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Monday, September 24
House of Bishops talks make 'enormous progress,' go into overtime
Bishops discount earlier reports of draft document
By Pat McCaughan and Mary Frances Schjonberg
[Episcopal News Service, New Orleans] After a day of mostly closed-door and overtime sessions, Episcopal bishops on September 24 said they'd made "enormous progress" toward a productive response to the concerns of Anglican Primates.
"This is a continuing process of discernment and clarification of the relationship of the Episcopal Church with the whole Anglican Communion" as regards church polity, the ordination of Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire and other issues arising from that decision, Bishop David Alvarez of Puerto Rico told reporters at an evening news conference.
"Through this process we have proven the quality of life of this church in which we can talk openly with each other and in which we can differ but also pray together," he added.
Full story: //www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_90431_ENG_HTM.htm
House of Bishops begins to prepare Primates' Communiqué response
Text in draft form only; final action expected September 25
Solidarity with the disenfranchised guided the discussion September 24 as the House of Bishops began to draft its formal statement to the Episcopal Church and the worldwide Anglican Communion culminating its five-day meeting in New Orleans.
The text is in draft form only and will be finalized and released September 25. The document is expected to serve as a response to the Primates' Communique.
Bishop Wayne Wright of Delaware, who chaired the writing committee, cautioned that the discussion was a "draft only" and that a final statement would not be released until it had been adopted on September 25 by the bishops. The document itself was withheld and its contents embargoed until it can be finalized.
"This is only a draft," Wright emphasized. "Tomorrow we will perfect and adopt it and then it will be released."
Full story: //www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_90404_ENG_HTM.htm
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Bishops and spouses choir sings in harmony for New Orleans
By Mary Frances Schjonberg
[Episcopal News Service] Christ Church Cathedral in New Orleans was a little tuffy and pouring rain made a low din on the roof as members of the House of Bishops and Spouses Choir gathered September 23 to record tracks for a new compact disc.
The choir recorded its singing at the House of Bishops opening Eucharist September 20 and will also record during its March 2008 meeting at the Camp Allen Retreat and Conference Center, outside Houston, Texas. The hope is to have the CD available for sale before Christmas 2008.
Proceeds from the sale will go to help the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana's efforts to rebuild the Central City area of New Orleans.
Full story: //www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_90356_ENG_HTM.htm
Episcopal Communicators help rebuild lives in Gulf Coast recovery efforts
By Melodie Woerman
[Episcopal News Service] Episcopal Communicators from across the country traveled to New Orleans in mid-September to be part of the on-going efforts to rebuild the city.
The group, which timed its visit to coincide with the House of Bishops meeting, included 20 church journalists in dioceses and parishes from Hawaii to Miami to Vermont. The effort was hosted by Ann Ball, who spent 26 years as the communications professional for the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana before the hurricane destroyed enough of her work infrastructure that she gave up writing to become a case manager assisting people trying to return to their homes.
Plans for the trip were inspired by Ball's description -- during the annual Episcopal Communicators conference in April -- of the great need in her beloved New Orleans. When a request for volunteers was circulated, responses poured in.
Full story: //www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_90316_ENG_HTM.htm
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Rio Grande bishop announces intention to resign
Jeffrey Steenson will ask House of Bishops for required permission
By Mary Frances Schjonberg
[Episcopal News Service] In a September 21 letter to the clergy of the Episcopal Diocese of the Rio Grande, Bishop Jeffrey Steenson said he intends to ask the House of Bishops meeting currently underway in New Orleans for permission to resign as the diocese's bishop.
Steenson was elected the eighth bishop of the diocese on October 24, 2004. He was consecrated as the 1000th bishop in the Episcopal Church on January 16, 2005, and installed on October 8, 2005 at the Cathedral Church of St. John in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Calling it a "very difficult letter to write as your bishop and colleague in the ordained ministry," Steenson wrote that "my conscience is deeply troubled about where the Episcopal Church is heading, and this has become a crisis for me because of my ordination vow to uphold its doctrine, discipline, and worship."
