News Brief
Episcopal News Service. April 19, 1979 [79122]
The offices of the Anglican Consultative Council have moved to new quarters, located near Westminster Abbey and Church House, according to an announcement by the it. Rev. John Howe, Secretary General of the ACC. The new offices were blessed by the President of the ACC, Dr. Donald Coggan, Archbishop of Canterbury, on Candlemas Day, February 2. A reception followed the blessing. The new address is 14 Great Peter Street, London SW1P 3NQ, England (telephone: 01/222-2851).
A series of advertisements about the Trinity Church Mausoleum has received the Award of Excellence from the Religious Public Relations Council at its recent national meeting here. The 1979 Victor DeRose/Paul M. Hinkhouse Award was presented to the Rev. William B. Gray, Director of Communications for Trinity Church in New York, as the supervisor of the ads. The ads, created by Tom Maloney, president of Maloney Advertising and Design, in consultation with Father Gray, have appeared in the New York Daily News, the New York Times, Avenue Magazine, and the Trinity Parish News, as well as on several local radio stations. Trinity's mausoleum is in a cemetery which is the only burial space left on Manhattan Island and it will have more than 2,500 crypts for full body interments and 2,500 niches for ashes.
Miss Venetia Cox, 86, retired missionary to China, died here recently at a nursing home where she had lived for many years. A native of Pitts County, North Carolina, she was appointed a missionary in 1917 and went to Hankow where she was dean and head of the music department of St. Hilda's School, Wuchang. She was active in the China mission until the fall of 1950 and was officially retired in 1957. She is survived by a sister, Mrs. Oliver Rouse, and several nephews and nieces.
Three dioceses in the Episcopal Church have announced plans to elect coadjutor bishops -- with the right to succession upon the retirement or death of the incumbent -- in the near future. The Diocese of East Carolina -- which has 17,669 members -- will elect a bishop coadjutor in May or June to assist Bishop Hunley A. Elebash, 55, who has undergone heart surgery recently. The Diocese of Connecticut -- changing recently announced plans to elect two suffragan bishops -- will elect a coadjutor on June 15 to assist and eventually succeed Bishop Morgan Porteus, 62, who suffered a heart attack last year from which he is recovered. Bishop Porteus has been without episcopal assistance with his diocese of 107,199 members since he was elected diocesan bishop in 1977. The Diocese of Southern Ohio will elect a coadjutor in June eventually to succeed Bishop John M. Krumm.
The 9th national conference of "Faith Alive," which sponsors parish retreat weekends, will meet here at the Kanuga Conference Center, June 1-3. The Saturday afternoon workshops will focus on ministries -- lay, healing, pastoral, prison. Speakers include the Rev. Everett Fullam, St. Paul's Church, Darien, Conn., and Barry Menuez, Staff Officer for Lay Ministries at the Episcopal Church Center. Information is available from Faith Alive National Office, P.O. Box 1987, York, Pa. 17405 (717/848-2137).
Mr. John Kingsley Martin of Sydney, Australia, has been appointed staff member for communications of the Anglican Consultative Council, effective June 18. At the present time Mr. Kingsley, 28, is an information officer and editor of publications in Australia. He is associate editor of "Southern Cross" and editor of the Anglican Press Service.
The Rt. Rev. Gregory Hla Gyaw, Bishop of Pa-an since 1973, has been elected Archbishop of Rangoon and Metropolitan of the Province of Burma, succeeding Archbishop John Aung Hla. His enthronement will take place on the evening of June 24.
Paul E. Sorel, 65, manager of the Seminary Book Service at the Virginia Theological Seminary here, died of cancer at the Washington Home Hospice in early April. A native of Pontiac, Mich., he was a member and former vestryman of Christ Episcopal Church in Georgetown, Washington, D. C. He had been manager of the seminary book store since 1951 and was well known to many of the clergy of the Church. He is survived by his wife, Gertrude T. Sorel.
What has the Very Rev. Almus M. Thorp, former dean of Bexley Hall and director of the Episcopal Church's Board for Theological Education, been doing since he retired in 1977 after more than 40 years in the ministry? Last year he returned to the seminary classroom as a student and has just finished a course in New Testament theology at the Colgate Rochester/Bexley Hall/Crozer here. "It certainly helped me get through another Rochester winter," he said, "but, more important, it served to keep me in touch with current thinking about the substance of our faith and gave me a chance to shut my mouth and listen to today's theological students." On the invitation of his bishop, Dean Thorp is also a counselor on a confidential basis to the clergy and their families in the Diocese of Rochester.
The Rt. Rev. John M. Allin, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, will preach at 11 a. m. at the Washington Cathedral on May 20 in a special sermon series. Other preachers in the series are the Rev. Ernest Somerville, May 6; the Rev. Canon Charles A. Perry, May 13; and the Rev. James Forbes, Jr., May 27.
A book of captioned photographs of cats, Don't You Just Adore Gothic? "is rapidly becoming a runaway best seller, " according to the staff of The Episcopalian. The Episcocats has been a monthly feature in The Episcopalian for 15 years and the book is their first appearance in book form. "Now on their own in a glossy book of 104 photos, the Episcocats are scurrying all over the country," the editors of the Philadelphia-based tabloid say. The witty book is being ordered by a large ecumenical group of fans, especially since the book was featured in the Philadelphia Sunday Bulletin and the Philadelphia Inquirer.