International Briefing
Episcopal News Service. September 23, 2005 [092305-1-A]
* EL SALVADOR: Church designates entire month's offerings to ERD's hurricane relief fund
* ENGLAND: Communiqué for the Anglican/al-Azhar dialogue committee
* ENGLAND: York Minster, Mississippi Cathedrals partner to help Katrina victims
* IRELAND: Lambeth Palace press officer appointed communications officer for Church of Ireland
* JERUSALEM: U.S. Jewish/Christian leaders issue statement on mission of peace to Jerusalem
* NIGERIA: Province redefines relationship with Anglican Communion; Primate writes open letter to fellow Anglican Leaders
* SUDAN: Peace still needs support, bishop tells world's churches
EL SALVADOR: Church designates entire month's offerings to ERD's hurricane relief fund
[Source: Anglican Episcopal Church of El Salvador] The Anglican Episcopal Church of El Salvador (IAES) is designating all of September's offerings to Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD) for hurricane relief efforts. The IAES Diocesan Council, parish lay leaders and all the clergy decided that the four Sunday collections should be given in solidarity to those affected first by Hurricane Katrina and now potentially by Hurricane Rita. In addition to the monetary offering, children from churches and schools are making cards to send to ERD in which they express their love and solidarity to those affected by the hurricanes.
Bishop Martin Barahona of El Salvador and Archbishop of the Anglican Church of the Region of Central America (IARCA), said, "We wish to let the Episcopal Church know of our sadness, accompaniment, and our solidarity. We share your pain. We pray that God will give people the strength to surmount the current difficulties. We are particularly saddened by what happened in New Orleans." He added that Salvadorans are ready to come to the United States to help with relief efforts in Spanish-speaking communities.
Fundacion Cristosal, a Vermont-based foundation for the support of the Anglican Church of El Salvador, is also supporting this effort.
On September 28, the five bishops of the Anglican Church of the Region of Central America will be meeting with Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold in New York City, at which time they will extend their solidarity, support and help.
Barahona said, in conclusion, that this offering "comes from the heart of the Anglican Episcopal Church of El Salvador."
ENGLAND: Anglican bishops want apology for Iraq war
By Martin Revis
[Source: Ecumenical News International] Four senior Anglican bishops have suggested that the Church of England arrange a meeting of Muslim and Christian leaders to initiate an apology by Western countries involved in the war in Iraq.
The initiative is contained in a 100-page document prepared by a working group under the leadership of Bishop Richard Harries of Oxford, and published September 19.
It points to "a long litany of errors in the West's handling of Iraq," and urges "a clear public recognition of the way that the West has contributed to the present tragic situation." It says the Church can play a role as governments are unlikely to express remorse.
Dr. Daud Abdullah, deputy general secretary of the Muslim Council of Great Britain, told Ecumenical News International: "This appears to be a positive initiative which could go a long way in helping to alleviate misunderstanding. I look forward to studying the detail."
ENGLAND: Communiqué for the Anglican/al-Azhar dialogue committee
[Source: NIFCON] The Joint Committee, which is composed of a delegation from the Anglican Communion and from the Permanent Committee of al-Azhar al-Sharif for Dialogue with the Monotheistic Religions, held its fourth annual meeting in Al-Azhar at Lambeth Palace, London, on September 15, 2005 which corresponds to 11 Shaban 1426. This was held in accord with the agreement signed at Lambeth Palace on January 30, 2002 by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Grand Imam of al-Azhar.
The theme of dialogue in 2005 has been Christians and Muslims as minorities and majorities in the Middle East and the West. The Joint Committee learned about developments in various parts of the world and in particular from the Most Rev. Alexander Malik about the situation in Pakistan.
Full report: http://www.aco.org/acns/digest/index.cfm?years=2005&months=9&article=464&pos=#464
JERUSALEM: U.S. Jewish/Christian leaders issue statement on mission of peace to Jerusalem
[Source: Office of Peace and Justice Ministries] Leaders of the mainline Protestant Christian and Jewish communities of the United States have been working for more than a year constructively to address issues that concern the two communities, of which the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is among the most serious. Standing on the rich tradition of working together to address questions of social justice, sixteen of these leaders representing eight Christian denominations and national organizations and six national Jewish organizations and religious movements spent September 18-22 together in this land that is holy to all Abrahamic faiths.
We came to see and we came to listen - and to try to understand the human dimensions of an unholy situation in a land most holy. We each encountered the voices of individuals, organizations and officials that we had never heard before. In session after session, we confronted the realities on the ground and gained new understandings of, and an appreciation for, the deep complexities of the conflicts that consume Israelis, Palestinians and us alike.
As representatives of Mainline Protestant Churches and the American Jewish community, we have demonstrated that Christians and Jews can work together to seek peace even when there is disagreement on specific policies and solutions. As a result of these days, we will now be even more effective advocates for a secure, viable and independent Palestinian state alongside an equally secure State of Israel, affirming the historic links that both the Jewish People and the Palestinian People have to the land.
Upon our return, we are committed to:
* Deepen our engagement with each other and expand the number of Jews and Protestants committed to interfaith dialogue on the local level as advocates for peace.
* Mobilize each of our communities of faith across the United States in a concerted effort to bring reconciliation and peace to Israelis and Palestinians alike..
* Together, we seek to mobilize elected officials and our American fellow citizens on behalf of a negotiated peace settlement.
