News Briefs
Episcopal News Service. July 1, 2002 [2002-169-1]
Jerusalem 2000 campaign hopes to raise $2.5 million for work in Middle East
(ENS) Jerusalem 2000, a capital campaign to support the ministries of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, has raised over $700,000 on its way to a goal of $2.5 million by the end of the year, according to a report to the campaign's executive committee meeting June 27.
Phoebe Griswold, who leads the effort in the United States, met with the committee to review progress and plan for the final appeal coming during the Christmas/Epiphany season. The theme of the campaign is "Jerusalem 2000: Building Presence, Building Peace," emphasizing the critical role of the church in seeking reconciliation and trying to maintain a Christian presence in the Holy Land.
In September all Episcopal parishes will receive a mailing that invites them to hold a special event and offering to support the church's hospitals, schools and churches in Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza and Jordan. The campaign will provide various printed materials to explain the urgency of the need and the specific goals. A video featuring the church's ministries will incorporate footage and interviews from a visit earlier this year by a team from the church's communications office and Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD).
Members of the committee have actively recruited diocesan representatives for the fall campaign to publicize and promote the goals. So far 157 participants representing 52 dioceses have agreed to help.
(To learn more about the campaign and how to serve as a diocesan-based participant contact Janette O'Neill of ERD at 800-334-7626, ext. 6279.)
Australian survey shows decline in commitment to Christianity
(ENI) A national census conducted last year shows a decline in the commitment of Australians to Christianity and a rise in the number of people who declare they have no religion. While Christianity remains the dominant faith in the nation, it is losing followers to other religions, the figures show. Buddhism and Islam are growing faster and almost 5 percent of the population identify themselves with a religion other than Christianity, up from 3.5 percent in 1996. About 25 percent said they were of "no religion" or declined to answer the question.
"We have to face these currents in society, just as we have to face the increase in materialism and privatization," said the Rev. John Henderson, general secretary of Australia's National Council of Churches. "Christianity is not, in any case, a numbers game. It is about God's love. Jesus had only 12 against the Roman Empire but it was his message and self sacrifice that counted."
He admitted that the survey does challenge the churches to self-examination. "We can't just continue in past modes. We have to reassess whether our existing structures are aiding and abetting the task of communicating the central Christian message," he said.
The survey also indicates a big decline in traditional family life. In 1971 only 36 percent of those between the ages of 20 and 29 had never been married but now this figure is 76 percent.
Interfaith consultation concludes religion must address issues of violence and peace
(WCC) Participants in an interfaith consultation at the World Council of Churches Ecumenical Institute near Geneva concluded that the elimination of violence is a challenge common to all religions--and they committed themselves to work together for peace.
"Religious communities and their leaders should work towards solemn mutual commitments to withdraw any moral or ethical legitimization from the use of violent means in response to conflict or in the pursuit of political, economic, cultural and even religious ends," said WCC General Secretary Konrad Raiser in comments to the consultation. He reminded participants that Christianity, once a persecuted minority religion, came to be the persecutor once it was the dominant religion of the Roman Empire, using violence to maintain the unity of the church and empire. "The traces of this unholy alliance of religion and violence are still with us in the crusading language of the 'war on terrorism,'" he said.
Yehezkel Landau, a Jew who is director of a center for interfaith dialogue and cooperation in Jerusalem, said that Jews and Muslims are fighting for control of territory and Christians are either squeezed in the middle or looking on in pain from a distance. "I appeal to Christians, chastened by their own violent history, to exemplify the gospel teaching of preemptive forgiveness, so as to shock us into seeing how destructive our own behavior has become," he said.
Speaking as a Muslim woman who teaches Islamic studies in India, Dr. Zeenat Ali said that "it would be more constructive if religions focused on acts of peace-making, appreciation of the other, and acceptance of the plurality and diversity of humankind." She argued that the world's religions can create a vision and action plan for global peace and survival through non-violent means--and she believes that women can play a vital role in that process.
Liberian refugees straining recovery efforts in war-damaged Sierra Leone
(ENS) The recent arrival of over 8,000 refugees from Liberia into eastern Sierra Leone is placing a serious strain on the recovery efforts of that war-damaged nation. It also comes at a difficult time, threatening to sidetrack efforts to reintegrate tens of thousands of repatriated Sierra Leonean refugees back into their home communities, according to a report by the U.S. Committee for Refugees (USCR).
