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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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Death Penalty Continues Despite Church's 50-year Opposition October 19, 2006 – Fifty years ago, delegates to the Methodist General Conference granted full clergy rights to women. Action by that top legislative body of the denomination prompted anniversary celebrations across the United Methodist Church this year. Delegates to the 1956 conference in Minneapolis took another historic action that has received little attention. For the first time, delegates put the church officially on record as opposed to the death penalty. Each Methodist and United Methodist General Conference since that time has reaffirmed its opposition to capital punishment. Meeting every four years, these assemblies are the only bodies that can speak officially for the denomination. Board Celebrates Passage of Internet Gambling Law October 20, 2006, WASHINGTON – A front-page headline in the Washington Post on the defeat of Internet gambling provided cause for celebration during the United Methodist Board of Church and Society's fall meeting. "‘New Law Cripples Internet Gambling' is the headline above the fold," said Jim Winkler, top executive of the agency, as he waved the newspaper's Oct. 14 edition from the podium during the board's meeting. "This reflects seven years of hard work by this board." The Post article said the legislation eliminated "an activity enjoyed by as many as 23 million Americans who wagered an estimated $6 billion last year." The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act prohibits online gamblers from using credit cards, checks and electronic fund transfers to place and settle bets. The board worked in a coalition with a variety of Christian and family groups and other organizations, including the National Football League, National Collegiate Athletic Association, National Basketball Association, National Council of Churches and Concerned Women for America. ELCA Bishops Told of Enthusiastic Response to New Worship Book October 19, 2006, CHICAGO – "Evangelical Lutheran Worship" – the title of the newly introduced worship book for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada – has generated orders of 568,000 pew copies through Oct. 6, exceeding early sales forecasts, said the Rev. Michael Burk, ELCA director for worship. The new worship book became available for individual purchase on Oct. 3. In a report to the ELCA Conference of Bishops, Burk said the fourth printing for the pew volume has been ordered. "This is a sign of how quickly and enthusiastically it is being received," Burk said. The ELCA Conference of Bishops is an advisory body of the church, consisting of the ELCA's 65 synod bishops, presiding bishop and secretary. It met here October 5-10. October 18, 2006, KAKUMA, Kenya/GENEVA – When staff of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Department for World Service (DWS) in the Kakuma Refugee Camp (KRC), northern Kenya, received some of their pay slips last year, the individual salary sheets included information urging employees to report all cases of suspected sexual exploitation and abuse in the workplace. The employees were advised how and where to file complaints of sexual abuse, and how to promote a sense of confidentiality with regard to such cases. This is a relatively new initiative for the camp, which has been operating since 1992. The DWS Kenya/Sudan program is the lead-implementing agency in the KRC, operating under a tripartite agreement with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Kenyan government. Online Course Will Help Churches Develop Web Ministries October 16, 2006 – The communications arm of the United Methodist Church is launching an online tool to help local churches develop Web sites and Web ministries that are helpful and inviting, and that provide opportunities for spiritual growth. In an effort to further bring the denomination into the digital age, United Methodist Communications has created Web Ministry 101, a free online training experience that provides a local church with the basic steps to establish an Internet presence. The introductory training provides 25 how-to steps to guide a person from the purchase of a computer to launching a church Web site. Still Young at Sixty: the Bossey Ecumenical Institute 19 octubre 2006 – Amidst the quiet vineyards overlooking Lake Geneva is a place that can seem an unlikely setting for the preparation of future church leaders. And yet the WCC's Ecumenical Institute at Bossey has been a unique international centre for Christian dialogue and learning for six decades, since its creation in 1946. The latest group of almost forty young leaders from almost as many countries arrived in Switzerland this week for a five-month intensive graduate school. All have a first university degree, and are enthusiastically discovering the study facilities at the Ecumenical Institute, along with the opportunity to share with others their own diverse assumptions and traditions. Joven Todavía a Los Sesenta: El Instituto Ecuménico De Bossey 19 octubre 2006 – En medio de tranquilos viñedos desde los que se divisa el Lago de Ginebra hay un lugar en el que puede parecer improbable que se preparen futuros dirigentes de la iglesia. Sin embargo, el Instituto Ecuménico del CMI en Bossey ha sido durante seis decenios, desde su creación en 1946, un centro internacional único de diálogo y estudio cristianos. Esta semana llegó a Suiza el último grupo de cerca de cuarenta dirigentes jóvenes de casi otros tantos países, para un curso intensivo de graduados. Todos tienen un primer grado universitario, y descubren con entusiasmo las facilidades de estudio en el Instituto Ecuménico, junto con la oportunidad de compartir con otros sus propias creencias y tradiciones diversas. Kobia: La Reforma De Las Naciones Unidas Es Una Tarea Urgente Para Su Nuevo Jefe 16 octubre 2006, GINEBRA, Suiza – En una carta de felicitación al recientemente electo secretario general de las Naciones Ban Ki-Moon, el secretario general del Consejo Mundial de Iglesias pastor Dr. Samuel Kobia subraya la "rica experiencia" de Ban como diplomático y funcionario internacional, le asegura las oraciones y el apoyo del Consejo y recalca la importancia de la reforma de las Naciones Unidas. La comunidad internacional está preocupada por "la urgencia de estas reformas" que serán objeto "sin duda de su atención y su acción urgentes," dice Kobia en su carta a Ban del 16 de octubre. Inside the First Amendment – Religious Freedom Could Be Construed as ‘Favors for Faithful' October 17, 2006 – The village of Suffern, N.Y., treats Orthodox Jews just like everyone else — and that's why