News Brief
Episcopal News Service. April 2, 1987 [87080]
The International Review of Mission, a quarterly of the World Council of Churches, has announced an essay/ poster/music contest for people aged 18-30. The contest theme, "Your Will Be Done: Mission in Christ's Way," is also the theme for the Council's World Conference on Mission and Evangelism in 1989. The contest deadline is August 1; details about rules for entries in the three categories are available from WCC/CWME, Box 66, CH-1211 Geneva 20.
The Church of Scotland, the Scottish Episcopal Church and the Roman Catholic Church have Joined in setting up an ecumenical "Christian Enquiry Agency" here. The object of the new agency is to explain Christianity to what is seen as an increasingly secularised Scottish society.
"I support the African National Congress, but I do not support the armed struggle," Archbishop Desmond Tutu said here March 22 after talks with ANC President Oliver Tambo and other leaders. Both sides described the talks as warm and cordial. It was Tutu's first meeting as archbishop with the ANC leadership, although he had met with ANC representatives previously as an individual. Arguing that the time has not come for armed struggle, Tutu emphasized his understanding that conditions created by apartheid moved the ANC towards violence; he said he does not condemn its stance. However, he said renunciation of violence by the ANC could put new pressure on the South African government to enter negotiations towards the dismantling of apartheid and renewed past calls for international economic sanctions against South Africa as the last hope for ending apartheid peacefully.
Both Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie and Basil Cardinal Hume of Westminister have reacted positively to word that the Pope will beatify (declare "blessed") 85 people put to death in England and Wales during the 16th and 17th centuries in connection with the English reformation. "Whereas in the past, this announcement would have fuelled controversy and communal rivalry, today we can all celebrate their heroic Christian witness and together deplore the intolerance of the age which flawed Christian conviction," said Runcie. "As Roman Catholics recall and honor these 85 martyrs," said Hume, "we shall not forget all who in those troubled times from both sides of the religious divide laid down their lives because of a total commitment to their beliefs."
When the Bishop of Chichester, Eric Kemp, argued against ordination of women at the Church of England's recent General Synod, he had already honed his debate in close quarters with some authoritative advocates of the opposing view. But Kemp's side was equally unable to convince a majority at the Synod or at home. According to an article in the March 1 Sunday Times, Kemp's wife and three of his four daughters have been telling him all along "that he had got it all wrong." His daughter, Katherine, labeled a spokesperson for the family rebels, told the paper, "I try not to talk to my father about it too much any more because we both get quite cross...we just cannot agree." Katherine is joined by sisters Sarah and Alice. Their brother, Edward, reportedly has steered clear of the debate, and another sister, Harriet, has declared her neutrality. "I choose not to discuss such things with my father," she explained. "I'm more interested in him as a father than a clerical figure, and he is a very good one, too." According to the paper, Kemp's wife, Patricia, has long maintained that women should be ordained to the priesthood. Kemp, despite the defeat in the Synod and the debate in his own household, feels confident that a split will be avoided both in the church and at home.
Canada's far north, a place without agriculture, sheep -- or mustard trees -- presents special challenges for Bible translators trying to serve its native peoples, says Anglican Bishop John Sperry. One translator, attempting to describe "joy," was struck by the excitement of sled dogs at feeding time and borrowed the native word describing it. The result, in English: "When the disciples saw Jesus, they wagged their tails." Another discovered that the most important man in many villages was the one with the largest boat, so the Lord's Prayer, for some of Canada's natives, now begins: "Our boat owner, who lives in heaven..." Sperry, himself, has translated the Gospels and the book of Acts into the Coppermine language and so knows many of the translator's problems firsthand. For example, the Bible mentions foxes as cunning, rapacious animals, but northerners know foxes as small, timid creatures. So in Sperry's Bible, Jesus tells Herod's representatives: "Go tell that wolverine..." Few northern natives have ever seen pigs, which figure in a number of Bible scenes. So Sperry took a suffix indicating something is "strange-looking" and added it to the word for caribou. "So the pig is now a strange-looking caribou," Sperry said. "Nobody can argue with that."
"Does being Christian help Sunday school students make more informed decisions about drugs and alcohol?" is the theme of Church Life's 18th annual Essay Contest for students of Episcopal Sunday schools in New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Connecticut and Massachusetts. "Our idea was to encourage students to think about the role of Christian education in their lives. Each year we build a theme around some aspect of contemporary life," said Church Life Senior Vice President Charles Dockendorff. Over $500 in prizes will be awarded in the following categories: Grades 4-6 -- lst $50, 2nd $25, 3rd $10; Grades 7-9 -- 1st $100, 2nd $50, 3rd $25; Grades 10-12 -- 1st $150, 2nd $75, 3rd $50. Judges are Richard Crawford, publisher, The Episcopalian; the Rev. Sister Adele Marie, St. Margaret's House; and John M. Reinhardt, communications consultant, all of Philadelphia. Entries must be postmarked by April 13, 1987 and sent to David Phillips, Communications Manager, Church Life Insurance Corporation, 800 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10017. Entry forms are available from Sunday school superintendents or parish rectors. Entries become the property of Church Life. Winners will be announced between June 1-5 and will appear in the 1987 edition of Church Life Essay Contest News.