Full story: //www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_90305_ENG_HTM.htm
Sunday, September 23
Trumpet the gospel, Presiding Bishop tells New Orleans cathedral congregation
Hand-made Elysian Trumpet blessed in Irvin Mayfield Sr.'s memory
By Mary Frances Schjonberg
[Episcopal News Service] Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori told the congregation gathered September 23 at Christ Church Cathedral in New Orleans to become "trumpeters of good news, banishers of disease and division, and proclaimers of the presence of God in our midst."
Jefferts Schori presided and preached at the Eucharist, which was held during the House of Bishops' fall meeting. Many of the bishops attended the service while others visited Episcopal churches throughout Mississippi and New Orleans for Sunday worship.
The service also included the blessing of the Elysian Trumpet, hand-built by David Monette, a modern master of trumpet design, and dedicated to the memory of Irvin Mayfield Sr. and all of the victims of Hurricane Katrina. The trumpet, played during the service by Mayfield's son, will, in Jefferts Schori's words, "proclaim life, to sing of grief and to claim the ultimate victory of life over death." She called it "a tool for proclaiming the gospel in the multiple variations of jazz."
The full text of the Presiding Bishop's sermon is available at
//www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_90299_ENG_HTM.htm
Full story: //www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_90301_ENG_HTM.htm
A video stream of the Presiding Bishop's sermon is available at //www.episcopalchurch.org/89878_27398_ENG_HTM.htm
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Blessing of the Elysian Trumpet / Irvin Mayfield plays Amazing Grace
The September 23 Eucharist at Christ Church Cathedral in New Orleans included the blessing of the Elysian Trumpet, hand-built by David Monette, a modern master of trumpet design, and dedicated to the memory of Irvin Mayfield Sr. and all of the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Jazz trumpeter Irvin Mayfield plays Amazing Grace on the Elysian Trumpet.
Video Streams are available at //www.episcopalchurch.org/89878_27398_ENG_HTM.htm
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Image Gallery: Eucharist at Christ Church Cathedral in New Orleans
An image gallery of the September 23 Eucharist at Christ Church Cathedral in New Orleans is available, along with other galleries from the House of Bishops meeting, at //www.episcopalchurch.org/89878_27365_ENG_HTM.htm
Link to Bishop George Packard's sermon at St. Mark's, Gulfport (coming soon)
Bishops asked to join 'We the People' leadership
Truth and Reconciliation Commission proposed
By Pat McCaughan
[Episcopal News Service, New Orleans] "We the people" leadership, of churches, grassroots organizations and community activists, are making a difference and sparking recovery in New Orleans and can become a model for urban America, Dr Gus Newport told the Episcopal Church's House of Bishops September 23.
"I have never seen such devastation, and I've been in war zones," Newport told the joint gathering of bishops and spouses about his first few weeks in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. He is the program director for the Vanguard Public Foundation, a San Francisco-based foundation which seeks an end to racism, and promotes civil rights, economic justice, gender equality and community empowerment.
"Every evening, I would just cry, and wonder why there were no mental health experts here to help people get through this. When Columbine happened, that area was saturated with mental health professionals. How can a society like ours not think about mental health professionals, it's just plain racist," he said.
Full story: //www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_90339_ENG_HTM.htm
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Friday, September 21
Archbishop of Canterbury 'encouraged' by bishops' meetings
Nearly $1 million raised for hurricane relief efforts
By Pat McCaughan
[Episcopal News Service, New Orleans] After two days of "encouraging" talks with the Episcopal Church's House of Bishops, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams told reporters September 21 that if the Anglican Communion resolves its differences enough to avoid schism "it will have done something for the entire Christian community."
Williams, who made pastoral visits to hurricane-damaged areas of New Orleans and preached at a September 20 ecumenical service where dioceses donated $931,000 for disaster relief, said outstanding local recovery efforts helped focus bishops' conversations around "our need for one another."
