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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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Churches Sound Alarm over "Anonymous" Hate Crimes August 3, 2008 – A group calling itself "Anonymous," a growing source of on-line vandalism, obscenity, and harassment, has stepped up its attacks on ethnic and religious minorities as well as individual citizens, and church human rights groups are sounding the alarm about their activities. "These people are truly cyber-terrorists," said Rev. N. J. L'Heureux, Jr., Executive Director of the Queens Federation of Churches, who serves as the Moderator of the National Council of Churches Committee on Religious Liberty. "Their manifestos and their campaigns are aimed at creating as much destruction as possible." Faith Groups Emphasize Action Before International AIDS Conference July 29, 2008 – Can religions do more in response to the AIDS pandemic? To address this question over 450 representatives of faith-based organizations currently responding to HIV and AIDS will gather in Mexico City, 31 July – 2 August, in advance of the XVII International AIDS Conference. "Solutions to the global crisis of HIV and AIDS are not possible without the active engagement of faith communities," says Dr Manoj Kurian, programme executive for health and healing at the World Council of Churches (WCC). "Although churches and other faith communities around the world are providing critical input to overcome the pandemic, much more action is called for from us – action that upholds the teachings and values that guide us," he adds. Advocates for Immigrants Speak out Against Treatment of Pregnant Woman July 29, 2008, NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Juana Villegas' trip to the doctor for a prenatal visit became a nightmare when, at nine months pregnant, she was stopped for a minor traffic violation, jailed and ended up giving birth to her son with two sheriff's deputies standing guard. An illegal immigrant from Mexico, she recalled her childbirth experience of July 6 when local authorities prevented her from calling her husband after going into labor and then separated her from her nursing newborn for two days after his birth. July 31, 2008, CANTERBURY – Conversation marked by tears and apologies, hand holding and embracing, was the order of the day July 31 as bishops attending the Lambeth Conference formally addressed a portion of the Anglican Communion's debate on human sexuality. The pervading sense was that the mood at the current conference was "dramatically different" from the tone of sexuality discussions at the 1998 Lambeth Conference during which "people were distressed at some of the reactions to some of the things that were said," said Archbishop Phillip Aspinall of Brisbane, the primate of Australia and principal spokesman for the bishops. He recalled that in 1998 "there were occasions when bishops actually booed and hissed what other bishops said in the gathering." Mending Broken Bikes Repairs Broken Community July 31, 2008, HIGH POINT, NC – A tangle of bikes in various stages of readiness await their turn as volunteers apply chain grease, adjust rear hub shifting, tighten spokes and examine brake pads and cables. "Do we have clippers?" asks Emily Fox, a college student in Greensboro. "Maybe that will be our next donation." The scene is neither that of a bike store or a repair shop. On Saturday mornings in the summer, Ward Street United Methodist Church becomes a first-aid station for bikes – a place where High Point children can trade their broken bikes for newly repaired ones, then saddle up for supervised neighborhood rides. Ministry Reaches out to Asian Americans July 30, 2008 – The Asian American Language Ministry Plan is a United Methodist initiative that is expanding the church's reach to Asian-American communities across the United States. Launched in 1996 by action of General Conference, AALM has been an important resource for developing new ministries as well as strengthening existing ones in Asian-American communities that include at least 10 sub-ethnic groups with 15 different languages. From 2001 to 2006, AALM has been directly involved in 29 church plants, 42 congregational revitalizations and 18 partnerships with United Methodist annual (regional) conferences. I use the term directly because some of these new churches and congregations have, on their own, initiated and supported development of other church plants. ELCA Teaching Theologians Consider ‘New Day' in Multicultural Seminar July 29, 2008, CHICAGO – About 40 teaching theologians of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) gather July 29-Aug. 1 in Prior Lake, Minn., for a multicultural seminar, "New Day Begun: Engaging Our Wholeness." The invited guests are theologians of color or whose primary language is not English, with a representative group of white theologians. "The multicultural seminar brings together ELCA theologians of color to engage in a dynamic discussion about the calling of the church in the 21st century to be racially, ethnically and culturally inclusive," said Rosemary Dyson, associate executive director, ELCA Multicultural Ministries. July 