wfn.org | [ELD] Pittsburgh Episcopalians reorganize diocese / Executive Council prepares to study United Thank

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

>Episcopal Life Daily
>December 15, 2008

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

>Today's Episcopal Life Daily includes:

* TOP STORY - Pittsburgh Episcopalians reorganize diocese
* TOP STORY - Executive Council prepares to study United Thank Offering
* TOP STORY - Archbishop of Canterbury's 2008 Christmas Message to the
Anglican Communion
* DIOCESAN DIGEST - BETHLEHEM: Goths meet 'gentle evangelism'
* DAYBOOK - December 16, 2008: Today in Scripture, Prayer, History
* CATALYST - Be Merry! Celebrate Advent and Christmas with Gloriæ Dei
Cantores

>_____________________

>TOP STORIES

>Pittsburgh Episcopalians reorganize diocese

Assisting bishop called, priest ordained during special convention

>By Mary Frances Schjonberg

[Episcopal News Service] New leadership, both lay and ordained, a new
episcopal presence and a new priest highlighted the Diocese of  Pittsburgh's
special convention December 12.

Meeting at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Mount Lebanon, Pennsylvania,  the
special convention was called to reorganize the diocese and fill a  number of
leadership positions vacated by those who left the Episcopal Church
following the diocese's 143rd annual convention on October 4.

The people who departed, led by deposed Bishop Robert Duncan, now say  they
will be a part of the Argentina-based Anglican Province of the Southern  Cone
while they attempt to form a parallel Anglican province in North America
that would be recognized by the large Anglican Communion.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_103790_ENG_HTM.htm

>- - - - -

Executive Council prepares to study United Thank Offering

Study's aim is to improve efficiency, mission activities of 120-year-old
group

>By Mary Frances Schjonberg

[Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Church's Executive Council is  about
to begin a "serious and extensive" three-year study of the United Thank
Offering (UTO), the organization that has helped the church expand its
mission for the last 120 years by making grants to ministries that  address
human needs.

The soon-to-begin study is the end result of a series of conversations  that
began in January and centered on the need to clarify the Domestic and
Foreign Missionary Society's legal relationship with UTO. (The DFMS is  the
church's corporate legal entity.) Sandra McPhee, chair of the Executive
Council's International Concerns (INC) Committee which suggested the  study,
told ENS that there is nothing in writing that spells out the UTO's
relationship to the DFMS.

"This becomes a problem," McPhee said, because the UTO uses the  tax-exempt
number assigned to the DFMS by the Internal Revenue Service, which  expects
the DFMS to "control" the UTO.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_103791_ENG_HTM.htm

>- - - - -

Archbishop of Canterbury's 2008 Christmas Message to the Anglican  Communion

[ACNS] Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams 2008 Christmas Message to  the
Anglican Communion is available at
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_103765_ENG_HTM.htm.

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

>_____________________

>DIOCESAN DIGEST

>BETHLEHEM: Goths meet 'gentle evangelism'

>By Lisa B. Hamilton

[Episcopal News Service] If there's a stereotype of a clergy person who
initiates a Goth service, the Rev. Lou Divis defies it. At nearly 60,  her
first grandchild -- she's the mother of four and the stepmother of four  --
is on the way, and she's one of the softest-spoken, sweetest-looking  people
you could hope to meet. Her "day job" is in early childhood education.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_103789_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>_____________________

>DAYBOOK

>On December 16, 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 16, 1485, Catherine of Aragon, the first
wife of Henry VIII, was born in Laredo Palace, Alcala de Henares, Spain.  On
December 16, 1826, John Ellerton, Anglican priest, hymnist and hymn
translator, was born in London, England.

>_____________________

>CATALYST

"Be Merry! - Celebrate Advent and Christmas with Gloriæ Dei Cantores"  from
Paraclete Press, by Gloriæ Dei Cantores, directed by Elizabeth C.  Patterson,
CD, c. 2008, $18.95

[Paraclete Press] Gloriæ Dei Cantores offers a joyful Christmas gift!  Be
Merry! captures that wonder of Christmas - its joys, mysteries and sheer
delight! Listeners can sing along as the choir shares new arrangements  of
familiar and beloved Christmas carols like "What Child is This?" and  "Deck
the Hall' with contributions from Gabriel V Brass and Extol Handbell  Choir.
The beautiful and festive 24-page booklet enhances each carol, providing  a
meaningful gift ensemble.

>Track list:

>What Cheer? - Seagull Sever
>Adam Lay Ybounden - Boris Ord
>Noël Nouvelet - arr. John Rutter
>Down in Yon Forest - arr. John Rutter
>Today the Virgin - John Tavener
>Gaudete - arr. Richard Lakey
>Go, Tell It on the Mountain - arr. Cynthia Dobrinski
>Patapan - Reginald Jacques
>All this Time - William Walton
>Immortal Babe, Who in Thine Own Way - David Campbell
>Shepherd's Pipe Carol - arr. John Rutter
>God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen - arr. Valerie W. Stephenson
>What Child Is This? - arr. Seagull Seven
>A Boy was Born - Benjamin Britten
>My Dancing Day - Gerald Near
>Joys Seven - arr. Stephen Cleobury
>Rise Up, Shepherd, and Follow - arr. Cynthia Dobrinski
>Go, Tell It on the Mountain - arr. John Rutter
>The Snow Lay on the Ground - arr. Beth P. McCoy
>Ah, Bleak and Chill the Wintry Wind - from The Alfred Burt Carols
>We'll Dress the House - from The Alfred Burt Carols
>Caroling, Caroling - from The Alfred Burt Carols
>Deck the Hall - arr. Seagull Seven

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