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Rev. N. J. L'Heureux, Jr., Publisher & Editor
Rev. Pedro Bravo-Guzman, Editor-in-Chief
An Ecumenical Report of Local and Global News
in God's Household
Published by the Queens Federation of Churches
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November 23, 2004, LOUISVILLE - A group of Florida farmworkers and their supporters, including Presbyterians and other people of faith, will kick-off the 2005 "Taco Bell Truth Tour" March 7. The Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), a Florida-based group that represents farmworkers who pick tomatoes that Taco Bell uses in its products, is sponsoring the event, which concludes March 19. The CIW launched a national consumer boycott of Taco Bell in April 2001, demanding the fast-food giant and parent Yum! Brands Inc., press its tomato suppliers to improve wages and working conditions. They also want Taco Bell to develop and monitor a code of conduct for growers and packers. "The farmworkers are asking Yum! Brands to eliminate exploitation in its supply chain and work positively to ensure the human rights of workers that pick tomatoes for their suppliers," said the Rev. Noelle Damico, a United Church of Christ minister who is the national boycott coordinator for the Presbyterian Church (USA). Pentecostal
Participation in the Ecumenical Movement November 24, 2004 – The valuable contribution of Pentecostal churches to the ecumenical movement was emphasized by World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia during his recent visit to Chile, November 19-20. "Through a new openness to ecumenism, the dynamism and energy of Pentecostalism can significantly enrich the search for unity among Christian churches," said Kobia after meeting with a group of bishops and pastors representing Chilean Pentecostal churches. Cyberspace Church Experiment Ends after Four Months November 24, 2004 – Church of Fools began as a three-month experiment: Would Internet-savvy Christians and non-Christians embrace a three-dimensional, virtual reality church? Could a group of anonymous Internet users of varying backgrounds worship harmoniously together, via terminals and borrowed pixel bodies? Would minds meet and souls join in a simulated sanctuary without benefit of handshakes or hymns, relying instead on a highly visual and informational format? Call it a success tinged with disappointment. November 26, 2004, GENEVA - At least 19 faith-based organizations including the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) are among the 160 initial signers of a new Code of Good Practice for NGOs Responding to HIV/AIDS. The Code of Good Practice was developed through a steering committee of organizations to ensure accountability and quality programming in response to the expanding involvement of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the prevention and treatment of HIV and AIDS. "The values underlying the Code, such as fighting discrimination and stigma, and ensuring access to care, correspond with those expressed in the LWF HIV/AIDS Action Plan and Campaign," says LWF General Secretary, Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko in a press release issued jointly by the organizations today. "It is our hope that this Code of Good Practice will become a benchmark document for quality programming in the various spheres of life that determine our courageous and intensified responses to the challenges of the AIDS pandemic," he adds. Betty Bumpers Uses Faith, Opportunity to Build Successful Life November 19, 2004 – For Betty Bumpers, being the wife of a politician was an opportunity to make social change. She used her position - first as the first lady of Arkansas and later as the spouse of a U.S. senator - as the springboard for a national campaign to promote childhood immunization. She traveled to Russia at a time when the Soviet Union was still considered the "evil empire," made friends with Russian women and founded an organization called Peace Links to call attention to the dangers of the nuclear arms race. Through it all, she has drawn upon the simple faiths she learned as a girl in Sunday school at her Methodist church - to look after others and to treat people the way she would want to be treated. The Sober Joy
