News Briefs
Episcopal News Service. March 14, 2002 [2002-064]
Web site offers communion-wide vacancy ads
(anglicansonline.org) In a move to assist the Anglican Communion in the area of clergy deployment, Anglicans Online (http://anglicansonline.org), one of the best known religion web sites on the Internet, has launched a Vacancies Centre to publish ads for vacancies, both lay and clerical, in Anglican dioceses, parishes, schools, and agencies.
Until March 29, Anglicans Online will publish vacancy ads free of charge. After that, posting a vacancy advertisement for a period of four weeks costs US $80. Ads are entered, previewed, and paid for entirely online. In addition to carrying posted advertisements, the Anglicans Online Vacancies Centre links all Anglican diocesan web sites that carry notices of positions open.
"Many parishes--especially those in developing countries or rural churches with small budgets--can't afford the cost of print advertising. Offering an affordable online venue for adverts made sense," said Cynthia McFarland, managing editor of Anglicans Online. "We're betting that in future years we'll see more intra-Communion position-hopping. A Church of England vicar might be interested in serving as rector of a group of rural parishes in the United States. Someone in the Anglican Church of Australia might want to serve in Europe for a time. Perhaps a cathedral organist in Japan might consider a similar position in Canada. Currently there's no easy way to know what positions are open across the entire Anglican Communion. The more we thought about it, the more we decided a 'one-stop shopping' portal made sense."
All income received from vacancies advertisements will support the Internet activities of the Society of Archbishop Justus (SoAJ). The Society hosts web sites without charge for Anglican dioceses and organizations that cannot afford the cost of a commercial ISP. In addition, SoAJ sponsors numerous mailing lists for Anglican and Episcopal groups, serves as trustees of the ANGLICAN.ORG domain, and administers an overall Internet naming plan for the more than 550 dioceses of the worldwide Anglican Communion.
On the web since 1994, Anglicans Online has on its web site 700 web pages of current material and 1,000 pages of back issues and archived copies. Its text content is bigger than the collected works of Shakespeare, and there are more than 9000 current well-maintained links to external resources. About 100,000 people look at Anglicans Online in a typical month.
Symposium to focus on values and ethics in education
(ENS) In a post-September 11 world numbed by violence and danger, there is a renewed interest in teaching values and morality in schools. But few opportunities have been afforded for a sustained dialogue between teachers, administrators, clergy, and leading thinkers and writers about the spiritual life that informs our moral and ethical choices.
St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire, one of the oldest private religious boarding schools in the United States, will convene a symposium June 16-18 to focus on spiritual formation as the foundation for teaching values and ethics in American secondary school education.
"Community and Character: Schools and the Spiritual Formation of Young People" will convene educational thinkers, school trustees, teachers, and administrators of 140 of the world's leading private schools to explore the future of spiritual education as the foundation for moral and ethical education.
"This symposium will bring together prominent thinkers and educational leaders to discuss the challenge of preparing a new generation for leadership," said Bishop Craig B. Anderson, rector of St. Paul's School. "The time is right for a vigorous discussion that moves us beyond calls for morality to a deeper education of the spirit of young people. So much of what the educational system needs is already happening in our independent schools."
"Fifty years ago St. Paul's School hosted a similar symposium in which Dr. Paul Tillich addressed the same issues," Anderson added. "Times and our culture have changed, but the questions remain the same and, as Tillich said, 'Every generation must revisit the answers in light of the current existential situation.'"
The symposium is offered in cooperation with the National Association of Episcopal Schools and the Association of Boarding Schools.
Symposium leaders will include Dr. Martin E. Marty, professor emeritus of the University of Chicago; the Rev. F. Washington Jarvis, headmaster of the Roxbury Latin School in Boston; David Hornbeck, former superintendent of schools in Philadelphia; and Dr. Kim Hays, sociologist and author of "Practicing Virtues: Moral Traditions at Quaker and Military Boarding Schools." Other speakers include the Rev. Dr. Gerald R. Blaszczak, S.J., professor, chaplain, and rector of a Jesuit community at Fordham University; and the Most Rev. Frank T. Griswold, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, U.S.A.
"We hope those who attend will go away enormously refreshed and invigorated about the possibilities of spiritually educating our young people to make moral and ethical choices," said the Rev. Anthony C. Campbell, a civil rights activist, internationally known speaker, and canon pastor at St. Paul's School.
"We stand at a crucial moment in time, when it is self-evident that we must teach our children well," Campbell said. "This is the beginning of that movement. Our struggle for the human spirit must begin in the communities in which we live."
For more information or to make reservations contact Barbara Ferman, St. Paul's School, 325 Pleasant St., Concord, N.H. 03301, 603-229-5678, or by e-mail at symposia@sps.edu. Also visit the school's website at www.sps.edu.
Chester Cathedral finds medieval inspiration for new bottled beer
(ENI) An English cathedral has revived an ancient monastic tradition by producing its own beer and has found modern visitors as enthusiastic as their medieval counterparts.
The monks of Chester, in northern England, used to produce beer for themselves and for pilgrims to the shrine of St. Werburg, a 7th-century abbess to whom were ascribed many miracles. Now Chester Cathedral has launched Chester Pilgrim Ale, a strong (5 per cent alcohol by volume) bottled beer. David Burrows, the cathedral administrator, told ENI: "Sales have been going crazy. What we expected to sell in a month has almost gone in less than a week and a half."
