News Briefs
Episcopal News Service. July 18, 2002 [2002-180-1]
French Protestants enter 'new era of relations' with Taize Community
(ENI) Leaders of the French Protestant Federation (FPF) have signaled what they are calling a "new era of relations" with Taize, one of the best-known ecumenical religious communities in Europe. The official delegation's recent visit to the hilltop community was the first since 1989.
Relations between the FPF and Taize began to deteriorate in the 1970s after several developments offended Protestant sensitivities. Brother Roger, founder of the community, took a stand in favor of priestly celibacy, for example, and his right-hand man, Brother Max Thurian, converted to Roman Catholicism and was ordained to the priesthood in 1987. The community has nurtured close ties with several recent popes.
Taize has always maintained strong ties with foreign Protestant and Anglican churches. This summer, for example, several Lutheran bishops from Sweden and Anglican bishops from Great Britain will spend time at the community.
"Taize occupies a particular place in the religious landscape," said Gil Daude, head of the FPF's ecumenical agency. "At Taize young people experience faith in an ecumenical setting. They discover, as it were, the universal church." Taize welcomes more than 100,000 youth every year for prayer and study. "We also are concerned with training a new generation committed to ecumenism," he added.
Archbishop of Canterbury commends interfaith relations
(Lambeth) Archbishop of Canterbury George L. Carey has underscored the importance of dialogue and the promotion of understanding through interfaith relations. At a recent interfaith meeting in North London, Carey said that the interfaith dimension had been a large and unexpected aspect of his own ministry.
"You may have heard me say it before, but I cannot resist saying again, how surprised I would have been, when I became archbishop over 11 years ago, to know just how much of my time was going to be spent in developing understanding, friendship and cooperation between the different faiths," he said.
Carey expressed his sadness that the Church of England's General Synod debate on Christian witness had been misinterpreted as a drive for conversion. "What our debate affirmed was that, as Christians, we have a responsibility to share our faith sensitively and respectfully. The Christian message includes a gracious invitation to others to hear the words of Christ. But that is a very different thing from crusading belligerence, or any attempt to coerce others to believe what we believe."
Carey said that personal friendships had developed among different faith leaders. "We have learned that there is no substitute for personal contact in encounters which lead to firm friendships; no substitute for hospitality, graciously given and graciously received; no substitute for wisdom and learning, shared amongst us; no substitute for differences honestly expressed and courteously heard," he added. "But above all, as we struggled to cope with the challenge of September 11th and all that it has meant for our different faith communities, no substitute for standing together when one of us is threatened."
Archbishop Ndungane of Southern Africa warns against despair as AIDS crisis deepens
(ACNS) Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane, Anglican primate of the Church in Southern Africa, said that the message from the recent AIDS conference in Barcelona is clear: "the time for talk and political prevarication is over. Among the key challenges are to change behavioral patterns and to eradicate the stigma that makes it so difficult for people to seek the help they need."
Noting in his July 17 statement from Cape Town that recent United Nations reports conclude that the AIDS pandemic has yet to peak, and that the average life expectancy in Africa will soon be only 26 years, Ndungane said that "we dare not lose hope. We cannot allow ourselves to be paralyzed by despair and I am greatly concerned by subsequent reports that Barcelona killed that hope."
Ndungane said that "many of us have been re-enthused to work ever harder at facilitating a generation without AIDS," and he pointed to several hopeful developments. He included improvement in vaccines, public-private cooperation that now makes it possible to treat whole communities, and success in stemming the tide through aggressive prevention and a "dramatic reduction of stigma and discrimination against people living with AIDS." But he added, "All we need is the political will and commitment by both the public and private sectors."
Since AIDS is "not a shameful word in the households of Uganda," it has meant that "people come forward quickly for treatment and support," Ndungane said. "Similarly, Brazil reports a dramatic drop in the number of AIDS-related deaths, and has cut the average cost of treatment per patient in half." He argued that "it is not time to give up, but time for all sectors to rise above their agenda. For the good of those already living with HIV or AIDS and for future generations we need action now."