28, 2008, CANTERBURY – The Windsor Continuation Group (WCG) made a preliminary proposal July 28 to maintain Windsor Report-recommended bans on same-gender blessings, cross-border interventions and the ordination of gay and lesbian people to the episcopate. The group's "preliminary observations," given to the bishops at a Lambeth Conference hearing, also call for the "swift formation" of a "pastoral forum" that would rapidly "engage theologically and practically with situations of controversy as they arise or divisive actions that may be taken around the communion." The forum could "offer pastoral advice and guidelines in conflicted, confused and fragile situations" and "work alongside the Archbishop of Canterbury in the exercise of his ministry." Women Bishops Urge More Focus on Gender Issues August 1, 2008, CANTERBURY – The 2008 Lambeth Conference is the second of the decennial meetings to include female bishops and several of them said the welcome is warmer, but that they wish more consideration were given to women's issues. Out of the 670 bishops attending, 18 are female, compared to 11 in 1998. The communion's first female primate, Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, is attending her first Lambeth Conference, having been elected bishop of the Diocese of Nevada in 2001. She was elected presiding bishop in June 2006. Nine days before the conference began on July 16 (it ends August 3), the Church of England's governing synod voted to bring forward legislation that would allow the consecration of women to the episcopate. The question of accommodating those who cannot accept women in that role was vigorously debated. August 1, 2008, CANTERBURY – The current draft of the proposed Anglican covenant is meant to be a "covenant of friendship," not a legalistic document, however it would require Anglican Communion provinces to limit their autonomy for the sake of the communion. "We did not even think about going a legalistic or a contract route," Covenant Design Group Archbishop Drexel Gomez of the West Indies told a news briefing in the middle of the first of two days that the 2008 Lambeth Conference will spend discussing the proposed Anglican covenant. Vatican Considers Union Proposal from Traditional Anglicans August 1, 2008 – The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has confirmed that it is "seriously" considering a proposal for union from traditional Anglicans for "full, corporate, sacramental union." The CDF is following with "serious attention" the request from the Traditional Anglican Communion for "full, corporate, sacramental union" with Rome, Zenit reports. This was affirmed by the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal William Levada, in a July 5 letter to the primate of the Anglican group, Archbishop John Hepworth. "Mission, Social Justice and Evangelization" July 23, 2008, CANTERBURY, England – Here is the address Cardinal Ivan Dias, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, gave at the Lambeth conference of the Anglican Communion. The meeting is under way through Aug. 4 in Canterbury. "This is indeed the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it" (Ps 118:24). At the very outset, I want to thank His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury for his kind invitation to address this august Conference. I sincerely appreciate your warm welcome, which echoes the words of the psalmist: "How good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!" (Ps 133:1). Lambeth Conference: Interfaith Collaboration a ‘Dialogue of Life' July 28, 2008, CANTERBURY – In Eastern Zambia, Muslim and Christian faith communities together have created an advocacy program for those living with HIV/AIDS. Their collaboration has meant a dramatic improvement in the subsequent quality of life and is one of "the fruits of interfaith dialogue," said Bishop Tom Butler of the South London-based Diocese of Southwark. "It has enabled people suffering from the disease to openly go and get the help that they need," added Butler, who told media on July 28 that he'd learned of the ministry in his morning discussion group. Comunidades De Fe Enfatizan Necesidad De Acción, 29 julio 2008 – Pueden las religiones hacer más en respuesta a la pandemia del SIDA? Para abordar esta cuestión, más de 450 representantes de organizaciones religiosas actualmente involucradas en responder al HIV y SIDA se reunirán en la ciudad de México del 31 de julio al 2 de agosto, justo antes de la XVII Conferencia Internacional sobre el SIDA. "No es posible solucionar la crisis global del VIH y SIDA sin la participación activa de las comunidades de fe," dice el Dr. Manoj Kurian, encargado del programa de salud y sanación del Consejo Mundial de Iglesias (CMI). La Paz En Sudán Puede Demorar Bastante – Entrevista Con Marina Peter 31 julio 2008 – Más de 20 años de trabajo de incidencia pública en favor de Sudán por cuenta de las iglesias le han valido a Marina Peter, coordinadora europea del Foro Ecuménico del Sudán, una condecoración del gobierno alemán y un profundo sentido de las complejidades de un país cuyas dimensiones son casi las de Europa Occidental, y que ha padecido guerras internas durante los últimos 50 años. Sólo