of Christmas November 24, 2004 – Though we are now exchanging our "Merry Christmas" greetings, and carols fill the air telling us "tis the season to be jolly," Christmas provides something far greater than merriment, joviality, or an easy joy. Christmas points the way to something sober and enduring. To celebrate Christmas is not simply to recall a past event in a stable which we see sweetly depicted on Christmas cards. To celebrate Christmas is to open ourselves to what is happening within us: in virtue of our baptism, Jesus continues to be born and grow to maturity in us. Our participation in the Incarnation, therefore, is a profound and all-demanding fact of life to be patiently and courageously lived by each one of us in the varying, and sometimes difficult, circumstances of our lives. Social Action Internships Available for Ethnic Young Adults November 22, 2004, WASHINGTON - Young adults are encouraged to apply for a summer internship program with the United Methodist Board of Church and Society. Applicants for the Ethnic Young Adult Summer 2005 Internship Program must be between the ages of 18 and 22 and be of Asian, African American, Hispanic, Native American or Pacific Islander heritage, reflecting the denomination's five ethnic caucuses. Commission Web Site Expanded for Reception Process of Windsor Report 2004 November 25, 2004 – The Lambeth Commission on Communion web site has now been expanded and developed. The new site brings together the three strands of the Commission's work, including all documentation and materials related to the composition of the Windsor Report 2004, commission news and related articles, and all up-to-date information on the now ongoing Reception Process. Users of the site are able to submit their own views across a range of categories - general responses, ecumenical comment, and answers to questions posed by the Primates' Standing Committee - in relation to this Reception Process. Burundian Church Leaders Encourage Unity, Acknowledge Diversity November 22, 2004, NEW YORK - Relationships between the Episcopal Church and Anglican provinces in Africa were strengthened as Anglican leaders from Burundi made a two week visit to New York, bringing news from their provinces and acknowledging dialogue as being crucial to the future wellbeing of the Anglican Communion. Archbishop Samuel Ndayisenga, Primate of Burundi since 1998, offered words of encouragement about the unity of the Anglican Communion. "We came to visit as friends. We have many partnerships," he said. "We do not want separation. We are urging the Anglican Communion to remain together. What is a mistake in one country is not a mistake in another, so you cannot judge. We must not lose the focus of love, faith and unity. It is the work of the church to unite the people." 'Invisible' Church Joins Pan-Methodist Commission November 23, 2004, DALLAS - A little-known historically black Methodist denomination has joined a group of other Methodist traditions working to foster cooperation and unity. The Union American Methodist Episcopal Church joined the Commission on Pan-Methodist Cooperation and Union during the commission's Nov. 19-21 meeting. The Union American denomination has been described as an "invisible strand" of African Methodism, and its roots parallel the three better-known black Methodist churches. The 6,000-member church has congregations in the New England states, Jamaica and Liberia. It was founded in 1805 by Peter Spencer and William Anderson, both lay preachers, who led 40 blacks out of predominantly white Asbury Methodist Church in Wilmington, Del. November 19, 2004 – The Anglican and Old Catholic Bishops in mainland Europe, during our Conference in Wislikhaven, Switzerland, 17-19 November 2004, have observed with great concern that, in a number of countries in central and western Europe, tensions have risen between the Islamic and non-Islamic populations, provoked by a number of acts of violence. Many comments by journalists and politicians with respect to this development have given the impression that among the non-Islamic population a radical Christian "fundamentalism" - or even Christendom as such - is at work as a counterpart to a radical Islamic "fundamentalism," and which is equally open to the use of violence. November 22, 2004, NEW YORK - Responding to the request of His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual leader of over 250 million Orthodox Christians around the world, and recognizing the importance of St. John Chrysostom and St. Gregory the Theologian to Orthodox Christians around the world, Pope John Paul II has agreed to return the relics of these two great Fathers of the Church and Ecumenical Teachers to their original resting place in