Episcopal Life Daily February 25, 2008
Episcopal Life Online is available at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife.
Today's Episcopal Life Daily includes:
* TOP STORY - Prison Ministry is focus of March 2 bulletin inserts * TOP STORY - Anglican women encouraged to 'stand up straight for Christ' * TOP STORY - Omaha cathedral, Nebraska diocese welcome Church Center regional office * TOP STORY - Endowed parishes tackle challenges to effective mission * DIOCESAN DIGEST - CONNECTICUT: Former music director sentenced on child pornography charge * DIOCESAN DIGEST - GEORGIA: Bishop announces retirement plans * WORLD REPORT - NEW ZEALAND: Christchurch diocese chooses Canada's Victoria Matthews as bishop * FEATURE - Great Idea: Creedal gymnastics teach about community * DAYBOOK - February 26, 2008: Today in Scripture, Prayer, History * CATALYST - The Black Washingtonians: 300 Years of African American History
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TOP STORIES
Prison Ministry is focus of March 2 bulletin inserts
[Episcopal Life Weekly] This week's bulletin inserts describe prison ministries in several dioceses around the Episcopal Church, and provide a set of Prayers of the People for celebrations of Prison Ministry Sunday.
Bulletin inserts are available at
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/78650_8852_ENG_HTM.htm
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Anglican women encouraged to 'stand up straight for Christ'
Opening Eucharist sets tone for UNCSW gathering
By Daphne Mack
[Episcopal News Service] In a lively homily, the Rt. Rev. Catherine S. Roskam, bishop suffragan of New York, told Anglican women from around the Communion gathered at the Episcopal Church Center in New York City to "stand up straight for Christ."
Roskam, and the Rt. Rev. Laura J. Ahrens, bishop suffragan of Connecticut who served as celebrant, participated in the February 22 opening Eucharist for the Anglican delegation to the 52nd session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW). This year's session, themed "Financing for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women," runs February 25 - March 7 at United Nations headquarters, the Church Center in New York City.
In delivering her sermon, Roskam physically acted out the Gospel reading from Luke 13:10-17 of a "woman with a spirit that had crippled her for 18 years . . . and was bent over and was quite unable to stand straight" until Jesus healed her.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_95190_ENG_HTM.htm
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Omaha cathedral, Nebraska diocese welcome Church Center regional office
Ecumenical, interfaith relations among emphases; Epting to join work in Midwest
[Episcopal News Service] Omaha's Trinity Cathedral and the adjoining offices of the Diocese of Nebraska have provided space for an Episcopal Church Center Regional Office to open later this year with specialization in ecumenical and interfaith relations, and congregational life.
"We are delighted that the Church center has chosen to locate here," said the Rev. Tim Anderson, canon to the ordinary serving Nebraska Bishop Joe Burnett. "We do believe that Omaha really does represent the Midwest, and the offices that are to be located here will fit nicely with what's going on in this particular part of the country: interfaith work, small-church development, and lay leadership."
"Trinity Cathedral and the Diocese of Nebraska are very excited about the decision to locate [offices] here in the diocesan and cathedral complex," said the cathedral's dean, the Very Rev. Thomas J. Hurley.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_95188_ENG_HTM.htm
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Endowed parishes tackle challenges to effective mission
Presiding Bishop brings message of hope in keynote address
By Joe Bjordal
[Episcopal News Service] "We can be a positive force for the future of the Episcopal Church." With those words, the Rev. Winston Charles, rector of Christ Episcopal Church in Raleigh, North Carolina, welcomed participants to the 23rd Annual Conference of the Consortium of Endowed Episcopal Parishes in St. Louis, Missouri on February 21. Charles served as chair of the conference. As the conference's keynote speaker, Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori brought a progress report on mission in the Episcopal Church.
"One of my great privileges is to visit dioceses and people want to show off the very best," she said. "I can tell you this church is vitally engaged in mission work of many sorts."
Jefferts Schori also noted that some of the dioceses that have been previously ignored, such as those in Latin America and the Caribbean, are sources of vitality and vibrancy.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_95160_ENG_HTM.htm
More Top Stories: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife
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DIOCESAN DIGEST
CONNECTICUT: Former music director sentenced on child pornography charge http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_95180_ENG_HTM.htm
GEORGIA: Bishop announces retirement plans
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_95163_ENG_HTM.htm
More Diocesan news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_ENG_HTM.htm
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WORLD REPORT
NEW ZEALAND: Christchurch diocese chooses Canada's Victoria Matthews as bishop http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_95176_ENG_HTM.htm
More World news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_ENG_HTM.htm
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FEATURES
Great Idea: Creedal gymnastics teach about community
[Episcopal Life] The Rev. Tom Woodward of Santa Fe, New Mexico, once devised a startling way to show a congregation its belief, unbelief and the value of community.
He calls it "an experience with the Nicene Creed."
After explaining that they would be reading through the creed phrase by phrase, Woodward would give the charge:
"When the phrase is something you understand on one level or another, and believe, stand up or remain standing. When the phrase is something that makes no sense to you, or is something you do not believe, sit down or remain sitting."
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81834_95179_ENG_HTM.htm
More Features: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/78936_ENG_HTM.htm
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DAYBOOK
On February 26, 2008...
* Today in Scripture: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/82457_ENG_HTM.htm * Today in Prayer: Anglican Cycle of Prayer: http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acp/index.cfm * Today in History: On February 26, 398, John Chrysostom became bishop of Constantinople.
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CATALYST
"The Black Washingtonians: 300 Years of African American History" from John Wiley & Sons, Inc., by the Smithsonian Anacostia Museum and Center for African American History and Culture, foreword by Eleanor Holmes Norton, 388 pages, hardcover, c. 2005, $40
[Source: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.] From the Smithsonian Institution's renowned Anacostia Museum and Center for African American History and Culture comes this elegantly illustrated, beautifully written, fact-filled history of the African Americans who have lived, worked, struggled, prospered, suffered, and built a vibrant community in Washington, D.C.
This striking volume puts the resources of the world's finest museum of African American history at your fingertips. Its hundreds of photographs, period illustrations, and documents from the world-famous collections at the Anacostia and other Smithsonian museums take you on a fascinating journey through time from the early eighteenth century to the present.
Featuring a thoughtful foreword by Eleanor Holmes Norton and an afterword by Howard University's E. Ethelbert Miller, The Black Washingtonians introduces you to a host of African American men and women who have made the city what it is today and explores their achievements in politics, business, education, religion, sports, entertainment, and the arts.
To order: Episcopal Books and Resources, online at http://www.episcopalbookstore.org, or call 800-903-5544 -- or visit your local Episcopal bookseller, http://www.episcopalbooksellers.org
More Catalyst: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/83842_ENG_HTM.htm