Diocesan Digest: December 16, 2005 / Anti-Immigration Measure Opposed
Episcopal News Service. December 16, 2005 [121605-4-A]
* NATION: Anti-immigration measures criticized in proposed legislation
* FLORIDA: Bishop responds to parishes seeking to leave diocese
* LOS ANGELES: Diocese will appeal property ruling
* LOUISIANA: Glimmer Inn is big purple sign of hope
* MISSOURI: Bishop George L. Cadigan dies at age 95
NATION: Anti-immigration measures criticized in proposed legislation
[ENS] The Sensenbrenner Border/Immigration bill -- set for action December 16 in the U.S. House of Representatives -- has drawn fire from Episcopalians among others who say the act would adversely affect hardworking immigrants, non-profit agencies seeking to assist them, and businesses that would face complex verification of employee status.
Several members of the Diocese of Los Angeles added a religious voice December 13 to a news conference called by a coalition of labor and legal organizations to protest a proposed anti-immigration bill in the House of Representatives.
The bill would permanently bar undocumented immigrants living and working in the United States from ever obtaining legal status here by making their presence an aggravated felony. The bill would also deprive illegal immigrants of their rights to due process and appeal.
The Very Rev. Ernesto Medina, provost of the Cathedral Center; Canon Lydia Lopez, diocesan associate for communications and public affairs; and the Rev. Mark Hallahan, diocesan housing officer, attended the news conference.
The Border and Immigration Enforcement Act of 2005 (H.R. 4437) was introduced to the House Judiciary Committee on December 6 by Representative James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), and passed that committee on a party-line vote on December 8, an unusually rapid turnover that allowed no time for public comment or debate, according to the coalition of immigrant rights groups, labor leaders and legal programs.
The coalition includes the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF), the Asian Pacific American Legal Center of Southern California, the United Farm Workers, the National Immigration Law Center and other organizations.
The bill would require employers to use an employment-verification system that is now voluntary, despite the fact that the General Accounting Office of the federal government has identified serious flaws in the system. The bill would also make felons of any person who recruited or referred illegal immigrants for employment or assisted them in entering the United States.
Medina, calling the bill "horrible," noted that if passed it would drive illegal immigrants underground. "It denies the dignity of every human being," he said.
By making it an aggravated felony to enter the country illegally, Medina pointed out, the bill would put those who come to the United States seeking a better life on a legal par with murderers. The bill, he said, would also mandate that money now used for firefighters and emergency medical personnel be diverted to law enforcement to deal with illegal immigrants.
The coalition asked the public to call their House of Representatives members at 202.224.3121 and ask them to vote against the measure.
FLORIDA: Bishop responds to parishes seeking to leave diocese
[ENS] An attorney for five parishes seeking to leave the Diocese of Florida has written to Bishop John Howard proposing a plan for doing so.
The parishes and Howard have been involved in an on-going conversation about the parishes' disagreements with the Episcopal Church. "My objective is to find ways consistent with the Episcopal Church and the Windsor Report that will permit all of these congregations to remain active, contributing members of the Episcopal Diocese of Florida," Howard said.
However, if parishes feel they must leave, Howard said he would "assist them spiritually" in doing so with the constraints placed on him as a bishop in the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion.
David P. Dearing proposed in his letter of December 12 that on January 1 all of the clergy affiliated with the congregations will arrange for oversight from other bishops in the worldwide Anglican Communion.
"We will be requesting that you simply transfer them without ecclesiastical fanfare or contention," Dearing said in his letter.
Dearing told Howard that he has the authority to transfer the clergy, acknowledging that Howard has said he does not.
The parishes are All Souls and Church of the Redeemer in Jacksonville, Grace in Orange Park, St. Michael's in Gainesville and St. Luke's Community of Life in Tallahassee.
Dearing proposed that the parishes keep their property and any debt associated with it.
The parishes would reimburse the diocese of any money it contributed to the purchase and improvements of the properties, release the diocese from any further legal obligations and liability connected with the properties, and would pay all the legal costs associated with the property process. The parishes are "willing to engage in the mediation process to work out the necessary details."
LOS ANGELES: Diocese will appeal property ruling
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times] The Diocese of Los Angeles will appeal an Orange County Superior Court judge's December 12 ruling that two conservative breakaway parishes were the rightful owners of their church buildings and other property.
The Los Angeles diocese, which had argued that the parishes held their church buildings and other property in trust for the diocese, said that it would appeal the latest ruling, just as it appealed previous rulings.
"We continue to be very confident of our position on all three of these cases and believe the Court of Appeal will see it our way," diocesan attorney John Shiner said.
The appeal is expected to be taken up early next year.
The decision in favor of All Saints Church in Long Beach and St. David's Church in North Hollywood was not unexpected. Last August, the same judge, David C. Velasquez, handed down a similar ruling in favor of St. James Church in Newport Beach.