considerando el Sudán "en toda su complejidad y en su totalidad" se conseguirá la paz, afirma. Indiana Floods Leave Behind Long-Term Needs August 1, 2008 – When Asbury United Methodist Church in Columbus, Ind., started sending work teams to Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina, its members never realized they would one day need the same kind of help. That changed in early June when floodwaters swept through 37 counties in central Indiana and displaced more than 25,000 residents. One of the hardest hit communities was Columbus, where flooding shut down Columbus Regional Hospital and damaged schools, businesses and several hundred homes. The Rev. Al Styron, Asbury's pastor, who grew up near the coast of Mississippi, said having damage in Columbus similar to Katrina's destruction was "the last thing we would have ever dreamed." ELCA Presiding Bishop Applauds New Global AIDS Bill July 31, 2008, CHICAGO – The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), praised members of the U.S. Congress and U.S. President George W. Bush for their work to complete new global AIDS legislation. He called the legislation "an historic commitment to fighting deadly disease in the world." Hanson made the comments after President Bush signed the bill July 30 – the 2008 Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Reauthorization Act – which reauthorized the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), originally signed into law in 2003. ELCA Synod Bishop, New Jersey Senator Visits Immigration Detention Center August 1, 2008, CHICAGO – At the invitation of U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., the Rev. E. Roy Riley, bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) New Jersey Synod, Hamilton Square, the Rev. Bruce H. Davidson, director, Lutheran Office of Governmental Ministries, ELCA New Jersey Synod, and staff of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS), Baltimore, visited an immigration detention center July 28 in Elizabeth, N.J. Riley said his visit at the detention center, a privately run facility, is his second there. "It is difficult to gain admittance into the center," he said. On May 21 Menendez had invited Riley to participate in a news conference in Washington, D.C., where Menendez discussed legislation for improving health care provided at U.S. immigration detention centers. Peace in Sudan May Take a Long Time – Interview with Marina Peter July 31, 2008 – More than 20 years of advocacy work for Sudan on behalf of the churches won to Marina Peter, European coordinator of the Sudan Ecumenical Forum, a decoration from the German government and a deep sense of the complexities of a country whose size is almost that of Western Europe and has seen internal wars over the last 50 years. Only addressing Sudan "in its complexity and as a whole" will bring about peace, she says. The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has accused the Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir of genocide in Darfur amongst other crimes. West Papuans "Traumatized" WCC Team Tells Indonesian Government July 29, 2008 – West Papuans have yet to recover from the trauma of human rights violations. At the same time continuing in-migration is threatening to marginalize them in their resource-rich province, an ecumenical team from the World Council of Churches (WCC) told top-level Indonesian government officials. Papuans appear to be traumatized because of migration to their island, Rev. Prof. James Haire told Indonesian social welfare minister Aburizal Bakrie 24 July. A theology professor from the Uniting Church in Australia, Haire was one of a six-member ecumenical team of "Living Letters" who visited West Papua and other parts of Indonesia from 18-24 July. Church-Supported Program Assists Haiti Food Crisis July 29, 2008 – Struggling in the grip of a worsening world food crisis, Haitians in the island nation's remote Artibonite and northwest regions are gaining food security through a church-supported sustainable agriculture program. Church World Service, the global humanitarian agency, is the lead agency for the program, which also has support from the United Methodist Committee on Relief, the Mennonite Central Committee, Reformed Church World Service and the United Church of Christ. A new grant from the U.S.-based Osprey Foundation will help expand the program to provide more people, particularly women, with opportunities to grow enough food for their families and increase income for other basic needs through access to credit and training. IOCC Aids Iraqi Families in Conflict-Ridden Sadr City July 25, 2008, BALTIMORE, Maryland – International Orthodox Christiaan Charities (IOCC), the Baltimore-based humanitarian aid organization, announces a new grant that will provide food and emergency supplies to vulnerable families living in Sadr City, one of the poorest and most densely populated districts of Baghdad. The approximately $400,000 grant, awarded to IOCC by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), will assist approximately 2,400 vulnerable families in this predominantly Shiite area, the site of continuous heavy fighting between insurgents and multi-national forces. |
