News Brief
Episcopal News Service. December 22, 1983 [83240]
Bishop James W. Montgomery, speaking during the Chicago Diocesan Convention, proclaimed victory for the three-year long Venture in Mission Campaign. The Bishop remarked that, on the basis of present receipts and assured future collections, the pledge total of $3.78 million would be met and exceeded. Eleven of the campaign's twenty projects have been fully funded, and the remainder will be during the course of the next year. Venture in Mission has also funded the assumption of most mission mortgages by the diocese. Since most of these notes are at quite low interest rates, they are being paid off by Venture funds on their original schedules. Further 'brick and mortar' projects include new roofs, boilers, and structural work at the mission churches. A total of ten Diocesan missions have benefited in this by Venture.
A special convention of the Easton Episcopal diocese has agreed to a plan allowing their new bishop to buy and finance the $261,000 residence the diocese bought for him. It was one of eleven proposals considered by eastern shore Episcopalians to resolve the controversy of Bishop Elliott L. Sorge's new 10-room home purchased by the diocese with a bank loan. Under the plan, the diocese will give him a maintenance and housing allowance that would help him buy the house. Sorge moved into the new home with his wife and three college-age children in late August. The special convention was called by Sorge to resolve the dispute over the new purchase. The diocesan council borrowed $250,000 to buy the property, but expected the purchase to be covered by proceeds from the sale of Sorge's own house in suburban New York and the diocesan bishop's house in Easton. The bishop's contribution would be considered an option to buy the house later. The vestry and some members of Shrewsbury parish tried to stop the purchase, and were moving to cancel the sale. The critics said they were satisfied with the resolution adopted by the special convention.
More than $11,000 in requests have been granted by the Church Periodical Club through its National Books Fund Committee, or will be funded by various individuals, parishes, diocese and other organizations. The Club first sent the Gospel west in 1888 Wells Fargo stagecoaches. Today it provides free literature -- Prayer Books or textbooks, translations and periodicals -- to recipients throughout the Anglican communion. It is a volunteer organization affiliated with the Episcopal Church. Included in the grants which were made at the National Books Fund Committee was $668.25 for Christmas literature to be sent to all of the Church's missionaries and volunteers throughout the world. Each will receive "Living in the Spirit", a part of the church's teaching series. The request was made by the Rt. Rev. G. Edward Haynsworth, executive for world mission in church and society at the Church Center.
The Episcopal Peace Fellowship announced the appointment of Patricia K. Scharf as the National Exective Secretary. Scharf is a graduate of the University of Maine and also received training at the National Institute for Lay Training at the General Theological Seminary. Previous work experience includes being office manager and research assistant at Newtronics, a computer firm in Washington, D.C.; being Lay Associate and Director of Christian Education for the Allegany County Episcopal Ministry in the Diocese of Rochester; and being Administrative Assistant at the Cerebral Palsy Center in Portland, Maine. Scharf has previously been a member of numerous parish and diocesan commissions on Christian education, mission, and stewardship. She is the mother of four grown sons and an active member of St. Stephen and Incarnation in Washington, D.C. She has been a member of the Fellowship since the late 1960's.
The Friends of the Groom Drama group won first place in competition sponsored by the Episcopal Foundation for Drama at Christ Church Cathedral, St. Louis, on Dec. 3. Episcopal drama groups from throughout the nation competed for the honor which carries a $1,000 award. Linda Long also received the "Best Actress" award in the competition. The Friends group is sponsored by St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Terrace Park; Christ Church, Cincinnati; and Church of the Ascension, Middletown. Other members of the group are Tom and Karen Long, and Marco Pangello. All reside in the Cincinnati area.
During February the board of the Evergreen Conference School of Church Music here will inaugurate a support organization named "Associates," open to present and former students, faculty, benefactors and friends. The purpose of 'Associates' is to promote excellence of Church music as an art form, and as an adjunct to worship and liturgy by providing Scholarships to competent and deserving students; and, as past years, to engage the best talent available for Faculty. Associate membership fees range from $10.00 to $500.00 or more annually. Appointed Officers are Dr. Thomas Matthews, Tulsa, Chairman; Russel Shulz-Widmar, Austin, Vice Chairman; the Rt. Rev. Chilton Powell, Oklahoma City, Promotion; Mr. Wayne Underwood, Evergreen, Coordinator; and Mr. Parkman Sayward, Evergreen, Colo. Treasurer. Information concerning 'Associates' Scholarships, or the two week-long sessions of the School of Church Music in July of 1984 can be obtained by writing the Evergreen Conference School of Church Music, Box 366, Evergreen, Colo. 80439.
A practical handbook for newly trained clergy in East African parishes has been jointly published in Uganda and Kenya. Titled Pastor, the work was conceived by the Rev. Peter Larom, an Episcopal missionary at the Bishop Tucker Theological College in Mukono, Uganda. "This is a worthy venture and one which is long overdue," says Bishop Festo Kivingere in the introduction. "I trust that what has been sincerely shared in simplicity in this book will produce profound results in the ministry of those who will read it". Larom has been serving since January, 1981, as an instructor at Bishop Tucker, the Anglican Church of Uganda' s principal clergy training institution. Two colleagues there, the Rev. George Noel Enyagu and the Rev. Dr. Michael Hunter, also contributed material for the book. Uganda has an estimated eight million Christians, approximately half of whom are Roman Catholic, and half Anglican. Each of the 18 Anglican dioceses can send two diploma students and two degree candidates to the College each year. After completing their training, they are generally assigned to parishes that may have ten thousand members scattered over a 10-mile radius. There may be a dozen sub-parishes whose leadership consists only of lay readers and catechists.
Seven Episcopal churches in six cities are recipients of special thanks and recognition each for their more-than-hundred years' participation on the Worship Director Service from Religion in American Life, Inc. A Thanksgiving resolution, signed by national chairman John Mack Carter, Editor-in-Chief of Good Housekeeping, by the chairman of the board, Archbishop Torkom Manoogian, Primate of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America, and by president David W. Gockley, acknowledges this welcome extended to the public by the following: Albany: St. Peter's Episcopal Church and Cathedral of All Saints, Cincinnati: Christ Church, Hartford: Christ Church Cathedral, Milwaukee: St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Philadelphia: Church of the Holy Trinity, Pittsburgh: Trinity Cathedral.