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Episcopal Communicators Converse with PB, Honor Best Work of the Past Year

Episcopal News Service. May 8, 1998 [98-2154]

(ENS) At its annual meeting April 22-25, Episcopal Communicators discussed resolutions from General Convention calling for a national communications strategy, honored the best work of the last year, and spent time in conversation with Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold.

"Communications is a sacred enterprise," Griswold told the group of about 150 print and electronic communicators from throughout the church during a session on the opening day. "Your ministries are so vital."

The presiding bishop argued for a broad definition of communication based on the "dynamic word" in the Bible about "a God who communicates." Yet he also warned that communicators should keep an eye on their biases and try to avoid what he called a "fixation on the negative." Instead, he said that communicators should ask themselves some questions: What is the word which helps build the community? What are the spirits at work? What am I called to hold up?

Gunn elected president

During a business session, Sarah Moore of Sewanee, finishing her term as president of Episcopal Communicators, reported that membership had risen to 165, "an all-time record." She also said that the organization was "fiscally healthier than ever."

Participants elected Herb Gunn, editor of The Record in the Diocese of Michigan, to serve as president. And they elected two new board members, the Rev. Ian Nunley of the Diocese of Rhode Island and Guillermo Johnson, communications director for the Diocese of Panama.

In commenting on his election, Gunn said, "We are too white to be effective and challenging in our work...to tell all portions of the story that need to be told." He pledged "careful and persistent" efforts by the organization to talk with bishops about communications issues.

Jim Rosenthal, director of communications for the Anglican Communion, said that he was "still proud to be a Volunteer in Mission of the Episcopal Church." He added that "the Anglican Communion would not survive without the generosity of the Episcopal Church."

In discussing plans for this summer's Lambeth Conference of the world's Anglican bishops, Rosenthal said, "It's a holy convocation" and "a moment to shine."

Yet it is a very difficult enterprise, "complicated beyond belief...quite a challenge yet one with wonderful possibilities."

Because the archbishop of Canterbury's invitation went to all active Anglican bishops, Lambeth will exhibit a diversity never seen before. "The church could use some new voices," he said.

Honoring the best

Fifteen judges waded through 478 entries in the Polly Bond Awards competition to honor the best work of the last year.

In the General Excellence category for magazines, awards of merit went to Virginia Seminary Journal, edited by Alexandra Dorr, and the Journal of Women's Ministries, edited by Marcy Darin. The top award of excellence went to The Witness, edited by Jeanie Wylie-Kellermann and Julie Wortman.

In the General Excellence category for newspapers with a circulation over 12,000, awards of merit went to The Episcopal News in the Diocese of Los Angeles, edited by Bob Williams, and the Virginia Episcopalian, edited by Sarah Bartenstein. The award of excellence went to Anglican Advance in the Diocese of Chicago, edited by David Skidmore.

In the General Excellence category for newspapers with a circulation below 12,000, awards of merit went to The Dayspring in the Diocese of West Virginia, edited by Elizabeth Walker, and Crosswalk in the Diocese of Upper South Carolina, edited by Pam Steude. The award of excellence went to Herb Gunn, editor of The Record

For newspapers published by agencies of the church, the award of merit went to United Voice, edited by Douglas LeBlanc, and the award of excellence to Episcopal Life, edited by Jerry Hames.

(A complete description of the awards is available electronically at www.dfms.orgcommunicatorsPollybond.)

Griswold calls for balance

In an "informal conversation" with the presiding bishop, Griswold observed how "profoundly faith-full this group is." He said that he looked forward to working with the church's communicators to build a common strategy and he invited them to spend the next year "gathering the pieces of such a strategy."

Asked about some critical comments he made about the church press during an interview in Texas, Griswold said that he has been disturbed by a lack of balance and perspective on occasion, treatment of stories that "build on people's fears." Sometimes the press treats stories in a way that is "irresponsible and not helpful to community." Making it clear that he was not asking the communicators to avoid the church's conflicts and problems, he asked, "Does it need to be on page one?"

Griswold also expressed concerns that the way we interpret the church's life can set up self-fulfilling prophecies. "If we describe ourselves as a body endlessly in conflict, people aren't going to join us." Engaging in careful conversation can reveal "incredible commonality and convergence. Conversation is giving space to one another and genuinely facing one another as examples of the incarnation of Christ. At our points of convergence we can still recognize each other as brothers and sisters."

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