"God's People: An Urban Vision" is the theme for the 1987 Church and City Conference to be held here, May 11-13. This 29th annual meeting of the Church and City conference is designed to help clergy and lay participants articulate a vision for ministry in American cities and explore what works and doesn't work in urban parish ministry. Last year's conference was held in Newark, N.J. Conference leaders are the Rt. Rev. Oliver B. Garver, Jr., Suffragan Bishop of Los Angeles; the Rt. Rev. Frank T. Griswold, III, Bishop of Chicago; the Rev. Barbara M. B. Taylor, associate rector of All Saints', Atlanta. Keynote speaker is the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright Jr., senior pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ, Chicago, and professor of history at Chicago Theological Seminary. The conference will be held at Cleveland's Trinity Cathedral and Emmanuel Episcopal Church. The $100 registration fee includes three meals. Lodging is available at the Holiday Inn, Lakeside, or free in local homes. For further information, contact the Rev. Stewart Pierson at (216) 226-1772 or write him at St. Peter's Church, 18001 Detroit Avenue, Lakewood, OH 44417.
Following the Anglican Consultative Council meeting in Singapore, Presiding Bishop Edmond L. Browning will visit Okinawa, where he served for many years, for a "homecoming" celebration. He will then go on to Japan to take part in the Centenary celebration of the founding of The Anglican Church in Japan (Nippon Seiko Kai). The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. Robert A. K. Runcie, other primates of the Anglican Communion and the Secretary General of the Anglican Consultative Council, the Rev. Canon Samuel Van Culin, will also be present for the main festivities. A delegation of six, headed by Bishop James T. Yashiro of the Diocese of Kitakanto, visited the Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth Palace and traveled to Canterbury Cathedral to make preparations for the visit and to discuss mounting an Anglican exhibition in Tokyo to mark the Centenary. Yashiro is Vice Chairmen of the Dogmatic and Pastoral concerns section for the Lambeth Conference 1988. Christians in Japan total one percent of the population: 1,111,480 out of 120,000,00. The Anglican Church has 60,000 baptised members; 11 dioceses, each with a Japanese bishop; and 350 clergy. The Primate of the Anglican Church in Japan is the Most Rev. Christopher Kikawada.
The first recipients of Allin Fellowships, honoring retired Presiding Bishop John M. Allin, are the Rt. Rev. Roger J. White, the Rev. William A. Guthrie and Joseph Patronik. The Fellowships, for two-week seminars at the Ecumenical Institute in Bossey, Switzerland, are designed to be awarded annually to a newly consecrated bishop, an experienced priest, a seminarian and a seminary professor. No one in the latter category applied for 1987. White was consecrated Bishop of Milwaukee in lay 1985. He will attend "Models of Renewed Community" this May. Guthrie, vicar of Trinity Church, Charlottesville, Va., will attend "Ecumenism for Mission" in August. Patronik, a seminarian at Church Divinity School of the Pacific, will attend "Orthodox Theology and Spirituality" in April. The Institute provides series of seminars enabling participants to "experience the Lordship of Christ in exchange with people from 30 countries and as many different communions..." thereby "broadening and deepening their faith and enhancing their sense of world resource stewardship." Applications for 1988 Fellowships should be sent to the Allin Fellowship Committee, Diocese of Missouri, 1210 Locust, St. Louis, MD 63103. The deadline is Nov. 1; awards will be announced by Jan. 15, 1988.
North American Association for the Diaconate (NAAD) will sponsor "Deacons in Church and World," the first international conference on the diaconate, to be held here, June 4-6, 1987. Themes to be shared at a Deacons' Fair are: "Deacons in the Church," diocesan programs to select, train, deploy and support deacons; and "Deacons in the World," deacons in social care, who enable laity to minister to the needy. The Dioceses of Kansas and West Missouri are joint hosts. Registration is $65 per person, which includes a banquet on Friday night, at which the Presiding Bishop will speak, and airport transportation. Room cost at the Embassy on the Park-Sheraton will be $68 per night, plus tax, single or double occupancy, and includes a full breakfast Friday and Saturday. Cheaper housing is available but will leave delegates on their own for transportation. Attendees must be paid-up members of NAAD (diocesan dues, $100, includes the right to send two delegates; individual and organization dues are $25). Delegates are responsible for their own hotel reservations. There is no registration deadline, but late registrants may have to stay at other hotels. Registration forms are available from the North American Association for the Diaconate, Room 707, 14 Beacon Street, Boston, MA 02108.
APSO's Youth and Volunteer Ministries seeks committed volunteers, age 15 and up, for summer workcamps being held in Cumberland, and in southwestern Virginia. They hope to establish a community of volunteers of all ages sensitized to the social and economic realities of the Appalachian region, aware of similar realities throughout the nation and the world and equipped to recognize and respond to those realities in local communities. In the Cumberland workcamps, APSO volunteers will join with the local communities and the Cumberland Interfaith Consortium to revitalize those communities through home repair, renovation and general clean-up. Each workcamp week will begin with Sunday dinner and close with breakfast the following Saturday. Dates for the Cumberland workcamps are July 5-11, July 12-18, July 19-25 and July 26-Aug. 1. The Aug. 2-8 and Aug. 9-15 workcamps will be held in the Diocese of Southwestern Virginia, where volunteers will work at home repair and winterization. The cost of t100.00 per person includes food, housing, insurance, local transportation and a share of the materials that will be used. For additional information and registration forms, contact Meredith Dean, APSO Youth and Volunteer Ministries, P.O. Box 1007, Blacksburg, VA 24060 or phone (703) 552-3795.
"A Layperson's Manual for Social Ministry Planning and Implementation" by Elizabeth Lily and Michael E. Maloney has Just been published by the Appalachian People's Service Organization (APSO). Maloney is APSO's Urban Staff person. The manual was designed as a tool for diocesan or parish level development of new urban ministries or for the evaluation of existing programs. The handbook describes the planning process and gives examples of how it can be applied to facilitate the implementation of outreach ministries. It also contains sample needs assessments, funding proposals and volunteer job descriptions. Copies are available for $5.00 from the APSO office, P.O. Box 1007 Blacksburg, VA 24060; phone (703) 552-3795.