"The need we have for each other is very deep, it came across yesterday in much of the discussion in our first session," Williams told more than 60 international, national and local reporters at a Friday afternoon news conference.
Full story: //www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_90264_ENG_HTM.htm
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Raise prophetic voices against poverty, Paul Farmer tells bishops
Medical anthropologist underscores importance of achieving MDGs
By Mary Frances Schjonberg
[Episcopal News Service] Medical anthropologist Paul Farmer told the Episcopal Church's House of Bishops September 21 that the church's prophetic voice must be heard in the global debates about the most effective ways to eradicate extreme poverty and guarantee basic rights to all.
"When the churches are united around social justice issues, it's very powerful," he said. "It's hard to shout down a bishop."
Farmer, also a physician, is a founding director of Partners in Health, an international charity organization that provides direct health care services and undertakes research and advocacy activities on behalf of those who are sick and living in poverty. He is on the staff of Harvard University's Department of Social Medicine. Farmer's work focuses on diseases that disproportionately afflict the poor.
Full story: //www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_90263_ENG_HTM.htm
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Archbishop Rowan Williams' opening remarks at September 21 news conference
[Episcopal News Service] The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, told media gathered at the House of Bishops September 21 news conference in New Orleans that "one of the greatest privileges of being here has been the chance to see something of the quite outstanding work being done by the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana in the ongoing work of social reconstruction
in a city still deeply scarred by the devastation of Hurricane Katrina two years ago."
The full text of Williams' opening remarks to the media is available at
//www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_90250_ENG_HTM.htm
Video: New Orleans murder board
[Episcopal Life Online] On two plastic boards, posted outside St. Anna's Episcopal Church in the Treme neighborhood of New Orleans, are the names and gender of every murder victim in the city, the date they were killed, and what it was that killed them.
Every week, the Rev. Bill Terry adds more names in testimony to the tragedy of another life lost, and has a single red rose delivered to Mayor Ray Nagin and Police Chief Warren Riley every Monday marking each death that weekend.
Last year, New Orleans' murder rate stood at roughly 70 homicides per 100,000 people, the highest in the country, according to FBI crime statistics and population data.
The Rev. Jan Nunley talks with Terry about the murder board.
A video report is available at
//www.episcopalchurch.org/89878_27398_ENG_HTM.htm
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Video: House of Bishops September 21 news conference
[Episcopal Life Online] Addressing the media at September 21 news conference as part of the House of Bishops meeting were Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, bishops Duncan Gray III of Mississippi, Charles Jenkins of Louisiana, and Bishop Suffragan Catherine Roskam of New York, a member of the Episcopal Church's delegation
to the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC).
A video stream of the opening comments from the news conference is available
in two parts at //www.episcopalchurch.org/89878_27398_ENG_HTM.htm
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Image Gallery: Archbishop of Canterbury visits New Orleans lower Ninth Ward
[Episcopal Life Online] Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams visited the site of a former Walgreens drugstore in the lower Ninth Ward September 20 to bless what will become the new home of the Church of All Souls, founded in New Orleans' lower Ninth after Hurricane Katrina and the ensuing flood devastated the neighborhood.
Image galleries from the House of Bishops meeting are available at
//www.episcopalchurch.org/89878_27365_ENG_HTM.htm
An related article is available at
//www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_90220_ENG_HTM.htm
Thursday, September 20
Archbishop of Canterbury preaches in New Orleans
[Episcopal Life Online] The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, preached at an Ecumenical worship service September 20 at the Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, as part of the House of Bishops meeting.
A video stream of Williams' sermon is available at
//www.episcopalchurch.org/89878_27398_ENG_HTM.htm
An article is available at
//www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_90220_ENG_HTM.htm.
House of Bishops sessions reflect 'passionate commitment' to Anglican Communion
By Pat McCaughan
[Episcopal News Service, New Orleans] Bishops meeting with Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams in New Orleans on September 20 characterized their conversations with the spiritual leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion as reflective of a "passionate commitment" to the future of that communion.
