wfn.org | [ELD] Development, human rights issues in Africa focus of church-wide assembly

["Matthew Davies" <mdavies@episcopalchurch.org>]

>Episcopal Life Daily
>December 12, 2008

>Episcopal Life Online is available at
>http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife.

>Today's Episcopal Life Daily includes:

* TOP STORY - Development, human rights issues in Africa focus of
church-wide assembly
* DIOCESAN DIGEST - RIO GRANDE: Diocese disaffiliates from Anglican
Communion Network
* DIOCESAN DIGEST - ROCHESTER: Diocese helps sponsor celebration of
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
* WORLD REPORT - SOUTHERN AFRICA: WCC head, Kobia, tells Mbeki churches
can help in Zimbabwe
* PEOPLE - EDS faculty member Dr. Kwok Pui Lan elected vice-president of
the American Academy of Religion
* OPINION - COMMENTARY: Light amidst the darkness
* ARTS - FILM: 'Doubt' explores faith and uncertainty
* DAYBOOK - December 15, 2008: Today in Scripture, Prayer, History
* CATALYST - St. Nicholas: A Closer Look at Christmas

>_____________________

>TOP STORIES

Development, human rights issues in Africa focus of church-wide assembly
Delegates condemn Western domination of poor countries, pledge to pray
for end to Zimbabwe's 'illegitimate rule'

>By Matthew Davies

[Episcopal News Service] More than 50 Anglicans and Episcopalians were
among 1,400 participants attending the All Africa Conference of Churches
(AACC) general assembly in Mozambique, adding their voices to those of
ecumenical partners addressing issues of justice, liberation and human
rights throughout the African continent. 

Meeting under the theme "Africa, Step Forth in Faith," the assembly
ended its December 7-12 meeting with a condemnation of the Western
domination of poor countries, which it blamed largely for poverty
dogging the continent, according to Ecumenical News International.

"With the prevailing forces of globalization, Africa experiences a new
form of oppression with crippling economic burden through unjust
international relations, trade and hopeless foreign debts," AACC
delegates said in a message issued at the end of the gathering in the
Mozambican capital, Maputo.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_103717_ENG_HTM.htm

More Top Stories: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife

>_____________________

>DIOCESAN DIGEST

RIO GRANDE: Diocese disaffiliates from Anglican Communion Network

Standing committee unanimously reaffirms commitment to The Episcopal
Church 

>By Pat McCaughan

[Episcopal News Service] The Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese
of the Rio Grande voted unanimously at its December 9 meeting to
disaffiliate from the Anglican Communion Network and to reaffirm its
commitment to The Episcopal Church.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_103716_ENG_HTM.htm

>- - - - - - 

ROCHESTER: Diocese helps sponsor celebration of Universal Declaration of
Human Rights

>By Lisa B. Hamilton

[Episcopal News Service] The public policy committee of the Diocese of
Rochester was among the 104 sponsors of an evening to commemorate the
60th anniversary of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human
Rights. 

The United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration on December 10,
1948.  The document is considered the first global expression of
inherent human rights. In 1976, after ratification by a sufficient
number of individual nations, the Declaration took the force of
international law.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_103722_ENG_HTM.htm

More Diocesan news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_ENG_HTM.htm

>_____________________

>WORLD REPORT

SOUTHERN AFRICA: WCC head, Kobia, tells Mbeki churches can help in
Zimbabwe

>By Frank Jomo

[Ecumenical News International, Maputo] The general secretary of the
World Council of Churches, the Rev. Samuel Kobia, has offered support to
former South African president Thabo Mbeki "in his very difficult task"
of negotiating an end to the crisis in Zimbabwe.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_103714_ENG_HTM.htm

More World news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_ENG_HTM.htm

>_____________________

>PEOPLE

EDS faculty member Dr. Kwok Pui Lan elected vice-president of the
American Academy of Religion

[Episcopal Divinity School, Cambridge, Massachusetts] - Dr. Kwok Pui
Lan, William F. Cole Professor of Christian Theology and Spirituality at
Episcopal Divinity School, has been elected vice-president of the
American Academy of Religion (AAR). She is the first Asian scholar in
Christian studies to be elected to the position and will begin her term
in January, 2009. She will become the president in 2011. 

