News Brief
Episcopal News Service. November 21, 1979 [79362]
The Episcopal Church's National Center for the Diaconate moved its office from Evanston, Ill., to Boston on October 1 as part of a two-year trial period of executive services by the staff of Enablement, Inc. The services of the Rev. James L. Lowery, Jr., executive director of Enablement, will be utilized on a one-third-time basis and Cail D. Hinand will be half-time office administrator. The Center began as the Central House for Deaconesses in the Episcopal Church but a change of emphasis has occurred since the General Convention opened the diaconate to women in 1970. Enablement is a church-related, nonprofit, clergy ministry development agency with an ecumenical board and interests. The National Center office is in Congregational House, 14 Beacon Street, Boston, Mass. 02108.
Three women priests now serve as rectors of Episcopal Church congregations in the Diocese of Newark. The Rev. Martha Elacklock, former editor of The Voice, the diocesan newspaper, and founder of the North Porch, a women's center in Newark, was recently installed as rector of St. Barnabas Church in Newark. Two weeks earlier, the Rev. Abigail Painter, former associate rector of St. Paul's Church in Morris Plains, was installed as rector of St. Andrew's Church in the Clinton Hill area of Newark. Both of these urban parishes are predominantly black congregations which have experienced declines in membership over the past two decades. The first woman rector in the diocese was the Rev. Katrina Swanson, who was installed at St. John's Church in Union City in 1978.
The Rev. James H. Ottley, Executive Secretary of the Ninth Province of the Episcopal Church, recently signed a contract here whereby the province's international news publication Rápidas was transferred to the Latin American Council of Churches. Rápidas has completed eight years of publication under the direction of Onell and Nina Soto. The bulletin has 8,000 subscribers in 46 countries of the world. An English edition, edited by Nancy E. Howard in Mexico, sends Latin American news to 70 centers of religious information worldwide.
The television program, "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," recently received the Chris Statuette Award at the 27th Annual Columbus Film Festival, according to Mrs. Caroline Rakestraw, Executive Director of the Episcopal Radio-TV Foundation. The program was selected for the top award in the Religion and Ethics category. "The Lion" also won a 1979 Emmy for "Best animated program, series or special." The Episcopal Radio-TV Foundation, an independent organization, initiated the idea of producing the C. S. Lewis classic for television. Their production partner was Children's Television Workshop and Kraft Foods was the sponsor of the program which was aired last April.
The Rt. Rev. John T. Walker, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, went to Egypt in mid-November at the invitation of President Carter to assist at the peace accord anniversary observances in Cairo and at Mt. Sinai. Ambassador Robert Strauss headed the delegation of prominent political, business and religious leaders from around the country. During the ceremonies, President Sadat laid the cornerstone for a chapel to be built honoring the three major faiths -- Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Bishop Walker and other members of the U.S. delegation were guests at a state reception and dinner given by President Sadat.
On Sunday night, December 9 (7 to 10 p.m. New York time), the NBC-TV network will present "Mary and Joseph: A Story of Faith," starring Blanche Baker, Jeff East, Colleen Dewhurst and Stephen McHattie. The story culminates with the birth of Jesus and focuses on well-known Biblical characters whose lives were directly affected by the arrival of the long-awaited Messiah. (Note: Check with your local NBC affiliate for exact time and date in your area.)
The National Conference of Catholic Bishops at its November meeting here failed to secure a required two-thirds majority to eliminate what some considered to be sexist -- now called non-inclusive -- language from the liturgy, including eucharistic prayers in the mass. The proposals would have allowed optional substitution of words such as "human race," "all people" or "men and women" wherever "men" or "sons of God" are used, and would have deleted the word "men" from the eucharistic prayer which says Christ's blood "will be shed for you and for all men." A simple majority affirmative vote on each resolution was recorded but not the necessary two-thirds margin.