Dissenting Canadian clergy asked to clarify their intentions
(ACC) What began as a disagreement over theology, sexuality and its biblical interpretation may end up as a dispute on stacks of legal-sized paper as the Diocese of New Westminster in the Anglican Church of Canada asks dissident clergy a second time whether they are "in" or "out."
The controversy stems from a recent decision by the Diocesan Synod to permit the blessing of same-sex relationships, which prompted a walkout at the gathering by several clergy and parishes and statements of disassociation from the action. New Westminster Bishop Michael Ingham said in an interview that chancellor George Cadman has written to the 12 clergy asking them to clarify "whether they remain under my jurisdiction and authority."
Priests pledge obedience to their bishop in their ordination vows. If the dissenting clergy do not pledge their obedience to their bishop, their licenses could be pulled. Disputes over land and buildings are also looming on the horizon, since some of the parishes have cut off their funding to the diocese.
It is the second time the diocese has sought clarification of the clergy's intentions. Ingham wrote the 12 individually in June asking whether their withdrawal from the diocesan synod was an act of protest or a resignation. If the clergy had resigned from the diocese, Ingham said, he would need to declare vacancies in those parishes affected. Clergy and members of parishes are free to leave the church at any time, he said, but the land and buildings are property of the diocese.
The clergy responded in a joint letter at the beginning of July that they still considered themselves "part of this diocese, but that relationship has been seriously strained by the passage" of the motion approving same-sex blessings. That, said Cadman in his advice to the bishop, is not a response. "They've merely said they wish to be part of the diocese," said Ingham. "It was highly ambiguous." The new deadline for clergy to respond individually was set for July 19.
Meanwhile, four parishes have withdrawn their financial support from the diocese and another four say they may do the same. The eight parishes involved (out of the diocese's total of 79 parishes) account for nearly a quarter of the diocesan budget.
While there has been talk that the eight parishes might secede from the diocese and try to retain their buildings and properties, the diocese's position is that it owns parish properties and buildings. The diocese was formed by the British Columbia legislature's act of incorporation of 1893 and parishes are subunits of the diocese, said Mike Wellwood, business administrator of New Westminster. The diocesan chancellor has also prepared a written opinion on what happens to the property of parishes that wish to leave the Anglican Church of Canada. That opinion reads, in part, "Parishes have no separate corporate status except as part of the diocese ... Property can only be transferred or sold with the approval from diocesan council and the bishop."
Church of England bishop calls for separation of church and state rites
(ENS) An Anglican bishop has called universal civil marriage, with the option of a subsequent church blessing, the solution to what he called "committing perjury" at the altar.
Bishop Noel Jones of Sodor and Man, an Isle of Man diocese of the Church of England, proposed to the church's General Synod in July that civil ceremonies could be followed by church blessings, a common practice in Europe. Church rites would be reserved for couples entering a lifelong commitment.
"It would be much more honest of the Church to say that we won't marry anybody, because doing so puts them in a position where they have said in the presence of God 'We take these vows until death us do part'," Jones told the Daily Telegraph in an interview before the synod meeting. "I want to prevent couples from committing perjury at the altar, which is really what it is. The person being remarried is effectively saying, 'I didn't really mean it last time' or 'Well, it didn't really go quite right'."
Jones said the state has put the church into "a situation which is quite impossible" because the priest plays the role of "legal, or state, registrar" of a marriage. "The Church is forced to respond positively to the fact that the law now says there is no reason why marriage should not be contracted a second or even a third time. The Church cannot say 'No' to that as a general principle, and has reluctantly gone along with it, albeit with the conscience clause that allows priests to refuse to remarry divorcees," Jones said.
Jones denied he was inviting the church to abandon the sacrament of marriage and disagreed with those who viewed his proposal as a step towards severing the Church of England's link with the state.
Church World Service prepares teachers of English for China
(NCC/CWS News) Orientation has concluded for 14 English teachers who will leave the United States August 1 for two years' service in the Amity Teachers Program in China.
