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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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Court Rules that NYC Department of Education Must Allow Rentals for Worship July 2, 2012, NEW YORK – The Federal District Court in New York issued a permanent injunction Friday, June 29, against the NYC Department of Education prohibiting its enforcement of a regulation forbidding the rental of school space after hours to religious organizations for the purpose of worship. The judge found the Department’s policy to be in violation of both the Free Exercise and the anti-Establishment Clauses of the First Amendment. Archbishop of Canterbury Declares "Peace Is the Only Option" for Sudan and South Sudan July 6, 2012 – "Peace is the only option which can allow the flourishing of South Sudan and its neighbour Sudan," the Archbishop of Canterbury has warned. Speaking on the first anniversary of the independence of South Sudan, the Archbishop of Canterbury has called for urgent efforts to resolve outstanding differences between South Sudan and its neighbour Sudan. The first anniversary of the new nation of South Sudan gives an opportunity for renewed effort towards achieving peaceful relations between Sudan and South Sudan. The new nation was created with the support of both South Sudan and the Republic of Sudan, and the well-being of both countries depends on their mutual co-operation. Panel Explores Muted Political Stance of Orthodox Christianity July 5, 2012 – Why has Eastern Orthodoxy not developed a full-throated political theology? Responding to this question, author Dr Pantelis Kalaitzidis offered a spirited critique of Orthodox Christians' approaches to political life and political theology at a launch of his book on 4 July at the World Council of Churches (WCC) headquarters in Geneva. At the event a joint publishing series called "Doxa and Praxis: Exploring Orthodox Theology" was introduced. The publishing agreement is between WCC Publications and the Volos Academy for Theological Studies, Volos, Greece. Kalaitzidis cited a host of historical reasons for what he claims is the muted voice of Orthodox Christianity in the political sphere, including its incorporation under a variety of autocratic regimes, from the Ottoman Empire to the Soviet Union, and its caution about Western modernism. Presbyterians Opt for ‘Positive Investment' over Divestment July 6, 2012 – After two hours of debate and presentations Thursday night (July 5), the 220th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) said no to divestment as part of its position on peace in the Middle East. The path to the final vote came through the Assembly's adoption of a minority report presented by members of the Committee on Middle East and Peacemaking Issues. "The action today doesn't subtract or diminish in any way PC(USA)'s involvement in the Middle East," said GA Moderator Neal D. Presa at the press conference following the Assembly's vote. Churches Respond to 700 Miles of U.S. Storms July 2, 2012 – Challenged by a swath of severe summer storms and sweltering temperatures, United Methodists immediately opened their churches as cooling/relief centers and went to work removing debris. According to accuweather.com, a "super derecho" of violent thunderstorms left a more than 700-mile trail of destruction across the U.S. Midwest and mid-Atlantic on June 29. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Storm Prediction Center received more than 600 damaging wind reports as the derecho took 12 hours to race from northern Indiana to the southern mid-Atlantic coast. A derecho is a line of intense, widespread and fast-moving windstorms. Reducing the Threat of HIV Remains a Challenge July 4, 2012 – Calle Almedal from Sweden has worked on issues of HIV since 1982. He is a former consultant for the Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiative in Africa (EHAIA), a project of the World Council of Churches. In an interview he speaks about HIV's impact on communities, the importance of education in sexual health and churches' responses to HIV. Almedal was trained as a nurse and has been associated with several international organizations including the United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS, Save the Children in North Yemen and the Norwegian Red Cross in Mozambique. New Online Library for Evangelism July 2, 2012 – A new online library has been launched for people interested in evangelism and new forms of church, which will provide them with free access to research papers and theses. The Sheffield Centre Online Library of Evangelism Research) is a joint initiative between Church Army's team of researchers at The Sheffield Centre and the Churches Group for Evangelisation. The purpose of the library is to make deeper thinking around evangelism and new forms of church available to people who want to study further, and to demonstrate this level of learning to the wider church. Each thesis, either MA or PhD level, has its own webpage giving details of who wrote it, which college validated it, the full abstract and a free PDF to download. 