News Briefs
Episcopal News Service. April 17, 1986 [86084]
(DPS, April 17) -- The Episcopal Society for Ministry on Aging (ESMA) has a new Directory of Episcopal Related Housing for the Aging. This national directory is part of the ESMA-TEL program, a computerized national resource bank. The Directory may be ordered from the ESMA office and cost $3.00 plus $0.50 for shipping and handling. For more information, write to ESMA at RFD #4, Box 146A, Milford, N.J. 08848; telephone: (201) 995-2885.
(DPS, April 17) -- The Seventh Annual Episcopal World Mission Conference will be held at the University of the South here June 23-27, sponsored by the University and the Episcopal Church Missionary Community, the South American Missionary Society and the Episcopal Church Center. Keynote speaker for this year's conference will be the Rt. Rev. Oliver Garver, Jr., suffragan bishop of the Diocese of Los Angeles, who has traveled extensively, especially in Hong Kong and the Philippines and as a Volunteer for Mission in Uganda, and has been involved in Hispanic, black and Asian ministries within the United States. The stated goal for this year is to "look at ways to make the definition of mission field more inclusive by involving the Episcopal Church more deeply in responding to the challenges of the Gospel through mission opportunities at home." The format includes plenary sessions, panel discussions, small groups and worship. Each diocese is invited to send a team of three; networks may also send representatives. The cost is $150 per person for room and board and $50 per person for ground transportation between Sewanee and local airports. For more information or to register, contact: Shirley M. Holmes, P. O. Box 101, University of the South, Sewanee, TN 37375; telephone: (615) 598-0894.
(DPS, April 17) -- A South Africa colloquy sponsored by Trinity Church, New York City, last year was picked up for broadcast by Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty. In a letter to Arch Puddington, program information specialist for those groups, Jane P. Draper, colloquies coordinator for Trinity, said, "We are pleased that our South Africa colloquy was broadcast into the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, since America's dilemma is also a worldwide dilemma."
(DPS, April 17) -- Meeting here in early March, the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge/USA elected Dixie S. Hutchinson of Dallas chair and welcomed its first executive director, the Rev. W. Richard Kew. The Society was founded nearly 300 years ago as the first English missionary society; autonomous branches now exist in India, Australia and the U.S., the latter having been founded in 1983. Succeeding Thomas S. Tisdale, Jr., of Charleston, who was the American branch's first chair, Hutchinson becomes the first woman to chair any of the Society's branches; she is also the first woman to serve as a Province President, having been elected by Province VII in 1984. Projects of the SPCK/USA include Spanish Prayer Books for Honduras; French Prayer Books and literature for Haiti; religious education texts for schools in Kenya; theological education by extension materials for Cuba; indigenous leadership training materials for Chile; books for over 100 seminaries in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Russia; and assistance to the Anglican Centre Library in Rome.
(DPS, April 17) -- A Cuban-born Episcopal priest, the Rev. Leopoldo J. Alard, has accepted election as director of the Center for Hispanic Ministries of Province VII and will begin his new duties June 1. Alard, who left Cuba in 1961 to enter the U.S. as a refugee, is now an American citizen. At the time of his election, Alard was rector of St. John's Episcopal Church in Homestead, Fla., where he founded St. John's Day School, which now has 215 students and a staff of 37. He holds a degree in history from Stetson University in Deland, Fla. and a Master of Divinity degree from the Seminary of the Caribbean in Puerto Rico, where he also served on the faculty. His B.D. is in literature from Irene Tolland College in Matanzas, Cuba. He has also been a fellow at the Ecumenical Institute in Geneva. Alard has been in the forefront of the Cursillo movement in Florida and in Honduras as well as being active in ecumenical affairs in Florida and has served as diocesan spiritual director. He succeeds the Rt. Rev. Anselmo Carral as director of the Province VII Center.