Front Page

Major Christian, Muslim, and Jewish Leaders to Release First Joint Declaration since the Iraq War

CHICAGO - Nationally recognized leaders of Christian, Muslim, Jewish and other faith communities will be convening in Chicago April 29-30 to prepare and release their first joint declaration since the Iraq war. They are expected to address the humanitarian, spiritual and political costs of war and its ramifications here at home.

Pastor Provides Used Artificial Limbs to Land-mine Victims

April 21, 2003 – When most people clean their attics, they find chipped dishes, outgrown toys and used clothing. A garage sale is the next natural step. But when the Rev. Tim Bolton cleaned his attic and found his two old legs, he knew there wasn't much of a market on the garage sale circuit for a couple of used prostheses. "They don't make very good lamp stands, and you can't sell them on eBay," the 40-year-old amputee says with a laugh. "Seeing those legs sitting there, I knew that someone in need could use them if I could just figure out a way."

Bishops Talk Full Communion

April 23, 2003 – The Lutheran World Federation Assembly, which meets in Winnipeg from July 21-31, is expected to draw more than 1,000 Lutherans from around the world, and Anglicans are helping in a significant way. Among the 500 guests and visitors to the conference will be the primate, Archbishop Michael Peers, who will give a presentation to the international crowd on how the Anglican-Lutheran partnership in Canada is working, and how difficulties have been faced and ironed out. Both the Anglican and Lutheran churches in Canada voted, in 2001, in favour of full communion, whereby the two denominations maintain their identities but recognise each other's rites, ministries and sacraments. The arrangement is not a merger.

General News

St. Olaf Conference Addresses ELCA Studies on Sexuality

April 21, 2003, NORTHFIELD, Minn. - People who are gay or lesbian must be welcomed by the church without reservation, say two former bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The denomination should make every effort to find a way to do so without causing division among its members, they added. The Rev. Herbert W. Chilstrom, St. Peter, Minn., a retired ELCA pastor who was the church's first presiding bishop, and the Rev. Lowell O. Erdahl, retired pastor from Roseville, Minn., and former bishop of the ELCA Saint Paul Area Synod, spoke at a conference April 4-6 at St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minn., one of 28 ELCA colleges and universities. The conference, "Sexuality, Spirituality and the Church" drew more than 240 registered participants, and focused largely on issues of ordaining people who are gay or lesbian and blessings of same-gender relationships.

A Complete Celtic Worship Resource

April 23, 2003, UNIVERSITY OF WALES, LAMPETER - A new book, A Celtic Primer, has just been launched by Brendan O'Malley, Dean of Chapel at the University of Wales, Lampeter. The traditional meaning of a Primer is that it taught people their prayers and taught children how to read. The origin of the Primer as a manual of devotion lies in the Prayer of the Hours chanted in early medieval monasteries. This Celtic Primer is intended to be used as a companion to the Bible, encouraging people to use the Bible itself as the ideal Book of Prayer. Prayers within it have been drawn from Welsh, Irish, Scottish, and Breton texts. It is several books in one - a daily prayer book, a reader in Celtic spirituality and poetry and it contains the complete Psalter, which was the prayer book of the Celtic saints. It also contains a Celtic Eucharist with three Eucharistic prayers, which would have been the ones used in the Celtic world.

Van Kuiken Found Guilty on 1 of 2 Charges - Cincinnati Presbytery Court Levies 'Rebuke' Punishment

April 21, 2003, LOUISVILLE - The Permanent Judicial Commission (PJC) of Cincinnati Presbytery has found the Rev. Stephen Van Kuiken, the pastor of Mt. Auburn Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati, OH, guilty of performing same-sex "marriage" ceremonies. The PJC found Van Kuiken not guilty on a charge of participating in the ordinations of deacons and elders allegedly in violation of section G-6.0106b of The Book of Order, commonly known as the "fidelity and chastity" provision of the constitution of the Presbyterian Church (USA).

Churches Tourism Association Supports Restoring Hope Initiative

April 16, 2003 – The Churches Tourism Association (CTA) has welcomed the "Restoring Hope in our Church" initiative, launched by a coalition of Anglican mission agencies. Mrs Rosemary Watts, national press officer for CTA, said, "We agree with the Archbishop of Canterbury that 'God always gives the church what it needs to be the church.' The CTA believes that our church buildings, especially our parish churches, are a gift from God. They are a visible opportunity in every place for the church to engage with the local community throughout the week, not just in the one hour or so when the building is used for congregational worship."

UMC.org Plans May 15 Online Chat with Missions Chief Day

April 23, 2003, NASHVILLE, Tenn. - United Methodists will have an opportunity to chat online with the top executive of the church's missions agency May 15. The online conversation with the Rev. R. Randy Day, staff head of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, will begin at 8 p.m. Eastern time. People can participate in the event, "Mission in the 21st Century: A Chat with Randy Day," by logging on to www.UMC.org, the denomination's official online ministry. Day will outline his vision for the future of mission and discuss the challenges and opportunities ahead. The audience will submit questions and comments in real time directly to him, so participants will guide the chat's direction and focus.

