Episcopal Communicators Meet in Boston, Honor Best Work in Past Year
Episcopal News Service. June 8, 1995 [95-1132]
(ENS) Nearly 100 members of Episcopal Communicators, representing a wide array of print and electronic professionals across the church, met in Boston May 31-June 3 to honor the best work of the past year and discuss common issues.
"It has been a rough year to be an Episcopal communicator," said the Rev. Barbara Crafton, vicar of the Seaport Chapel in New York, who served as theologian-in-residence for the conference. She expressed sympathy and admiration for the "painful dilemma" and difficult role of reporting the news while defending the church as an institution. She suggested speaking to those who are "outside" or on the fringe of the church, those who will "listen critically."
In her keynote address, Bella English, a columnist with the Boston Globe, addressed the common perception that journalists are bearers of bad news and noted that "we know that everyone wants to shoot the bearer of bad news." Too often, she said, people begin to feel a hopelessness. "How do we get a more positive message across?" she asked.
"We as journalists have to write news on the run but we are always on the outlook for stories that make us feel good," English said. In a world that is filled with so much negative news, "maybe it's time for all of us in the communications business to lighten up," she said.
"If we want to communicate we must first listen to the questions people are asking," Rabbi Harold Kushner said during his address. "We must teach people to recognize when they have met God," said the author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People, an international best-seller. "We must learn to recognize the religious questions behind the cries of anguish" in disasters like the Oklahoma City bombing or the assassination of President John Kennedy. When people are outraged with what's happening in the world, "that's an encounter with God," he said. "God has a special affection for people who have been hurt by life."
In the closing Eucharist at St. Paul's Cathedral, Bishop Barbara Harris challenged the communicators to help reconnect a church reluctant to build a common witness and increasingly preoccupied with internal housekeeping.
Using the image of bickering disciples on the eve of Pentecost, Harris said that we in the church are more concerned with our own needs than with building Christian community. The result is that "some people are tuned out rather than tuned in," she said. Like the disciples milling about the upper room, church members are not connecting with each other -- nor addressing the real business of the church which is witnessing Christ's redemption to the world, she said. Instead, Harris said, "we tragically waste opportunity by focusing on lesser things" such as liturgy, ceremony, church structure, "and who can be ordained by virtue of gender and sexual orientation. No wonder people don't understand us."
As the church's messengers, communicators must speak "the hard truth in love," and put their trust in the Holy Spirit "which provides the space in which people are led out of individuation and isolation," Harris added. The solution lies in building more channels between people to foster a shared identity and mission, she said.
Communicators elected Sarah Moore of Michigan, a free-lance writer and former communications officer for the Diocese of Utah, as president to replace outgoing president James H. Thrall. Moore will serve a three-year term. Also elected to three-year terms on the board of directors were Alice Clayton, communications officer for the Diocese of East Tennessee, and Diane Walker, editor of Episcopal Voice, the diocesan newspaper for the Diocese of Olympia.
In the annual Polly Bond Awards, named for a veteran communicator from Ohio who helped found Episcopal Communicators, the judges sifted through almost 600 entries.
The general excellence award for best diocesan newspaper with a circulation under 12,000 went to The Northeast, newspaper of the Diocese of Maine, edited by Nellie Blagden. Plenteous Harvest, newspaper of the Diocese of Kansas edited by Melodie Woerman, was runner-up.
For diocesan newspapers with a circulation over 12,000 the award went to Episcopal Times, newspaper in the Diocese of Massachusetts. In an ironic twist, its editor, Jay Cormier, lost his job in a staff reorganization in January. Two awards of merit were given: The Communicant in the Diocese of North Carolina, edited by Ted Malone, and Anglican Advance, Diocese of Chicago, edited by David Skidmore.
In the category for magazines, the general excellence award went to Trinity News, published by Trinity Church in New York, edited by Robert Owens Scott. Awards of merit were given to The Witness, edited by Jeanie Wylie-Kellermann, and The Open Door, published by St. John's Cathedral in Denver, edited by David Houston.
For diocesan or parish magazines, the general excellence award went to The Alaskan Epiphany, Diocese of Alaska, edited by Mary Parons, and an award of merit to The Rio Grande Episcopalian, Diocese of Rio Grande, edited by J. Anne McConney.
Episcopal Life, the church's national newspaper, edited by Jerry Hames, won the top award for agency newspapers. Cathedral Life, published by St. Philip's Cathedral in Atlanta and edited by Woodie Patrick, received the award of merit.
In the electronic division, projects receiving awards of excellence included: "Called to Be One," Diocese of Colorado, promotional video category; "Christmas Eve at the Cathedral of St. Phillip," Episcopal Radio and TV Foundation, live event video; "Living into Our Full Humanity," Diocese of East Carolina, educational video; "The Violence Project," Parish of Trinity Church, public service announcement; "The Rabbi's Gift," Parish of Trinity Church, drama video; "Discovering Everyday Spirituality," Parish of Trinity Church, documentary video; "The Protestant Hour," Episcopal Radio-TV Foundation, specialized media.
A complete list of awards is available from the Office of News and Information of the Episcopal Church.
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