Diocesan Digest
Episcopal News Service. July 28, 2005 [072805-2-A]
* BETHLEHEM: Cathedral Church joins Episcopal Church advertising collaborative
* CONNECTICUT: Nine bishops threaten charges against Connecticut bishop
* DALLAS: Transfiguration explores creating a 'community of resurrection'
* LOS ANGELES: Bishops continue discussions on covenant responses to Primates
* TEXAS: Former Episcopal treasurer arrested in theft of $600,000 from property fund
* TEXAS: Episcopal hospital funds newly approved stem cell heart study
BETHLEHEM: Cathedral church joins Episcopal Church Advertising Collaborative
[SOURCE: Diocese of Bethlehem] The Cathedral Church of the Nativity has launched a TV ad campaign using the Episcopal Church's 30-second "Monitors" advertisement with a tag that includes an image of the Cathedral and a voiceover welcoming people to the Cathedral. The ad campaign will run for two weeks in September (9/5 to 9/19) and for five weeks leading up to Christmas and New Years (11/28 to 1/1). The ad will be shown 52 times each week. Over the seven-week campaign, 65% of all households in the Lehigh Valley will see it an average of 3.1 times. About 35% of adults aged 25-49 will see it an average of 2.5 times. The Cathedral will do a simultaneous direct mailing to five zip codes as the school year begins in September and before Christmas.
For information about the Episcopal Church advertising collaborative, visit http://www.episcopalchurch.org/adcollaborative. Visit http://www.comeandgrow.org to view the national TV "Monitor" ads planned for August 26-29 and September 9-12.
"The Episcopal Church uniquely provides an alternative to much on the religious and cultural scene in America and needs to share its treasures," remarked Bishop Paul Marshall. "We have preferred people to come to us, and that has to change... In our culture very few people go looking for churches. Religious denominations that want to stay alive are going to have to rise to the challenge of communication in the world as it is."
CONNECTICUT: Nine Network bishops threaten charges over Connecticut parishes
[Source: ENS] Nine bishops affiliated with the conservative Network of Anglican Communion Dioceses and Parishes (NACDP) have threatened to intervene in a controversy between Connecticut Bishop Andrew Smith and six priests who have refused to accept his authority as diocesan bishop.
A July 27 letter detailing their plans, which include threats of presentment charges against Smith, was released to the Internet before a copy arrived at the Diocese of Connecticut's offices, according to diocesan officials.
The nine stated that they were "determined to intervene in the case of St. John's, Bristol--and in the cases of the other five parishes should that become necessary," including "shaping of a presentment against you for conduct unbecoming a Bishop"; raising legal and financial support for the six parishes in any future civil suits; providing "episcopal care" to the parishes; and "immediate licensing of the Rev. Dr. Mark Hansen for functions within any of our dioceses" despite his inhibition by Smith.
The signers include Bishops James M. Adams of Western Kansas; Peter Beckwith of Springfield; Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh; Daniel Herzog of Albany; John W. Howe of Central Florida; Jack L. Iker of Ft. Worth; Edward L. Salmon of South Carolina; John-David Schofield of San Joaquin; and James M. Stanton of Dallas.
A previous letter, sent April 14, called on Smith and the Standing Committee to "turn back from continued abuse and mis-application of the Canon on Abandonment of Communion [Title IV, Canon 10]" in dealing with the six congregations and their clergy. It bore the signatures of seventeen bishops, including thirteen diocesans with jurisdiction.
According to diocesan officials, the six priests had refused an offer of delegated episcopal pastoral oversight (DEPO) unless the assigned bishop was permitted to oversee future succession of clergy and future candidates for ordination in the parishes, instead of the diocesan bishop. They also asked for release from the obligation to pay diocesan assessments.
The Standing Committee recommended inhibition of the clergy of the six congregations on April 29. On July 13, Smith inhibited Hansen, the rector of St. John's Church in Bristol, and appointed the Rev. Susan J. McCone to serve as priest-in-charge of the parish, effective immediately. A letter formally inhibiting Hansen was hand-delivered to the parish offices by Smith, accompanied by the diocesan Canon for Stewardship and Administration, John ("Jack") W. Spaeth III, McCone, and Ed Seibert, an administrative and financial consultant called in to assist in parish administration and review parish records.
DALLAS: Transfiguration explores creating a 'community of resurrection'
[Source: Church of the Transfiguration, Dallas] On Saturday, August 20, the Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration in Dallas will host the Rev. Dr. R. William Carroll of the University of the South School of Theology for the all-day seminar entitled "Creating a Community of Resurrection: Jesus, the Gospel, and the Church."
Carroll will discuss the foundations of the church in the mission of Jesus and consider how the church continues that mission as the body of Christ and the temple of the Holy Spirit. In particular, he will examine the ways in which the church is described in the Nicene Creed--"one, holy, catholic, and apostolic"--and what those words might mean today.
Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. the morning of Aug. 20, and the seminar begins at 9:00 a.m. The cost is $30 per person and includes lunch. For more details, and to sign up for the event, download the registration form at http://www.viamedia-dallas.org/b-carroll-aug-2005.php, fill it out, and return it with payment by August 15. A map to Transfiguration is also available. For additional assistance, contact Ellen Dingwall at 972-233-1898.
The Rev. Dr. R. William Carroll is a visiting assistant professor of systematic theology at the School of Theology of the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. He and his wife Tracey are both priests of the Diocese of Upper South Carolina.