* Effectively support those Palestinians and Israelis who are courageously working for reconciliation and a two-state solution with concrete actions that will help sustain their work.
A trip that started from many different places has brought us closer together in hope and faith. While there were many difficult moments, our trust in each other deepened. We sustain hope and faith in each other as agents of peace. We affirm hope and faith in our two religious communities as partners and advocates for a two-state solution. We also have a renewed hope and faith in the future of this holy land and these two peoples.
On this day, we together affirm our partnership with God in bringing about justice, compassion and peace.
The Jewish and Protestant leaders who made this journey represent the Alliance of Baptists, American Jewish Committee, American Jewish Congress, the Anti-Defamation League, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), the Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Jewish Council for Public Affairs, National Council of Churches of Christ, Presbyterian Church (USA), Religious Action Center of the Union of Reform Judaism, United Church of Christ, the United Methodist Church, United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.
ENGLAND: York Minster, Mississippi Cathedral partner to help Katrina victims
[ENS, Source: York Minister] A newly-formed transatlantic partnership between York Minster, England, and St. Andrew's Cathedral in Jackson, Mississippi, will help to channel donations to church relief efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
A former North Yorkshire priest, the Rev. Tim Jones, 38, is now rector of St. Paul's, Corinth, in northern Mississippi. Shortly after the hurricane struck he contacted York Minster to ask for support for the churches' efforts to help people in need.
Dr. Jonathan Draper, York Minister's canon theologian, said, "Church members in Mississippi are in the front line of helping needy people from day to day. People of good will in the north of England will want to stand alongside them and those they are helping, and the York Minster Hurricane Katrina Appeal is one way they can do that."
Donations may be sent to: York Minster Hurricane Katrina Appeal, Church House, Ogleforth, York YO1 7JN, or placed in a designated collecting box in the Minster. Cheques should be payable to York Minster Hurricane Katrina Appeal.
For further information contact Martin Sheppard, Diocesan Communications Officer, on + 44 (0)1904 699530, email: martin.sheppard@yorkdiocese.org, or Eleanor Course, York Minster Media Co-Ordinator, on +44 (0)1904 557216, email: eleanorc@yorkminster.org.
Information on church action in the hurricane zone may be found at the following web sites, where direct donations can also be made: Diocese of
Mississippi: http://www.dioms.org/. Episcopal Relief and Development: http://www.er-d.org/
IRELAND: Lambeth Palace press officer appointed communications officer for Church of Ireland
[Source: Church of Ireland] Sarah Williams, press officer to the Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth Palace, has been appointed communications officer for the Church of Ireland following a decision by its Standing Committee which met September 20.
Prior to her role at Lambeth Palace, Williams was Assistant Press Officer for the Church of England. Williams will take up her new position at the end of November.
Church of Ireland Primate, Archbishop Robin Eames, said, "I am delighted to welcome Ms. Williams to the Church of Ireland and to offer her our warmest support as she begins her work in the Press Office."
Chairman of the Central Communications Board, Bishop Alan Harper, said, "Ms. Williams comes to us with wide experience in the Anglican church through her work for the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. Dr. Rowan Williams. We look forward to working with her."
NIGERIA: Province redefines relationship with Anglican Communion; Primate writes open letter to fellow Anglican Leaders
[Source: Church of Nigeria] Nigerian primate Peter Akinola has written an open letter to fellow Anglican Archbishops September 23 attempting to clarify recent actions by the Anglican Church of Nigeria's General Synod which, at its September 10-15 meeting in Onitsha, Nigeria, deleted any constitutional references to Canterbury.
Being in communion with the See of Canterbury is regarded as one of the defining features of Anglicanism and what constitutes a province being an official member of the Anglican Communion.
In his letter, Akinola said that the intention "was to make clear that we are committed to the historic faith once delivered to the Saints, practice and the traditional formularies."
"We treasure our place within the worldwide family of the Anglican Communion but we are distressed by the unilateral actions of those provinces that are clearly determined to redefine what was once our common faith," the letter continued.
A press release, including the Church of Nigeria's constitutional amendments, can be found online at: http://www.anglican-nig.org/Onitsha2005_pressls2.htm.
SUDAN: Peace still needs support, bishop tells world's churches
[Source: Ecumenical News International] An Anglican bishop from Sudan has appealed for continuing support from the world's churches, as the country's president announced the formation of a power-sharing government as part of a deal to end a decades-long civil war.
"Pray that we get in with the government, talk with the government, so they don't take things for granted," said Bishop Francis Loyo September 21 at the headquarters of the World Council of Churches in Geneva. "As we continue pushing on with the peace, we see the Sudanese people are becoming mature," said Loyo of the southern Sudanese diocese of Rokon at a service to mark the WCC-inaugurated International Day of Prayer for Peace.
Loyo paid tribute to church bodies like the WCC for helping to bring peace to Sudan, where the predominantly Arab and Muslim north has been pitted against a rebel movement seeking autonomy for the south where Christianity and traditional religions are predominant.
An estimated two million people died during the conflict and more than four million were displaced before a peace deal was clinched in Nairobi in January, paving the way for the formation of a government of national unity announced by President Omar el-Bashir on September 20.
"All along the church has been working at the grassroots," said Loyo, calling on churches around the world to continue to support their counterparts in Sudan.
The peace agreement does not touch on a separate conflict in Sudan's western Darfur region.