wfn.org | [ENS] Church Pension Group experiences investment rebound

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>Episcopal News Service
>July 29, 2010

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

>Today's Episcopal News Service includes:

* TOP STORY - Church Pension Group experiences investment rebound
* DIOCESAN DIGEST - COLOMBIA: Congress honors Episcopal diocese for 50
years of justice, pastoral ministry
* WORLD REPORT - MIDDLE EAST: New life for West Jerusalem church
* DAYBOOK - July 30: Today in Scripture, Prayer, History
* EPISCOPAL BOOKS & RESOURCES PICK - "Ubuntu I In You And You In Me"

>_____________________

>TOP STORIES

Church Pension Group experiences investment rebound

Annual report says 'investment portfolio is well-positioned for the long  term'

>By Mary Frances Schjonberg

[Episcopal News Service] The amount of assets the Church Pension Fund
has available for benefits "rebounded well" in the past fiscal year,
according to the Church Pension Group's 2010 annual report.

At the end of March 2010, the pension fund had $8.516 billion
available for benefits, compared with $7.024 billion at the same time
last year.

The annual report shows that the fund is required to have $6.683
billion in assets available for benefits. Thus, it has $1.833 billion
more than required. That amount is up from the $576 million that the
fund had in additional reserves as of March 31, 2009. At the end of
the fund's 2008 fiscal year, it had $9.226 billion in assets available
for benefits, $2.865 billion more than required.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79425_123758_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>_____________________

>DIOCESAN DIGEST

COLOMBIA: Congress honors Episcopal diocese for 50 years of justice,
pastoral ministry

>By Matthew Davies

[Episcopal News Service] The Senate of the Republic of Colombia has
conferred one of its highest honors on the Episcopal Church of
Colombia in recognition of its pastoral care and social development
work over the past 50 years.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_123750_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>_____________________

>WORLD REPORT

MIDDLE EAST: New life for West Jerusalem church

>St. Paul's to re-open after 62 years

>By Bob Williams

[Episcopal News Service] In West Jerusalem, an Anglican church built
in 1874 and shuttered for 62 years is finding new life as "a house of
God for all, a center for bringing people together."

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_123732_ENG_HTM.htm

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

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>DAYBOOK

On July 30, 2010, the church remembers William Wilberforce.

* 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 July 30, 1726, priest and Anglican Divine
William Jones was born in Lowick, Northamptonshire.

>_____________________

>EPISCOPAL BOOKS & RESOURCES PICK

"Ubuntu I In You And You In Me" by Michael Battle, with foreword by
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, paperback, 176 pages, May 2009, $18.

[Church Publishing] As defined by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a person
with Ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does
not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a
proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs
in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or
diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed.

The African spiritual principle of Ubuntu offers believers a new and
radical way of reading the Gospel and understanding the heart of the
Christian faith, and this new book explores the meaning and utility of
Ubuntu as applied to Western philosophies, faith, and lifestyles.

Ubuntu is an African way of seeing self-identity formed -through
community. This is a difficult worldview for many Western people, who
understand self as over, against, or in competition with others. In
the Western viewpoint, Ubuntu becomes something to avoid -- a kind of
codependency. As a Christian leader who understands the need,
intricacies, and delicate workings of global interdependency, Battle
offers here both a refreshing worldview and a new perspective of
self-identity for people across cultures, and of all faiths.

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