wfn.org | [ELD] Millennium Development Goals on convention radar / National faith leaders model peacemaking at

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

>Episcopal Life Daily
>March 31, 2009

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

>Today's Episcopal Life Daily includes:

* TOP STORY - Millennium Development Goals on convention radar
* TOP STORY - National faith leaders model peacemaking at historic
interfaith event
* OPINION - Resurrecting Easter
* DAYBOOK - April 1, 2009: Today in Scripture, Prayer, History
* CATALYST - Deeper Joy: Lay Women and Vocation in the 20th Century
Episcopal Church

>_____________________

>TOP STORIES

National faith leaders model peacemaking at historic interfaith event

>By Joe Bjordal

[Episcopal News Service] Saying it was the beginning of a "journey of
passage" for Abrahamic people in the United States and beyond,
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori joined with national
leaders of Judaism and Islam for an historic "Conversation on Peace"
on March 27 at the Qwest Center in Omaha, Nebraska. The conversation
was part of "Dinner in Abraham's Tent," the inaugural public event of
the TriFaith Initiative, a partnership of Omaha's Temple Israel, the
Episcopal Diocese of Nebraska and the American Institute of Islamic
Studies and Culture.

The primary goal of the TriFaith Initiative is to create an interfaith
campus in west Omaha with three separate houses of worship along with
a center for interfaith collaboration and learning.

Joining Jefferts Schori in the discussion were Dr. Ingrid Mattson,
president of the Islamic Society of North America, and Rabbi Peter
Knobel, immediate past president of the Central Conference of American
Rabbis. All three leaders said the event was historic and had the
potential to demonstrate a new model of peace and reconciliation
between Jews, Christians and Muslims, not just in Omaha, but
throughout the world.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_106609_ENG_HTM.htm

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Millennium Development Goals on convention radar

>By Matthew Davies

[Episcopal News Service] Support for the world's poorest, most
vulnerable communities has been at the core of the Episcopal Church's
global mission efforts for the last triennium, particularly through
its commitment to achieving the United Nation's Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs).

The goals are expected to gather strong momentum at the 2009 General
Convention, when bishops and deputies representing the Episcopal
Church's 110 dioceses meet July 8-17 in Anaheim, California, to review
the church's efforts during the past triennium and establish program
and mission priorities for the next three years.

Named a top mission priority by General Convention in 2006, the MDGs
are a set of eight principles that provide a framework for improving
social and economic conditions in the world's poorest countries. Among
their objectives, the goals commit to eradicating extreme poverty,
educating children, empowering women, improving health care, combating
preventable diseases and ensuring environmental sustainability, all by
2015.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_106602_ENG_HTM.htm

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

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>OPINION

>Resurrecting Easter

>By Solange De Santis

[Episcopal Life] Although Christmas is but three months' past, it's
time to haul out the "Jesus is the reason for the season" signs again.
Between Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day (lesser religious retail
holidays), the avalanche of Easter tackiness arrives to crowd store
shelves and nestle next to the checkout counter.

It's a cruel thought, since jobs always are involved, but there was
some hope the recession would cut into the kitsch economy. But no,
there are cards featuring maniacally grinning bunnies holding colored
eggs in their ... arms? Paws?

The Easter bunny myth hasn't solidified as well as Santa Claus'
Christmas Eve trip, but banners, posters and decorations feature the
frantic rabbit who in some vague way arrives to fill baskets with
goodies. Near the cards, stuffed animals seem to hop and bleat and
twitter and tweet all around.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80050_106593_ENG_HTM.htm

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

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>DAYBOOK

On April 1, 2009, the church calendar remembers Frederick Denison
Maurice, priest (1805-1872).

* 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 April 1, 1548, the English Parliament ordered
the publication of the first Book of Common Prayer.

>_____________________

>CATALYST

"Deeper Joy: Lay Women and Vocation in the 20th Century Episcopal
Church" from Church Publishing, Inc., edited by Fredrica Harris
Thompsett & Sheryl Kujawa-Holbrook, 292 pages, paperback, c. 2005, $28

[Church Publishing, Inc.] "An ambitious and much-needed effort to
gather the key episodes and stories that highlight the important roles
and vocations of lay women in both the 20th century church and the
larger society. Deeper Joy not only chronicles the often unappreciated
and undervalued past, but also points to the future of vital
leadership and service." -- The Rt. Rev. Barbara C. Harris

Throughout the 20th century lay women in the Episcopal Church, often
acting in isolation and without institutional support, offered a
powerful witness of leadership, vocation, and theological resilience.
Deeper Joy studies groups of women with similar callings yet located
in diverse settings throughout church and society such as schools,
hospitals, and other civic institutions. The topics presented here
reflect new historical perspectives and unexplored primary materials,
including interviews that bear on all women's ministries, hence
addressing neglected and important aspects of life in the American
church.

After an introductory chapter on women and vocation, five major
sections will explore lay women's vocations through the lenses of
community life, education, mission, civic life, and working for change
from within the Episcopal Church. Topics include Anglican sisterhoods,
the Companions of the Holy Cross, the deaconess movement, women of the
New Deal, women in foreign missions, the settlement house movement,
and women in education. The views of African-American, Asian,
Hispanic, and Native American women are all represented. A concluding
chapter addresses future directions for leadership and service.

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

>_____________________

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