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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 21, 2006 – A significant development and strengthening of the relationship between the Anglican Communion and Al Azhar Al Sharif, the centre of Islamic learning in Cairo, Egypt, has taken place during November through two significant study visits. The first is that of the Grand Mufti of Egypt, His Eminence Dr Ali Gomaa, who delivered a talk at the University of Cambridge during the first week of November. Pan-Methodist Commission Continues Journey of Becoming One November 20, 2006, CHICAGO – Since 1996, the Commission on Pan-Methodist Cooperation and Union has had an ongoing struggle around issues related to union – what union is, what it would look like and how to proceed toward it. "No more, but not yet" is the phrase the new chairman of the commission uses to describe the group's future work. Bishop Nathaniel Jarrett of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church explained, "We live in existential tension" and "we are no more what we were, but, by the same token, we have not become what we will become and what we ought to become." Jarrett received the Pan-Methodist leadership gavel from African Methodist Episcopal Bishop E. Earl McCloud on Nov. 17. November 24, 2006, GENEVA – Bishop Mark S. Hanson, president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) affirms in his 2006 Christmas Message that God visited the world in the miracle of Bethlehem 2,000 years ago. "Held in Mary's arms that night was the revelation of steadfast, unbounded love for all humanity. The birth of Jesus disclosed God's saving will and eternal desire for reconciliation and peace," says Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. . Children Learn Seriousness of Famine, Plight of Hungry Children November 21, 2006, MIDLOTHIAN, Va. – In less than two hours, members of Woodlake United Methodist Church packaged enough meals to feed more than 8,000 hungry children. Ten-year-old Megan Herceg was among more than 40 fourth- and fifth-graders who learned about the seriousness of world famine while packaging food for the non-profit organization, Stop Hunger Now. She said she never realized how many people died from hunger. The session began with a sobering statistic. "There are 30,000 people dying every day of starvation," said the Rev. Lee Warren, Virginia director for the Raleigh, N.C.-based organization. "That's one person every three seconds." AIDS Camp Offers Hugs, Acceptance November 22, 2006, JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – When those infected with HIV/AIDS first started coming to this camp in the mountains of eastern Tennessee, they were preparing to die. But as medical advances have extended their lives, the focus of the United Methodist retreat has changed to helping them learn to live. Since 1997, United Methodists in the Holston Annual (regional) Conference have sponsored two week-long "Strength for the Journey" retreats each year for adults living with HIV/AIDS. Buffalo Mountain Retreat Center near Johnson City hosts the camps in the spring and the fall. Prison Ministry Brings ‘Brothers in Christ' Together November 20, 2006, MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Jim Reinhardt recognizes a brother in Christ when he sees one – even if that brother is behind prison bars. Reinhardt's friendship with Jay C. Van Scoy started three years ago when he was visiting Kilby Correctional Facility as part of a prison ministry team from Frazer United Methodist Church, Montgomery, Ala. "You can see in someone's eyes and in their actions . . . there's certain things that let you know they're your brother in Christ and it's not just make believe to get outside (of prison)," Reinhardt says. While some prisoners come to church "so they can make their record look good," he adds, "Jay, he was part of the praise and worship team – it was all a Jesus thing with him." NCC Resource on Food Gratitude, Farm Justice, Now Available November 22, 2006, WASHINGTON – The National Council of Churches USA's (NCC) Eco-Justice Program is hoping people of faith this holiday season will remember the chain of God's creatures and creation that brings food to their family's table. "From farmers, farmworkers, rural communities, land, water, air, and soil that was necessary to produce their meal, all deserve to be lifted up as families say their prayers of thanks this holiday season," program officials said. A new study, worship, and action resource – "At the Lord's Table: Everyday Thanksgiving" – gives churches the tools to talk about how faith can and should influence food choices. It also provides action steps, they said, to engage congregations in progressive food buying practices and in advocacy for a better federal farm bill in 2007. "At the Lord's Table" asserts that people too often take for granted the food they eat. This has contributed to a dangerous disconnect between the American people and their food, the eco-justice group said. Benedict XVI Calls
