wfn.org | [ENS] Christian-Muslim leaders issue call to action for global peace, reconciliation

[<mdavies@episcopalchurch.org>]

>Episcopal News Service
>March 4, 2010

Episcopal News Service is available at  http://www.episcopalchurch.org/ens.

>Today's Episcopal News Service includes:

* TOP STORY - Christian-Muslim leaders issue call to action for global
peace, reconciliation
* DIOCESAN DIGEST - IOWA: Clergy let lawmakers know their support of
same-gender marriage
* DIOCESAN DIGEST - WASHINGTON: Priests may preside at civil marriages  in D.C.
* WORLD REPORT - PHILIPPINES: Arroyo faces churches' quest for
'politics of change'
* MISSION - Episcopal Urban Caucus celebrates 30th anniversary in  Chicago
* DAYBOOK - March 5: Today in Scripture, Prayer, History
* EBAR PICK - "In the Company of Christ - A Pilgrimage through Holy  Week"

>_____________________

>TOP STORIES

Christian-Muslim leaders issue call to action for global peace,  reconciliation

>By Matthew Davies

[Episcopal News Service] Christian and Muslim leaders, gathering for a
historic summit at Washington National Cathedral, have committed
themselves to "appeal to government and community leaders to promote
peace and reconciliation efforts worldwide."

The March 1-3 summit culminated in a call to action and a two-hour
public dialogue featuring four leaders from the Anglican, Shi'a, Sunni
and Catholic faith traditions: Washington Bishop John Bryson Chane;
Ayatollah Dr. Ahmad Iravani, president of the Center for the Study of
Islam and the Middle East and research scholar at the Columbus School
of Law in Washington, D.C.; Professor Dr. Ahmad Mohamed El Tayeb,
president of Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt; and Cardinal
Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for
Inter-religious Dialogue in Rome.

They were joined by 20 other religious leaders and experts - five from
each of their respective faith communities - who had spent the
three-day summit meeting strategizing on how to use their influence to
promote peace.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_120074_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>_____________________

>DIOCESAN DIGEST

IOWA: Clergy let lawmakers know their support of same-gender marriage

>By Pat McCaughan

[Episcopal News Service] Bishop Alan Scarfe of the Diocese of Iowa
topped a list of about 167 clergy who signed and sent a letter to
state lawmakers recently in support for equal marriage rights for
same-gender couples.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_120077_ENG_HTM.htm

>- - - - -

WASHINGTON: Priests may preside at civil marriages in D.C.

>By Mary Frances Schjonberg

[Episcopal News Service] On the day that same-gender marriage became
legal in the District of Columbia, Diocese of Washington Bishop John
Chane said March 4 that Episcopal Church priests in the nation's
capital may preside at those marriages.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_120073_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>_____________________

>WORLD REPORT

PHILIPPINES: Arroyo faces churches' quest for 'politics of change'

>By Maurice Malanes

[Episcopal News Service] Philippine churches have pledged to help push
for electoral reforms to combat election fraud when Filipinos choose a
new president and other officials in May.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_120059_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>_____________________

>MISSION

Episcopal Urban Caucus celebrates 30th anniversary in Chicago

Assembly focused on violence prevention, gun reform

>By Pat McCaughan

[Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Urban Caucus celebrated its
30th anniversary during a Feb. 24-27 annual assembly in Chicago, which
focused on heightening awareness about gun violence solutions and
reform.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81799_120078_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>_____________________

>DAYBOOK

>On March 5, 2010...

* 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 March 5, 1518, Desiderius Erasmus sent a copy
of Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses to Sir Thomas More, the Lord
Chancellor of England during Henry VIII's schism with Rome.

>_____________________

>EBAR PICK

"In the Company of Christ - A Pilgrimage through Holy Week" from
Church Publishing, by Benedicta Ward, 100 pages, paperback, c. 2005,
$12

[Source: Church Publishing] With In the Company of Christ, Sister
Benedicta Ward, a church historian, guides us through the history of
Christian procession. Through the practice of pilgrimage we live the
resurrection, and join a wide Christian community. Pilgrimage is a way
into the eternal Jerusalem, a way into the Gospel. Over centuries of
practice, the rituals and traditions of pilgrimage have evolved.

Using the Holy Days of Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Easter as her
signposts, Sr. Ward takes us through time. Among our stops is ancient
Palestine, where we explore the writings of the 4th Spanish nun,
Egeria. Leaving Jerusalem, we cross time and arrive in the rituals of
medieval English monasticism. Finally, we end where we began, with a
journey into the Trinity.

By taking part in this historical procession, we find a clear line of
continuity between ancient and medieval times, and our own modernity.
In the Company of Christ is a journey for an individual or for a
parish, to be taken during Lent or any time of the church year.

To order, please visit Episcopal Books and Resources online at
http://www.episcopalbookstore.org, call 800-903-5544, or visit your
local Episcopal bookstore.