the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew will travel to The Vatican to officially receive the relics from the Pope in a ceremony on November 27, 2004 and accompany them to the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Menosprecio De La Mujer En Los Medios, Señala Dafne Sabanes Plou 23 noviembre 2004, BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - La ausencia de la voz de la mujer en la información que proveen los medios masivos de comunicación está acompañada por el hecho de que las mujeres y sus acciones en la vida pública apenas ocupan entre 5 y 15 por ciento del total de la información que se publica o emite a diario. Esta situación fue resaltada hoy por Dafne Sabanes Plou, comunicadora metodista argentina, ex presidenta de la Asociación Mundial para la Comunicación Cristiana (WACC por sus siglas en inglés) -Región América Latina y de la Agencia Latinoamericana y Caribeña de Comunicación (ALC), en un panel organizado por la Pastoral de Mujeres y Justicia de Género del Consejo Latinoamericano de Iglesias (CLAI). Kobia Visitó Centro De Torturas Y Asistió a Culto Pentecostal 22 noviembre 2004, SANTIAGO, Chile - Durante la visita que el secretario general del Consejo Mundial de Iglesias (CMI), Samuel Kobia, realizó a Chile, del viernes 19 al domingo 21, estuvo el que fue un centro de detención y torturas durante la dictadura y predicó en la Iglesia Pentecostal de Curicó. En Villa Grimaldi, ahora declarado Parque por la Paz, que funcionó como centro de detención y torturas, el sábado 20, Kobia estuvo acompañado por el reverendo Eduardo Cid, secretario del Consejo Latinoamericano de Iglesias para la Región Andina (CLAI) y una comitiva de representantes de distintas iglesias. Iglesia Evangélica De Los Peregrinos Del Perú Celebró Centenario 22 noviembre 2004, CHICLAYO, Peru - Con una marcha de testimonio y una concentración pública en una de las principales plazas de esta ciudad, la Iglesia Evangélica de Los Peregrinos del Perú (IEPP), culminó ayer domingo 21, la celebración del primer centenario de presencia misionera en este país sudamericano. Chiclayo, una ciudad de la costa peruana, situada a 760 kilómetros al norte de Lima, reunió en las celebraciones a delegaciones de las 10 congregaciones que la IEPP tiene en el departamento de Lambayeque, del que esta ciudad es capital. 23 noviembre 2004 – El aporte de las iglesias pentecostales al movimiento ecuménico fue destacado por el secretario general del Consejo Mundial de Iglesias (CMI) pastor Dr. Samuel Kobia durante su reciente visita a Chile, que tuvo lugar del 19 al 20 de noviembre. "A través de una nueva apertura al ecumenismo, el dinamismo y la energía del pentecostalismo pueden enriquecer significativamente la búsqueda de la unidad de las iglesias cristianas," sostuvo Kobia luego de mantener una reunión con un grupo de obispos y pastores representantes de iglesias pentecostales chilenas. Liberia: Las Mujeres Siguen Sufriendo Y Esperan Justicia 25 noviembre 2004 – El siguiente artículo se publica como parte de la campaña "Sobre las alas de una paloma." Promovida por las iglesias y organizaciones relacionadas con las iglesias, esta campaña tendrá lugar del 25 de noviembre al 10 de diciembre de 2004 en todo el mundo. Durante la misma, los servicios de culto y las vigilias de oración, los debates y las exposiciones promoverán una concienciación pública creciente sobre la violencia contra las mujeres y los niños, en un intento de llevar justicia y sanación a aquellos que sufren a causa de la violencia. Hispanic Caucus Calls for Restoration of Iliff President November 24, 2004, MILWAUKEE - The United Methodist Church's Hispanic caucus is calling for the reinstatement of the Rev. David Maldonado as president of Iliff School of Theology, and the organization says it will encourage Hispanic/Latino students not to enroll at the seminary if "institutional racism issues" are not satisfactorily addressed. MARCHA took the action during its Nov. 19-21 annual meeting, three weeks after the Denver school received a public warning from the United Methodist Church's University Senate and Commission on Religion and Race. The warning, issued Nov. 2, followed a review team's report that leadership problems and cultural insensitivity led to the abrupt retirement of the former president last May. The caucus expressed "outrage for the injustice and mistreatment done by Iliff against Dr. David Maldonado." It stated that if the seminary does not make significant changes before the end of the spring semester, MARCHA's executive