News Briefs
Episcopal News Service. June 18, 2002 [2002-157-1]
Scottish church opening way for women in the episcopate
(ENS) The General Synod of the Scottish Episcopal Church has overwhelmingly supported a motion that would clear the way for women to be elected to the episcopate. After a passionate debate, members of the synod supported the first reading of a motion that would change the language of the church's rulebook to enable the historic change. Churches now have a year to discuss the issue in their dioceses. If the motion is supported by two-thirds of members next year the canon law would be changed.
All seven of the church's bishops supported the motion. The vote among clergy was 64 in favor and eight against. For the laity it was 64 in favor and seven against. "I passionately believe that it is right, both in terms of time and substance, to proceed with this legislation," said Bishop Bruce Cameron, primus of the church in his introduction of the motion. "It is also important that we use the time in the next 12 months to listen to each other, and to understand the differences that exist within our own church."
Canon Ruth Edwards said that "people outside the church find it almost inconceivable that we put men and women through the same training programs, let them work in the same churches, but still do not allow women to be bishops. I also believe that it is theologically right. God created man and woman equal, in his own image."
There were also passionate speeches against the motion. "A vote in favor today would change the teaching and practice of 2,000 years," said Gabrielle Robertson of St. Andrews. "Are we prepared to sweep all this away with a show of hands? What is to happen to the people who, like me, will not be able to accept the sacramental ministry of women bishops?" she asked.
Churches in the United States, Canada and New Zealand have women bishops. The Anglican Church in Ireland has voted in favor but has yet to appoint a woman to the episcopate.
Canadian Anglicans launch fundraising initiative to stabilize the church
(Anglican Journal) The Council of the Anglican Church of Canada's General Synod has endorsed a new fundraising initiative that will stabilize its work at the national and international level and nail down a financial contribution to help settle lawsuits filed in the wake of revelations of abuse in residential schools run by the church for the government.
The goal of the initiative is to support the church's social justice ministries, overseas partnerships, the Council of the North, new partnerships with indigenous Anglicans, congregational development and support for dioceses and parishes.
"Our goal is to establish an adequate foundation of financial and non-financial resources for both diocesan and national church ministry and mission," said the Rev. Philip Poole of Ontario. Uncertainty about the financial situation of the church stalled a proposal for a similar initiative a year ago.
"Dioceses are suffering from litigation costs, but not just those costs," said Geoff Jackson, executive officer of the Diocese of Ontario and an author of the initiative. "They need renewal and refreshment to go forward."
Church leaders stressed that a settlement with the government over how to handle the residential schools lawsuits was crucial. Archbishop David Crawley of British Columbia, a member of the church's negotiating team, said that the team "needs some kind of indication of what figure we can table with the government." Bishop Ann Tottenham of Toronto suggested that the proposal was "wildly unrealistic without a residential schools settlement."
Report says worldwide AIDS crisis is getting worse
(Boston Globe) An arm of the Central Intelligence Agency has reported that the AIDS pandemic will rapidly worsen, with the number of cases possibly doubling in sub-Saharan Africa in the next five years.
The National Intelligence Council, which studies issues of long-term strategic interest to the U.S. government, based its conclusion on figures in Nigeria and Ethiopia. Together they account for nearly a third of the population in the region, with 200 million people.
The analysts at the agency are particularly concerned about sharp increases in HIV and AIDS in India, the second most populous nation on earth, where a large percentage of uneducated people and political leadership hasn't begun to destigmatize the disease that now affects an estimated three million people. The same mix of factors was deadly in the first wave of the crisis in Africa. The pandemic is now entering a "stage of substantial increases in size and scope," according to a senior official.
About 40 million people are infected with HIV or AIDS. It is already the deadliest disease in human history. About 23 million people have died from the disease, far more than in the 14th century European plague known as the Black Death. Those who are dying are often people in the prime of their lives, so it is having a disastrous impact on economic growth, education and health systems.
The council has considerable credibility among the world's leading health officials for projecting trends in the disease. It was the lone voice in the U.S. government a decade ago, for example, in predicting 45 million HIV infections by the year 2000.
German church leaders intervene in row over anti-Semitism
(ENI) The leaders of Germany's main churches have intervened in a bitter public controversy over anti-Semitism. Protestant church leader Manfred Kock and Roman Catholic Cardinal Karl Lehmann called for an end to what each described as a "harmful" debate that has pitted a senior politician against the Central Council of Jews in Germany (ZJD).
The controversy has centered on Jurgen Mollemann, vice chair of Germany's small Free Democratic Party (FDP), who last month accused Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, the ZJD, and its vice president Michael Friedmann, of being partly to blame for anti-Semitism. Mollemann claimed that anti-Semitism was on the increase because the prime minister, the ZJD and Friedmann were unwilling to tolerate any criticism of Israeli military actions in the Middle East, least of all from Germans--a charge Friedmann rejected.
Spiegel responded by saying that blaming anti-Semitism on Jews, a common practice by the Nazis during the Third Reich, was "the biggest insult uttered by a party in the Federal Republic of Germany since the Holocaust." Mollemann eventually apologize "if I have injured the sensitivities of the Jewish people" but later he told journalists that he was excluding Friedmann from the apology.
The intervention by the church leaders followed a demand by ZJD's president Paul Spiegel for a public statement from them. He said that the churches were not doing enough to combat anti-Semitism.
Sudanese archbishop makes dangerous pastoral visit to the mountains
(ENS) Sudanese Anglican archbishop Joseph Marona made a dangerous two-week pastoral visit to remote churches in the Nuba Mountains, crossing military lines under the terms of a local cease-fire established earlier this year.
The archbishop met with government officials on both sides and conducted confirmations and ordinations that have not had pastoral support for years. It is the first time in the history of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan that an archbishop has visited churches in the mountains. He held out a wider vision offered by the Gospel. "Christ wants to be our way, our truth, our life, but we also have to allow him to enter," Marona said. "This means sharing his vision of the entire world reconciled to the Father. That is why it is my task to travel across the entire province, bringing words of justice, peace and reconciliation--bringing words of hope and healing to the church."
He said, "God has not given you these mountains in vain. The main aim is to serve him upon these mountains." The church has an estimated five million members and has been involved in educational work in the mountains since 1935. Contact with the outside world was completely lost for 10 years after the civil war came to the area in 1985.
Philippine and US churches will discuss war on terrorism
(ENI) The death of American missionary Martin Burnham, caught in the crossfire between Philippine security forces and a Muslim rebel group, may make a planned meeting by US and Philippine church leaders to discuss the "war on terrorism" even more urgent.
"This could strengthen the resolve of church communities in the Philippines to pursue peace," said David Wildman, who heads the human rights division of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries. He is among participants in an ecumenical conference being planned to examine the issue of terrorism and the new world economy, scheduled for September 23-26. Its goal is "to draw international attention to the US-declared war on terror as it is played out in the Philippines and Asia," according to Carmencita Karagdag, a representative of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines and a member of the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches.
Karagdag is a critic of what she calls the "increasingly aggressive role of the US in the Philippines" in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks. "It is clear that ultimately decisions affecting the Philippines and Asia as a whole are made by American policy makers," she said at a public forum in New York. "The American public and especially the churches are in a position to influence or help shape official policies, including foreign policy--and hopefully be able to make a difference."
The ecumenical conference will be held in Manila, convened by the NCCP, the WCC and the Christian Conference of Asia.