World Church - In Brief
Diocesan Press Service. October 1, 1968 [69-14]
Ecumenically Speaking
A book of contemporary prayers and meditations for the Jewish High Holy Days, prepared for Conservative rabbis and their congregations, includes selections by Walter Alston, a protestant and manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and by the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The experimental prayer booklet is an attempt to return to the medieval tradition which used prayers by contemporaries. Also unusual is the inclusion of prayers written by a Jewish woman novelist, Joanne Greenberg.
Weston College School of Theology, a Jesuit major seminary, begins the academic year by sharing space with the Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge, Mass. The two schools will retain their distinct identities and complete autonomy but will share library, classroom and other facilities. Both schools are members of the Boston Theological institute, a cooperative effort of seven theological schools in the Boston area.
The Vatican has approved an experiment which will allow two Spanish nuns serving in Peru to take over many of the normal duties of a deacon in areas suffering from a shortage of priests. The Sisters, who underwent extensive training prior to the assignment, will be authorized to baptize, preach, distribute Communion, and officiate at marriages. They will be stationed in Pucalpa in Peru.
Speaking at a press conference in San Antonio, Tex., prior to the consecration of the Rt. Rev. Harold Gosnell, the Rt. Rev. John E. Hines, Presiding Bishop, stated that Anglicans may someday be prepared to accept the Pope as head of a reunited Christianity, but not at this time. He also stated that the Roman Catholic doctrine of Papal infallibility was the chief barrier to Anglican-Roman Catholic unity today. Talking of the Papal encyclical on birth control, the Presiding Bishop stated that "it may have slowed down the ecumenical movement, but I do not believe it is a fatal blow to ecumenism."
Overseas
The Most Rev. Angus Campbell MacInnes, Anglican Archbishop in Jerusalem, has been appointed Assistant Bishop of Salisbury, England. The Archbishop, 67, resigned last April from the Jerusalem post, which was also held by his father.
A medical and relief team, recruited by Church World Service, has been sent to minister to the civilian victims of the Biafra-Nigeria conflict. The team, which expects to work in secessionist territory taken by Federal Nigerian forces, includes a doctor, four nurses, a former Peace Corpsman, a pharmacist and a relief administrator. The relief administrator, John Ellis, is a communicant at St. Luke's Episcopal Church, San Francisco. The Canadian-born, British citizen is an employee of the Bank of America, which has given him a four months' leave.
The Rev. W. Ernest Jackson, the Anglican Communion's Deputy Executive Officer, will return to Canada from his headquarters in London next year to become Director of National and World Program for the Anglican Church of Canada. He succeeds the Rev. Canon A.H. Davis who is resigning his post after 16 years of service as director of the church's missionary program.
The Rt. Rev. Harry S. Kennedy, Bishop of Honolulu, has resigned his jurisdiction effective January 1, 1969. The 67 year-old bishop has headed the Missionary District since 1944.
The Rt. Rev. Paul Burrough, former canon of Birmingham, England, was enthroned Oct. 1 in Salisbury, Rhodesia as head of the Diocese of Mashonaland. Bishop Burrough had been previously consecrated in England so that he could represent the Diocese at the Lambeth Conference. His Diocese is comprised of the northeastern portion of Rhodesia.
At Home
The Rev. Karl Ludwig Tiedemann, OHC, first prior of Mt. Calvary in Santa Barbara, Calif., the western house of the Order of the Holy Cross, died Aug. 21 at the age of 78. Father Tiedemann was ordained in 1916 and shortly thereafter made his life vows. He was editor of The Holy Cross Magazine during the 1930's and again from 1960 until his death. He also served, for several years, as assistant superior of the order.
The convocation of the Missionary District of South Dakota has called upon the governor of the state to spare the life of a 20-year-old Indian Episcopalian, Thomas White Hawk. The resolution calling for commutation of the death sentence passed by a standing vote of 70 to 24. In an earlier session, the convocation passed with virtually no dissent a resolution urging the repeal of the capital punishment law. At lease seven major religious and Indian groups in South Dakota are now on record favoring clemency for White Hawk, sentenced to die in February for the murder in 1967 of a 67-year-old Vermillion, S.D., jeweler.
Most residents of the Minneapolis-St. Paul area would not like to see churches move their main worship service to a weekday night during the summer, as one suburban congregation has done. According to a poll taken by the Minneapolis Star Metro-Poll, 31 per cent believe such a move would be beneficial while 58 per cent feel that such a move would have a negative effect. The remaining persons polled had either no opinion or would leave the question to local congregations.
The Council of Associated Parishes, Inc., an organization for the promotion of liturgical renewal within the Episcopal Church, has named its first executive secretary. The Rev. Otis Charles, former rector of St. John's, Washington, Conn., will coordinate the work of the Associated Parishes from Washington, where he also serves as Associate Director of Montford House, an ecumenical center for renewal and reconciliation, sponsored by the Roman Catholic Montford Fathers.
Thirty-four young ladies have enrolled this year at the Sewanee Military Academy. The admission of the area girls, left schoolless by the closing of St. Mary's School, has required the addition of a dean of girls and two women teachers on the faculty of the previously all-male preparatory unit of the University of the South, and some change in terminology. One cannot truly refer to the new students as "new men."
Dr. Leo Salovaara, permanent under-secretary of Communications and Public Works in Finland will visit the United States in November to show his country's friendship and appreciation for the student interchange sponsored by the Episcopal Council for Foreign Students. This past summer 45 young people from Finland came to this country under the Episcopal Council's plan.
The Ven. David K. Leighton has been elected Bishop Coadjutor of the Diocese of Maryland. He has served the Diocese as Archdeacon for the past four years.