Church World Service, the global humanitarian ministry of the National Council of Churches' 36 Protestant and Orthodox communions, coordinates the recruitment of Amity teachers on behalf of U.S. churches. The new volunteers, sponsored by member denominations and the United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia, join 21 teachers already in China who are continuing their service with Amity.
Volunteers serve at Chinese universities and colleges, instructing prospective teachers in English as a Second Language. Designed to encourage the volunteers to "become bridges spanning the human distance between the people and churches of their home countries and the Chinese people," the teaching program is a key part of Amity, a non-governmental organization in China established in 1985 by Chinese Christians.
The Rev. John L. McCullough, executive director of Church World Service, welcomed the teachers at the organization's headquarters in New York City. "You are making an extraordinary commitment, not only to teach English as a Second Language, but also to be real ambassadors of what I see as the goodwill of the people of the United States toward the people of China," McCullough told the teachers. He encouraged them "to build relationships that can last a lifetime and that can be transformative not only for you and those you meet but for all of us."
The teachers include Episcopalian Beth Roberts of Batavia, Ohio, who will be serving at the Fuzhou Institute of Education in Fujian.
Some footwear doesn't go with clerical robes, German pastors told
(ENI) High heels, cowboy boots, trainers, slippers and sandals have no place with pastors' robes during worship, according to a new book of Protestant liturgy for German clergy.
The fashion proscription is among the strongly worded advice found in the recently published 590-page Evangelisches Gottesdienstbuch - Ergaenzungsband, (or Supplement to the Book of Protestant Liturgy) meant to complement an earlier liturgy book published in 1999.
The advice is found in a chapter on clergy liturgical deportment, which the author sees as integral to the worship experience: "Not only preaching, singing and music are essential to the service but [also] how the liturgists talk and present themselves," said Dr. Hans Christian Knuth, bishop of Schleswig and chair of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany, in a foreword to the book. Pastors are asked to conduct services in a "credible" way.
"Services are not stage plays or private theatres for pastors," Guy W. Rammenzweig, author of the chapter on liturgical deportment, told Ecumenical News International. "Services are at the center of parish life, and God as well as church members are the subjects of it." Rammenzweig also advises pastors on a variety of other subjects: how to walk and sit in church, how to turn from the altar to face the congregation (be led by the heart, he says), how to present the Lord's Supper, how to sing or give a blessing.
Interim headmistress chosen for Guam Episcopal school
(ENS) Jane Harter of Alexandria, Virginia has been appointed interim headmistress of St. John's Episcopal School in Tumon, Guam, effective July 30. She relieves the Rev. Ned Sherrill, who served as headmaster of the school and vicar of St. John's Episcopal Church for the past three years. He has returned to the mainland U.S.
Harter brings an extensive educational leadership background to St. John's School. The Rt. Rev. George E. Packard, bishop for Armed Services, Prison Ministry and Health Care in the Episcopal Church, who also serves as bishop for Micronesia and chair of the St. John's School Board of Trustees, said, "She has earned the reputation throughout Episcopal Church school circles as an innovative and creative educator. Jane has served for over 25 years as Headmistress of expanding, academically challenging elementary, middle and high schools."
Packard said Harter's "major strengths include highly honed interpersonal leadership skills, a thorough grasp of all aspects of fund raising, school administration, curriculum and staff development. She is a community and team builder who will assist St. John's during this important interim period until a new headmaster or headmistress can be found."
Upon accepting the interim headmistress position at St. John's, Harter said, "It is with great pleasure that I join the St. John's School community and embrace the excellence of the school--its mission, program, students and people of Guam. I look forward to working with a dedicated and hard-working faculty, staff and parents on the challenges ahead and preparations for the permanent head of school. I love to travel and meet people, so I expect my experiences living in Micronesia will be very exciting."
Harter led the National Presbyterian School in Washington, D.C., from 1974 to 1997. Since then she has specialized in doing interim headmistress jobs at Evergreen Mountain School, Evergreen, Colorado (1997-1999); St. Martin's Episcopal School, Atlanta, Georgia (1999-2000); Alexandria Country Day School, Alexandria, Virginia (2000-2001); St. Andrew's Episcopal School, Potomac, Maryland (2001-2002).