35,000 ELCA Teenage, Adult Members to Descend on New Orleans, July 18-22 July 2, 2012, CHICAGO – For the past 25 years, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) has been deeply committed to the faith formation of its teenagers, namely through ELCA Youth Gatherings – the largest event organized by the 4.2 million-member church. Held every three years, ELCA Youth Gatherings bring together 35,000 ELCA teenage-members, adults, volunteers and other Lutherans from around the world for leadership development, faith formation, service opportunities and more. Deputies Vote to Sell Episcopal Church Center Headquarters in New York July 6, 2012, INDIANAPOLIS – The House of Deputies today voted to direct Executive Council to sell the Episcopal Church Center at 815 Second Avenue in New York, where most of the church's administrative staff offices are located. The action came through a resolution proposed by the Joint Legislative Committee on Structure. The resolution now goes to the House of Bishops for its consideration. Deputies on the floor removed a requirement that the sale take place before the 2015 General Convention, to give the Executive Council greater flexibility to sell at the best price possible. The Rev. Gay Jennings, the deputies' chair of the Structure Committee, said the issue of selling the property has been studied several times in the past, and committee members decided that now was the time to do it. Faith and Order Commission Approves New Theological Agreement July 3, 2012 – At a historic meeting in Malaysia, the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission on Faith and Order approved a new theological agreement and proposed a major restructuring of its work in the future. Under the leadership of its moderator, Metropolitan Dr Vasilios of Constantia-Ammochostos, the WCC's Standing Commission on Faith and Order met from 17 to 22 June on the island of Penang, in Malaysia, hosted by the Council of Churches of Malaysia (CCM). The commission approved the text on "The Church: Towards a Common Vision" the second convergence document in the history of Faith and Order. The WCC director of Faith and Order, Canon John Gibaut, explains that "this ‘convergence' text show how closely the members of the commission are able to come together to agree on what it means to be the one Church of Jesus Christ. The agreement reached by the commission then will be tested among the churches." Presbiterianos De Estados Unidos Entregan Herramientas Y Semillas a Familias Rurales 4 julio 2012, MANAGUA, Nicaragua – Una delegación de la Iglesia Presbiteriana Reformada de Preston Hollow, en Dallas, Texas, Estados Unidos, convivió durante tres días, la pasada semana, con 12 familias de la comunidad El Ingenio, situada a 57 kilómetros al sur de esta capital, en el departamento de Carazo. Los integrantes de la misma entregaron una donación de 800 dólares en herramientas agrícolas y semillas de hortaliza y ayudaron a los pequeños productores a sembrar árboles frutales y forestales. CLAI Realiza Consulta Nacional Sobre Iglesias Y Derechos Sexuales Y Reproductivos 5 julio 2012, CIUDAD DE GUATEMALA – "En el mundo hay unos 140 millones de mujeres y niñas que sufren las consecuencias de la mutilación genital," afirmó el médico Alejando Silva, oficial del programa de Salud Reproductiva del Fondo de Población y Desarrollo de las Naciones Unidas (UNFPA), en el marco de la Consulta Nacional sobre iglesias y derechos sexuales y reproductivos que el Consejo Latinoamericano de Iglesias (CLAI) realizó en Guatemala, del 26 al 28 de junio pasado. Vivir En Territorios Fronterizos Es Sinónimo De Marginación Social 6 julio 2012, SAN SALVADOR – Que vivir en territorios llamados de frontera es constar las inequidades territoriales, cuando los territorios determinan la condición socioeconómica y las posibilidades de accesos a bienes que garanticen la prosperidad de las personas, es uno de las principales conclusiones que destaca, el Informe Latinoamericano Pobreza y Desigualdad 2011, dado a conocer esta semana. Church in Indonesia Asks for Freedom to Worship July 5, 2012 – A Christian service of worship held beside a busy road in Jakarta is an unusual sight. However, the Gereja Kristen Indonesia (GKI) Taman Yasmin Church was left with no choice. Taman Yasmin congregation, along with other local churches, prayed outside Merdeka Palace, residence of Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, on 24 June. The congregation prayed under the gaze of police officials, hoping that their appeals for the freedom to worship will be heard. The Taman Yasmin Church, located in Bogor, West Java, is a congregation of one of the member churches of the World Council of Churches (WCC). The half finished building of