News Briefs
Episcopal News Service. January 21, 2003 [2003-010-1]
MLK Jr. Day service draws 3,200 to Washington National Cathedral
(NCC News) An estimated 3,200 people filled the Washington National Cathedral January 20 to pray for a peaceful resolution of the Iraq crisis. Afterward, worshipers marched down Massachusetts Avenue with candles and "War Is Not the Answer" placards to take that message to the White House.
"Today we pray to God and plead with our national leaders to avoid the destructiveness of war and find a better way to resolve the very real threats involved in this conflict with Iraq," said the Rev. Jim Wallis, executive director of Sojourners and the convener of Call to Renewal, one of the service's keynote speakers. "We believe that is possible, and we believe we can still stop this war before it starts."
The Martin Luther King, Jr., Day Prayer Service for Peace and Justice focused on the connection between war and poverty.
"Before there were Jews, Christians and Muslims, there was Abraham!" said Bishop John Bryson Chane of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington (DC) during a pastoral prayer at the service. "And we must be reminded of that shared thread of monotheism, a thread that must not be broken by indiscriminate violence, terrorism, religious intolerance, racism and the desire of some to claim religion as the centerpiece of their political and national agendas."
"Help us, creator God to repent of our warring ways... Help the elected, or self-appointed, leaders of the world to end their rhetoric that demonizes and dehumanizes others within the global community," Chane prayed. "Most gracious God, help us as a nation to use the richness of our wealth, technology, medical research and agricultural abundance as the new 'weapons of mass rebuilding' in our war against violence, poverty, disease, famine and the feeling of hopelessness that billions of people on this planet now experience."
In his introduction to the series of readings and meditations on peace, racism/poverty and global community, the Rev. Bob Edgar, general secretary of the National Council of Churches, recalled hearing Martin Luther King, Jr., in February 1968 at the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. The concern then was the Vietnam War.
"Afterwards," he said, "we walked arm in arm with Dr. King to the White House, much as we will do today. The words of Dr. King that we will read today aren't from that February 1968 event, but from the pulpit of this cathedral, from which Dr. King preached four days before he was assassinated. As you listen, hear how prophetic these words are for today."
The service was co-sponsored by the National Council of Churches, Children's Defense Fund, the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, Call to Renewal and Sojourners.
[Photos are available at http://www.ncccusa.org/]
Griswold commends Illinois governor's decision in death penalty cases
(ENS) Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold has written a letter to Illinois' outgoing Republican Gov. George Ryan, commending him for his January 11 decision to commute the death sentences of 167 people to life in prison.
"You have used your power as governor to the utmost good in the saving of lives and in bringing capital punishment once again to the forefront of public debate," Griswold wrote in a letter dated January 17. "It is my hope that, with your bold action as witness and example, each state and this country as a whole will reconsider the use of the death penalty and cease this practice."
Ryan's decision followed a three-year review of Illinois death-row cases sparked by disclosures that 13 death-row inmates had been wrongly convicted. "Because our three-year study has found only more questions about the fairness of sentencing, because of the spectacular failure to reform the system, because we have seen justice delayed for countless death-row inmates with potentially meritorious claims, because the Illinois death-penalty system is arbitrary and capricious and therefore immoral I no longer shall tinker with the machinery of death," Ryan said in a prepared text.
The Episcopal Church has long taken an active stance against capital punishment. Bishops of the three dioceses that comprise the state of Illinois--Chicago, Quincy and Springfield--have worked through the Illinois Conference of Churches in supporting the call for commutations.
In 1958, the General Convention passed a resolution opposing capital punishment because "the individual life is of infinite worth in the sight of Almighty God; and…the taking of this human life falls within the providence of Almighty God and not within the right of man." The resolution has been reaffirmed several times since 1958. Only the District of Columbia and 11 states do not use the death penalty.
War on Iraq not justified, Canadian Anglican primate argues
(ACC) A US-led invasion of Iraq at this time would fail to meet any of the theological tests by which war can be justified, Archbishop Michael Peers, the Canadian Anglican primate, said in a letter to church members.
The United States, Archbishop Peers says in the letter, has "introduced a new and perilous set of criteria, justifying an invasion of Iraq based on the American desire for a 'regime change' and as a hedge against the possibility of damage to the American economy should Iraq attack the United States."