FORT WORTH: Diocese appeals to Panel of Reference
[SOURCE: Diocese of Fort Worth] The Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth has appealed to the Archbishop of Canterbury's Panel of Reference for assistance in a dispute with the Episcopal Church in the United States over the ordination of women to the priesthood and episcopate. The Bishop and Standing Committee of the Diocese made the appeal on July 11, 2005, objecting to actions of the 1997 General Convention that made access for women to the ordination process, licensing and deployment mandatory in every diocese.
The purpose of the panel, as expressed in the Primates' Communiqué of Feb. 24, 2005, is "to protect the integrity and legitimate needs of groups in serious theological dispute with their diocesan bishop, or dioceses in dispute with their Provinces."
The panel was asked to help find a way for the Diocese of Fort Worth to remain a full member of the Anglican Communion, while maintaining "the historic practice of the church catholic of a male priesthood." The appeal and supporting documentation may be found on the diocesan web site ( http://www.fwepiscopal.org).
The Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth consists of 56 congregations serving 24 north central Texas counties. The Rt. Rev. Jack L. Iker has served as the third Diocesan Bishop of Fort Worth since 1995. The diocese enjoys companion relationships with the Dioceses of Northern Malawi and Northern Mexico.
LOS ANGELES: Bishops continue discussions on covenant responses to Primates
[Source: Diocese of Los Angeles] Nineteen bishops met in Los Angeles for four days, from July 18 to July 21, to continue discussion begun in Navasota, Texas, in March that led to the covenant responses of the House of Bishops to the initial requests put forth by the Primates who met in Northern Ireland in February 2005.
Discussions were frank, respectful and focused on a variety of issues that have caused pain and dissension within the Episcopal Church and have threatened to continue fracturing relationships within the Anglican Communion. The hope of these bishops is that such conversation will continue and, in some ways, will eventually have a positive impact on the House of Bishops, the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion.
Participants included Bishops James M. Adams, Western Kansas; J. Jon Bruno, Los Angeles; John B. Chane, Washington; Robert W. Duncan, Pittsburgh; Dorsey F. Henderson, Upper South Carolina; Daniel W. Herzog, Albany; Mark Hollingsworth, Jr., Ohio; Jack L. Iker, Fort Worth; Don E. Johnson, West Tennessee; John B. Lipscomb, Southwest Florida; Edward S. Little, Northern Indiana; D. Bruce MacPherson, Western Louisiana; James R. Mathes, San Diego; V. Gene Robinson, New Hampshire; Catherine Roskam, New York; Edward L. Salmon, South Carolina; Stacy F. Sauls, Lexington; Chester L. Talton, Los Angeles (suffragan); and Geralyn Wolf, Rhode Island.
TEXAS: Former Episcopal treasurer arrested in theft of $600,000 from property fund
[SOURCE: Houston Chronicle] The former treasurer of the Diocese of Texas, Ronald D. Null, was arrested July 21 after a grand jury indicted him on a charge of felony theft. The diocese announced last month it was investigating the disappearance of $600,000 from a $5.5 million fund used primarily for the purchase of property. A statement released by the diocese last month said Null "misappropriated money from the diocese and concealed this fact, both from the diocese and its auditors, over a number of years."
The diocese announced it would order a special audit and turn the results over to the Harris County District Attorney's Office. Null's attorney, Robert C. Bennett, said last month that Null voluntarily brought the financial irregularities to the attention of the diocese, a point the diocese said was in dispute.
Null, who became treasurer for the diocese in 1995, resigned earlier this year to take the post of chief financial officer at St. Stephen's Episcopal School in Austin. A spokesman at the Austin school said Saturday that Null was to have begun the job Aug. 1 but never officially joined the staff.
TEXAS: Episcopal hospital funds newly approved stem cell heart study
[SOURCE: Texas Medical Center News] A procedure that for more than a year has been bringing South American heart failure patients back from near-death has been approved for testing in the Texas Medical Center by the Food and Drug Administration. The approval makes physicians at the Texas Heart Institute and St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital among the first in the nation to conduct a clinical trial of stem cell therapy for advanced heart-failure patients.
Since December 2001, Texas Medical Center doctors have been making frequent trips to Brazil, where they have collaborated with physicians at Pro-Cardiaco Hospital to treat damaged human hearts with stem cells taken from the patients' own bone marrow. The doctors wanted to know whether these bone marrow stem cells, when implanted in the heart, could help strengthen damaged heart muscle. A year later, they had their answer. Results documenting the Brazilian trial's success were enough to convince FDA officials to allow a similar trial here in the United States.
"These people in Brazil were reborn. The stem cell injections 'woke up' their hearts," said Emerson Perin, M.D., Ph.D., director of New Interventional Cardiovascular Technology at the Texas Heart Institute. Perin, a native Brazilian who maintains close clinical and research ties with Pro-Cardiaco Hospital in Rio de Janeiro, performed the stem cell implantations in Brazil.
In the Houston trial, 30 patients with end-stage heart failure are participating. Twenty will receive stem cell injections, and 10 will not. Because the trial is randomized, patients won't know whether they received the treatment or not. Patients' progress will be evaluated at one, three, six and 12 months. The procedure is minimally invasive, and uses a catheter to carry harvested bone marrow stem cells straight to the heart. Under the right conditions, stem cells will potentially give rise to, or differentiate into, the cell types that make up the organism into which they are injected – in this case, the heart muscle.
"The goal of this treatment is to replace damaged heart muscle cells and promote the growth of new blood vessels that will supply oxygen to the damaged heart muscle. The stem cells are going 'to the rescue' to accomplish this," explained Perin.
The study is funded by St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital. If the Houston trial goes well, the next step is to conduct additional trials at centers throughout the United States and the world. "Then we can talk treatment. If these studies produce spectacular results, and we have every reason to believe they will, it'll be a whole new ball game for patients with heart disease," Perin said.