024_ENG_HTM.htm
NIGERIA: Four new bishops elected for Convocation of Anglicans in North America http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_90026_ENG_HTM.htm
NIGERIA: Bishops urge postponing Lambeth Conference, call for special Primates' Meeting http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_90027_ENG_HTM.htm
More World news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_ENG_HTM.htm
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OPINION
Guest Column: In rebuilding New Orleans, churches 'deliver'
By Stephen Hudspeth
[Episcopal Life] My cabdriver from New Orleans' Louis Armstrong Airport and I got to talking about his experiences during Katrina. Then he asked what I was doing in town. When I told him, he replied, "We know we can't trust FEMA, and we can't trust our local government, either. But churches -- now, you can rely on them. They deliver!" My experience with the Disaster Response Team of the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana has confirmed that once again. They are beautifully organized, and they do deliver.
Many in the faith communities in my city -- Wilton, Connecticut -- have been involved in work along the Gulf Coast post-Katrina. They include both our Christian churches and Jewish Temple B'nai Chaim. Teams from St. Matthew's Episcopal Church have been going to New Orleans every other month for more than 18 months now.
In January 2006, I went with one of those groups. This last month, however, I went solo and filled in with church teams from Florida, North Carolina and Ohio doing contents removal and gutting of small "shotgun" homes (one story, with rooms in line).
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80050_90017_ENG_HTM.htm
More Opinion: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80050_ENG_HTM.htm
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ARTS
Board game seeks to build inter-faith understanding
By David Briggs
[Religion News Service] According to Islam, do humans carry the sins of their ancestors? What is more important in Judaism -- the self or the community? What does "70 x 7" refer to in the Bible?
If you answered "no," "the community" and "how often Jesus says we are to forgive each other," you would be ahead in a new board game designed to promote interfaith understanding.
The game, "7th Heaven," tests players' knowledge of Judaism, Islam and Christianity in a way that people from junior high school age and up can enjoy learning about different religious practices, said John Cooper, a mechanical engineer from Lincoln, Nebraska, who developed the game.
Does the game succeed?
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81827_90019_ENG_HTM.htm
More Arts: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81827_ENG_HTM.htm