National & World News
Presiding Officers appoint covenant-response group
Executive Council members will propose response, develop process for input
Upper SC's Belton Zeigler appointed to group
[Episcopal News Service] Nine members of the Episcopal Church's Executive Council have been appointed to draft the Church's response to the first version of an Anglican covenant.
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Upper SC's Belton Zeigler |
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and House of Deputies President Bonnie Anderson made the appointments as called for in Executive Council Resolution INC021, passed at the council's June meeting in Parsippany, New Jersey. The group is charged with writing a proposed response of the Executive Council to the draft Anglican covenant for the council, to be considered at its October 2007 meeting in Dearborn, Michigan.
The members of the Covenant Response Drafting Group are: Ballentine, Kim Byham (Newark), the Rev. Dr. Lee Alison Crawford (Vermont), the Rev. Dr. Ian T. Douglas (Massachusetts), Canon Victoria L. Garvey (Chicago), the Rev. Canon Mark Harris (Delaware), the Rev. Winnie S. Varghese (New York, Ted M. Yumoto (San Joaquin) and Belton T. Zeigler (Upper South Carolina).
Read the whole story here.
No petition candidates will challenge Lawrence’s expected re-election in the Diocese of South Carolina
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The Very Rev. Mark Lawrence |
[Episcopal News Service] When the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina’s special bishop election convenes on August 4, the only name on the ballot will be that of the Very Rev. Mark Lawrence. No petitions to add other names to the slate were received by the July 11 deadline, according to an announcement on the diocese’s website from the Standing Committee President, the Rev. J. Haden McCormick.
Bishop Edward Salmon, in a letter earlier this year to the clergy of the diocese, said that the electing convention would be convened "for the purpose of re-electing Fr. Lawrence." On March 15, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori declared that election "null and void," saying that a number of the consent responses did not adhere to canonical requirements.
Salmon reported that the standing committee had concluded that "the Holy Spirit had spoken in the election of Fr. Lawrence" and that "Bishops and [other] Standing Committees had intended to consent to the election even though technicalities had prevented it."
Lawrence, 56, rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Bakersfield, California, in the Diocese of San Joaquin, was first elected September 16 to be South Carolina's 14th bishop.
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ERD's 2006 Annual Survey now available online
[Episcopal Relief
and Development]
A summary of
the 2006 work of
Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD),
titled "Empowering Individuals,
Transforming Communities," is available
here.
Here are a few accomplishments that
demonstrate ERD's impact around the
world:
- In 2006, ERD's programs worldwide combated hunger and poverty in 32 countries and reached 1.1 million people.
- ERD launched NetsforLife, a comprehensive malaria prevention and control program in eight countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The program will expand to a total of 16 countries.
- ERD created opportunities for people to earn an income and feed their families by providing training, tools and micro-loans in places such as the Philippines and Peru.
- ERD responded to 48 disasters and complex emergencies worldwide by supplying medicine, food, housing, counseling and other critical needs.
- ERD was
evaluated by the Better Business
Bureau (BBB) and met all 20 of the
BBB's
Wise Giving Alliance Standards for
Charity Accountability.
To make a contribution to Episcopal Relief and Development, please visit www.er-d.org or call 1-800-334-7626, ext. 5129. Gifts can be mailed to: Episcopal Relief and Development, PO Box 7058, Merrifield, VA 22116.
Video now on EpiscopalCafe.com
Through a partnership with Trinity Church Wall Street, the cutting-edge blog EpiscopalCafe.com began offering a weekly video feature produced by Trinity Television and New Media on July 16. The initial video features the Rev. Thomas Keating, a Cistercian monk and popular author, talking about the practice of Centering Prayer.
Future installments include reflections from Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Jim Wallis, John Hockenberry, and Phyllis Tickle, as well as profiles of Sister Helen Prejean and author Kathleen Norris.
“We’ve envisioned video as an integral part of the Café right from the beginning,” said Jim Naughton, founding editor of the Café, a group blog site that went online in late April, “but we wanted to team up with people who did quality work. Trinity fits that bill in spades.”
According to Nathan Brockman, editor of Trinity Church Wall Street's Web site and publications, “Trinity's Web site is a sacred parish space that receives nearly as many visitors annually as our historic church buildings. Virtual outreach is essential to church vitality, and our partnership with Episcopal Cafe helps us extend that outreach in service of the wider Church.”
The Café, a partnership between the Diocese of Washington and Episcopal Church in the Visual Arts (ECVA), currently features news, art, spiritual readings, multi-media meditations, and a daily essay from one of 30 contributors from around the Episcopal Church.
The Episcopal Parish of Trinity Church was established in lower Manhattan and attracts over 1.8 million visitors annually. Parish ministries include St. Paul’s Chapel, the Trinity Institute, a national theological conference and Trinity Grants, which has provided $72 million in funding in 85 countries around the world since 1972. The parish maintains a premier Web site, www.trinitywallstreet.org, providing faith formation resources throughout the Anglican Communion.