Kwok is the author of Chinese Women and Christianity, 1860-1927,
Discovering the Bible in the Non-Biblical World, Introducing Asian
Feminist Theology, and Postcolonial Imagination and Feminist Theology.
She has served on the Board of AAR and was the first chair of its
committee on the status of racial and ethnic minorities in the
profession.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81831_103723_ENG_HTM.htm

More People: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81831_ENG_HTM.htm

>_____________________

>OPINION

>COMMENTARY: Light amidst the darkness

>By Dick Staub

[Religion News Service] I recently hosted a show featuring Dietrich
Bonhoeffer's poems written from his prison cell during World War II.

I was particularly taken by a comment made by Sandy, a busy mom enjoying
a rare night out. Reading Bonhoeffer had put her life and circumstances
in perspective, she said. Whenever you think times are getting too dark,
reading a little of Bonhoeffer's "Letters and Papers from Prison" might
be a useful antidote.

By the late 1930's, the stock of this young German theologian was
already on the rise. His "Cost of Discipleship" and "Life Together" had
been published and he was lecturing at New York's Union Theological
Seminary.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80050_103715_ENG_HTM.htm

More Opinion: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80050_ENG_HTM.htm

>_____________________

>ARTS

>FILM: 'Doubt' explores faith and uncertainty

>By Fred Yager

[Episcopal News Service] Doubt is a truly magnificent film that works on
so many levels the viewer may be tempted to see it more than once to
fully realize all of its intricate philosophical layers. On one level,
it is about balancing the quest for truth between certainty and doubt
and how leaving room for doubt may be healthier than certainty, which
sometimes leads to intolerance. 

On another level, this is a gripping and suspense-filled "cat and mouse"
detective story. Here, the mouse is a popular Catholic priest, Father
Flynn, expertly played by Philip Seymour Hoffman. The cat is Sister
Aloysius Beauvier, an ultra-strict principal of a Roman Catholic middle
school played by Meryl Streep who gives a "take no prisoners"
performance as pitch-perfect as her role in The Devil Wears Prada. Some
cynics might even say that here the Devil wears a habit.

Sister Aloysius doesn't see herself as the devil or even evil for that
matter even though she rules her school like a prison warden and the
students are terrified of her. To her, she is just steadfast in her
beliefs and uncompromising in wanting to maintain traditions and customs
Father Flynn wants to change -- such as making the church a "friendlier
place." 

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81827_103694_ENG_HTM.htm

More Arts: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81827_ENG_HTM.htm

>_____________________

>DAYBOOK

>On December 15, 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 December 15, 1843, A.B. (Albert Benjamin)
Simpson, Anglican priest and founder of the Christian Alliance and the
International Missionary Alliance, was born on Prince Edward Island,
Canada. On December 15, 1880, the Episcopal Diocese of Spokane was
organized into a missionary district.

>_____________________

>CATALYST

"St. Nicholas: A Closer Look at Christmas" from Thomas Nelson, by Joe
Wheeler & Jim Rosenthal, 304 pages, hardcover, c. 2006, $34.99

[Thomas Nelson] This beautiful, fully-illustrated coffee table book
provides a closer look at Christmas and the St. Nicholas of history and
legend. Full of historical information and rare illustrations from
Christian traditions around the world, this book will entertain, inform,
and inspire readers as it teaches the true meaning of Christmas giving.

Joe Wheeler and Jim Rosenthal use stories and pictures to reclaim the
historical St. Nicholas that inspired the Santa Claus story. Ultimately
the authors show that the tradition of St. Nicholas can make the
celebration of Christmas more meaningful.

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