Ecumenism a Priority November 17, 2006, VATICAN CITY – Benedict XVI confirmed that the ecumenical movement toward full Christian unity is a priority of his ministry as Pope. "The Second Vatican Council considered as one of its main objectives the re-establishment of full Christian unity," the Holy Father said today. "This is also my objective." His words were heard by participants in the plenary assembly of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, headed by Cardinal Walter Kasper. Benedict XVI mentioned the first message he wrote as Pope, dated April 20, 2005, in which he assumed "as a primary commitment, to work without sparing energies for the reconstitution of the full and visible unity of all the followers of Christ." Pope Plans Recruitment Drive among Disaffected Anglicans November 19, 2006 – The Pope, who is this week meeting the Archbishop of Canterbury, is drawing up plans to welcome disaffected Anglicans into the Roman Catholic Church. Pope Benedict XVI is keen to reach out to conservative Anglicans who have been antagonised by their church's stance on women priests and homosexuality. Senior Vatican figures are understood to have drawn up a dossier on the most effective means of attracting disenchanted Anglicans. The recruitment drive is a potential embarrassment for Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who is travelling to Italy for his meeting with the Pope. It is understood that Fr Joseph Augustine di Noia, undersecretary of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, the most powerful of the Vatican's departments, has led a team analysing the current schism in the Anglican world. Archbishop and Pope Share Worship: ‘Our Churches Share Witness and Service' November 23, 2006 – His Holiness Pope Benedict XVIth and the Archbishop of Canterbury today shared worship together at the Redemptoris Mater Chapel in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican. The worship followed a formal Audience in the Papal Library. The service took the form of midday prayers with psalms sung in plainsong, in the presence of senior Vatican representatives, including Cardinal Walter Kasper and Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor, and senior Anglicans including Archbishop Peter Carnely and Bishop David Beetge. The Redemptoris Mater Chapel, formerly known as the Matilde Chapel, was rededicated by Pope John Paul II in 1999 after nearly four years of restoration work. After the service Pope Benedict hosted a private lunch for Dr Williams. Mujeres Luteranas Reflexionan Sobre Su Rol En Una Iglesia Más Equitativa 21 noviembre 2006, QUITO, Ecuador – La ecuatoriana Gladys Montaluisa fue designada representante de las mujeres Luteranas de su país ante el grupo de trabajo MEIS –Mujer en Iglesia y Sociedad- de la Federación Luterana Mundial, en la reunión que tuvo lugar del 27 al 29 de Octubre último, en la Iglesia "El Adviento," en Quito. El encuentro asistieron treinta y cinco mujeres provenientes de las iglesias de confesión luterana de varias ciudades del Ecuador y además contó con la presencia de Matilde Ponce, la Coordinadora Andina del MEIS. Abuso Sexual Y Violencia a Niños Y Niñas 20 noviembre 2006, BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – El domingo 19 de noviembre fue el día internacional de prevención del abuso sexual infantil, y en los Lagos de Palermo, en plena ciudad de Buenos Aires, la campaña A.S.I NO encintó de blanco los lagos. La Campaña "A.S.I. NO" Abuso Sexual Infantil No, promovió este movimiento que busca crear conciencia y denunciar los abusos a que son sometidos niños y niñas y que, la mayoría de las veces, queda en penumbras. El Papa Y El Jefe De La Iglesia Anglicana Reconocen Las Dificultades Del Ecumenismo 23 noviembre 2006, CIUDAD DEL VATICANO – A 40 años, de que el Papa Pablo VI y el arzobispo Michael Ramsey se encontraran y comenzaran un nuevo itinerario de reconciliación entre las Iglesias Católica y Anglicana, el papa Benedicto XI y el arzobispo de Canterbury, Rowan Williams, jefe de la Iglesia anglicana, volvieron a reunirse y firmaron un documente conjunto. En el mismo reconocen las dificultades del caminar ecuménico, pero a la vez enfatizan la necesidad de proteger la vida desde la concepción hasta la muerte natural. November 22, 2006, BEIRUT, Lebanon – The packed rush hour streets of Beirut were even more frantic today as residents scrambled for safety following the news that Christian politician Pierre Gemayel had been brutally gunned down in the streets of a Beirut suburb. Horns blared, sirens screeched and a thick air of apprehension hung over the streets as people struggled with the news. Many mobile phones were even inoperable for a time as scads of people tried to dial out at once. The 34-year-old Gemayel's murder was especially jarring for some in the diverse Christian community here, and reaction was a mixture of anger, disbelief and fear that the assassination will lead to more violence. "We have had enough!" said Suad Hajj Nassif, director of the humanitarian relief arm of the Middle East Council of Churches, an ecumenical body that represents several Christian denominations. November 21, 2006, NAZARETH – The "forgotten faithful," as the Christians of the Holy Land, and indeed the entire Middle East, are often called, were recently the subject of a "traveling" conference of Europeans and North Americans that focused almost exclusively on their plight. The Sixth International Conference of Sabeel, the ecumenical Christian organization founded to support and unite Palestinian Christians of every denomination, drew more than 350 participants from twenty-nine countries to the Holy Land, where the problems facing the region's indigenous Christians were addressed by a wide range of speakers, from internationally recognized scholars to prominent church officials to lay community leaders. November 22, 2006, LOUISVILLE – The Rev. George and Kathy Todd, longtime advocates for social and economic justice in the Presbyterian Church, have been named recipients of the 2007 John Park Lee Award, named in honor of the person widely considered the founder of health and welfare ministries in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The award will be presented Jan. 13 in New Orleans during the social justice biennial conference of the Presbyterian Health, Education and Welfare Association (PHEWA), which has sponsored the award since 1969. "The Todds have been in the forefront of the Presbyterian Church's engagement with the world and commitment to justice," said the Rev. Trey Hammond, pastor at La Mesa Presbyterian Church in Albuquerque, NM, who nominated the Todds for the award.
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