Bishop Robert O'Neill of Colorado told reporters after a nearly seven-hour session with Williams that the "best way to characterize our conversation is to say that collectively as a House of Bishops who exercise oversight for the common life and ministry of each of our dioceses, we take our responsibilities and our ministries very seriously. We're passionate about the work that we all do both individually and collectively.
"That passion was reflected in our conversation today; it reflected a passionate commitment to the vitality of life and ministry of both the Episcopal Church and to the global Anglican Communion."
Full story: //www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_90210_ENG_HTM.htm
Eight bishops agree to serve as 'episcopal visitors'
by Bob Williams
[Episcopal News Service, New Orleans] Eight bishops have accepted Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori's invitation to serve as "episcopal visitors" to dioceses that have requested this provision.
At her request, the Presiding Bishop's canon, the Rev. Dr. Charles Robertson, advised Episcopal News Service of this measure the evening of September 19. The announcement preceded the opening plenary session of the House of Bishops' September 20-25 meeting in New Orleans. Robertson said Jefferts Schori expected to announce the names of the eight bishops during that session, which is devoted to the bishops' private conversation with Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, and is closed to the public and media.
Jefferts Schori has conferred with Williams about the invitations, which she extended after a process of consultation with bishops in the Episcopal Church, Robertson said.
"All eight are true bridge-builders who empathize with the concerns and needs of dioceses that are struggling with the issues of the current time," Robertson said, adding that "while all are sympathetic to to these concerns, each is clear that the Presiding Bishop's ultimate goal is reconciliation."
The eight are active diocesan bishops Frank Brookhart of Montana, Dorsey Henderson of Upper South Carolina (based in Columbia, S.C.), John Howe of Central Florida (based in Orlando), Gary Lillibridge of West Texas (based in San Antonio), Michael Smith of North Dakota, James Stanton of Dallas, and Geralyn Wolf of Rhode Island, together with retired Connecticut Bishop Clarence Coleridge.
Robertson said all have agreed to serve as official "episcopal visitors" (the lowercase adjective referring generally to bishops and their ministries rather than the church's denomination), or to provide "Delegated Episcopal Pastoral Oversight" (DEPO), an option provided by the House of Bishops' March 2004 statement "Caring for All the Churches" and a concept affirmed by the General Convention in 2006.
Jefferts Schori's invitation to the eight bishops seeks to delegate the first of three primary canonical duties of the Presiding Bishop, that of visiting each of the Episcopal Church's 110 dioceses during each Presiding Bishop's nine-year term. The Presiding Bishop's other two principal canonical roles are to "take order" for ordaining and consecrating bishops, and to oversee certain disciplinary actions as needed.
The Presiding Bishop's invitation to the eight bishops "offers opportunities for dioceses to have an episcopal visitor other than herself," Robertson said.
"This gives dioceses the pastoral guidance and care they need while remaining faithful and loyal members of the Episcopal Church," he said. "It is also the Presiding Bishop's hope that at some point in the future she would be invited to visit these dioceses."
The action is "a significant effort at building a bridge while still honoring our uniquely American polity," Robertson said.
He added that Jefferts Schori is "comfortable letting the details be worked out by the bishops involved."
From among the Episcopal Church's 110 total dioceses, six stand by requests initiated in 2006 for pastoral oversight other than that of the current Presiding Bishop. Those dioceses are Central Florida, Fort Worth, Pittsburgh, Quincy (based in Peoria, Illinois), Springfield (Illinois), and San Joaquin (based in Fresno, California). A similar request by the Diocese of Dallas was later modified.
In all of these dioceses there has been expressed opposition to the 2003 election and ordination as diocesan bishop of New Hampshire Gene Robinson, who is openly gay and lives in a long-standing committed relationship with his male partner.
In three of these dioceses -- Fort Worth, Quincy and San Joaquin -- the bishops have not ordained women despite the General Convention's 1976 authorization to do so.
-- Canon Robert Williams is director of Episcopal Life Media, the new
communication group that includes the Episcopal News Service.
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