News Briefs
Episcopal News Service. September 12, 2002 [2002-208-1]
Episcopalians attend Old Catholic Congress in Prague
(ENS) Representatives of the Episcopal Church attended the 28th International Old Catholic Congress in Prague, Czech Republic, in mid-August, nurturing a very special ecumenical relationship. The Episcopal Church has been in full communion with the Old Catholic Churches of the Union of Utrecht since 1934. The Union includes about 100,000 members of the Old Catholic Churches in the Netherlands, Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, and Germany, and the Polish National Catholic Church, which also has 100,000 members in the United States. The Old Catholics split from the Roman Catholic Church in 1871 over issues of papal authority.
The Congress brought together over 400 participants, including significant representation by Anglicans from the Church of England, the Church of Ireland, and the Episcopal Church. Attending for the Episcopal Church were Bishop Keith Whitmore and Susanne Whitmore of Eau Claire; Bishop David Joslin of New Jersey; Prof. J. Robert Wright of the General Theological Seminary in New York; and Dr. Thomas Ferguson, associate deputy for Ecumenical Relations.
The Congress is usually held in Germany or the Netherlands. "It was important to hold the Congress in Prague," said Ferguson, because "the Old Catholic Church in the Czech Republic has suffered tremendously in the last century. First, they were suspected of being German collaborators. Then, when Czechoslovakia expelled thousands of Germans after World War II, many were Old Catholics. Then in 1948 the Communists took control and the church suffered more persecution," he said.
Ferguson reported that there are new signs of life. The Czech church now has its own bishop for the first time in 30 years. "The Congress was also an important show of solidarity for the Czech people," he added. "With the devastation of the recent floods, the Congress was one of the few events that was not cancelled."
The Congress meets every four years and has no legislative authority but is an important forum for addressing common issues. The Society of St. Willibrord, which promotes relations between Anglicans and Old Catholics, met during the Congress to discuss ways of practical cooperation in Europe.
Deacons meet in Berkeley to discuss their role in the church
(ENS) Deacons from around the country gathered at the School for Deacons, headquartered at Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, California, in late August to learn how to help each other, and their congregations, to live out their baptismal ministry.
Workshops centered on proclaiming the Good News, seeking and serving Christ in all persons, and striving for justice and peace among all people. "The premise is that ministry does not cascade from above, in a hierarchy, but flows out of the baptismal font," said Rod Dugliss, dean of the school.
Deacon Susanne Watson Epting, past president of the North American Association for the Diaconate and one of the workshop leaders, noted that "it's important to recognize the ministry that already takes place in the lives of God's people." She explained that deacons have a "hunger for real skill building" in being "effective companions with others as they discover their gifts and skills to be offered for the good of others, ways to articulate how we're all called to diaconal ministry as God's people."
Deacon Phina Borgeson, another past NAAD president and workshop leader, agreed. She said she sensed a "real hunger" for more such continuing education opportunities for deacons, and the chance to network with each other. Deacons can feel isolated in their parishes, and that there is "precious little to help deacons become more effective at being deacons" in their work of calling people "into the baptismal work of proclaiming the Good News in action in the wider community, serving Christ among the poor and those who have pushed to the margins, and working for peace and justice."
Dugliss said the School for Deacons would plan more such events. The conference, which he described as this year's only continuing education opportunity specifically for deacons in the Episcopal Church, drew participants from every geographic region of the country. Most were from smaller congregations, he noted. It was sponsored by the school, the Diocese of Eastern Oregon, the Roanridge Trust, and the Center for Anglican Learning and Life at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific.
Interfaith Education Initiative launches Website
(ENS) In the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks, the Episcopal Church has strengthened its commitment to building positive interfaith relations that promote understanding and harmony among all faiths. The Interfaith Education Initiative, a joint project of Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD) and the Office of Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations, has launched a new interactive Website, www.interfaitheducationinitiative.org, to help Episcopalians understand the world's religious diversity, complexity, and interconnectedness.
The site offers educational materials, resources, and connections for interfaith activities. The site contains print-ready materials for churches and individuals that can be downloaded for use. It also includes interactive features that will allow Episcopalians across the country to share ideas and report on local interfaith activities and programs. A resource bank explores religious diversity in America and provides suggestions for further study.
