Episcopal Life Online Newslink November 12, 2007
Episcopal Life Online is available at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife.
Today's ELO Newslink includes:
* TOP STORY - November 18 bulletin insert celebrates Thanksgiving * TOP STORY - Fort Worth bishop responds to warning letter from Jefferts Schori * DIOCESAN DIGEST - ATLANTA: Bishop announces five-point plan to launch diocese's second century * DIOCESAN DIGEST - COLORADO: Diocese seeks repossession of Colorado Springs church property * DIOCESAN DIGEST - EL CAMINO REAL: Mary Gray-Reeves ordained as diocesan bishop in festive celebration * DIOCESAN DIGEST - LONG ISLAND: Convention authorizes call for bishop coadjutor * FEATURE - Since You Asked: What is the Episcopal Church's position on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict?
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TOP STORIES
November 18 bulletin insert celebrates Thanksgiving
[Episcopal News Service] With the Thanksgiving Holiday approaching, the November 18 Episcopal Life bulletin insert celebrates "A Time to Give Thanks" and features George Washington's 1789 Thanksgiving Proclamation.
Bulletin inserts are available in English and Spanish at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/78650_8852_ENG_HTM.htm.
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Fort Worth bishop responds to warning letter from Jefferts Schori Iker denies abandonment of Episcopal Church
By Jan Nunley
[Episcopal News Service] In a letter dated November 12, Fort Worth Bishop Jack Leo Iker declared, "I have abandoned nothing, and I have violated no canons," in response to a warning earlier this month from Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori of the consequences if he continued to encourage his diocese to attempt to withdraw from the Episcopal Church.
Iker said he was "rather surprised by [Jefferts Schori's] suggestion that I have somehow abandoned the communion of the church and may be subject to ecclesiastical discipline. Such a charge is baseless."
"Your statements and actions in recent months demonstrate an intention to lead your diocese into a position that would purportedly permit it to depart from the Episcopal Church," wrote Jefferts Schori to Iker on November 8. ".If your course does not change, I shall regrettably be compelled to see that appropriate canonical steps are promptly taken to consider whether you have abandoned the Communion of this Church -- by actions and substantive statements, however, they may be phrased -- and whether you have committed canonical offences that warrant disciplinary action."
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_91813_ENG_HTM.htm
More Top Stories: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife
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DIOCESAN DIGEST
ATLANTA: Bishop announces five-point plan to launch diocese's second century http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_91801_ENG_HTM.htm
COLORADO: Diocese seeks repossession of Colorado Springs church property http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_91802_ENG_HTM.htm
EL CAMINO REAL: Mary Gray-Reeves ordained as diocesan bishop in festive celebration http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_91816_ENG_HTM.htm
LONG ISLAND: Convention authorizes call for bishop coadjutor http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_91814_ENG_HTM.htm
More Diocesan news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_ENG_HTM.htm
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FEATURES
Since You Asked: What is the Episcopal Church's position on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict?
[Episcopal Life] The Rev. Canon Brian Grieves, director of the Episcopal Church's Peace and Justice Ministries, and Maureen Shea, director of the church's Office of Government Relations, respond:
Since 1988, the General Convention has sought to support a just resolution to one of the world's most intractable problems, the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. At the heart of the church's policies is support for the two-state solution: a secure Israel at peace with and recognized by her neighbors and an independent, sovereign and viable Palestine, with Jerusalem as the shared capital of both nations.
The Episcopal Church cares deeply about the Christian presence in the Holy Land, especially its warm and affectionate relationship with Palestinian Episcopalians. The church also cares deeply for the Jewish people and their desire for their own state to flourish in the wake of the Holocaust. And, in recent years, there has been a growing interest in developing closer ties and understandings with Islam. Thus the church's vision is for the states of Israel and Palestine to be a home for the three Abrahamic faiths and the peoples who embrace these three religious traditions.
Full response: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81834_91800_ENG_HTM.htm
More Features: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/78936_ENG_HTM.htm