News Briefs
Episcopal News Service. March 6, 2002 [2002-056-1]
NCC Earth Day Sunday 2002 theme is 'Making the World Safe for Children'
(NCC) "Caring for God's Creation: Making the World Safe for Children" is the theme of resources offered by the National Council of Churches for congregational observances of Earth Day Sunday (April 21, 2002). The resources are available at www.webofcreation.org/ncc/earthday/2002/index.html.
"Each year, Earth Day Sunday provides an opportunity to direct our attention to God's creation, our relationship to it and the responsibility God has given to us to tend and to keep it, " said the Rev. Richard L. Killmer, NCC Environmental Justice Director. "This year, worship and study resources focus on children.
"Children are among God's most precious- and most vulnerable, gifts. They are the hope of the future, but theirs is a future threatened by environmental pollution. People of faith are called to work together to help safeguard children's health and their future. We can work together to help make Zechariah's dream a reality, where children play safely in their homes and schools, on their playgrounds, and even in our city streets."
The NCC's 2002 Earth Day Resource Packet was prepared by members of the NCC Eco-Justice Working Group. Through the Working Group, representatives from 23 Protestant and Orthodox denominations carry out an extensive program helping people of faith engage in environmental issues. Formed in 1983, the Eco-Justice Group seeks to support and assist denominational and ecumenical work to protect God's Creation. It publishes resource materials for congregations, including the annual Earth Day resource, sponsors biennial conferences for environmental justice leaders, sponsors a Web site (www.webofcreation.org/ncc/Workgrp.html) and has created several programs for the historic black denominations.
The NCC has spearheaded many programs to encourage energy savings, including an "Energy Stewardship Congregation Program," which urges congregations to covenant to make their church buildings and grounds more energy efficient. NCC resources also help church members to write letters, call and make visits encouraging their local, state and national elected officials to endorse a "Clean Energy Agenda."
High Plains hosts 2002 Episcopal Youth Event
(ENS) This summer, the Episcopal Youth Event (EYE) takes place 8,000 feet above sea level on the campus of the University of Wyoming, in Laramie, WY, July 23-28, 2002. EYE is an event sponsored by the Episcopal Church every three years for youth in grades 9-12.
Following the tragedies of September 11th, the EYE design team committed to make this year's conference focus on issues affecting youth today and offer a faith-based, hopeful response to the world in which teenagers find themselves. The team chose "Bring It to the High Plains! Tell the People Who I Am!" as the guiding theme, inspired by I Timothy 4:11-16. Traditions for this event include dynamic worship, a cultural fair with items to exchange with other dioceses, lots of games and a chance to experience the high plains of the western part of the United States. "The people of Laramie are excited to be our hosts, and I hope we will respond with excitement to their offerings," said Linda Ray, a member of the team.
Registration for EYE is already underway within individual dioceses, and each diocese creates its own process for selecting representatives to the gathering. For more information, contact local Diocesan Youth Coordinators or the diocesan office. The cost for EYE is $275, including room and board, worship, program and recreational activities. Deadline for provincial registration is May 1st.
Churches condemn restrictions on public gatherings in Zimbabwe
(ENI) A meeting of representatives of 15 churches in Bulawayo--Zimbabwe's second city--has condemned a new law which, among other things, restricts freedom of assembly for churches and civic organizations.
The meeting also called on Zimbabwe's two main political parties to desist from violence in the run-up to presidential elections in March, in which President Robert Mugabe is facing the stiffest challenge in his 22-year rule.
A statement issued after the meeting on February 20 condemned the new Public Order and Security Act. The act bans non-authorized public gatherings, including religious gatherings except worship services.
"The state has no right to proscribe our prayers and to prevent us from holding peaceful gatherings," the churches said in their statement.
"On behalf of our congregations, we abhor the fact that we now have to seek permission from the state to hold prayer meetings in public," they said. "We are prepared to accept the consequences while the world watches," they added in comments suggesting that they were prepared to defy the law.
The police have been accused of bias in applying the new law. On February 24, the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), said the police had invoked sections of the new law to ban at least 64 campaign rallies the MDC intended to hold.
However, President Mugabe's party, the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) has been able to hold its rallies apparently without any restrictions.