While many Anglicans may not accept all of the principles the church applies to decide if a war is just, he adds, these principles "provide more than enough reasons to oppose this war."
Peers notes in his letter that in opposing a U.S. war on Iraq, the Anglican Church of Canada joins many other churches and religious organizations including the Canadian and World Councils of Churches, the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church USA and the archbishop of Canterbury.
He invites Canadian Anglicans to participate "in the international and ecumenical consensus opposing an invasion of Iraq."
The text of Peers' statement is available at http://anglican.ca/news/ans/ans.html?ansItem=2003-01-21_a.ans.
'Spirituality of Resistance' is theme of WCC's contribution to World Social Forum
(WCC) For the World Council of Churches (WCC) delegation taking part in the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil, 23-28 January, the emphasis will be on a spirituality directed towards resistance.
"We are witnessing the development of a spirituality that supports the powers responsible for the current unjust and unsustainable process of corporate globalization. For that reason, we need to recover the long tradition of a Christian spirituality critical of power. It is a spirituality which has given those without power the strength and courage to oppose those who abuse it," explains Rogate Mshana, responsible for the WCC's Economic Justice program.
Delegation members will lead a series of workshops showing links between Christian spirituality and examples of resistance against the unjust world order by churches and social and ecumenical organizations. WCC delegation members will also participate in two discussion panels arranged by the forum organizers, and WCC president Bishop Federico Pagura has been invited by the forum organizers to share his experience as a Christian.
The WCC delegation will be active at the World Social Forum within the framework of an ecumenical caucus set up by the WCC, the Lutheran World Federation, the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance, the Latin American Council of Churches, and an ecumenical coalition of Brazilian churches and related organizations.
"The churches were not very visible at earlier forum meetings, although they strongly supported the causes on its agenda," Rogate Mshana comments. "We hope that our higher profile on this occasion will enable us to strengthen our participation in the social movements working to ensure that all human beings can live in dignity."
Further details of how the WCC is participating in the World Social Forum, including descriptions of the workshops and the text of the presentations, can be found at http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/jpc/wsf-e.html (English).
Anglican archbishop calls for understanding of homosexuals
(Johannesburg Sunday Times) Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane, head of the Anglican church in Southern Africa, has asked its members to reflect upon their attitudes towards homosexuality.
In an eight-page discussion document on human sexuality sent out to members of the Church of the Province of Southern Africa, Ndungane warned that the issue is threatening to divide their church.
Loraine Tulleken, spokesperson for Ndungane, said that the discussion document had been sent to bishops, clergy, parishes, theological colleges and Anglican organizations in South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Mozambique, Angola, Namibia and St. Helena.
Ndungane's action stems from a resolution taken at the Anglican synod in Bloemfontein last October, when some participants argued that the church's openly gay clergy needed to be officially recognized. In South Africa the church also faced a potential clash with the constitution, which gives same-sex couples the right to marry.
According to Ndungane, more traditional elements in the church were unable to adjust to a growing acceptance of homosexuals as practicing Anglicans and believed that "somehow the faith is at stake."
Mideast church leaders celebrate new unity
(Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem) The common bonds and the new unity that have developed among church leaders in the Middle East will be celebrated during the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, January 18-25.
"Being a minority in the first place in a time of real difficulties, it seems the differences start to fade away," said Bishop Riah Abu el Assal of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem. "For hundreds of years, Christians of different denominations closed the doors in the face of each other. Today we're all under the same roof--and the doors are quite open."
The heads of the churches in Jerusalem meet monthly to discuss ministry in a very difficult climate. Three of them are Palestinians--Riah, Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah, and Bishop Mounib Younan of the Evangelical Lutheran Church--who are deeply concerned that the flood of Palestinian Christians out of the region will continue, further diminishing the Christian presence. In 1967 there were 30,000 Christians in Jerusalem and the churches estimate that figure has dropped to 8-9,000 today.
"Ecumenical work in Jerusalem particularly has improved since the heads of churches banded together three years ago for Jubilee year activities," said Father Athanasius, a Franciscan. He says that interchurch unity in Jerusalem is much better than it was 50 years ago, offering the spirit of cooperation at Church of the Holy Sepulcher as evidence.
"It's also important that churches work together to curb the violence for the sake of the pilgrims," added Father Shemun.
The Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches is responsible for the theme which this year is "We have this treasure in clay jars" from 2 Cor. 4:7.