All three parishes pulled out of the six-county diocese in southern California in August 2004. They said there were sharp differences over how to interpret the Bible, including the diocese's views on homosexuality.
LOUISIANA: Glimmer Inn is big purple sign of hope
[SOURCE: Diocese of Louisiana] There is a huge, purple Victorian bed and breakfast that sits behind Christ Church Cathedral on St. Charles Avenue and next to the Noland Center on 7th Street, the diocesan office. On December 15 the diocese will own the Glimmer Inn and begin a new chapter in its urban ministry.
Episcopal Relief & Development (ERD) gave $200,000 to help purchase the Glimmer Inn which will anchor the urban ministries of the Episcopal Church in New Orleans.
The diocese's Office of Disaster Response (ODR) will maintain an office at the inn with Hope Community Credit Union (HCCU) and Grace Community Services, partners in ministry of the diocese. There will also be room to accommodate volunteers from around the country who are helping out in the city.
In light of the affordable housing crisis New Orleans is now facing, the mission of the Glimmer Inn gives hope to residents who need help rebuilding their lives. Each ministry is designed to work in harmony by identifying needs to assisting in rebuilding homes or in securing financing to rebuild or purchase homes. Hope Community Credit Union was originally established at Trinity Church, New Orleans, but will open a new branch in the Glimmer Inn. It was established to help high risk borrowers secure financing to purchase a home.
Grace Community Services will provide Case Management expertise in establishing seven case managers to be in the "field" working with families to assist them in their recovery.
All of this is made possible by the generous grant of $3.1 million from ERD for the 2006 budget of the diocese's Office of Disaster Response.
"We shall undertake, in Christ's name, one of the greatest development and relief efforts ever attempted by a diocese in the Episcopal Church," said the Rt. Rev. Charles Jenkins, Bishop of Louisiana, in response to the generosity of Episcopalians around the country and Anglicans around the world who donated money to fund the ERD grant.
"When other businesses are leaving New Orleans, the Glimmer Inn is a visible sign of hope and our commitment to the people of New Orleans," explained Jenkins.
MISSOURI: Bishop George L. Cadigan dies at age 95
[SOURCE: Diocese of Missouri] The Rt. Rev. George Leslie Cadigan, the seventh bishop of Missouri, died December 14, in Topsham, Maine.
He was 95. Funeral services are pending.
Cadigan served the Diocese of Missouri from 1959 to 1975. He was the first non-Roman Catholic to preach in the Cathedral Basilica of Christ the King in St. Louis and was instrumental in calling together religious leaders to deal with social issues such as rent strikes in public housing, housing for the poor, racial relations, and public education. He was an outspoken opponent of the war in Vietnam.
He was born April 12, 1910, in Mount Vernon, New York, to Edward and Christine Cadigan. He went to public schools in Mount Vernon and the Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Amherst College in Massachusetts, where he was class president, played football, and was graduated with honors in 1933. He attended the Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Jesus College in Cambridge, England. He was ordained to the diaconate on September 15, 1935, and to the priesthood on September 15, 1936, by the Rt. Rev. J. T. Dallas for the Diocese of New Hampshire.
He served congregations in Massachusetts and Maine and was rector of St. Paul's in Rochester, New York, when he was nominated for bishop coadjutor of Missouri. He was consecrated on April 16, 1959, and a month later became the seventh bishop of Missouri with the resignation of the Rt. Rev. Arthur Lichtenberger, who had been elected Presiding Bishop.
During his time as bishop, the diocese saw growth in the suburbs surrounding St. Louis with congregations formed or missions becoming parishes in Crestwood, Creve Coeur, Ellisville, Manchester, Northwoods, Spanish Lake, and Warson Woods. Missions were also organized in Moberly and Fulton during Cadigan's tenure. He also oversaw a restructuring of diocesan governance, giving greater voice to the laity.
He led a successful capital campaign for major repairs and renovations to Christ Church Cathedral, diocesan expansion, and creation of a revolving loan program for congregations.
Cadigan supported the ordination of women and in retirement expressed support for full inclusion of gay and lesbian members in the Church.
Following retirement in 1975, Cadigan accepted a position with Amherst College as a counselor and "religious presence." He served as chaplain at the University of Massachusetts and the staff of Grace Church in Amherst until his ultimate retirement in 1984. He was instrumental during his time at Amherst in the formation of the National Institute of Campus Ministry. The Center for Religious Life at Amherst was named in Cadigan's honor in 2000.
He retired to Maine, where he pursued a passion for fly fishing and kept in touch with the group of Missouri clergy he had led in the struggles for social and racial justice in St. Louis in the 1960s.
Cadigan was married twice. Charlotte Young, whom he married in 1937, died in 1943. They had two sons, Peter and David Cadigan. Jane Jones, whom he married in 1944, died in 1993. They had two children, Rufus Cadigan and Christine Jones.