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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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"When We Think about Chinese Christians, We Think about the Future," Kobia Says November 16, 2006 – The unique contribution of Chinese Christians to the ecumenical movement was highlighted yesterday in Shanghai by the World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia at the beginning of a November 15-22 visit to China. "Without the involvement of the Chinese church in the ecumenical movement and the WCC in particular, we would be a much poorer fellowship. This is because you represent something unique that is very much needed in the ecumenical movement today. As a post-denominational church, you are in a class of your own, and we want to learn more from you," Kobia said. ELCA Council Hears Presiding Bishop's Call to ‘Moral Deliberation' November 15, 2006, CHICAGO – In the wake of the mid-term congressional elections, the presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) said he hopes ELCA congregations can become places of "moral deliberation" before the country turns its attention to what may be a contentious political environment leading up to the 2008 elections. The Rev. Mark S. Hanson made the comment in his Nov. 11 report to the ELCA Church Council, which met here Nov. 11-13. Future of Anglican Family a Matter for Whole Church, Not Just Bishops November 16, 2006 – The Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, Njongonkulu Ndungane, has called for a global Anglican gathering that is "much more representative than the Lambeth Conference" to explore the current challenges facing the Anglican Communion. "The future of our Anglican family is far too important to be left just to Bishops, even meeting in the breadth of the Lambeth Conference," Archbishop Ndungane said during a Roundtable – Finding the Heartlands of Anglicanism at Trinity Theological College in Melbourne, Australia on Thursday 16 th 2006. "If we are to take the radical step of pursuing a Covenant, I would like this process to be owned and driven by the widest possible representation of the church." Bishops Adopt Calls to Action for United Methodists November 13, 2006, MAPUTO, Mozambique – The bishops of the United Methodist Church are calling members of the denomination to "live the United Methodist way" in their daily lives and public witness and be a community of believers who offer hope to the world. Nearly 80 bishops affirmed that call to action Nov. 6 during their first meeting outside the United States. The bishops accepted the concept but are seeking to clarify what living the United Methodist way really means. The council also introduced an action plan that includes starting new churches across the globe, reaching and caring for children throughout the world and leading the effort to stamp out the killer diseases of poverty: malaria and HIV/AIDS. ELCA Council Asks for Report, Recommendations on Scripture Initiative November 17, 2006, CHICAGO – The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) asked for a report, recommendations and an expenditure plan for the proposed initiative, "Book of Faith: Lutherans Read the Bible." Details of the initiative are to be presented at the council's next meeting in April 2007, and the council is expected to transmit a proposal about the initiative to the 2007 ELCA Churchwide Assembly. Publishing House to Republish Book for U.S. Troops November 14, 2006, NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The United Methodist Publishing House will resume its role as the publisher of a 64-year-old book of daily devotions for U.S. military troops. In the days after the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, staff members of the Methodist Publishing House discussed ways in which they could serve the thousands of men and women enlisting in the armed services. The Publishing House staff decided to ask church and academic leaders from many denominations to write one-page devotions for each day of the year. Each message would be written for combat troops. The staff titled the book Strength for Service to God and Country. Global Nature Task Force Proposes a U.S. Central Conference November 13, 2006, MAPUTO, Mozambique – A group of United Methodists examining the global nature of the denomination is proposing that the United States become a Central Conference. The proposal introduced to the United Methodist Council of Bishops on Nov. 3 would end the current system that splits the United States from the central conferences that govern the church outside the United States and would revise the United Methodist Book of Discipline into a "truly general book of doctrine, mission and discipline, deleting all portions that apply only to the United States." The existing U.S. jurisdictional conferences would exist within a U.S. Central Conference. ELCA Council Expresses Regret, Repudiates Anabaptist Condemnations November 16, 2006, CHICAGO – The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) took an action rejecting past statements attributed to early Lutheran church reformers and expressed "its deep and abiding sorrow and regret for the persecution and suffering visited upon the Anabaptists during the religious disputes of the past." The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves as the legislative authority of the church between churchwide assemblies. Archbishop of Canterbury to Visit Rome November 9, 2006 – The Archbishop of Canterbury and Pope Benedict XVIth will have their first meeting later this month since the two met briefly following the Pope's Inauguration Mass in 2005. The private Papal Audience, on Thursday 23rd November, will be the centrepiece of Dr Williams' visit to Rome which runs from 21st-26th November. The visit coincides with the 40th anniversary of the historic meeting between Pope Paul VIth and Archbishop Michael Ramsey in 1966. ELCA Council Adopts Lutheran-Orthodox Statement November 17, 2006, CHICAGO – The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) adopted "A Lutheran-Orthodox Common Statement on Faith in the Holy Trinity" and suggested the statement be used for guidance and conversations throughout the church and in ecumenical settings. El Secretario General Del CMI Visita La República Popular China 14 noviembre 2006 – El secretario general del Consejo Mundial de Iglesias (CMI) pastor Dr. Samuel Kobia encabezará una delegación ecuménica que visitará la República Popular China entre el 15 y el 22 de noviembre. Es ésta la primera visita de Kobia a China como secretario general del CMI. En China, Kobia y los miembros de la delegación visitaran Shanghai, Nanjing, Beijing y Xi'an. La reconfiguración del movimiento ecuménico y su papel en el siglo XXI en medio del panorama cambiante del cristianismo será una de las cuestiones a tratar con los dirigentes del Consejo Cristiano de China y el Movimiento Patriótico Triplemente Autónomo (Three-Self Patriotic Movement). Katrina Aid Today Doubles Assistance to Families by Jennifer Burcham* November 17, 2006, WASHINGTON – Case managers for Katrina Aid Today assisted nearly 28,800 families – roughly 75,000 people – by the end of October and continue to open about 1,000 new cases each week. According to a recent fourth quarter report from Katrina Aid Today, affiliates working on long-term recovery with survivors of Hurricane Katrina virtually doubled the number of families helped since its last report in July. The People of the United Methodist Church Join Launch of Global Malaria Campaign November 16, 2006, NEW YORK – The people of The United Methodist Church are participating in the official kickoff of a malaria-prevention campaign that plays on the image of balls flying into nets to encourage donations for malaria nets for African families. United Methodist Bishop Thomas Bickerton of the denomination's Western Pennsylvania area said one of the campaign's most appealing aspects is that fact that "anyone, anywhere" can forge this lifesaving link with children in Africa. "It all fits in to the whole issue of eradicating poverty," added Bickerton, who also serves as president of United Methodist Communications. "A million people are dying of malaria every year, 75 percent of them children." Historic Black Methodist Church Delegation Visits Holy Land November 14, 2006, ORLANDO – A delegation of leaders from historic African-American churches who just returned from Jerusalem and the Holy Land says conditions for Palestinians in the West Bank painfully echo the injustices suffered by people of color during South Africa's apartheid era and during the pre-civil rights era in America. Black church leaders in the delegation, which included representatives from three Methodist denominations – the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, the African Methodist Episcopal Church and the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church – now are vowing to work with their communions and congregations, the Jewish, Christian and Islamic faith communities, politicians and Palestinians in the Diaspora to focus attention on the deteriorating situation in the Holy Land. Anglican Communion Makes Highest Award to Archbishop Eames November 17, 2006 – The Most Reverend Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury made a presentation of the highest award in the Anglican Communion to Archbishop Robin Eames at the service of thanksgiving for the Archbishop's twenty-year Primacy in St Patrick's Cathedral Armagh on 16 November 2006. Archbishop Eames received the Archbishop of Canterbury's Award for Outstanding Service to the Anglican Communion.
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