Revenue from the venture will help the authorities to keep admission to the cathedral free to visitors. Chester says it is one of the few historic Church of England cathedrals not to charge for entry. Canterbury Cathedral, the mother church of the worldwide Anglican Communion, charges 3.50 pounds sterling (US$5) for an adult admission, with a range of concessions and free entry for worshipers and people wishing to pray privately.
The Chester beer is named after a famous feature of the cathedral, the Chester Pilgrim, a carving on a 14th-century bench-end in the choir. There are plenty of potential customers for the new beer. In 2001, the cathedral received about a million visitors, including worshippers. The medieval brewhouse and stores stood at the west and north sides of Abbey Square, now occupied by houses.
The cathedral authorities, however, are not planning to follow monastic tradition by brewing the beer themselves. They have given the job to the J. W. Lees Brewery in nearby Manchester. The brewery was praised by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) as combining the best of the old and the new in an era dominated by "clinical stainless steel and winking computer control panels."
Chester Pilgrim has won the backing of CAMRA's local branch secretary, Craig Papworth. He told ENI: "It is a well-balanced blend of malt and hops, which should appeal to a wide range of customers."
Anglican priest and physicist wins 2002 Templeton Prize
(ENS) John C. Polkinghorne, an Anglican priest who is a mathematical physicist, has won the 2002 Templeton Prize for building bridges between science and religion.
Through his extensive writing and lectures, he has applied scientific habits to Christianity, resulting in what is regarded as a modern, compelling new exploration of the faith.
The Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion was founded in 1972 by Sir John Templeton and is the world's largest annual monetary prize given to an individual. It is currently worth 700,000 pounds sterling, or about $1 million. It claims to be the world's best known religion prize, awarded each year to a living person to encourage and honor those who advance spiritual knowledge and dialogue.
Polkinghorne has established himself as a scientist-theologian who is comfortable with traditional interpretations of Christian Scripture and doctrine but he has defended the role of science in advancing our understanding of the universe. He has written, for example, that a belief in the Big Bang theory of the universe's creation is compatible with a belief in God as the Creator. He also argues that evolution is a perfect fit with the concept of a God-given gift of creation that continues to evolve.
"He has not only destroyed the idea that the worldviews of science and theology are opposed to one another, but he has opened up the road ahead for a new stage in conceptual integration which cannot but make for immense progress in religion all over the world," said Prof. Thomas Torrance, former moderator of the Church of Scotland and teacher of dogmatics at the University of Edinburgh. Torrance himself won the Templeton Prize in 1978 for his pioneering insights into the rationality of the universe that offers evidence of God through scientific reasoning.
At a news conference in New York March 14, Polkinghorne said, "I want to take science and religion with great and equal seriousness. I see them as complementary to each other and not as rivals. The most important thing they have in common is that both believe that there is a truth to be sought and found, a truth whose attainment comes through the pursuit of well-motivated belief."
President Bush appoints Episcopalian to board of advisors on historically black colleges and universities
(ENS) President George W. Bush has appointed Bernard J. Milano, president of the Episcopal Church Foundation and the KPMG Foundation, to a board of advisors on historically black colleges and universities.
Milano brings to the board a long track record in helping to open doors previously closed to minorities, especially in the business world. The KPMG Foundation has created a project that attracts ethnic minorities to careers as university business school professors.
In his weekly radio address on February 9, the President reminded Americans that "historically black colleges and universities opened the door to knowledge, when other doors were barred. And today they offer exciting opportunities to young people to contribute to their country." He also said that he plans to increase funding to those schools by 30 percent by 2005.
The board of advisors will help the president and Secretary of Education develop a federal program designed to achieve an increase in the participation of historically black colleges and universities in federally sponsored programs and increase the role of the private sector in supporting the schools.
Milano is also advising the General Theological Seminary in New York on how to improve the diversity in the church and on the seminary faculty.
He is an active member of Church of the Epiphany in Allendale, New Jersey, where he has served as senior warden and chair of a search committee for a new rector. In the Diocese of Newark he has served on the Commission on Ministry and the Audit Committee.
Religious groups ask Congress to triple AIDS funding
(RNS) A broad coalition of religious groups is asking Congress to more than triple the current level of funding to fight the global AIDS pandemic.
In a joint letter to the House and Senate Banking Committees, 23 mainline Protestant, evangelical, Roman Catholic, Jewish and Muslim groups asked for $2.5 billion in next year's budget to help the 40 million people infected with the virus around the world. Current funding is $779 million.
"This massive loss of human life will dramatically alter families, communities and entire countries," said the letter from the coalition spearheaded by the National Council of Churches. "We cannot sit idly by."
President Bush's 2003 budget asks Congress to increase present funding to $884 million, including $200 million for a global AIDS relief fund administered by the United Nations. However, a UN estimate says that $10 billion is needed worldwide to fight the pandemic and provide treatment to infected populations, especially in Africa. Tom Hart, director of the Episcopal Church's Washington Office, said that a US share of 25 percent, or $2.5 billion, would be more than fair.
Hart said that religious groups are hoping that the funding can be boosted when Congress dissects the budget this summer. Last year, a move to increase funding to $1.3 billion was approved but the money was never appropriated. Hart is optimistic that Senators John Kerry of Massachusetts and Bill Frist of Tennessee will offer a bill featuring an "aggressive response" in AIDS funding.