Taman Yasmin Church was sealed off by the local administration in 2008, reportedly under pressure from Islamic hardline political groups like the Islamic People's Forum. ELCA Congregation Returns Home after Colorado Wildfire Evacuation July 4, 2012, CHICAGO – After spending several days evacuated from their building and homes, members of Christ the King Lutheran Church in Colorado Springs, Colo., were able to return to their church building July 1 for worship. Christ the King's building sustained no damage, although four of the congregation's families lost their homes to the wildfire there. The Rev. Julie Britsch, pastor of Christ the King, said in a statement, "I thank God for all the prayers and look forward to fellowship together. It is bittersweet and humbling to be able to reach my home and the sanctuary." The congregation held worship services on Sunday and gathered afterward to make signs encouraging the emergency crews and community. Malawi Needs Support for Flood Affected Households July 2, 2012 – Anglican Alliance's Malawi appeal Malawi is one of the world's poorest countries and is highly prone to natural disaster every year. The Anglican Diocese of Southern Malawi (ANGSOMA) is working to support the affected communities and would like to share their situation and also ask for help from brothers and sisters around the Anglican Communion. The targeted areas of this appeal are the districts of Chikhwawa and Nsanje, Southern Malawi. These two districts lie in flood zone along the Shire River valley in southern Malawi. The communities living in these areas are every year exposed to flooding or associated damage, including destruction of their homes, washing away of their gardens and crops, scarcity of food in the month's ahead, diseases (cholera and other diarrhoeal) outbreaks. July 6, 2012, SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador/GENEVA – The president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Bishop Dr Munib A. Younan has expressed the communion's solidarity with the Salvadoran Lutheran Church (ILS) during a 21-25 June visit that underlined the LWF's concern about rising violence in Central America. Younan encouraged the LWF member church to continue to accompany those who live in vulnerable situations and poverty, and affirmed its prophetic ministry in response to the violence in the country. "The pastoral accompaniment and ministry [of the ILS] speaks out of a vocation that concentrates in serving the neighbor and developing this ministry among poor people," said Younan, who is bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land. Cathedrals Across the UK to Hold Services for Those Who Babies Have Died. July 2, 2012 – Cathedrals in England, Wales and Scotland are to hold services for remembrance services for people who have suffered miscarriage, early term loss or early infant loss. The Saying Goodbye services, at such cathedrals as Llandaff in Cardiff, St Mary's Episcopal in Edinburgh, St Paul's in London and York Minster, will provide an opportunity for people to join with others who have experienced a loss. The services are being organised free of charge by CCEM an international event management company owned by Zoe and Andy Clark-Coates. "We want to provide a place and time for people to come together to acknowledge their loss and offer an opportunity to say a collective goodbye," said Zoe. Convention to Consider Resolutions on Israeli-Palestinian Conflict July 5, 2012, INDIANAPOLIS – Several resolutions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will be considered by the Episcopal Church's General Convention, meeting here July 5-12. Among them is Resolution B019, which calls on the church to engage actively in the discipline of advocacy, study, and prayer for peace between Israelis and Palestinians; encourages all Episcopalians to travel to the Holy Land as pilgrims and witnesses; affirms the importance of economic measures designed to support a negotiated two-state solution; and calls for positive investment in the Palestine Territories and in the social service institutions of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem and the Middle East. WCC Praises Life and Work of José Miguez Bonino July 4, 2012 – A tribute published by the World Council of Churches (WCC) expresses deep admiration for the life and work of renowned liberation theologian José Míguez Bonino, who passed away on 1 July in the city of Tandil, Buenos Aires, at the age of 88. "We honour at his death a man of great impact and inspiration for the WCC," said Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the WCC. Tveit said that Míguez had a "significant influence on my own personal ecumenical journey and ecumenical theological positions." Miguez, a Methodist pastor from Argentina, worked tirelessly for the ecumenical movement, human rights and social change. His contribution to liberation theology had a strong impact in Latin America and beyond. |
