News Briefs
Episcopal News Service. March 12, 2002 [2002-060]
Sewanee offers new vocational discernment summer internships
(ENS)The University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, is looking for college or university undergraduates or graduates of the class of 2002 to participate in a new summer program of paid internships to explore a vocation to the ordained ministry or in service-related organizations with a faith-based mission.
The Lilly Theological Exploration of Vocation Program at the university is funded through a new grant from the Eli Lilly Foundation. Its purpose is to develop a new generation of religious and service-oriented leaders through substantive experience in summer internships.
"This new Lilly Internship and Summer Discernment Institute (SDI) at Sewanee is being developed to help attract students to the ordained ministry and to vocations that embrace service as a way of life," said the Rev. William Danaher, assistant professor of theology and ethics at the School of Theology and a member of the program's steering committee. "We invite any young women and men who are considering service in the church as a vocation to get in touch with us," says Danaher. " We especially encourage minority students to consider this opportunity."
Up to 32 students will be selected to spend June 3-August 2 exploring vocation. Students will spend five days at Sewanee in class orientation, six weeks at the internship site, and close the experience with five days back at Sewanee with reflection and presentations. Each intern will receive a stipend of $2,400. Round trip travel from Sewanee to the internship sites is included above the stipend.
Two internship tracks are offered. Track 1 is parish-based involving a small group of students participating in the religious life of the parish community and engaging in parish-sponsored outreach. This first summer the University is partnering with the congregations of St. Mary the Virgin at Times Square in New York City, the Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham, Alabama, the Cathedral of St. Phillip in Atlanta, Georgia, and Trinity Episcopal Church in New Orleans. Track 2 includes independent internships in churches, service organizations or businesses, identified by the student and approved by SDI, where a student may explore service as a way of life.
Students must submit application packets by April 1 to the Office of Career Services of the University of the South, 735 University Ave., Sewanee, TN, 37383. Phone: 931-598-1121; Fax: 931-598-1166. To download application or apply online, visit the Career Services website: http://www.sewanee.edu/CareerServices/. For further inquiries or to receive the information packet by email write: theology@sewanee.edu.
Washington bishops issue call to support Saudi peace plan
(ENS) Bishop of Washington pro tempore Jane Holmes Dixon and assisting bishop of Washington Allen L. Bartlett, Jr. joined Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold in sending letters to President Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell, calling for support of the Saudi peace plan that calls for Arab recognition of Israel in exchange for Israeli withdrawal to 1967 borders.
On March 5, Dixon and Bartlett issued a letter to President Bush, strongly urging him to support Crown Prince Abdullah's peace initiative. Copies were also sent to members of Congress and Middle East ambassadors.
The letter condemned those forces that promote violence on both sides. It also stated that "perhaps most importantly, the Saudi Peace Plan, in our opinion, addresses the root cause of most of the Palestinian violence: the occupation and the expanding Jewish settlements."
Bartlett has visited the Middle East on a number of occasions.
On March 6, Griswold issued a statement to Powell which stated: "Crown Prince Abdullah's plan offers a way forward. I sincerely hope that all parties will see it as a potential avenue to a just and lasting peace between two peoples who share the patrimony of Abraham as Jews, Christians and Muslims."
Yale and Berkeley celebrate renewal of affiliation
(ENS) On March 6, Yale University announced the continuation for 10 years of the affiliation between Yale Divinity School and Berkeley Divinity School.
Berkeley is one of 11 accredited Episcopal seminaries in the United States and has been affiliated with Yale Divinity School since 1971. Episcopal students are 27 percent of the Yale Divinity School student population of about 400.
The agreement to renew affiliation was formally signed by Yale University President Richard C. Levin and Christian R. Sonne, chair of Berkeley's board of trustees. The Berkeley board unanimously approved the agreement at its meeting January 24.
Levin said, "We are pleased to renew our affiliation with Berkeley Divinity School. With a strengthened commitment to partnership, we look forward to building upon our historic relationship."
In a written statement, Sonne said of the occasion: "All of us at Berkeley strongly believe that our unique partnership with Yale is crucial to the success of our mission to train leaders for the Episcopal Church. We are delighted to continue that relationship and to strengthen it further through an updated agreement that is consistent with the current needs of both Yale and Berkeley."
The renewal agreement makes a few changes in the relationship between Yale and Berkeley, which is an independent institution with its own board and administration. It clarifies Berkeley's use of Yale systems for all salary and other payments to Berkeley faculty and staff. Also, similar to the process under the previous agreement, the Berkeley board will appoint or reappoint Berkeley's dean with the approval of the dean of Yale Divinity School, but either appointing party will now be able to remove a dean.
