wfn.org | [ELD] Live webcast to preview General Convention 2009 / 'I am Episcopalian' microsite draws half a m

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

>Episcopal Life Daily
>April 14, 2009

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

>Today's Episcopal Life Daily includes:

* TOP STORY - Live webcast to preview General Convention 2009
* TOP STORY - 'I am Episcopalian' microsite draws half a million
visitors during Lent
* DIOCESAN DIGEST - Fort Worth: Acting 'in humility and hope,' diocese
files lawsuit to recover property and assets
* DIOCESAN DIGEST - NEW YORK: St. Paul's Chapel organ sounds resurrection
again
* DIOCESAN DIGEST - IOWA: Bishop says court ruling on same-gender
marriage clarifies issue facing church
* DIOCESAN DIGEST - LOS ANGELES: Liberian president visits St.
Timothy's Episcopal School in Compton
* MISSION - What would Jesus tweet?
* MULTIMEDIA - Video: Presiding Bishop preaches Easter Day in
Florentine Episcopal church
* OPINION - Being fruitful, but responsible: Octuplets' birth sparks
debate on ethics of child-bearing
* ARTS - Washington's National Gallery displays rare medieval
manuscript illuminations
* DAYBOOK - April 15, 2009: Today in Scripture, Prayer, History
* CATALYST - The Great 50 Days - The Daily Office from Easter to Pentecost

>_____________________

>TOP STORIES

Live webcast to preview General Convention 2009
Presiding Officers, others will field questions from audience, online

>By ENS staff

General Convention 2009 of the Episcopal Church will be the topic of a
live webcast on Wednesday, May 13 at 8 am Pacific (9 am Mountain, 10
am Central, 11 am Eastern).

The webcast will originate from Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim,
California, where General Convention 2009 (GC09) will be held July 8 -
17.

Participants in the live webcast will be: Presiding Bishop of the
Episcopal Church, the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori; President
of the House of Deputies Bonnie Anderson; Executive Officer and
Secretary of the General Convention, the Rev. Gregory Straub; and
Bishop J. Jon Bruno of the Diocese of Los Angeles, the host diocese.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_106880_ENG_HTM.htm

>- - - - -

'I am Episcopalian' microsite draws half a million visitors during Lent

>By Joe Bjordal

[Episcopal News Service] A communications initiative, launched on Ash
Wednesday, which provides a new way for Episcopalians to share their
connection to and appreciation for the Episcopal Church, was heavily
used during Lent.

A special welcoming page on the church's website, technically called a
"microsite" and titled "I am Episcopalian,"
(http://www.iamepiscopalian.org) was visited more than 500,000 times
in the six and a half weeks between Ash Wednesday and Easter,
according to Michael Collins, director of digital communication in the
Episcopal Church's Office of Communication.

The microsite contains short video clips of Episcopalians representing
the diverse membership of the Episcopal Church.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_106867_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>_____________________

>DIOCESAN DIGEST

Fort Worth: Acting 'in humility and hope,' diocese files lawsuit to
recover property and assets

Lawsuit asserts 'historical' right to continue diocesan mission

>By Pat McCaughan

[Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth, along
with The Episcopal Church (TEC) on April 14 filed a lawsuit in 141st
district court in Tarrant County, Texas, to recover property and
assets held by former diocesan leaders who realigned themselves with
the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone.
"This litigation is designed to move quickly to confirm the historical
right of Episcopalians to lead the diocese as stewards of its property
as we in humility and hope continue the mission of the Episcopal
Church here," according to the Rt. Rev. Edwin (Ted) Gulick Jr.,
provisional bishop of Fort Worth, in a pastoral letter sent to the
continuing church's faith communities.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_106882_ENG_HTM.htm

>- - - - -

NEW YORK: St. Paul's Chapel organ sounds resurrection again

>By Nicole Seiferth

[Trinity News] Take an aging pipe organ. Add layers of dust and dirt
over years of inactivity. Then add the gritty film of destruction that
suddenly coated the chapel after the collapse of the World Trade
Center towers. What do you get?

>The sounds of silence at St. Paul's Chapel.

>Until now, that is.

Almost a decade since it was last heard inside the chapel on Broadway
in New York City, Easter Day featured a kind of rebirth. St. Paul's
pipe organ was being resurrected, peeking from its sonic tomb
partially cleaned and restored, with half of its nearly 1,700 pipes in
working order.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_106871_ENG_HTM.htm

>- - - - -

IOWA: Bishop says court ruling on same-gender marriage clarifies issue
facing church
By Mary Frances Schjonberg, April 14, 2009

[Episcopal News Service] Episcopal Diocese of Iowa Alan Scarfe has
told his diocese that he cannot permit diocesan clergy to sign
marriage licenses for same-gender couples despite the recent Iowa
Supreme Court ruling that the state cannot limit marriage to
heterosexual couples.