committee will discourage Hispanic/Latino students from enrolling at Iliff. Liberia's Cuttington College President Optimistic about School's Future November 22, 2004, NEW YORK - Despite limited electricity, overcrowding in the dormitories, a faulty plumbing system, extensive roof damage and the constant need for funding, Dr. Henrique F. Tokpa, president of Cuttington University College (CUC), shared a vision of hope for the university at a November 12 briefing at the Episcopal Church Center in New York. "I think things are ok now. I'm very optimistic and strongly feel that the worst is over," said Tokpa. "There will be a few backlashes but I hope [with] the kind of training that the U.S. and U.N. has agreed to give our security, army and police [that they] can address it." CUC, located 120 miles north of Monrovia, is an Episcopal college established in 1889. It is the oldest private, co-educational, four-year degree-granting institution in sub-Saharan Africa. Anglican Church of Tanzania Outlines Vision November 22, 2004, NEW YORK - The provincial secretary of the Anglican Church of Tanzania has extended his gratitude to the Episcopal Church for the ongoing relationship between the two provinces. "Our church has been privileged to welcome people from the Episcopal Church and benefit from the variety of generosities," the Rev. Canon Dr. R. Mwita Akiri said during a visit to the Episcopal Church Center in New York last week. Bringing greetings from the Primate of Tanzania, the Most Rev. Donald Leo Mtetemela, Akiri offered an in-depth presentation on development projects and strategic planning in which the Anglican Church of Tanzania (ACT) is currently involved. United Methodist Church on Frontline of AIDS Crisis November 19, 2004 – A beautiful country bordering the Indian Ocean, Mozambique has a population of 18.8 million. The United Methodist Church is alive and flourishing in every providence with a membership of 160,000 and growing. Unfortunately the HIV/AIDS pandemic is growing faster-1.3 million people are living with the disease. The life expectancy of an infant born in Mozambique today is 37.1 years - 37.8 for males and 36.3 for females. In 2003, 110,000 people died of AIDS, leaving behind 470,000 orphans. Liberia: Women Still Suffer, and Wait for Justice November 24, 2004 – The following feature is issued as part of a 25 November - 10 December 2004 "Wings of a Dove" campaign by churches and church-related roganizations around the world. During the campaign, worship services and prayer vigils, discussions and exhibitions will promote increased public awareness on violence against women and children, in an attempt to bring justice and healing to those who are suffering from violence. "We suffered a lot. And as a result, we are still suffering," says Rita Wheazor. The director of War-Affected Women in Liberia (WAMIL). Rita, like many other Liberian women during Liberia's 14-year-long civil war, has experienced violence that was aimed at them only because they were women. Bonhoeffer's Christian Ethic for Resistance and Peace November 23, 2004, MINNEAPOLIS - Fortress Press has recently released the crown jewel of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's body of work, Ethics, which is the culmination of his theological and personal odyssey. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian who studied briefly in the United States in the 1930s, organized church opposition to Hitler, and participated in a conspiracy to assassinate the Nazi leader during World War II. Bonhoeffer was hanged on April 9, 1945, just a few weeks before the Allies liberated Flossenburg concentration camp. Called by Karl Barth "the brilliant Ethics of Dietrich Bonhoeffer," this book is finally being recognized as Bonhoeffer's magnum opus and one of the most important works of Christian ethics of the last century. How Early Christians Envisioned the Divine November 19, 2004, MINNEAPOLIS - New from Fortress Press, Face to Face: Portraits of the Divine in Early Christianity examines how God and eventually Christ are portrayed in early Christian art. With more than one hundred photographs to enhance her presentation, author Robin Margaret Jensen expertly reveals how God and Christ were portrayed in early Christian art. In doing so, Jensen also explores the questions of the relationship between art and theology, conflicts over idolatry and iconography, and how the Christological controversies affected the portrayals of Christ.
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