Episcopal Life Online Newslink November 6, 2007
Episcopal Life Online is available at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife.
Today's ELO Newslink includes:
* TOP STORY - Episcopal Relief and Development to assist victims of Hurricane Noel * PEOPLE - Mission director James Lemler accepts call to Connecticut parish * DIOCESAN DIGEST - LOUISIANA: Grinnell Corps adds New Orleans Episcopal project to service sites for grads * DIOCESAN DIGEST - MASSACHUSETTS: Convention explores being 'holy partners' * DIOCESAN DIGEST - MASSACHUSETTS: After Red Sox victories, diocese sends 'letters of condolences' to Colorado, Ohio bishops * DIOCESAN DIGEST - ROCHESTER: Convention hears from retiring bishop, supports MDGs * WORLD REPORT - BRITAIN: Exeter bishop criticizes practices of supermarkets * OPINION - 'Sexual abuse is a crime, not an affair': Bennison's presentment raises questions about characterization
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TOP STORIES
Episcopal Relief and Development to assist victims of Hurricane Noel
[ERD] Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD) is providing emergency aid to people affected by Hurricane Noel.
Originally a tropical storm that grew to a Category 1 hurricane, Noel swept across the Dominican Republic, Haiti, the Bahamas, and Cuba causing severe flooding and mudslides killing at least 140 people. The storm is now the deadliest to hit the Atlantic region during the 2007 hurricane season.
In the Dominican Republic, Hurricane Noel claimed more than 60 lives and left at least 62,000 people displaced from their homes. Rescue workers headed out in boats and helicopters to help dozens of communities left isolated by flooding and mudslides. According to Juan Temístocles Montás, the Dominican Minister of Economy, the country's plantain, rice, and cacao plantations suffered an estimated $30 million in damages due to three continuous days of heavy rain.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_91665_ENG_HTM.htm
More Top Stories: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife
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PEOPLE
Mission director James Lemler accepts call to Connecticut parish
[Episcopal News Service] The Rev. Dr. James B. Lemler, who has served since 2004 as the Episcopal Church's director of mission, has accepted a call from Christ Church, Greenwich, Connecticut, to serve as priest-in-charge of the historic parish.
The call, received from the parish wardens and vestry, was announced at the Episcopal Church Center on November 6 by Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori.
"I have been especially grateful for Jim's gifted and enthusiastic service to the Church as Director of Mission, and lament his departure," Jefferts Schori wrote in a message to all staff, adding her appreciation that Lemler has agreed to continue to assist with the ongoing staff reorganization now in progress at the Episcopal Church Center in New York. "The challenge of this change and its timing are a reminder that the Spirit rarely calls when we are ready."
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81831_91672_ENG_HTM.htm
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DIOCESAN DIGEST
LOUISIANA: Grinnell Corps adds New Orleans Episcopal project to service sites for grads http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_91667_ENG_HTM.htm
MASSACHUSETTS: Convention explores being 'holy partners' http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_91669_ENG_HTM.htm
MASSACHUSETTS: After Red Sox victories, diocese sends 'letters of condolences' to Colorado, Ohio bishops http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_91627_ENG_HTM.htm
ROCHESTER: Convention hears from retiring bishop, supports MDGs http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_91671_ENG_HTM.htm
More Diocesan news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_ENG_HTM.htm
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WORLD REPORT
BRITAIN: Exeter bishop criticizes practices of supermarkets http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_91666_ENG_HTM.htm
More World news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_ENG_HTM.htm
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OPINION
'Sexual abuse is a crime, not an affair'
Bennison's presentment raises questions about characterization
By Westley Byrne
[Episcopal Life] As a former resident of Philadelphia, I've followed the happenings of the Diocese of Pennsylvania for a long time. My first reaction to the news about Bishop Charles Bennison (Pennsylvania bishop inhibited from ordained ministry, October 31, 2007) and his brother John was a mixture of anger and sadness.
As I read further, though, another reaction set in. This second response wasn't so much to the news itself but to the way that news was described.
Seminarian John Bennison's criminal acts toward a child under his lay pastoral care are variously characterized as initiating a "sexual relationship," having a "relationship," and engaging in "sexual relations." As an ordained Episcopal deacon and then priest, John is said to have continued a "sexual relationship with the 14-year-old."
Charles, then a priest and John's supervisor during much of this time, knew that "his brother was conducting a sexual affair with an underage member of [his] church's youth group." It's said that Charles even came upon John Bennison and the 14 year-old-girl "while they were engaged in sexual relations."
Charles is charged with doing nothing, however, "to hasten the end of the affair."
But this wasn't an "affair." Neither was it a "relationship." What it was was child sexual abuse.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80050_91662_ENG_HTM.htm
More Opinion: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80050_ENG_HTM.htm