Berkeley currently has an interim dean, Frederick H. Borsch, retired bishop of Los Angeles, who was appointed by the board on February 19 to serve while the board conducts a search for a permanent dean. Borsch also serves as associate dean of Yale Divinity School for Anglican Studies.
Episcopal environmental group wins 2002 Energy Globe Award
(ENS) San Francisco's Regeneration Project, a self-described "Christian response to climate change," has won first prize in the category of Transport & Energy at this year's annual Energy Globe Awards, held in Linz, Austria. Former President of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev honored this year's winners with a statue and prize money of 10,000 Euros, roughly $8,800 US dollars.
Projects from 98 countries submitted entries and from that an international panel of judges chose from 1,300 total projects. The Regeneration Project was selected from 16 international finalists, and was also featured at the World Sustainable Energy Day 2002, March 7-8 in Wels, Austria.
"It is an honor to have been chosen out of such a large group of international candidates," said the Rev. Sally Bingham, co-founder of the Regeneration Project and environmental minister at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. "It is exciting to see the environmental movement and the church finally unite."
The Regeneration Project was founded in 1993, primarily to establish an energy conservation program in the Episcopal Church and the interfaith community. One of their projects, California Interfaith Power and Light, has become a model for the rest of the U.S. and the world.
Bingham's goal for California Interfaith Power and Light is to get churches to purchase or lobby for "green power" generated from renewable resources to cut down on carbon dioxide emissions, the gas most responsible for global warming. "I am delighted to be able to take the message to an international audience this March," added Bingham. "Faiths from all over the world can agree that to pollute the water and the air is harmful to our neighbors and to God's Creation."
For photos of this event and the 2002 winners, log on to http://www.esv.or.at.
Episcopal Relief and Development praised for supporting AIDS initiative
(ENS) Episcopal Relief and Development was recognized before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee for its support of an innovative program to teach HIV/AIDS prevention and pastoral care to seminarians in Africa. In a recent hearing, Dr. Peter Okaalet, African Director of Medical Assistance Programs (MAP) International, testified before the committee on the role of faith-based organizations in the fight against HIV and AIDS. At the hearing, Okaalet commended ERD's work, saying, "Four Anglican seminaries in Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, and South Africa have accepted the challenge and will integrate HIV/ AIDS courses into their curriculum."
The curriculum educates seminarians about the illness and its transmission, and helps them deliver emotional and spiritual support to their local congregations. With this curriculum, future clergy and lay leaders will be equipped to supply life-saving information, help eliminate the cultural stigma of the disease, and provide pastoral care for those dying from AIDS, as well as care for their families and orphaned children.
"ERD is committed to the fight against a disease that is devastating communities worldwide," said Sandra Swan, ERD executive director. "We see the ultimate goal of the curriculum as providing future clergy with the tools necessary to educate their communities about HIV/AIDS prevention and to distribute quality care to those both suffering from the disease and affected by it."
Tutu and Sachs highlight symposium at Episcopal Divinity School
(ENS) Archbishop Desmond Tutu will be the main respondent to a keynote address by Harvard professor Jeffrey Sachs at a symposium at Episcopal Divinity School (EDS) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on April 6.
Titled "Global Reconciliation: Overcoming Poverty, HIV/AIDS, and Religious Conflict," the symposium is held in honor of the tenth anniversary of the Anglican, Global, and Ecumenical Studies Program (AGE) at EDS. Directed by the Rev. Ian Douglas, AGE is one of three study areas that structure the EDS curriculum. Douglas is associate professor of world mission and global Christianity, and is well known internationally for his publications and his leadership in the "post-colonial" Anglican Communion.
Tutu, winner of the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize, is in residence at Episcopal Divinity School for the spring semester. Famous worldwide for his historic opposition to the South African system of apartheid and for his tireless efforts everywhere for equality and peace, he has achieved numerous firsts. In 1975 he became the first black to serve as General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches. In 1986 he became the first black Anglican Archbishop of Capetown. In 1995 Nelson Mandela, then president of South Africa, appointed him to serve as head of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission investigating human rights violations. Tutu holds dozens of honorary degrees.
Sachs is Director of the Center for International Development and professor of international trade at Harvard University. He serves as economic consultant to governments and commissions around the globe, and his syndicated newspaper column appears in more than 50 countries. Most recently, in February he was appointed by the Secretary General of the United Nations as special adviser on the millennium development goals.
Other respondents at the symposium include Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold; EDS professor Joan M. Martin; and Archdeacon Fagamalama Tuatgaloa-Matalavea, Anglican observer to the United Nations. The event takes place at St. John's Memorial Chapel from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Admission is free but tickets are required.