News Briefs
Episcopal News Service. October 10, 1985 [85207]
The people of the Diocese of South Dakota have raised 152 percent of their goal in a recently completed fund drive. "T.I.M.E." -- To Increase Ministry Effectiveness -- had a goal of $750,000; $1,140,216.32 has been pledged over a three-year period. The money will be used to establish a ministry trust fund to pay higher salaries for more mission clergy on Indian reservations and in small aided parishes, establish an education trust fund for those preparing for ordination and clergy seeking continuing education and provide a clergy emergency fund and seed money for church growth. A tithe is being sent to the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief. Cost of the drive was paid for by a special gift. South Dakota receives more than half its diocesan budget funds from the national Church through Coalition 14. Bishop Craig Anderson, and the diocese -- whose members are evenly divided between D/Lakota Indian people and non-Indians -- hope to become less dependent on the national Church while increasing ministry effectiveness.
A national contest conducted by the Episcopal Radio-TV Foundation here has resulted in 18 choirs being chosen to record a two-record album and cassette titled "How Can I Keep From Singing!" The choirs on the album, which premiered at the General Convention in Anaheim, were chosen from nearly 75 entries. Recording began in October 1984. According to President and Executive Director of the Foundation, the Rev. Louis C. Schueddig, the album "reflects where the Episcopal Church is musically today." He added, "The type of music we went for was a traditional, classical sound without forgetting that the Episcopal Church will be receiving its new hymnal very soon. We made sure we had new hymns as well as old and that small congregations were represented as well as large parishes and cathedrals." The recording costs $12.95 and is available from the Episcopal Radio-TV Foundation, 3379 Peachtree Road, N.E., Atlanta, GA 30326.
The Alban Institute, an ecumenical organization whose goal is strengthening congregations, has announced the introduction of Spice, a monthly newsletter by and for people married to clergy. Billing itself as "a support system, an information exchange, and an inspiration," Spice costs $18 per year ($15.30 for Alban Institute members) and is available from the Institute at 4125 Nebraska Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20016.
Providing Parliament has no objections, sometime next year, women deacons will take their place for the first time in the ministry of the Church of England -- and the Archbishops of Canterbury and York have already stepped into a major debate on what the women deacons will wear. A set of guidelines on the subject has been sent to bishops and theological colleges, at their own request, to help ease the transition. The archbishops' guidelines, which can be adapted to local custom, indicate that the most consistent mark of identification for women deacons will probably be a lapel cross. They add that there are "very strong feelings amongst deaconesses both for and against the use of clerical collars," and therefore, they advise, "their use should be a matter for personal discretion." Wippell's, the leading tailor for clergy, has developed a women's line -- whose introduction was somewhat sensationalized when it was discovered that a model for the line was better known for her topless poses. Wippell's has pleaded ignorance of her past.
The Rev. Arthur Malcolm has been named one of two new assistant bishops in the Diocese of North Queensland, thereby becoming the first Aboriginal bishop in the Anglican Church of Australia. The other assistant bishop will be Archdeacon Tung Yep, a former Bush Brother who was born in Australia of Cantonese parents and is probably the Australian Church's first Chinese bishop.