A USCR team recently spent three days in a border region of Sierra Leone, an area already struggling to absorb about 45,000 former refugees trying to return to Sierra Leone after years of asylum in Guinea and Liberia, and now facing a fresh influx of Liberians fleeing a renewal of fighting in their country. The movement is straining humanitarian aid agencies as well as local residents whose basic services were destroyed in Sierra Leon's civil war that officially ended six months ago.
"Local Sierra Leonean authorities are very nervous at this stage of having another refugee influx," said an official for the UN High Commission for Refugees. "We know that the conflict in Liberia could quickly come to the borderline" and even provide an excuse for Liberia to launch military action, the official said.
USCR is recommending that the United Nations move more aggressively in response to the Liberian refugee influx, seeking support from the U.S. and other international donors. Refugees should also be moved to camps away from the potentially dangerous border zone. There are already about 40,000 Liberian refugees in Sierra Leone who have registered with the U.N. or local authorities and thousands of others who have not registered. Over half a million Sierra Leoneans are trying to return to their country to rebuild their lives.
"We were just beginning to see some rays of hope that Sierra Leone was recovering and now that is being threatened," said Richard Parkins, director of Episcopal Migration Ministries who has visited the region several times in recent years. "The attempt by Sierra Leone to recover from its disastrous civil war could be set back by this new movement of refugees." He pointed out that "a crisis like this also reverberates throughout the region," creating additional problems in surrounding countries.
Archbishop of Rwanda may offer 'ecclesiastical protection' to Canadian dissidents
(ENS) Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini of Rwanda is offering what he calls "ecclesiastical protection" to those clergy and parishes in the Diocese of New Westminster in the Anglican Church of Canada who are opposing a June 15 decision to offer blessings for same-gender relationships.
Kolini extended "the welcoming hand of Christian fellowship, shared concern, ready support and tangible assistance" in his letter to the parishes of the diocese based in British Columbia. "We fully understand that this compromise of the Gospel constitutes a serious violation of your firmly based and deeply held religious convictions and conscience. Communion has been jeopardized by the schismatic acts of that Synod." He noted that Archbishop of Canterbury George L. Carey had already labeled the action "a departure from Anglican moral tradition" one that contradicts a resolution passed at the 1998 Lambeth Conference of the world's Anglican bishops advising against such a move.
Kolini said that he deeply regretted "the threats toward you and numerous others concerning you clerical licenses" and announced his willingness "to share with others the possibility of ecclesiastical protection." Bishop Michael Ingham of New Westminster wrote to a dozen clergy who walked out of the synod meeting, asking if they wished to remain in the diocese "under my jurisdiction and authority as your diocesan bishop." He appealed to them to remain in the diocese "and continue to exercise your ministry among us" but some of the dissidents interpreted the letter as a threat.
Ingham said that Kolini's offer was "meaningless" since the archbishop has no jurisdiction in Canada. "He has never been in contact with me or tried to ascertain the facts of the situation," he said, suggesting that Kolini "is clearly being manipulated by this dissident group which is feeding him partial information."
Sullivan is candidate for bishop in the Diocese of Easton
(ENS) The Rev. Rosemari Sullivan, executive officer of the General Convention, has confirmed that she is a finalist in the election for a new bishop in the Diocese of Easton, comprised of 41 churches on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake in Maryland. The election is scheduled for September 28.
"As secretary of the General Convention, I have been asked what implications the nomination will have for the planning and carrying out of the 2003 General Convention," she said. "I want to assure everyone that planning and arrangements for the convention have never been in better shape."
Sullivan noted that a strong, experienced General Convention staff is well-prepared for the 74th convention to be held in Minneapolis July 27-August 8, pointing out that the actual logistics, worship, legislative process and exhibits are "solidly in place." She added that "regardless of the election in Easton, the General Convention is in good hands and in excellent order."
Sullivan was appointed to her office by Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold and Pamela P. Chinnis, president of the House of Deputies, on September 21, 1998 and assumed her office on November 1. At the time she was rector of the Church of St. Clement in Alexandria, Virginia.
In addition to planning the triennial convention, her office is responsible for the work of the committees, commissions, boards and agencies that implement the mission commitments of the church during interim years. In an interview following her appointment Sullivan stressed that "General Convention is really a process that his happening all the time--not just the visible meeting that happens every three years."