The denominations represented at the Bulawayo meeting included the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Apostolic Faith, Lutheran and Presbyterian churches.
Calling on political parties to desist from violence in the run-up to the country's presidential election, they said that political violence had claimed at least 100 lives and displaced at least 60,000 families in the country in the past two years.
"Violence is unacceptable and un-Christian and must stop immediately," they said. "We deplore, in the strongest terms, the idea that it is acceptable to assault, rape, torture, harass and intimidate peaceful people going about their legitimate daily business."
They criticized the state-controlled media's portrayal of some church leaders as puppets of foreign governments and institutions "as if as Zimbabweans we are incapable of thinking for ourselves."
This was an apparent reference to a series of articles in the Chronicle newspaper attacking Roman Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube of Bulawayo.
The archbishop has been blamed publicly by President Mugabe for being behind the defeat of Zanu-PF in the Matabeleland province in the June 2000 parliamentary elections.
Earlier this month, 11 church leaders holding a peace march in Bulawayo were arrested and held for three days on charges of breaching sections of the Public Order and Security Act. They were released on bail on February 18 by a magistrate's court in the city.
Noel Scott, an Anglican priest and one of the organisers of the "Pray and Walk" march, was ordered to surrender his passport.
If convicted, the clergymen face up to six months' imprisonment or a Z$10,000 fine or both.
Minnesota Episcopalian honored by President Bush for his volunteer activities
(ENS) Will Gove, an Episcopalian from Minneapolis, was the first volunteer in the nation to be honored by President George W. Bush in his efforts to boost volunteer activism in the nation following the September 11 tragedy at the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Virginia.
According to the White House, Bush plans to recognize local volunteers during his travels as one way to expand participation in community and national service programs. In his State of the Union address he asked every adult in the country to devote two years to volunteer activities.
Gove has built soccer fields for children, read the newspaper to the blind over the radio, helped as a Junior Achievement mentor, built a national volunteer program for retired Honeywell employees and is currently working with a foundation to build a facility for underprivileged youth in Minneapolis that will be named for Secretary of State Colin Powell, a fellow Episcopalian.
Presbyterians defeat an amendment on ordination of homosexuals
(ENS) An amendment to church law that would have permitted the ordination of openly gay and lesbian clergy in the Presbyterian Church (USA) was defeated by a vote of presbyteries at the local level.
"This says we still honor the Scripture and our tradition, despite the message coming from the world pressuring a change," said Tom Sweets, organizer of a coalition to defeat the amendment. "This is not about excluding homosexuals from the church," he added. "But the point is, who do we lift up as officers in the church?" Church law requires church leaders to "live either in fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman, or chastity in singleness."
The church's General Assembly voted last year to amend a church law that prevents non-celibate homosexuals serving as clergy or elders but the decision required approval by a majority of the church's 173 presbyteries. The deciding vote in opposition was cast February 19 by the 87th presbytery. Supporters of the amendment promise a continued fight for the change.
"We have been aware that no matter how the votes go at the national level, it's what happens in the local church that makes a difference," said Mitzi Henderson, co-moderator of More Light Presbyterians, an organization that promotes full participation by gays and lesbians in church life.
Last year 58 percent of presbyteries voted to allow congregations to bless same-gender relationships as long as they are not called marriages.
Methodists hope book will help people pray at the end of relationships
(ENI) British Methodists are including prayers to mark the end of relationships in a new book, launched in time for National Marriage Week. The book also includes prayers for difficult moments in the life of a family—such as a son or daughter coming out as gay, the loss of a loved one to Alzheimer's disease, or retirement.
The book concedes that, for a person left behind at the end of a relationship, it may be somewhat of a test to pray that God will bless a former partner's new relationship. However, the prayer, When Love Dies, asks God, "In the days to come, raise us up to new life in fresh relationships."
David Gamble, the church's secretary for pastoral care and personal relationships and convenor of the project, said that "sometimes it may be possible for both partners to come together not in animosity but in sadness." He hopes that the Vows and Partings prayers would meet the needs of "real people in the real world."
"Here is a response to the need in all churches for liturgy and prayers at various critical times in people's lives," said Ann Leck, a vice president of the church. "Harder and often ignored are the times of loss and despair, times that can feel like failure."