it's being sued by the U.S. Department of Justice for religious discrimination. Equal treatment, it turns out, sometimes keeps the faithful from practicing their faith. Orthodox Jews, for example, can't drive on the Sabbath or other holy days. So a Jewish service agency in Suffern built a "Shabbos House" across from the hospital, giving believers a place to stay while visiting patients (the nearest hotel is more than three miles away). But since the Shabbos House is in an area zoned for single-family homes, the Jewish group requested — and was denied — a zoning variance. Now both the Jewish agency and the federal government have filed suit, claiming the denial unlawfully burdens the Jewish community's free exercise of religion. Alaska Supreme Court Awards Property to Conference October 17, 2006, ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The Alaska Supreme Court has ruled that a wood building that once housed a 60-member United Methodist congregation is owned by the Alaska Missionary Conference and former members who claimed the property are guilty of trespassing. Almost eight months after the case was argued before the five justices on Jan. 25, the Supreme Court affirmed the decision of Alaska Superior Court Judge Richard Savell to award disputed property of St. Paul Church to the Alaska Missionary Conference. The five-member state Supreme Court affirmed Oct. 13 the historic "trust provisions" of the United Methodist Church. Criminal Justice System Broken, Says Volunteer Chaplain October 19, 2006 – When the Rev. Madeline McDonald speaks to groups on the need for Christians to be concerned about the growing U.S. prison population, she pulls out a crisp $20 bill and asks who would like to have it. Predictably, all hands go up. Then the volunteer prison chaplain crumples the bill and asks the same question. All hands go up again. She unfolds the bill, stains it with a dirty solution, crumples it again and asks the question a third time. "Everybody continues to raise their hands," she says. "Do you know why? Because it has never lost its intrinsic value." Then the retired United Methodist clergywoman drives home her point: "Nobody ever loses his intrinsic value in the eyes of God." October 16, 2006 – The Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Grameen Bank's creator Muhammad Yunus not only recognizes his "creative genius in promoting his concept of microcredit, but also testifies to the fact that genuine economic and social development has to grow from below if it is to be accessible for the people," the World Council of Churches (WCC) said today in a congratulatory message. Mr Yunus' "efforts and hard work" are "bringing hope to the poor and economically and socially marginalised" and therefore are "in keeping with the aims and purposes of the ecumenical movement," the message affirms. Agency Issues Statements on North Korea, Darfur, Violence October 20, 2006, WASHINGTON – Nuclear weapons testing in North Korea, the continuing humanitarian crisis in Darfur, and the recent school shooting in Pennsylvania were of utmost concern to the members of the United Methodist Board of Church and Society during the agency's fall meeting. In a statement titled, "From brokenness and ruin to trust and understanding," the board condemns North Korea's recent nuclear weapons testing. The board's governing members passed that statement and others at their Oct. 12-15 meeting. "Clearly the action by North Korea is a major destabilizing action not only for the world but specifically for the Korean peninsula," said the Rev. Steve Sprecher, chairperson of the Peace with Justice/United Nations and International Affairs work area of the board. Twenty-five New Ecumenical Accompaniers, Including a Hindu and a Muslim, Get to Work October 20, 2006 – A new group of 25 ecumenical accompaniers have just begun three months of working with the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI). The group includes the first Hindu and the second Muslim to participate in the programme, the former from South Africa and the latter from the UK. The group comprises 15 women and 10 men from eight countries (Germany, Finland, Norway, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and USA). The new arrivals bring the total number of accompaniers to have participated in the programme to 329. The accompaniers will be based in six areas: Bethlehem, Hebron, Jayyous, Tulkarem, Yanoun and Jerusalem; the Jayyous position has just been re-opened. Ecumenical accompaniers, who serve a minimum of three months, work in various capacities with local churches, Palestinian and Israeli NGOs, as well as Palestinian communities to try to reduce the brutality of the Israeli occupation and improve the daily lives of both peoples. Staffing Set for Transition in Presiding Bishop's Office October 19, 2006 – Presiding Bishop-elect Katharine Jefferts Schori has designated transitional staffing for the Presiding Bishop's Office to begin November 1 with the start of her administration and the conclusion of Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold's nine-year term. Griswold's closest senior staff assistants, the Rev. Canon Carlson Gerdau and Barbara L. Braver – together with Patricia C. Mordecai, chief operating officer and vice president of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society – announced earlier this year their plans to retire. In addition, fellow senior Management Team member Bishop Arthur B. Williams Jr., director of ethnic congregational ministry, will retire January 12, as will Griswold's executive secretary, Sharon Tolley, effective November 1. Gerdau, who has served since 1998 as Canon to the Primate and Presiding Bishop, has accepted Jefferts Schori's invitation to stay on "for a few months' time to assist with transitional matters," she said. Gerdau also served as canon to the ordinary in the Diocese of Chicago, where Griswold was diocesan bishop from 1985 to 1997. A search for Gerdau's successor will be announced at a future time, Jefferts Schori said. Fortress Press Releases Anderson's Unfolding Drama of the Bible – 4th Edition October 17, 2006, MINNEAPOLIS – In print since 1952, Bernhard W. Anderson's The Unfolding Drama of the Bible is now available in its fourth edition. In this concise and accessible volume, newly revised, one of the most revered contemporary biblical theologians introduces the first-time reader to the dramatic sweep of the Bible in eight carefully crafted study sessions, reminding even veteran readers of the Bible's central messages. Study resources and discussion questions, now carefully updated, make this book the ideal resource for introductory Bible courses and adult inquirer classes.
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