To help church members develop interfaith activities at the local level, the site offers contact information on an expanding network of available experts. Announcements of seminars and current interfaith issues in the news are also featured on the site.
"Dialogue and understanding are the preconditions for global peace and development," said Mary Becchi, deputy director of ERD, in underscoring the importance of addressing the root causes of suffering around the world. "The Interfaith Education Initiative will help the church engage these vital issues."
Central Americans install Barahona as new primate
(ENS) Bishops, clergy, and laity of the five dioceses of the Anglican Church of the Region of Central America (IARCA) gathered in El Salvador August 24 to install Bishop Martin Barahona as the second primate of the young province of the Anglican Communion. He was elected last spring to succeed Bishop Cornelius Wilson of Costa Rica.
"Bishop Barahona will be the bishop of hope," said Bishop Medardo Gomez of the Lutheran Church of El Salvador in his sermon. Bishop Julio Murray of Panama celebrated the Eucharist and Bishop Sturdie Downs of Nicaragua invested and installed Barahona. Among the other bishops participating in the festive service were Julio Hoguin of the Dominican Republic, Lloyd Allen of Honduras, Thomas Ely of Vermont, James Ottley of Southeast Florida, and William Skilton of South Carolina.
The new primate was presented with a Book of Common Prayer in the different languages of the region, a Bible, the Constitution and Canons of the province, water as a symbol of baptism, and bread and wine for the Eucharist.
Barahona is the first Salvadoran to serve as bishop of El Salvador. Originally ordained in the Roman Catholic Church, he has served for more than 25 years in the Anglican Communion.
Lutheran bishop resigns from WCC Central Committee in protest over changes
(ENI) Lutheran Bishop Margot Kaessmann of Germany, one of the most prominent women in the World Council of Churches (WCC), has resigned from the Central Committee in protest over recent changes intended to address objections by Orthodox members of the ecumenical organization. The proposals will change the policies for decision-making and for worship.
Kaessmann said that "it is a question of my own credibility with regards to how my church understands ministry and the church, including the ordination of women." Under the new proposals adopted by the Central Committee at its recent meeting in Geneva, "it would no longer be possible to celebrate ecumenical worship" at WCC meetings and events, she pointed out. She said that she wants to see "a strong WCC" but that its effectiveness was being affected by tensions between Protestant and Orthodox member churches. If it is not possible to bridge these differences, she said that it might make sense to have separate world organizations.
In dropping the term "ecumenical worship" entirely, the WCC will now distinguish between "confessional common prayer," according to the rites of a particular tradition, and "interconfessional common prayer" that would avoid "giving the impression of being the worship of a church."
"For me personally over the last 20 years ecumenical worship services have been at the heart of the WCC," Kaessmann said in her statement. "If it is not even possible to celebrate a common worship service without the Eucharist, when even the mutual recognition of baptism is being called into question, I do not see how we can cope with the controversial issues that divide us," she added. She leads the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hanover, with three million members one of the largest Lutheran churches in the world. She is the first female bishop to sit on the Central Committee and has also been a member of the WCC Executive Committee.
Indian church activists hail UN stand against caste discrimination
(ENI) Church activists in India have welcomed the decision of a key United Nations committee to recognize, for the first time, that the caste system is a form of racial discrimination, confirming a position held by Christians and other activists.
The Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination declared that discrimination based on descent includes discrimination against members of communities based on forms of "social stratification such as caste and analogous systems of inherited status, which nullify or impair their equal enjoyment of human rights." Y. Moses, executive secretary of the National Council of Churches in India's unit on Dalit concerns," said that the resolution "vindicates our stand. Finally, our efforts have borne fruit." He said that the action would open the way for "greater debate on the topic."
Dalit, which means "trampled upon" in Sanskrit, refers to 180 million people treated as "untouchables" in Indian society. Dalits perform such supposedly divinely ordained duties as scavenging and other menial jobs, living in total isolation from the upper castes.
"This resolution will now open the flood gates for international pressure on India" to address caste-based discrimination, said Paul Divakar, coordinator of the National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights. That pressure will have "great impact" on the social stigma facing Dalits on the Indian sub-continent, he added.