Ecumenical News

Archbishop of Canterbury's First Easter Sermon

April 23, 2003 – The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has delivered his first Easter sermon in Canterbury Cathedral. The full text follows: 'Jesus said, "Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father."' (John 20:17) Mary Magdalene wants Jesus back as she remembers him; failing that, she wants his corpse in a definite place, she wants a grave she can tend. Jesus appears to her - in one of the most devastatingly moving moments of the whole Bible - and her first instinct is to think that yes, he is back as she remembers, yes, she has hold of him after all. He has not disappeared, he has not been taken away to an unknown destination.

Initial Response to the Papal Encyclical, Ecclesia De Eucharistia

April 23, 2003 – The Anglican Communion Office notes with respect the publication this Maundy Thursday of the Papal Encyclical, Ecclesia de Eucharistia. His Holiness the Pope has chosen an appropriate moment to draw the attention of all Christians to the central place of the Eucharist in the life of the Christian faithful, and eloquently expressed afresh the Roman Catholic understanding of this Sacrament. He speaks of his personal experience of the celebration of this Sacrament as a way of introducing a theological exploration of its importance in the life of the Church, and of the boundaries of its proper celebration, which include a restatement of the existing limitations on Eucharistic sharing as defined by the Canon Law of the Roman Catholic Church.

New York Metropolitan Area

PC(USA) Honored by New York-area Church Council for Post-9/11 Relief Aid

April 16, 2003, LOUISVILLE -The Long Island Council of Churches (LICC) has named the Presbyterian Church (USA) it's "denomination of the year" for its assistance to New York-area residents in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. The honor will be bestowed on the PC(USA) at LICC's May 1 annual meeting. Receiving the award on behalf of the denomination will be Long Island Presbytery's moderator, the Rev. Johanna Johns Young, and the chair of its Council of Missions, the Rev. Allan Cole.

National News

Groundbreaking Event Will Gather Presbyterian Women of Color

April 16, 2003, LOUISVILLE - Two hundred women leaders from throughout the Presbyterian Church (USA) will gather in October 2004 in Atlanta for the first-ever National Racial Ethnic Presbyterian Women Consultation, "Come! Be Refreshed by the Water of Life: A Gathering of Women of Color to Rejuvenate Our Ministry." The invitation-only event will be held on Friday, October 15 through Sunday, October 17, 2004 at the Crown Plaza Atlanta Airport Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia.

ELCA Awards Grants to Projects That Address Hunger

April 22, 2003, CHICAGO (ELCA) - The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) awarded $826,750 in grants to projects that address hunger and poverty in urban and rural communities across the United States. Through the church's Domestic Hunger Grants program, projects were funded in three distinct areas: direct relief, projects and activities that provide direct access to food, temporary shelter, clothing and medical supplies; community development, activities and projects that address the systematic causes of hunger and poverty; and community organizing, broad-based multi-issue organizing in communities to "empower the poor, bring voice to the voiceless and empower the powerless."

Gay & Lesbian Military Personnel Receive Church Support

April 23, 2003, Los Angeles - Don't ask, don't tell and don't receive any help. This is the dilemma facing thousands of gay and lesbian military spouses, due to the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. It's an issue that's being addressed by Metropolitan Community Churches, a Christian denomination with a positive outreach to gays and lesbians.

United Methodist Women Read Prayers for Peace

April 22, 2003, WASHINGTON - By and large, the tourists gave wide berth to the small group of well-dressed women standing near the sidewalk at the edge of the Washington Monument grounds. Using a megaphone, the women read prayers received from throughout the United States in a "Prayers for Peace" campaign. Women and children had submitted at least 15,000 prayers for the effort, organized by the Women's Division of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries.

Middle East News

Easter Messages Focus on Iraq

April 23, 2003 – Easter sermons and messages from many Anglican religious leaders have, this year, concentrated on concerns for the Middle East and, in particular, Iraq. The Archbishop of York, the Most Revd David Hope, warned that the post-war situation in the country 'does not bode well', whilst other clergy urged the faithful to pray for all victims of the conflict during Easter services. In Canterbury Cathedral, Archbishop Rowan Williams delivered his first Easter sermon as the Archbishop of Canterbury. He said, "There is a clinging to Jesus that shows itself in the longing to be utterly sure of our rightness; we want him there, we want him where we can see him and manage him, so that we know exactly where to turn to be told that everything is all right and that he is on our side. "We do it in religious conflicts, we do it in moral debates, we do it in politics."

People in the News

Halsey Helps United Methodists Watch out for Women, Children

April 22, 2003, NEW YORK - When the Catholic Church sex-abuse scandal became public, Peggy Halsey knew exactly how to handle queries from United Methodists regarding the policies of their own denomination. She and others working for the church not only had already put procedures in place regarding sexual misconduct and child abuse, but also had produced "how-to" manuals and trained a number of people in the denomination's annual (regional) conferences to respond to such situations.

Reviews

Fortress Press Releases Walter Wink's "Jesus and Non-Violence: A Third Way"

April 21, 2003, Minneapolis - Fortress Press is happy to announce the timely release of "Jesus and Nonviolence: A Third Way" by Walter Wink as part of the Facets series. More than ever, Walter Wink believes, the Christian tradition of nonviolence is needed as an alternative to the dominant and death-dealing "powers" of our consumerist culture and fractured world. In this small book Wink offers a precis of his whole thinking about this issue, including the relation of Jesus and his message to politics and nonviolence, the history of nonviolent efforts, and how nonviolence can win the day when others don't hesitate to resort to violence or terror to achieve their aims.