News Brief
Episcopal News Service. November 21, 1985 [85237]
On Oct. 31, the Church Pension Fund's Board of Trustees announced that two new categories of beneficiaries have been created and that benefit payments to them will begin in January, 1986. The Fund currently has no record of these new beneficiaries, and it depends on the help of people throughout the Church in locating them. The new benefits are for the surviving spouses and children of now deceased ministers who were deposed after having attained vested benefit rights under the rules of the Fund. The new benefit rules additionally stipulate that a surviving spouse who was married to a former minister at the time of deposition will be eligible for one-half of the minister's vested benefit, or last pension, but not less than $360 a year; and that children born prior to deposition, who are still dependent and under the age of 22, will be eligible for a surviving child's benefit of $360 a year. Anyone who has information about people who might qualify for benefits under these new provisions should let the Fund know by writing: The Church Pension Fund, Clergy Services Department, 800 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10017 or call toll-free 1-800-223-6602; in New York State, call collect 212-661-6700.
Bishop Graham Leonard of London, who has predicted a schism in the Church of England if women are ordained to the priesthood in that body, has reacted strongly to the vote by the Episcopal Church's House of Bishops at General Convention in September which expressed support for the consecration of women as bishops. In a recent diocesan newsletter, Leonard said, "I would regard those who took part in such a consecration and the bishops of that part of the Anglican Communion of which she was a member as having departed from the apostolic episcopate, and could no longer regard myself as in communion with them."
A policy of general divestment in relation to companies doing business in South Africa was adopted by the Executive Committee of the Boards of Trustees of Colgate Rochester Divinity School/Bexley Hall/Crozer Theological Seminary on Sept. 17. A company would only qualify for an exception to the policy if it is judged by the Board's Committee on Social Responsibility, which recommended the new guidelines, to be engaged in "extraordinary action" -- based on criteria proposed by Bishop Desmond Tutu of Johannesburg -- to dismantle apartheid and work for justice and democracy in South Africa. Since 1977, the school has followed a policy of abiding by the Sullivan Principles and their amplifications. The Very Rev. William H. Peterson, dean of Episcopal seminary Bexley Hall, expressed the hope that the new policy "will provide a creative model for other theological schools wrestling with the problem." The executive committee also voted that priority be given black South Africans in awarding Divinity School financial aid reserved for foreign students.
More than 170 people from 44 Episcopal dioceses attended a September conference, here, marking the 150th anniversary of the consecration of Bishop Jackson Kemper. At the closing festival Eucharist, a congregation numbering about 400 witnessed the Rt. Rev. William C. R. Sheridan, president of the Nashotah House Board of Trustees and Bishop of Northern Indiana, confer the degree of Doctor of Canon Law, honoris causa, upon the Most Rev. John M. Allin, who is nearing the end of his 12-year term as Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. In the citation, the Rev. Ralph T. Walker, secretary of the Nashotah House Board of Trustees, stated that Allin has been, to an extraordinary degree, the chief pastor of all the Episcopal Church, has cared for the entire Church passionately and has served it faithfully.
The Very Rev. James R. Leo, dean of the Episcopal American Cathedral of the Holy Trinity here, is one of only three regular visitors to the suburban home of the Duchess of Windsor; the other two are her physician and her attorney. Leo, who sees the 89-year-old widow of King Edward VIII about six times a year, is quoted as saying, "She has been a member of our congregation since she came to Paris. As she can no longer come to church, I take church to her. She can no longer speak, but I talk to her and pray with her." Edward VIII, who died in 1972, was made Duke of Windsor after abdicating his throne in 1936 to marry Wallis Simpson, an American divorcee.
The North Conway Institute, an interfaith, non-profit organization, headquartered here, that works with religious and secular groups in addressing problems of alcohol and drug abuse, has just published a 24-page booklet, "Pastoral Care of Families," by the Rev. David A. Works, the group's president. The booklet takes the form of an interview with Works, himself a recovering alcoholic, by the Rev. John E. Soleau, a consultant at the institute. While offering examples and advice on pitfalls and on ways of effective counseling, the booklet emphasizes "how time-consuming and demanding this kind of pastoral care can be." "Pastoral Care for Families" is available for $1 per copy from The North Conway Institute, c/o Garrett Publications, 28 Benton Road, Somerville, MA 02143.
The Rev. Canon Martin Mbwana of Tanzania has been appointed Associate Secretary for Mission and Social Issues by the Anglican Consultative Council. He will take up his position in January of 1986. Mbwana is presently Canon Chancellor of the Diocese of Zanzibar and Tanga, with responsibilities for religious education and doctrinal and liturgical programs. He was provincial secretary of the Church of the Province of Tanzania from 1976-84. Ordained in 1966, Mbwana was warden of St. Mark's Anglican Theological College, Dar es Salaam, from 1971-76. As chairman of the Mission Issues Strategy and Advisory Group of the Anglican Consultative Council, 1980-84, he gained wide experience of the diversity of social issues facing the Anglican Communion. He serves on both the World Council of Churches Faith and Order Commission and the Inter-Anglican Theological and Doctrinal Commission. Mbwana is married and has six daughters.
The University of the South has received a grant of $750,000 from the Jessie Ball duPont Religious, Charitable and Educational Fund to endow the Frank A. Juhan Chair of Pastoral Theology at the University's School of Theology as a place for a "teacher of erudition who also possesses broad pastoral experience and a zeal for the Gospel ministry." Ordained deacon in 1911 and priest in 1912, at the age of 37 Juhan became the youngest diocesan in the House of Bishops when he was elected fourth bishop of Florida. At Sewanee, he served as chaplain, teacher and coach at the Sewanee Military Academy, and as trustee, regent, chancellor, director of development and consultant to the athletic department. After retirement, Juhan lived at Sewanee and served the University until his death in 1968. Juhan was known for his life-long desire to help young people obtain an education and help direct bright, dedicated young men into the priesthood.
The Episcopal Radio-TV Foundation, in honor of its 40th anniversary, will broadcast a retrospective "Episcopal Series of the Protestant Hour" for 12 Sundays, beginning Dec. 1. It will be carried by 419 local radio stations. The half-hour program, which last year won the George Foster Peabody Award, will feature outstanding American preachers heard during the past 40 years. They will include the late Bishop James Pike, C. FitzSimons Allison (Bishop of South Carolina) and Bennett Sims (Retired Bishop of Atlanta). Scriptures will be read by the Rev. Patricia Merchant of St. Luke's Episcopal Church here. The Rev. L. C. Scheuddig, president and executive director of the Episcopal Radio-TV Foundation, will introduce the speakers. The programs will be opened by Don Elliot Heald and are produced by Arden Moser. The Foundation, headquartered here, was founded in 1945 and is an independent, non-profit organization.
"Faces In A Famine", an award-winning film produced through the cooperation of the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief, will be telecast over the Public Broadcasting System on Jan. 15 at 10 p.m. It was filmed in Ethiopia and chronicles the victims, relief workers, television crews and others -- including "disaster groupies who throng to a cataclysmic event." The film was aired at the General Convention, and copies have been made available to each diocese. Eastman Kodak, Alitalia Airlines and a number of other businesses made the endeavor possible. The one-hour production has won a Cine Golden Eagle Award and been chosen to represent the U.S. in international motion pictures. Most PBS stations are expected to air the film at the time of the satellite feed, but viewers are urged to check local listings and encourage their Public stations to carry it.