Scarfe said that the court's ruling "clarifies for me what the issue
is that is facing the church," adding that "like so many who support
the rights of gay and lesbian people, I thought civil unions would
provide adequate protection for their relationships," but that the
arguments to the court began to change his mind.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_106870_ENG_HTM.htm

>- - - - -

LOS ANGELES: Liberian president visits St. Timothy's Episcopal School in
Compton

'Go for your dreams,' first female African head of state tells students

>By Pat McCaughan

[Episcopal News Service -- Compton, California] President Ellen
Johnson Sirleaf, the first female elected head of state in Liberia and
the continent of Africa, told students at St. Timothy's Episcopal
School in Compton April 8 to "dream and then go for it -- there may be
difficulties, but stay the course."

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_106863_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>_____________________

>MISSION

>What would Jesus tweet?

Trinity Wall Street performs virtual passion play on Twitter

>By Mary Frances Schjonberg

[Episcopal News Service] For centuries Christians have re-enacted
Christ's death in venues ranging from country churches and outdoor
stages to vast cathedrals and concert halls, but perhaps never in the
virtual world of social networking.
That is, until this past Good Friday, when Trinity Church Wall Street
in New York "tweeted" a Passion Play between noon and three o'clock on
the social-networking and microblogging site called Twitter.

Twitter allows people to transmit, or "tweet," 140-character messages
so that their friends and others who sign up to "follow" them can be
updated on their whereabouts, activities and thoughts.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81799_106881_ENG_HTM.htm

More Mission: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81799_ENG_HTM.htm

>_____________________

>MULTIMEDIA

Presiding Bishop preaches Easter Day in Florentine Episcopal church

[Episcopal News Service] Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori
preached on Easter Day at St. James Church in Florence, a parish in
the Convocation of American Churches in Europe.

Video: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81231_ENG_HTM.htm

More Multimedia: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80056_ENG_HTM.htm

>_____________________

>OPINION

>Being fruitful, but responsible

Octuplets' birth sparks debate on ethics of child-bearing

>By Cynthia Cohen

[Episcopal Life] "And God blessed them, and God said unto them, 'Be
fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.'" (Genesis 1:28)

Surely having children is a blessing and a joy. Yet this passage from
Genesis tells us that we are to have them, not just for our own
delight, but also to assist in the renewal of God's creation.

We are gifted with children, rather than entitled to them. Marrying
and having children, the Book of Common Prayer declares in The
Celebration and Blessing of a Marriage, are not to be entered into
unadvisedly or lightly, but "reverently and deliberately."

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80050_106858_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>_____________________

>ARTS

Washington's National Gallery displays rare medieval manuscript
illuminations

>By Episcopal Life staff

[Episcopal Life] Rare medieval manuscript illuminations are showcased
in the exhibition Heaven on Earth: Manuscript Illuminations from the
National Gallery of Art, on view until August 2.

Fifty-two single leaves and four bound volumes, among them several
important recent acquisitions, date from the 12th to the 16th century
and were made in France, Germany, Austria, Bohemia, the Netherlands,
Spain and Italy. Wall texts include new scholarly information,
uncovered since these works last were exhibited 33 years ago.

"Protected inside closed volumes on library shelves for centuries,
many of the images are today as breathtakingly vibrant and beautiful
as they were centuries ago," said Earl A. Powell III, director of the
National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81827_106855_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>_____________________

>DAYBOOK

>On April 15, 2009...

* 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 15, 1729, Johann Sebastian Bach conducted
the first and only performance of St. Matthew Passion during his
lifetime at a Good Friday Vespers service in Leipzig, Germany. The
choral work has been called "the supreme cultural achievement of all
Western civilization."

>_____________________

>CATALYST

"The Great 50 Days - The Daily Office from Easter to Pentecost" from
Church Publishing, Inc., by Frank L. Tedeschi, 447 pages, paperback,
c. 2007, $18

[Church Publishing, Inc.] Like its companion volume, 40 Days, this
book is intended to be an accessible, doable, toe-in-the-water
introduction to the private recitation of the daily office. It
contains rite two Morning and Evening Prayer from the Book of Common
Prayer, the Psalter as prescribed and edited for each day from Easter
morning through the Day of Pentecost, the collects, and all bible
readings (New Revised Standard Version) for the two-year lectionary
cycle. The Prayer Book services of Order for Noonday and Compline
(close of day) is included for readers who find those times more
suitable for praying an office. Readings, prayers, and psalms are
included for the major holy days that often fall in Easter season,
including the Annunciation (March 25) and St. Mark (April 25).

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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